Samvel A. Poghosyan
One of the important monuments of the Armenian social, political, legal and philosophical thought is the work “Pitfall of Glory”. It was published in Madras, India, at the end of the 18th century and was planned to become the constitution of the future Armenian state. As the first draft of the constitution, “Pitfall of Glory” has received a lot of attention from historians, jurists and philosophers.
Our goal is to cover the “Pitfall of Glory” from a different angle. No
studies and analyzes were carried out regarding the concept of the “Nation-Army” put forward in the work. The article analyzes the concept of the “Nation-Army” presented in the work in detail. “Pitfall of Glory” is devoted to almost all spheres of the state’s activities, including the army, arming the population and military training. Along with the professional army, it was considered necessary to have the ability to use the fighting abilities of the entire male population at any time.
The aim of the research was to identify the components of the “Nation-Army” concept put forward in the monumental work “Pitfall of Glory”, which were not the subject of study before. All articles related to the issue were covered.
The research was carried out on the basis of the historical comparative method and the principle of historicity.
Discussions of the “Nation-Army” idea have been quite relevant in the recent years. When the state is surrounded by enemies that are several times greater than it is, it is necessary to use its own human and military resources as efficiently as possible.
The purpose of the study is to identify, illuminate and analyze the
conceptual approaches aimed at increasing the defense capability of the future national state in the “Pitfall of Glory” constitutional draft.
We can say with confidence that “Pitfall of Glory” was not only the draft of the first Armenian constitution and the creation of a republic, but also the first Armenian initiative aimed at the formation of the concept of the “Nation-Army”.