2492-08-11 BC Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation.
0068-10-06 BC Battle of Artaxata: Lucullus averts the bad omen of this day by defeating Tigranes the Great of Armenia.
0451-05-26 The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place. The Armenians are defeated militarily but are guaranteed freedom to openly practice Christianity.
1827-10-01 The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination in Armenia
1854-02-02 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On persecution of Armenians"
1873-01-06 Pope Pius IX encyclical "On the Church in Armenia"
1877-11-17 Russia launches a surprise night attack that overruns Turkish forces at Kars, Armenia
1894-11-16 6,000 Armenians massacred by Turks in Kurdistan
1896-08-26 Armenian Revolutionary Federation assaults the Ottoman Bank in Constantinople to draw attention to the mass-pogroms and massacres of Armenians instigated by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II
1906-04-15 The Armenian organization AGBU is established.
1914-12-28 Turks are repulsed by the Russians after fighting in Armenia for weeks
1915-04-20 The Armenians rise and seize the Turkish town of Van, which they hold until Russians relieve them on 19 May; thousands of Armenians are killed
1915-04-24 Leaders of the Armenian community in Constantinople (now Istanbul) are arrested by Ottoman authorities, and many later killed, marking the start of the Armenian Genocide
1922-09-11 The Treaty of Kars is ratified in Yerevan, Armenia
1936-12-05 Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR & Kirghiz SSR becomes constituent republics of Soviet Union
1958-09-02 U.S. Air Force C-130A-II is shot down by fighters over Yerevan, Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew lost.
1983-07-15 8 killed, 54 wounded, by Armenian extremists bomb at Orly, France
1988-02-28 Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed
1988-07-14 200,000 demonstrate in Soviet Armenia for incorporation of Nagorno-Karabak
1988-12-07 6.9 earthquake in Spitak, Armenia kills 25,000-50,000 people and leaves up to 500,000 homeless
1989-01-12 6 claim to survive in rubble, 35 days after Armenian quake (hoax)
1991-09-21 Armenia votes on whether to remain in Soviet Union
1992-02-25 Khojaly massacre: about 613 civilians killed by Armenian armed forces during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan
1992-05-09 Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the Karabakh War
1993-12-26 Antonov-26 crashes at Gyumri, Armenia, 36 killed
1999-10-27 Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and 6 other members.
2003-07-07 The United Communist Party of Armenia is formed
2007-01-19 Armenian journalist Hrant Dink assassinated in front of his "Agos" newspaper's office by 17 year old Turkish ultranationalist Ogün Samast
2008-02-19 Serzh Sargsyan wins the Armenian Presidential Election
2008-03-02 Riots in Yerevan, Armenia concerning the Armenian presidential election, 2008 come to a fatal end, with police forces clashing with civilians in their peaceful protest, resulting in 8 deaths.
2009-10-10 After closed borders for nearly two hundred years, Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich to open their borders
2012-09-09 Armenia wins the 40th FIDE Chess Olympiad
2015-01-01 Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
2015-04-24 Armenia commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire
2018-04-23 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan resigns after 10 years in office after mass protests against him beginning an unconstitutional third term
2018-05-02 Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan asks widespread protests to halt after ruling Republican party said it would support his bid to be Prime Minister
2018-12-09 Armenia's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wins a snap election with 70.4% of the vote
2019-01-30 Continuous 24 hr church mass lasting 97 days to prevent deportation of Armenian asylum seekers ends after Dutch authorities reconsider at Protestant Bethel Church in The Hague
Famous Birthdays
1856-08-31 Nikoghayos Fadeyi Tigranyan, Armenian composer, born in Gyumri, Armenia (d. 1951)
1859-11-19 Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and musician (Armenian Rhapsody), born in Gatchina, Russia (d. 1935)
1869-10-08 Komitas [Soghomon Soghomonian], Armenian priest, composer (Patarag), and musicologist, born in Kütahya, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) (d. 1935) [O.S. birth 09-26]
1879-12-26 Armen Tigran Tigranyan, Armenian music composer and conductor, born in Alexandropol, Armenia (d. 1950)
1883-02-01 Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Armenian-Russian theatrical director of the Moscow Art Theatre (Vakhtangov Theatre), born in Vladikavkaz, Russia (d. 1922)
1887-01-13 George Gurdjieff, Armenian-Greek mystic (d. 1949)
1894-08-22 Ivan Isakov [Hovhannes Ter-Isahakyan], Russian-Armenian military commander (Commander in Chief of the Soviet Navy during WW II), born in Hadjikend, Russian Empire (now Armenia) (d. 1967)
1895-11-25 Anastas Mikoyan, Armenian revolutionary and member of Supreme Soviet, born in Sanahin, Yelizavetpol Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1978)
1897-04-25 Haro Levoni Step'anian, Armenian composer, born in Ganja, Azerbaijan (d. 1966)
1899-10-29 Akim Tamiroff, Armenian-Russian actor (Touch of Evil, For Whom the Bell Tolls), born in Tiflis, Russian Empire (d. 1972)
1904-04-15 Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American abstract painter, born in Khorgom, Vilayet of Van, Ottoman Empire (d. 1948)
1911-03-08 Alan Hovhaness, Armenian-American composer (Lousadzak, Ukiyo), born in Somerville, Massachusetts (d. 2000)
1920-10-15 Henri Verneuil, French-Armenian playwright and film director (Mélodie en sous-sol), born in Rodosto, Ottoman Turkey (d. 2002)
1924-01-09 Sergei Parajanov, Armenian film director, born in Tbilisi, Georgia (d. 1990)
1924-05-22 Charles Aznavour [Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian], French-Armenian singer (Monsieur Carnavel; She; Tin Drum), born in Paris, France (d. 2018)
1929-06-17 Tigran Petrosian, Soviet Armenian World Chess Champion (1963-69), born in Tiflis, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (d. 1984)
1930-01-14 Edgar Hovhannisyan, Armenian composer, born in Yerevan, Armenia (d. 1998)
1930-07-04 Frunzik [Mher Mkrtchyan], Armenian actor (Mimino, Kidnapping, Caucasian Style), born in Leninakan, Soviet Armenia (d. 1993)
1932-04-24 Vladimir Yengibaryan, Armenian boxer (Olympic gold light welterweight 1956), born in Yerevan, Armenia (d. 2013)
1936-11-19 Emin Aristakesian, Armenian composer, born in Yerevan, Armenia, USSR (d. 1996)
1941-04-15 Roman Balayan, Ukrainian-Armenian director (Filer, Biryuk), born in Nerkin Horatagh, Nagorno-Karabakh AO, Azerbaijan
1941-10-02 Zareh Baronian, Armenian theologian, born in Bucharest, Romania (d. 2017)
1948-07-26 Norair Nurikian, Bulgarian weightlifter (Olympic gold men's 60kg 1972, 56kg 1976), born in Sliven, Bulgaria
1951-06-12 Andranik Margaryan, 14th Prime Minister of Armenia (2000-07), born in Yerevan, Armenia (d. 2007)
1953-05-19 Shavarsh Karapetyan, Soviet Armenian finswimmer
1954-06-30 Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian politician, President of Armenia (2008-18), born in Stepanakert, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
1954-09-15 Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist and newspaper editor (Agos), born in Malatya, Turkey (d. 2007)
1959-03-05 Vazgen Sargsyan, Armenian politician (d. 1999)
1967-08-21 Serj Tankian, Armenian-born singer (System of a Down), born in Beirut, Lebanon
1971-12-07 Vladimir Akopian, Armenian chess Grandmaster, born in Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union
1973-06-03 Sargis Sargsian, Armenian tennis player (1995 NCAA), born in Yerevan, Armenia
1974-04-22 Shavo Odadjian, Armenian-American heavy metal bassist (System of a Down), born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
1975-06-01 Nikol Pashinyan, Armenian politician, Prime Minister of Armenia (2018-), born in Ijevan, Soviet Union