The country’s history was written largely by outsiders over the centuries; despite this it has been able to maintain its cultural and linguistic identity. The region was ruled by the Persians for several centuries beginning in around the 8th century BC. It passed into the hands of Alexander the Great after he defeated the Persians in the 3rd century BC, and then to his generals who split up his empire after his death.
In the ensuing 1000 years, the Romans first came, driving out the declining Hellenistic kingdoms, followed by the Persians (again) in the 6th century. In the next five centuries two events happened which helped to mould the Azerbaijan nation. First was the Arabs, who invaded the region and defeated the Persians in the 7th century; they brought with them Islam. Then, in the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia invaded Azerbaijan and present-day Turkey, bringing with them the Turkish language and custom. The Seljuk Turks were later defeated by the Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries, but by then Azerbaijan as a social, cultural, linguistic and political unit had been moulded.
In the 14th century, Azerbaijan fell into the grips of Persia again. The latter was able to fend off the Ottomans which became the emerging power at about the same time and was expanding from Anatolia in the west. However, Persia had more difficulties with Russia; it was defeated by Russia twice, in 1813 and 1828, and as a result Azerbaijan was ceded by treaties to Russia in that decade.
Azerbaijan was largely left alone by the Russians in the 19th century except for petroleum resources which were extracted, but things changed in the 20th century. Azerbaijanis began to have a sense of nationalism as events in Russia developed around the time of the 1905 Russian Revolution. However, that revolution and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 did not give the Moslem Azerbaijanis the freedom they desired.
In 1918, during WW I, Azerbaijan attempted to become independent of Russia with the help of the Ottoman army. However, with the defeat of the Ottomans, Azerbaijan was occupied by the Soviets in 1920, which wanted to lay their hands on the territory’s oil resources. From then on, Azerbaijan became a Soviet republic. Under Soviet rule, Azerbaijan saw development of some oil-related industries which benefited the local economy. Nevertheless, it was under firm rule by the Soviets for 70 years until 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.
