Hamazasp Srvandztyan

Hamazasp Srvandztyan (Armenian: Համազասպ Սրվանձտյան; 1873 – 18 February 1921), commonly known as Hamazasp, was an Armenian fedayee military commander and member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

Hamazasp was born in Van in 1873. He was the nephew of the folklorist Garegin Srvandztiants. Hamazasp was first a member of the Armenakan Party and then the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. After finishing school he began to learn handicraft as a jeweler and a watchmaker. From an early age he was involved in the Armenian national liberation movement. To avoid persecution by the Ottoman government, he moved to Yerevan, then to Shusha from Van.

He participated in the Armenian–Tatar clashes of 1905–07. Hamazasp was especially notable in the Battle of Askeran Ravine on 22 August 1905, defeating a 200-member Turkish detachment of which only 6 survived. He also organized the defense of the Armenian villagers of the Elisabethpol Governorate. In 1908, the Tsarist government arrested Hamazasp and condemned him to death, but this was replaced by a 15 years of exile to Siberia sentence. In 1913 he escaped from prison and went to Europe, then to Constantinople. At the 8th General Assembly of the ARF party that took place in Karin in 1914, he was strongly opposed to any cooperation with the Young Turks.

Armenian 3rd battalion cavalry and troops commanded by Hamazasp rallying at Etchmiadzin in 1914

At the beginning of the First World War, Hamazasp participated in the Caucasus Campaign and was appointed Commander of the 3rd Armenian volunteer battalion. He took part in many battles, and also ensured the safe migration of the Armenian population from Basen and Alashkert. He was one of the volunteer liberators of the Siege of Van in May 1915. In June he fought in the Battle of Bitlis, and in October fought in Hizan. After the February Revolution in 1917, Hamazasp was appointed the military police commander of Alashkert, until Russian troops left the Caucasian front.

Keri of the 4th battalion, Hamazasp of the 3rd battalion, Vartan of the Ararat regiment

In 1918, he fought for the Baku Commune, as a Commander of the Armenian brigade (3,000 soldiers and officers). He displayed his abilities as an experienced strategist and organizer, playing a decisive role in the operations of Ganja and Yevlakh and for 4 months fought against overwhelming Turkish forces of the Army of Islam. After the fall of the Baku Commune, he went to Persia.

In the autumn of 1918, after the defeat of Turkey in the First World War, Hamazasp came back to Armenia and was appointed a military commander of Nor Bayazet region, participating in the defense of the First Republic of Armenia and in suppressing the May Uprising in 1920.

After the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia, Hamazasp came to Yerevan with the aim to be helpful for the new government, but was arrested by the Bolsheviks and was brutally murdered by being hacked to death with an axe in Yerevan prison on 18 February 1921. Many other Armenian military and political leaders were jailed and executed as well, leading to the February Uprising.