Goals and activities (historic
Taron) was the center of fedayi operations in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Armenian fedayis' main goal was to defend
Armenian villages in
Western Armenia from persecution and at the same time, disrupt the Ottoman Empire's activities in Armenian populated regions. Armenian volunteers fought during the
Hamidian massacres,
Sasun Resistance (1894),
Zeitun Rebellion (1895–1896),
Defense of Van, and
Khanasor Expedition. They were the leaders and members of the
Armenian national movement. These bands sabotaged telegraph lines and raided army supplies. They also committed assassinations and counter-attacks on Muslim villages. They helped Armenians defend themselves during village purges by Ottoman officials. They were supported by Armenians and quickly gained fame, support and trust by them. Their activities in the Ottoman Empire dissipated after the
Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire, when the
Committee of Union and Progress came into power and, for a time, granted the Empire's Armenian citizens the same rights as its Turkish and Kurdish citizens. Most fedayi groups then disbanded, their members returning to their families.
Persian Constitutional Revolution was a revolutionary leader of
Iran and a key figure of the
revolution Several fedayi and ARF key figures such as
Aram Manukian,
Hamo Ohanjanyan and
Stepan Stepanian agreed upon joining the ongoing Iranian Constitutional Revolution in neighboring
Qajar Persia. They established that the movement was one that had political, ideological and economic components and was thus aimed at establishing law and order, human rights and the interests of all working people. They also felt that it would work for the benefit and interest of
Armenian-Iranians. The final vote was 25 votes in favour and one absentia. The Russian Caucasus Front collapsed following the
abdication of the Tsar. In 1917, the
Armenian Congress of Eastern Armenians asked the Armenian soldiers and officers scattered throughout Russian occupied regions to gradually be brought together. The plan was to mobilize Armenians on the Caucasian front. With that purpose in view, an Armenian Military Committee was formed with General Bagradouni as its president. That year, the Armenian National Congress created the
Armenian National Council, which established the
First Republic of Armenia. These Armenian conscripts and volunteers from the Russian Army later established the core of the armed forces of the
First Republic of Armenia. Armenian refugees from the Ottoman Empire were flooding the newly formed Armenian state. Further southeast, in
Van, the fedayis helped the local Armenians resist the Turkish army until April 1918, but eventually were forced to evacuate and withdraw to
Persia. To consider emergency measures, the
Western Armenian Administration sponsored a conference which adopted plans to form a 20,000-man militia under Andranik in December 1917. Civilian commissioner Dr.
Hakob Zavriev promoted Andranik to Major General and he took the command of Armenia within the Ottoman Empire. They fought in numerous successful battles such as the
Battle of Kara Killisse, the
Battle of Bash Abaran and the
Battle of Sardarapat, as fedayees merged with the Armenian army (Yerevan centered) under General
Tovmas Nazarbekian. The total number of
guerrillas in these irregular bands was 40,000–50,000, according to Boghos Nubar, the president of the Armenian National Delegation in the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, who wrote: Boghos Nubar, as part of the Armenian Delegation, intended to expand the independent First Republic of Armenia. Thus, he might have elevated the number of Armenian fedayees who were able to fight to show that the Armenians were capable of defending an eventually large Ottoman–Armenian border. In reality, their numbers at that time were much lower, considering that there were no more than a few handful of fedayees in most of the confrontations between them and Kurdish irregulars or Turkish soldiers, even according to foreign accounts. Moreover, many of the fedayees were the same and reappeared in various places and battles. One should also note that many Armenian irregular fighters died defending regions of
Western Armenia during the
Armenian genocide. ==Notable fedayis==