In the late 1880s, the Ottoman-Armenians formed a number of secret cell-like terrorist revolutionary groups called committees. The well-armed Armenian Revolutionary Committees (the
Dashnaks and
Hunchaks in particular) actively rebelled against the Ottoman state in 1914 and 1915.
Both the Central Powers and the Allies actively tried to
foment rebellions in the Middle East during World War I in order to weaken their enemies. And these Armenian Revolutionary Committees were encouraged to
rebel and were supported by the
Russians, British, and French. As the war dragged on,
prominent Armenians (both Ottoman and Russian Armenian citizens) led
Russian-based conventional Armenian military forces against the Ottomans. Famous Armenian leaders such as Andranik and Dro formed
Druzhiny (legions) which fought side-by-side with the Russian Army.
They had help from abroad from their diaspora activities. Like the Greek, Serbian, and Bulgarian communities before them, the Armenian diaspora, such as it existed in 1914,
actively conspired with the Allies to bring an independent Armenia into existence. This
effort continued after the war through 1921.