Andranik led the defense of Erzurum in early 1918, but was forced to retreat eastward due to an threat of encirclement and a lack of food.

Andranik never accepted the existence of the First Republic of Armenia because it included only a small part of the area many Armenians hoped to make independent.

Streets and squares were named after Andranik, and songs, poems and novels have been written about him, making him a legendary figure in Armenian culture.

His paternal ancestors came from the nearby village of Ozan (now Ozanlı) in the early 18th century and settled in Shabin-Karahisar to avoid persecution from the Turks.

[12] The situation of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire had worsened under the reign of Abdul Hamid II, who sought to unify all Muslims under his rule.

[16][17] During the Hamidian massacres, Andranik with other fedayi defended the Armenian villages of Mush and Sasun from attacks of the Turks and the Kurdish Hamidiye units.

[17] Months later, Bey committed further atrocities against the Armenians by killing a priest, two young men and 25 women and children in Talvorik, a village in the Sasun region.

Article 61 of the 1878 Treaty of Berlin intended the Ottoman government to "carry out, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds" remained unimplemented.

[27] After weeks of resistance and negotiations—in which Armenian clergy and the headman of Mush and foreign consuls took part—Andranik and his companions left the monastery and fled in small groups.

[38] According to Christopher J. Walker, the fedayi came "near to organising an uprising and shaking Ottoman power in Armenia," but "even then it was unthinkable that the empire would lose any of her territory, since the idea of intervention was far from Russia.

The ARF, which had been collaborating with Turkish émigré political groups in Europe since 1902, discussed and approved the negotiations with the Young Turks—who later perpetrated the Armenian genocide—to overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamid II.

[8][41] In 1908, the ARF asked Andranik to move to Constantinople and nominate his candidacy in the Ottoman parliament election, but he declined the offer, saying "I don't want to sit there and do nothing.

[35][43] During the First Balkan War (1912–13), Andranik led a company of 230 Armenian volunteers— part of the Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps of Aleksandar Protogerov within the Bulgarian army—against the Ottoman Empire.

[49][50] However, Andranik disbanded his men in May 1913,[51] and foreseeing the war between Bulgaria and Serbia he "retired to a village near Varna, and lived as a farmer until August 1914.

From November 1914 to August 1915, Andranik took part in the Caucasus Campaign as the head commander of the first Armenian battalion of about 1,200 volunteers within the Imperial Russian Army.

[17] By the victory at Dilman, the Russian and Armenian forces under the command of General Nazarbekian, effectively stopped the Turks from invading the Caucasus via Iranian Azerbaijan.

[53] Andranik subsequently helped the Russian army to take control of Shatakh, Moks and Tatvan on the southern shore of Lake Van.

[58] In recognition of lieutenant general Theodore G. Chernozubov, the successes of Russian army in numerous locations were significantly associated with the fighting of the first Armenian battalion, headed by Andranik.

About 150,000 local Armenians began to rebuild devastated Turkish Armenia; however the Russian army units gradually disintegrated and many soldiers deserted and returned to Russia.

"[68] After the Turks captured Erzurum, the largest city in Turkish Armenia, Andranik retreated through Kars, passed through Alexandropol and Jalaloghly, and arrived in Dsegh by 18 May.

[75] In late 1918, Azerbaijan accused Andranik of killing innocent Azerbaijani peasants in Zangezur and demanded that he withdraw Armenian units from the area.

Antranig Chalabian wrote that, "Without the presence of General Andranik and his Special Striking Division, what is now the Zangezur district of Armenia would be part of Azerbaijan today.

"[81] Christopher J. Walker wrote that "[Karabakh] with its large Armenian majority remained Azerbaijani throughout the pre-Soviet and Soviet period" because of "Andranik's trust of the word of a British officer.

Andranik agreed to such a proposal and on 23 December 1918, a group of Armenian leaders met in a conference and concluded that Zangezur could not cope with the influx of refugees until spring.

Andranik rejected this plan and on 22 March 1919, he left Goris and traveled across Sisian through deep snowdrifts to Daralagyaz, then moved to the Ararat plain with his few thousand irregulars.

[122] During the Soviet period, his legacy and those of other Armenian national heroes were diminished and "any reference to them would be dangerous since they represented the strive for independence," especially prior to the Khrushchev Thaw.

He has generally been seen as a pro-Russian (and pro-Soviet) figure;[125][69] prompting the scholar-turned-political activist Rafael Ishkhanyan to criticize his for constant reliance on Russia.

[126] The poet Ruben Angaladyan [hy] voiced his opposition to the erection of a statue of Andranik in Yerevan, arguing that he does not deserve one in the national capital because he did not contribute substantially to the First Republic and ultimately left Armenia.

[142] Elsewhere in Armenia, Andranik's statues stand in Voskevan and Navur villages of Tavush, in Gyumri's Victory Park (1994), Arteni, and Angeghakot, among other places.

"[16] Italian diplomat and historian Luigi Villari wrote in 1906 that he met a priest from Turkish Armenia in Erivan who "sang the war-song of Antranik, the leader of Armenian revolutionary bands in Turkey.