Period  Description   EARLY HISTORY  95-55 B.C.  Armenian Empire reaches greatest size and influence under Tigran the Great.  66 B.C.  Romans complete conquest of Caucasus Mountains region, including Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Iberia.  30 B.C.  Romans conquer Armenian Empire.  A.D. 100-300  Romans annex Azerbaijan and name it Albania.  ca. 310  Tiridates III accepts Christianity for the Armenian people.  330  King Marian III of Kartli-Iberia accepts Christianity for the Georgian people.  FIFTH-SEVENTH CENTURIES  First golden age of Armenian culture.  ca. 600  Four centuries of Arab control of Azerbaijan begin, introducing  Islam in seventh century.  645  Arabs capture Tbilisi.  653  Byzantine Empire cedes Armenia to Arabs.  NINTH-TENTH CENTURIES  806  Arabs install Bagratid family to govern Armenia.  813  Armenian prince Ashot I begins 1,000 years of rule in Georgia by Bagratid Dynasty.  862-977  Second golden age of Armenian culture, under Ashot I and Ashot III.  ELEVENTH-FOURTEENTH CENTURIES  Byzantine Greeks invade Armenia from west, Seljuk Turks from east  Turkish groups wrest political control of Azerbaijan from Arabs, introducing Turkish language and culture.  1099-1125  David IV the Builder establishes expanded Georgian Empire and begins golden age of Georgia.  1000-late 1200s  Golden age of Azerbaijani literature and architecture.  1100s-1300s  Cilician Armenian and Georgian armies aid European armies in Crusades to limit Muslim control of Holy Land.  1200-1400  Mongols twice invade Azerbaijan, establishing temporary dynasties.  1375  Cilician Armenia conquered by Mamluk Turks.  1386  Timur (Tamerlane) sacks Tbilisi, ending Georgian Empire  FIFTEENTH CENTURY  Most of modern Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia become part of Ottoman Empire.  SIXTEENTH CENTURY  1501  Azerbaijani Safavid Dynasty begins rule by Persian Empire.  1553  Ottoman Turks and Persians divide Georgia between them.  EIGHTEENTH CENTURY  ca. 1700  Russia begins moving into northern Azerbaijan as Persian Empire weakens.  1762  Herekle II reunites eastern Georgian regions in kingdom of Kartli-Kakhetia.  NINETEENTH CENTURY  1801  After Herekle II's appeal for aid, Russian Empire abolishes Bagratid Dynasty and begins annexation of Georgia.  1811  Georgian Orthodox Church loses autocephalous status in Russification process.  1813  Treaty of Gulistan officially divides Azerbaijan into Russian (northern) and Persian (southern) spheres.  1828  Treaty of Turkmanchay awards Nakhichevan and area around Erevan to Russia, strengthening Russian control of Transcaucasus and beginning period of modernization and security.  1872  Oil industry established around Baku, beginning rapid expansion.  1878  "Armenian question" emerges at Congress of Berlin  disposition of Armenia becomes ongoing European issue.  1891  First Armenian revolutionary party formed.  1895  Massacre of 300,000 Armenian subjects by Ottoman Turks.  TWENTIETH CENTURY  c 17d4
 ca. 1900  Radical political organizations begin to form in Azerbaijan.  1908  Young Turks take over government of Ottoman Empire with reform agenda, supported by Armenian population.  1915  Young Turks massacre 600,000 to 2 million Armenians  most survivors leave eastern Anatolia.  1917  Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia form independent Transcaucasian federation. Tsar Nicholas II abdicates Russian throne  Bolsheviks take power in Russia.  1918  Independent Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian states emerge from defeat of Ottoman Empire in World War I.  1920  Red Army invades Azerbaijan and forces Armenia to accept communist-dominated government.  1921  Red Army invades Georgia and drives out Zhordania government.  1922  Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic combines Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as single republic within Soviet Union.  1936  Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia become separate republics within Soviet Union.  1936-37  Purges under political commissar Lavrenti Beria reach their peak in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.  1943  Autonomy restored to Georgian Orthodox Church.  1946  Western powers force Soviet Union to abandon Autonomous Government of Azerbaijan, formed in 1945 after Soviet occupation of northern Iran.  1959  Nikita S. Khrushchev purges Azerbaijani Communist Party.  1969 Heydar Aliyev named head of Azerbaijani Communist Party.  ca. 1970  Zviad Gamsakhurdia begins organizing dissidÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍent Georgian nationalists.  1972  Eduard Shevardnadze named first secretary of Georgian Communist Party.  1974  Moscow installs regime of Karen Demirchian in Armenia to end party corruption  regime later removed for corruption.  1978  Mass demonstrations prevent Moscow from making Russian an official language of Georgia.  1982  Aliyev of Azerbaijan named full member of Politburo of Communist Party of the Soviet Union.  1985  Shevardnadze named minister of foreign affairs of Soviet Union and leaves post as first secretary of Georgian Communist Party.  Late 1980s  Mikhail S. Gorbachev initiates policies of glasnost and perestroika throughout Soviet Union.  1988  Armenian nationalist movement revived by Karabakh and corruption concerns.  February  Nagorno-Karabakh government votes to unify that autonomous region of Azerbaijan with Armenia.  December  Disastrous earthquake in northern Armenia heavily damages Leninakan (now Gyumri).  1989  April  Soviet troops kill Georgian civilian  demonstrators in Tbilisi, radicalizing Georgian public opinion.  Spring  Mass demonstrations in Armenia achieve release of Karabakh Committee arrested by Soviets to quell nationalist movement.  September  Azerbaijan begins blockade of Armenian fuel and supply lines over Karabakh issue.  Fall  Azerbaijani opposition parties lead mass protests against Soviet rule  national sovereignty officially proclaimed.  November  Nagorno-Karabakh National Council declares unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.  1990  January  Moscow sends troops to Azerbaijan, nominally to stem violence against Armenians over Karabakh.  Spring  Levon Ter-Petrosian of Armenian Pannational Movement chosen chairman of Armenian Supreme Soviet.  October  In first multiparty election held in Georgia, Gamsakhurdia's oppositionist party crushes communists  Gamsakhurdia named president.  1991  January  Georgian forces invade South Ossetia in response to independence movement there  fighting continues all year  Soviet troops invade Azerbaijan, ostensibly to halt anti-Armenian pogroms.  April  After referendum approval, Georgian parliament declares Georgia independent of Soviet Union.  May  Gamsakhurdia becomes first president of Georgia, elected directly in multiparty election.  August  Attempted coup against Gorbachev in Moscow fails.  September  Armenian voters approve national independence.  October  Azerbaijani referendum declares Azerbaijan independent of Soviet Union  Ter-Petrosian elected president of Armenia.  December  Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh declare independent state as fighting there continues  Soviet Union officially dissolved.  1992  January  Gamsakhurdia driven from Georgia into exile by opposition forces.  March  Shevardnadze returns to Tbilisi and forms new government.  Spring  Armenian forces occupy Lachin corridor linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.  June  Abulfaz Elchibey elected president of Azerbaijan and forms first postcommunist government there.  July  Cease-fire mediated by Russia's President Yeltsin in South Ossetia.  October  Parliamentary election held in Georgia  Shevardnazde receives overwhelming support.  Fall  Fighting begins between Abkhazian independence forces and Georgian forces  large-scale refugee displacement continues through next two years.  June  Military coup deposes Elchibey in Azerbaijan  Aliyev returns to power.  Fall  Multilateral negotiations seek settlement of Karabakh conflict, without result  fighting, blockade, and international negotiation continue into 1994.  October  Shevardnadze responds to deterioration of Georgian military position by having Georgia join Commonwealth of Independent States, thus gaining Russian military support  Aliyev elected president of Azerbaijan. 

Data as of March 1994