Second Nagorno-Karabakh War — Key Events — Caucasus

What happened

Azerbaijan launches a full offensive and wins in 44 days — Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones, Israeli loitering munitions and artillery mass against entrenched Armenian defences, culminating in the fall of Shusha (Shushi). Several thousand die on each side; Azerbaijan recovers the seven surrounding districts and part of the former NKAO.

The war ended the post-1994 order, previewed the drone-centric warfare Ukraine would generalise, made Türkiye a formal party to the region's security, and reduced Russian primacy to a peacekeeping mandate it would fail to honour.

Confidence: High

When27 Sep – 10 Nov 2020

WhereKarabakh · Shusha / Shushi

KindMilitary · Territorial change · Weapons deliveries

ArenaArmenia–Azerbaijan / Karabakh legacy

Confidence: High Sources: Established historical record · International Crisis Group ↗ Methodology Corrections

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Connected records

9 records that this event names, or that name it — every one an explicit reference in a published record, nothing inferred from subject matter.

Part of1

Campaigns whose record places this event inside them.

Karabakh conflictThe forty-four-day war

Participants6

Organisations this event records, with the role and confidence it states.

Also named2

Where this fits

This is one entry in the Caucasus timeline. The full Key Events surface carries every dated turning point with its filters and its essential subset, and this event in place shows what came before and after it. How Vigil grades, dates and sources its claims is set out in the methodology.