Before 1991, when the three Caucasian republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia declared their independence, the region of the South Caucasus was an interesting place of interaction between these countries at many levels. A dying communist regime, declining Soviet economy, the weakening of the Kremlin's centralised system and new political realities brought new challenges, developments and confrontations. By the late-1980s the region was in the grip of political and ethnic turmoil and economic collapse leading to armed conflicts that resulted in many thousands of deaths, refugees, ruined economies, lack of infrastructure and mistrust. In this context, and in the light of new geo-political developments, the military bases deployed in all three Caucasian countries, which have the fastest growing military budgets in the world, acquired a new significance and played, and continues play, a crucial role in forming the identity of these newly independent states.