Artsakh, the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh, can be considered one of the oldest Armenian lands, with a history spanning more than two millennia. After the First World War, the Soviet Union attached this predominantly Armenian region to Azerbaijan, triggering decades of tension. In 1988, the Armenian population demanded its return to Armenia, provoking violence and leading to the war of the 1990s, followed by a new war in 2020, which resulted in the occupation of Artsakh by Azerbaijan in 2023 and the exodus of Armenians. Since then, the region has been marked by incursions and ceasefire violations.
The aim here is not to present a complete, continuous and exhaustive history of this region, which is considered to be one of the major centers, if not the crucible, of Armenian identity and civilization, but simply to give a few pointers to its most recent history and the origins of the current conflict.