231-582: Independence of Armenia , Azerbaijan , and Georgia [REDACTED] Caucasus Army [REDACTED] : 1914: 100,000–160,000 1916: 250,000–702,000 [REDACTED] 119,000 (up to September 1916) The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire , later including Armenia , Azerbaijan , Georgia , the Mountainous Republic of
462-539: A 1961 Soviet encyclopedia that places the death toll at 198 thousand. An estimate by historian Christopher J. Walker places the number of Armenians massacred between 1919 and 1922 at "probably" 250 thousand. According to Soviet historian Zaven Korkotyan, the territory of present-day Armenia had a population of 961,677 in 1919, indicating that Armenia lost 241,677 or 25 percent of its population from 1919 to its sovietisation in late 1920. With Sergo Ordzhonikidze 's approval, Revkom units advanced into Armenia from Qazax on
693-560: A Western Armenian fedayee, Sebouh Nersesian , with the directive to suppress the uprising. On 13 May, Sebouh's unit reached Alexandropol; by the next day the rebels fled the city whilst government forces entered and established order. The leaders of the revolt, including Sargis Musayelyan and Ghukas Ghukasyan, were initially imprisoned as the Soviet government on 4 June warned the Armenian government that diplomatic relations would be "detrimented" if
924-454: A bridge between themselves". Gevorg Varshamyan [ hy ] was appointed to become the civil governor of the district. Armenia's annexation of Nakhchivan was announced on 3 May 1919, after which Armenian forces commanded by Drastamat Kanayan advanced southward into the district along the railway. On 13 May 1919, Khatisian arrived in Nakhchivan to discuss terms of capitulation with
1155-518: A diversion of Russian forces to this front from the Polish and Galician fronts. A Caucasus campaign would have a distracting effect on Russian forces. The plan found sympathy with Germany . Germany supplied the missing resources and the Ottoman 3rd Army 's manpower was used to achieve the desired distraction. War Minister Enver Pasha hoped a success would facilitate opening the route to Tiflis and beyond with
1386-560: A forced deportation of all Armenians out of region with the Tehcir Law to the Syria and Mosul. By June 13, Russian units were back to their starting line. On June 19, the Russians launched another offensive; this time northwest of Lake Van. The Russians, under Oganovski, launched an attack into the hills west of Manzikert. The Russians underestimated the size of the Ottoman army, and were surprised by
1617-641: A foreign power. At the start of the war Russia launched offensives against both Germany and Austria-Hungary that were meant to achieve a rapid victory. The invasion of East Prussia was completely defeated while the advance into Austria-Hungary stalled in the Carpathians , and following successful offensives by the Central Powers in 1915 its gains were reversed. Germany and Austria-Hungary defeated Russian forces in Galicia and Poland , causing Russia to abandon
1848-474: A full mobilization to follow the military's existing mobilization schedule. Nicholas hoped Germany would see this as a regional conflict between Russia and Austria, but because their war plans depended on taking advantage of Russia's slower mobilization speed, and due to the position of both countries, they felt pressure to go to war immediately. Austria-Hungary began full mobilization on 31 July, and Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914. Russia's plan at
2079-570: A general advance and a corresponding strategic retreat by the Russian Army. The cause of the reverses suffered by the Russian Army, despite a significant numerical superiority over the German enemy, was not so many errors in the tactical sphere, as the deficiency in technical equipment, particularly in artillery and ammunition as well as the corruption and incompetence of the Russian officers. Only by 1916 did
2310-481: A general superiority in forces, almost every Central Powers's operation in 1915 was "unexpected" for the command from the front to the regimental level. Passion for undercover intelligence in the highest Russian headquarters did not justify itself, and tactical intelligence was still based on barely reliable testimony of prisoners, in the absence of which the command up to the army, inclusive, was simply "blind". The separation of artillery from infantry with subordination to
2541-635: A horse and almost half deprived of a cow or ox. In the Akhalkalaki uezd , which was claimed by Armenia, 60,000 of 110,000 inhabitants had survived, over seventy villages were completely destroyed by the Turkish army in 1918. On 18 October 1918, as the Ottoman Empire was preparing itself to capitulate to the Allies, Armenian forces entered southern Lori and came into contact with German–Georgian forces. In response,
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#17328439738642772-510: A large Turkish force which counterattacked . Russian forces began to march from Manzikert towards Mush. However, they were not aware of the fact that the Turkish IX Corps, together with the 17th and 28th Divisions was moving to Mush as well. Although the conditions were extremely difficult, the Turks were executing a very efficient reorganization. 1st and 5th Expeditionary Forces were positioned to
3003-586: A million men, the Romanian Army suffered from poor training and a lack of appropriate equipment. The initial success of the Romanian Army in Austria-Hungarian territory was quickly undermined by the Central Powers. German and Austro-Hungarian troops advanced from the north, while Bulgarian-Turkish-German forces marched into Romania from the south. Although thought to be a tactical blunder by contemporaries,
3234-507: A nation with a distinct and distinguished history was spread by patriots, teachers, writers, and revolutionaries". The Russian offensive during the Caucasus campaign of World War I , the subsequent occupation and creation of a provisional administrative government gave hope for ending Ottoman Turkish rule in Western Armenia. With the help of several battalions of Armenians recruited from
3465-589: A potential fifth column . The genocide continued until 1918. The main objective of the Ottoman Empire was the recovery of territory in the Caucasus , including regions captured by the Russian Empire as a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 . The strategic goals of the Caucasus campaign for Ottoman forces was to retake Artvin , Ardahan , Kars , and the port of Batum . A success in this region would mean
3696-451: A question of time. But should Germany succeed I hesitate to think what the effect will be on the fortunes of the campaign. … and yet no one seems to have thought it his particular duty to prepare a plan... Up until 1916, the Romanians followed the tides of war with interest, while attempting to situate themselves in the most advantageous position. French and Russian diplomats had begun courting
3927-556: A result of the uprising, leaving 25,000 homeless (including nearly 6,000 refugees from Shusha). On 5 April 1920, to relieve pressure in Karabakh, Azerbaijani forces in Qazax initiated border clashes with Armenia. During the following two weeks, they occupied strategic heights and occupied and burned Armenian villages. On 9 April, a short-lived ceasefire was reached, however, it was broken by Azerbaijani forces occupied several other villages – this
4158-524: A revolt of Caucasian Muslims. The Ottoman strategic goal was to cut Russian access to the hydrocarbon resources around the Caspian Sea . Russia viewed the Caucasus front as secondary to the Eastern (European) front . The Eastern Front had the most Russian manpower and resources. Russia had taken the city of Kars from the Turks in 1877 and feared an Ottoman advance into the Caucasus aimed at retaking Kars and
4389-653: A series of Russian offensives which would force the Germans to deploy additional forces to counter them. The first such operation was the Lake Naroch Offensive in March–April 1916, the Germans repulsed the attacks, but the offensive achieved its main goal - the Germans stopped the attack on Verdun, giving the French a break. The Italian operations during 1916 had one extraordinary result: Austrian divisions were pulled away from
4620-611: A specific foreign power". Despite the US sending $ 11 million (equivalent to $ 167,302,326 in 2023) in aid to Armenia, the vote for an American mandate over Armenia was rejected by the Senate on 1 June 1920. At the Paris Peace Conference, the delegation led by Avetis Aharonian from the Armenian republic united with the delegation from the Armenian diaspora , headed by Boghos Nubar , forming
4851-565: A steady advance. The Russian Eighth Army overwhelmed the Austrian Fourth and pushed on to Lutsk, advancing 40 miles (64 km) beyond the starting position. Over a million Austrians were lost, with over 500,000 men killed or taken prisoner by mid-June. Although the Brusilov offensive was initially successful, it slowed down considerably. An inadequate number of troops and poorly maintained supply lines hindered Brusilov's ability to follow up on
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#17328439738645082-551: A wide front, and to position their trenches a mere 75 yards (69 m) away from Austrian trenches. Brusilov's plan worked impeccably. The Russians outnumbered the Austrians 200,000 to 150,000, and held a considerable advantage in guns, with 904 large guns to 600. Most importantly innovative new tactics similar to those independently invented by Erwin Rommel were used to perform quick and effective close-range surprise attacks that allowed
5313-510: The 2nd Army . At the beginning of the conflict, the combined forces of the Ottomans ranged from 100,000 to 190,000 men. At the beginning of 1916, the Turks sent huge reinforcements to the Caucasus consisting of troops who had previously won the Gallipoli campaign , their total number was 445 battalions, 159 squadrons, as well as about 12,000 Kurds Many were poorly equipped. Before the war, Russia had
5544-865: The Armenian genocide . in Baku , Ottoman –Azerbaijani forces slew some 15,000 Armenians in the September Days massacre, in retribution for the March Days massacre of thousands of Azerbaijanis. Despite these atrocities, a peace agreement was signed in Tiflis under the auspices of Georgia and the United States in order to end the Azerbaijani campaign against Zangezur. In the areas claimed by Armenia and disputed with Azerbaijan and Georgia, there were 410,000 Armenians, 460,000 Muslims, and 36,000 others, totalling 906,000. Despite
5775-560: The Battle of Erzincan (July 2–25). On July 2, Erzincan was captured. The Ottoman offensive against Trabzon was halted as they tried to stabilize their front lines to prevent the Russians from entering Anatolia and Mesopotamia. After their defeat, the Ottoman Army gave Mustafa Kemal the organization of the defense of the region in August. The region was controlled by the 2nd Army. When Mustafa Kemal
6006-475: The Battle of Stallupönen , which was the opening battle of the Eastern Front, quickly turned to a disastrous defeat following the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914; even though the Russians were successfully defending at Gumbinnen a while before Tannenberg. After the Russian disaster, German troops under the command of Hindenburg inflicted another crushing defeat on the numerically superior Russian army in
6237-472: The Bergmann Offensive , Russians crossed the frontier first. They planned to capture Doğubeyazıt and Köprüköy . The official Russian declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire came on November 2. The established force for this goal was 25 infantry battalions, 37 cavalry units and 120 artillery guns. It had two wings. On the right-wing, the Russian I Corps crossed the border and moved from Sarikamish toward
6468-486: The Erivan Governorate regained an Armenian majority for the first time in several hundred years, and these regions would later "form the nucleus" of an independent Armenia. Armenian nationalism was rooted in the "long textual tradition" of clerics and scholars. According to historians Edmund Herzig and Marina Kurkchiyan, "in the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth centuries a coherent sense of Armenians as
6699-727: The February Revolution in March [ O.S. February] 1917, caused by food shortages in Russian cities, began a decline in discipline among the troops. After the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II , the Russian Provisional Government chose to continue the war to fulfill its obligations to the Entente. In July 1917 Russia's last offensive of the war ended in failure, and in September Germany captured Riga , bringing
6930-675: The First Battle of the Masurian Lakes . A second Russian incursion into Galicia was more successful, with the Russians controlling almost all of that region by the end of 1914, routing four Austrian armies in the process. Under the command of Nikolai Ivanov , Nikolai Ruzsky and Aleksei Brusilov , the Russians won the Battle of Galicia in September and began the Siege of Przemyśl , the next fortress on
7161-667: The First Republic of Armenia Nazarbekian became the first Commander-in-chief of the whole Armenian state. By the beginning of 1918, the Armenian National Army (made up of 17,000 former troops of the Russian army augmented by 4,000 local volunteers) numbered some 20,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry, and according to Allen and Muratoff, on 1 January 1918, the Armenian Corps had: (N.B. the battalions fluctuated in strength from 400 to 600 men.) Contrary to initial Turkish opinion,
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7392-593: The Georgian army bolstered its presence in the region. These manoeuvres set the scene for an Armeno-Georgian military confrontation. The territorial conflict with Georgia was rooted in the contention over the counties of Akhalkalaki and Borchaly , particularly, the Lori subdistrict of the latter—both sectors possessed an Armenian ethnic majority . Under Georgian control, the Armenians of Lori were discontent due to their treatment by
7623-690: The German Army closer to the Russian capital. This was followed by a military coup attempt that weakened the Provisional Government. The Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Republic in the October Revolution of November [ O.S. October] 1917. Despite the political instability, the majority of the Russian Army was still intact and stayed at the front line until early 1918, though
7854-524: The Middle Ages . In its first year of independence, Armenia was confined to a small territory around Lake Sevan after its invasion by the Ottoman Empire during the Caucasus campaign . Following the Armistice of Mudros , Armenia expanded its borders in the wake of the Ottoman withdrawal, leading to a brief border war with neighbouring Georgia . During its first winter, hundreds of thousands of refugees in
8085-519: The Paris Peace Conference 's decision on the inter-Caucasian borders. Before Nagorno-Karabakh's capitulation, Azerbaijani forces carried out a massacre of 600 Armenians in villages nearby Shusha to pressure the region's inhabitants into submission. Andranik, who had been tasked with the defence of Erzurum, denounced the Dashnaks and Armenia for their treachery in seeking peace after gaining
8316-572: The Polish salient , parts of Belarus and the Baltic region , and Galicia . However, the campaigns of 1914–1915 also failed to achieve Germany's objective of taking Russia out of the war, and by 1916 Germany prioritized its resources for winning in the West. Russia went on the offensive to take pressure off of France at Verdun : Russia's attack near Lake Naroch in early 1916 was quickly defeated by Germany, but in
8547-740: The Pontic Greeks were unhappy with the decision to assign Pontus to Armenia, "Greek and Armenian officials were confident that the issue could be resolved through adequate guarantees for an autonomous administration in the Pontus". On 10 August 1920, Armenian representatives in Paris signed the Treaty of Sèvres, thereby granting it de jure recognition and assigning it 103,599 square kilometres (40,000 square miles), thus expanding Armenia's borders to "60,000 square miles or 155,000 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to
8778-819: The Russian Caucasus Army stationed here, with 100,000 men under the nominal command of the Governor-General of the Caucasus Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov . The real commander was his chief of staff General Nikolai Yudenich . At the onset of the Caucasus campaign, the Russians had to redeploy almost half of their forces to the Prussian front due to the defeats at the Battle of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes , leaving behind just 60,000 troops. However, this army had much greater Armenian support with
9009-507: The Russian annexation of the Karabakh Khanate in 1801 and the khanates of Erivan and Nakhichevan in 1828. Due to Russian colonial policies, large numbers of Armenians from Persia and the Ottoman Empire repatriated to Russian Armenia. Armenians had already formed a majority in some regions, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, and this migration bolstered their numbers in the area. In particular,
9240-401: The Transcaucasian Commissariat on 28 November 1917, which would later form the nucleus of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR). As Russian and Ottoman armies, despite the revolution, were still engaged in combat, the Transcaucasian Commissariat signed the Armistice of Erzincan with the Ottoman Empire on 18 December. On 30 January 1918, the Ottoman Empire in violation of
9471-451: The offensive , came close to Krakow and occupied Chernivtsi, but a counterattack by the Central Powers saved the situation. The year ended with a bloody battle on the rivers Bzura, Ravka, Nida and Pilica, where the Central Powers planned to take Warsaw, but could not and were forced to withdraw from the battle. In 1915 the Chief of German Great General Staff , General of Infantry Erich von Falkenhayn decided to make its main effort on
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9702-419: The "Delegation of Integral Armenia". With Greek and Russian backing, Armenia claimed territories of the defeated Ottoman Empire covering the Six Vilayets and Cilicia . The White Russian delegation, whilst refusing to tolerate the independence of Azerbaijan and Georgia, was willing to allow Russian Armenia to unite with Turkish Armenia, believing that "such a united Armenia will be our friend and even ally in
9933-443: The "persecution of Communists continued" and due to the fact that several notable Dashnaks were imprisoned in Russia and Azerbaijan at the time. Moreover, Armenia's domestic situation deteriorated as the government lost its prestige. In Soviet historiography, the uprising was "extensively glorified and sharply criticized", the latter due to its poor organisation and irresolution—critics agreed that "Bolshevism in Armenia existed only in
10164-424: The "spark" that ignited the First World War is attributed to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip, which took place on 28 June 1914. Approximately a month later, on 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This act led to a series of events that would quickly expand into the First World War; thus, the Habsburg government in Vienna initiated the pivotal decision that would begin
10395-401: The 2nd Army deep into Anatolia and defeated the Turks in the Battles of Mush and Bitlis (March 2 – August 24), driving the Ottoman army before it. Bitlis was the last defence point for the Ottoman Army to prevent the Russians from moving into central Anatolia and Mesopotamia. During July, General Yudenich then countered the Ottoman attack with an offensive of his own towards Erzincan. This was
10626-439: The 95000 Turks who fought the campaign survived. 30000 are said to have died of cold. The mean elevation of the district was 6500 feet above sea level and the Turkish army was supplied by a single railway and snowbound roads. After this, Enver gave up command. The Armenian volunteer units were definitely a factor in their defeat, as they challenged the Ottoman operations during critical times, and his experience may have been one of
10857-453: The Armenian Bolsheviks headed by Avis Nurijanyan staged a revolt in May. The events preceding the revolt started on 1 May 1920, International Workers' Day , with the Bolsheviks demonstrating against the Dashnak government in various cities. The revolt escalated after the armoured train Vardan Zoravar ( Վարդան Զորավար , ' General Vardan ') and its crew under the command of Captain Sargis Musayelyan [ hy ] joined
11088-405: The Armenian force was actually rather well-equipped and trained. The infantry were made up of veteran soldiers of the Druzhiny units which had fought alongside the Russians for almost four years, and they were allowed to—and did—recover the best of the equipment left behind by the decaying Russian Army. Alternative estimates given by the Ottoman Army state that the Armenian army numbered 50,000 men by
11319-421: The Armenian generals Nazarbekov , Silikian , and Pirumov who stayed in Caucasia. The Russian Caucasus Army dissipated in 1917 as the regular Russian regiments deserted the front line after the Russian Revolution . By 1917, when the Russian Caucasus Army disintegrated, there were 110,000–120,000 soldiers of Armenian ethnicity. This number approached 150,000 for the total Armenians (including other Allied forces) in
11550-416: The Armenian republic organised an "abortive" rebellion in Karabakh that led to the massacre and displacement of Shusha's Armenian population. Even though the Armenian rebels failed to oust Azerbaijani garrisons in Khankend and Shusha, the countryside of Nagorno-Karabakh was under local control. The Azerbaijani army, despite the Red Army being stationed on its frontiers, moved towards Karabakh to put down
11781-401: The Armenian residents of Van. A brigade of Trans-Baikal Cossacks under General Trukhin, and some Armenian volunteers advanced towards Van. On April 24, Interior minister Mehmed Talat passed the order of April 24 (known by the Armenians as Red Sunday ), claimed that the Armenians in this region organized under the leadership of the Russians and rebelled against his government. He claimed
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#173284397386412012-477: The Armenian victories at Abaran, Karakilisa, and Sardarabad reached the conference, the Ottomans agreed to a "minor territorial rectification" whereby an additional 400 square miles (1,000 square kilometres) in the Alexandropol uezd were relinquished "for the sake of the friendly relations that have begun". The Treaty of Batum was thereafter signed on 4 June. In June 1918, German officials informed Armenian representatives in Istanbul that Germany would not recognise
12243-413: The Armenians. On 24 October, a concerted Turkish attack began on Surmalu, however, Dro's forces repelled the attack 2 days later. By 29 October, Kars was surrounded on three sides, however, was well armed and prepared to withstand an assault. The military council of Kars prohibited the 40 thousand inhabitants of the city from evacuating "not to undermine troop morale or give cause for panic". On 30 October,
12474-409: The Austro-Hungarian offensive power against Serbia. Conversely, the Imperial German Navy believed it could be victorious over Britain with Russian neutrality, something which Moltke knew would not be possible. Austria-Hungary's participation in the outbreak of World War I has been neglected by historians, as emphasis has traditionally been placed on Germany's role as the prime instigator. However,
12705-441: The Balkans inflamed Slavic nationalism and angered Serbia. Bosnia-Herzegovina became a "rallying cry" for South Slavs, with hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Serbia steadily increasing. The situation was ripe for conflict, and when the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Austrian imperial heir, Franz Ferdinand, these longstanding hostilities culminated into an all-out war. The Allied Powers wholeheartedly supported
12936-475: The Black Sea gave the Russians some respite to replenish their forces. Additionally, actions at the Battle of Gallipoli which aimed at capturing the Ottoman capital helped the Russian forces on this front. On February 12, the commander of the 3rd Army Hafiz Hakki Pasha died of typhus and was replaced by Brigadier General Mahmut Kamil Pasha. Kamil faced the daunting task of putting the Ottoman army back in order. The military planners back in Istanbul were scared of
13167-418: The Bolshevik rebels who had formed a revolutionary committee and proclaimed Armenia a Soviet state in Alexandropol on 10 May. The Bolshevik rebels also seized control in Kars and Sarıkamış . On 5 May 1920, Khatisian's cabinet resigned and a new one was formed under the leadership of Hamo Ohanjanyan , made up entirely of Dashnaks. The parliament then declared a state of emergency , appointing to commander
13398-403: The Bolsheviks began taking steps to dissolve it in December 1917 while maintaining some forces against the Central Powers as their negotiations were ongoing. The new Soviet government established by the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers in March 1918 after Operation Faustschlag , taking Russia out of the war; leading to a Central Powers victory. However,
13629-476: The Dashnaks for "dislocation and ruin" that came as a result of the uprising. As a result of "Turkish–Azerbaijani aggression", Nagorno-Karabakh's population had declined by 20 percent in 1918–1920. Since 1920, Azerbaijani forces carried out massacres against Armenians in Khankend on 22 February 1920 leaving 400 dead, and Shusha from 22 to 26 March 1920 leaving 500 dead. By 11 April 1920, 30 villages in Nagorno-Karabakh had been "devastated" by Azerbaijani forces as
13860-501: The East". Greek prime minister Eleftherios Venizelos was a "staunch champion of the Armenians" and constantly kept their delegation apprised of developments. Armenian relations with Azerbaijan were strained by overlapping territorial claims coupled with ethnic cleansing conducted by both sides. Throughout August 1919, Armenian militias were exacting "retribution from the most vulnerable Muslim settlements", sacking large Muslim villages, and according to Azerbaijani diplomats, massacring
14091-417: The East. A series of failures in 1915 gave the Russians time to reconfigure industry for wartime, and they did it successfully, Russian industry began to overtake Austrian in terms of growth rates and eventually increased the productivity of ammunition several times. Here is what information was announced at the Duma meeting: The production of rifles doubled, the production of machine guns increased 6 times,
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#173284397386414322-467: The Eastern Front, and accordingly transferred considerable forces there. The year began with a successful German offensive in the area of the Masurian lakes . At the same time, a large battle for the city of Przasnysz took place on the Polish front. The city changed hands several times but eventually remained in Russian hands. As a result of the battle, the Germans lost from 38,000 to 60,000 soldiers and Russian losses amounted to about 40,000 men. In March,
14553-441: The Empire, while three million lived outside it. With the growing emergence of nationalism in the twentieth century, unity of all South Slavs looked promising. This tension is exemplified by Conrad von Hötzendorf 's letter to Franz Ferdinand: The unification of the South Slav race is one of the powerful national movements which can neither be ignored nor kept down. The question can only be, whether unification will take place within
14784-470: The Enos-Midia line as well as parts of the Black Sea coast of Anatolia between the Bosphorus, the Sakarya River and an undetermined point near the Bay of Izmit . The Russian Tsarist regime planned to replace the Muslim population of Northern Anatolia and Istanbul with more reliable Cossack settlers. The British worked with Russian revolutionary troops to prevent Enver Pasha's goal of establishing an independent Transcaucasia. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company
15015-421: The First Republic for short. Other names of the state include the Araratian Republic ( Արարատյան հանրապետություն , 'Ararat Republic'), as the republic was largely based around Mount Ararat ; Further names include the Republic of Erivan, and the Erivan Republic, as Yerevan was the principal city of the republic. These terms were often used by Ottoman Armenians and the Armenian diaspora who regarded
15246-493: The Georgian delegates of the Seim declared the independence of Georgia ; Azerbaijan followed suit two days later. With the collapse of the TDFR, the Armenian National Council , based in Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi ) and led by Russian Armenian intellectuals representing Armenian interests in the Caucasus, declared Armenia's independence on 28 May 1918. The council dispatched Hovhannes Kajaznuni and Alexander Khatisian , both Dashnaks, to Yerevan to assume power, and issued
15477-451: The German General Staff, led by Alfred von Schlieffen from 1891 to 1906, developed a plan that called for German armies to pass through Belgium and then turn south to quickly capture Paris, while a smaller German force would pin down the French defenders along the Franco-German border. With France being defeated before Russia could fully mobilize, Germany could then turn its focus on Russia, which Schlieffen believed would not be taken out of
15708-416: The Germans could no longer use the lack of artillery supplies from the Russians and the first setbacks began, the breakthrough to Minsk and the offensive on Dvinsk completely failed with heavy losses for the Germans, the offensive in central Belarus also turned out to be unsuccessful, the Russians began to behave more actively on the southern front, where Austria-Hungary suffered a heavy defeat near Lutsk,
15939-431: The Germans only huge losses, and the strengthening of the Russians in the region. Germans' initial plans to destroy the Russians in Poland ended in desperate attempts to prevent their invasion of Silesia At the same time, Austria-Hungary was trying to regain the territories lost in the summer, they attacked the Russians on the San River , and after a long period of fighting they were forced to retreat. The Russians went on
16170-440: The Germans tried to take Poland again, the third Battle of Warsaw began, and like the previous two, ended with the defeat of Germany. In May 1915, to eliminate the Russian threat the Central Powers began the successful Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive in Galicia. After the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes , the German and Austro-Hungarian troops on the Eastern Front functioned under a unified command. The offensive soon turned into
16401-413: The Kars Oblast. The Ottoman Empire also sponsored the creation of the Republic of Aras in the Muslim-dominated southern districts of the Erivan Governorate corresponding to Nakhchivan. Following the conclusion of the Armeno-Georgian War in late 1918, Armenia repositioned its forces to annex the Republic of Aras. Their advance into the district was halted by the establishment of a British governorship in
16632-675: The Near East where they opposed the Ottoman forces. In the summer of 1914, Armenian volunteer units were established under the Russian armed forces. It was initially established as detachment units (rather than part of Russian Caucasus Command) under the Viceroyalty of the Caucasus. These forces were commanded by Andranik Ozanian . Other leaders included Drastamat Kanayan , Hamazasp Srvandztyan , Arshak Gafavian , and Sargis Mehrabyan . An Ottoman representative Karekin Bastermadjian (Armen Karo)
16863-921: The Northern Caucasus , the German Empire , the Central Caspian Dictatorship , and the British Empire , as part of the Middle Eastern theatre during World War I . The Caucasus campaign extended from the South Caucasus to the Armenian Highlands region, reaching as far as Trabzon , Bitlis , Mush and Van . The land warfare was accompanied by naval engagements in the Black Sea . The Russian military campaign started on 1 November 1914 with
17094-577: The Oltu river. The voices of the militaristic factions in the Armenian government were strengthened by the successes in Zangibasar and Penek, therefore, the army prepared to retake the districts of Vedibasar and Nakhchivan; the advance into the former began on 11 July and by the next day, Armenian forces had recaptured the district and Boyuk Vedi, reaching the boundary of the Erivan and Sharur-Daralayaz districts at
17325-690: The Ottoman Empire was still engaged with the Central Caspian Dictatorship, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, and the Dunsterforce of the British Empire until the Armistice of Mudros was signed on October 30, 1918. The Turkish genocide of the Armenians began in April 1915 when 250 Armenians were arrested. The official reason was that the Armenians were in league with the Russians and could serve as
17556-739: The Ottoman delegation at Batum that Armenia would accept Turkish conditions for peace, thereby initiating the Batum Conference between Armenia and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans, in refusing to countenance Armenian pretensions to the highland portion of the Elizavetpol Governorate , offered Armenia the entirety of the Nor Bayazet uezd , and parts of the Erivan , Etchmiadzin , and Alexandropol counties, essentially confining it to an area of 4,000 square miles (10,000 square kilometres). When news of
17787-515: The Ottoman territory awarded to Armenian totalled 16,216 square miles (42,000 square kilometres). According to reporter Tatul Hakobyan , a total of 87,000 square kilometres (34,000 square miles) were awarded. For the Armenia–Azerbaijan–Georgia territorial disputes, Article 92 of the treaty provided for the arbitration of frontiers by the "Principal Allied Powers" if the states couldn't determine it themselves through "direct agreement" by
18018-713: The Paris Peace Conference was inconclusive on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, the governor-general, Khosrov bey Sultanov , dissolved the Armenians' autonomy and issued an ultimatum on 19 February 1920; thereby the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh were being coerced into permanently becoming part of Azerbaijan. The ultimatum was accepted by 45 Armenian representatives in Shusha , but was rejected by representatives who had gathered in Shosh who "categorically rejected any possibility of union with Azerbaijan". Receiving news that Azerbaijan intended to "move against Zangezur" again on 25 March, agents from
18249-685: The Polish central authority within the Empire, responsible for the formation of the Polish Legions , an auxiliary military formation within the Austro-Hungarian army. At the end of 1914, the main focus of the fighting shifted to central part of Russian Poland , west of the river Vistula . The October Battle of the Vistula River , Augustow operation , and the November Battle of Łódź they brought
18480-541: The Romanians early on, but persuasion tactics gradually intensified. For King Ferdinand to commit his force of half a million men, he expected the Allies to offer a substantial incentive. Playing on Romanian anti-Hungarian sentiment the Allies promised the Austria-Hungarian territory of Ardeal (Transylvania) to Romania. Transylvanian demographics strongly favoured the Romanians. Romania succumbed to Allied enticement on 18 August 1916. Nine days later, on 27 August, Romanian troops marched into Transylvania. Romania's entry into
18711-508: The Romanians opted to mount operations in both directions. By the middle of November the German force passed through the Carpathians, suffering significant casualties due to determined Romanian resistance. By 5 December, Bulgarian troops had crossed the Danube and were approaching the capital, Bucharest . At the same time as the Austro-Hungarian troops moved east, and as the Bulgarians marched north,
18942-681: The Russian Empire, the Russian Imperial Army advanced as far as the city of Erzurum in 1916, continuing to make considerable advances even after the toppling of Tsar Nicholas II in February 1917. Following news of the Bolshevik coup in Russia , the Ozakom (a committee formed in February by the Russian Provisional Government to oversee the Caucasus ) was superseded by a caretaker government known as
19173-619: The Russian flag wave freely over the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, Let your will the peoples [Armenian] remaining under the Turkish yoke receive freedom. Let the Armenian people of Turkey who have suffered for the faith of Christ receive resurrection for a new free life... On December 15, 1914, at the Battle of Ardahan , the city was captured by the Turks. This was an operation commanded by the German Lt. Col. Stange. The mission of Stange Bey Detachment
19404-466: The Russian invasion of Turkish Armenia. In February 1917, the Russian advance was halted following the Russian Revolution . The Russian Caucasus Army soon disintegrated and was replaced by the forces of the newly established Transcaucasian state, comprising partly of Armenian volunteer units and irregular units which had previously been part of the Russian Army. During 1918 the region also saw
19635-400: The Russian southern front. This allowed the Russian forces to organize a counter-offensive. The Brusilov offensive was a large tactical assault carried out by Russian forces against Austro-Hungarian forces in Galicia. General Aleksei Brusilov believed victory against the Central Powers was possible if close attention was paid to preparation. Brusilov suggested that the Russians should attack on
19866-463: The Russian troops. On January 6, the 3rd Army headquarters found itself under fire. Hafiz Hakki Pasha ordered a total retreat. On January 7, the remaining forces began their march towards Erzurum. The resulting Battle of Sarikamish became a stunning defeat. Only 10% of the Army managed to retreat back to its starting position. The entire IX Corps surrendered to the Russians. By mid-January less than 18000 of
20097-417: The Russians advancing deeper into the mainland. During March the strategic situation remained stable. The completely devastated 3rd Army received new blood through reinforcements from the 1st and 2nd Armies, although these supplements were not stronger than a division. The Battle of Gallipoli was draining every Ottoman resource. Meanwhile, the Russians were holding the towns of Eleşkirt, Ağrı and Doğubeyazıt in
20328-417: The Russians to attack in an attempt to distract the Turks, and Yudenich agreed. The resulting offensive began on 10 January 1916. This offensive was unanticipated by the Turks, as it was in the middle of winter. The Turkish situation was exacerbated by the absences of Third Army's commander Kamil Pasha and Chief of Staff Major Guse. Coupled with an imbalance of forces – the Russians had 325,000 troops while
20559-502: The Serbian response to it was rejected, Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia on 28 July. Russia had made a decision to support Serbia and defend its interests in the Balkans before that, and on 29 July Russian emperor Nicholas II ordered a partial mobilization of the Russian Army in the military districts that bordered Austria. The following day he was convinced by his advisors to order
20790-649: The Slavs' nationalistic fight. George Macaulay Trevelyan , a British historian, saw Serbia's war against Austria-Hungary as a "war of liberation" that would "free South Slavs from tyranny." In his own words: "If ever there was a battle for freedom, there is such a battle now going on in Southeastern Europe against Austrian and Magyar. If this war ends in the overthrow of the Magyar tyranny, an immense step forward will have been taken toward racial liberty and European peace." In
21021-519: The Somme , while the Brusilov offensive continued in the East. It is certain that so relatively small a state as Rumania had never before been given a role so important, and, indeed, so decisive for the history of the world at so favorable a moment. Never before had two Great Powers like Germany and Austria found themselves so much at the mercy of the military resources of a country which had scarcely one twentieth of
21252-538: The Southwest Caucasus Republic dissipated when it defied British directives by backing Muslim insurgents in the counties of Akhalkalaki and Akhaltsikhe to resist Georgia. This prompted the Georgian government to unite with Armenia's in opposing the Southwest Caucasus Republic's existence. Consequently, the Kars Oblast (excluding western Olti and northern Ardahan ) was annexed to Armenia, falling under
21483-598: The TDFR would be also obligated to cede western sectors of the Erivan and Tiflis governorates . Without awaiting the TDFR's consent to the new terms, the Ottomans resumed their offensive in Armenia on 21 May, leading to the battles of Abaran , Karakilisa , and Sardarabad , whereby local Armenian forces emerged victorious. In retaliation for their losses, the Turkish divisions defeated by Armenians massacred several thousand villagers. On 26 May, after secret negotiations with Germany ,
21714-489: The Treaty of Batum. Though denying Armenia official recognition, Germany promised a conference whereby the treaties would be "revised". Armenian representatives in the Ottoman capital humbled themselves as to "expressing gratitude" to the unsympathetic Enver Pasha for tolerating the Armenian republic's establishment. Enver rejected any notion of the Armenian republic expanding its borders, observing that he had consented to "a small Armenian state that could never in any way affect
21945-467: The Turkish 3rd Army commenced its offensive with the participation of the XI Corps and all cavalry units. The Russians gained territory after the withdrawal of the 18th and the 30th Divisions. Ottoman forces managed to maintain their positions at Köprüköy. By November 12, the Turkish IX Corps with Ahmet Fevzi Pasha had reinforced the XI Corps on the left flank. The 3rd Army began to push the Russians back with
22176-526: The Turkish army occupied the city of Kars, "which was supposed to be impregnable", "it was to be the last day the Armenian flag would fly over the citadel of Kars". According to a French source, "fatigue, starvation, lack of clothing and equipment" disorganised the 25 thousand men defending Kars, enabling its capture by 12 thousand Turks. The fall of Kars led to the capture of thousands of officers, 2 thousand of whom were taken to Erzurum for forced labour and internment. There were 1,500 Armenian casualties after
22407-454: The Turkish invasion of May–September 1918, including 25,000 in the Kars Oblast. In the six-months of Turkish occupation of Eastern Armenia, particularly in the region of Pambak , Armenians were used as "bayonet practice" by Turkish soldiers. Hovannisian estimates that at least 8,000 young men were taken to Erzurum for slave labour, and 125,000 livestock, 30,000 agricultural equipment, 6,000 carts and 18,000 tons of foodstuffs were confiscated by
22638-515: The Turkish invasion, Georgia was averse to "tie its fate with that of the beleaguered Armenians". Turkish envoys assured the Georgian government that Turkey would present no threat to them, and wouldn't object to Georgia occupying "certain territories in contention with Armenia". Georgia had already attempted to assert its authority in Armenian-held Ardahan, though with limited success. During
22869-415: The Turkish resistance movement and overestimated their own strength and potential". On 30 September, Armenia mobilised men up to 35-years-old. The Turkish attacks on Merdenek , Sarıkamış, and Kağızman displaced some 50 thousand Armenians. According to American High Commissioner Mark Bristol , "the Armenians had started the trouble by moving into Olti in the summer". Though the Georgian press had denounced
23100-399: The Turks only 78,000 – the situation appeared grim for the Central Powers. After three months of fighting, the Russians captured the city of Trabzon on 18 April 1916. Allied operations in 1916 were dictated by an urgent need to force Germany to transfer forces from its Western to Eastern fronts, to relieve the pressure on the French at the Battle of Verdun . This was to be accomplished by
23331-496: The Turks whilst they were on the run, however, Silikian refused and ordered his forces to halt. This is due to the fact that the Armenian forces' ammunition were nearly exhausted, and the Turks' reinforcements were close. According to the UCLA historian Richard G. Hovannisian , "If peace were not concluded and the tide of victory turned in favor of the Ottomans, the consequences would be disastrous". Armenian negotiators on 30 May informed
23562-688: The Volunteer Army was defeated in the North Caucasus region by the victorious Bolsheviks; in light of this, the League of Nations and the Supreme Allied Council formally recognised Georgia and Azerbaijan as de facto governments over the region. Armenia's recognition followed on 19 January; the recognition was used as a last-ditch effort to prevent the sovietisation of the South Caucasus. As
23793-569: The War Ministry. The Minister of War was responsible for organizing the production of weapons and ammunition, the implementation of the replenishment of troop personnel, military transportation outside the provinces declared a theater of military operations. The military districts in the theater of operations were subordinate to the commanders-in-chief of the armies of the fronts, but not to the Headquarters. Military production also lagged behind: until
24024-487: The Western Entente soon defeated the Central Powers, with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk being annulled by the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . Romania and the Central Powers signed a separate peace treaty on 7 May 1918, but it was canceled by Romania on 10 November 1918. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand eventually led to Austria-Hungary 's ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July 1914 with German backing, and after
24255-712: The armistice, launched an offensive to recapture Western Armenia. Delegates of the major South Caucasian political parties established the Transcaucasian Seim —the representative and legislative body of the TDFR —on 23 February, with the Dashnaks representing the Armenians, the Musavat the Muslims and Caucasian Tatars, and the Mensheviks the Georgians . On 2 March, a delegation from the Seim
24486-490: The attack, of whom 500 were killed. Another source writes that 6,000 Armenians were massacred by the Turks following the capture of Kars. In the span of two months, Armenia "lay prostrate in defeat"; Karabekir imposed on Armenia the Treaty of Alexandropol on 3 December 1920, whereby the latter denounced the Treaty of Sèvres and was confined to the province of Yerevan, thereby ceding Kars, Nakhchivan, and Surmalu. The other terms of
24717-455: The attention of Mahmut Kamil near the Deve-Boyun ridge, Russian forces broke through at Forts Kara-gobek and Tafet. The result was that both rings of the cities' defenses had been penetrated. In April, the Caucasus army moved in two directions from Erzurum. Part went north and captured the ancient port city of Trabzon . The other part moved in the direction of Mush and Bitlis .These units pushed
24948-519: The beginning of 1918, while post-war Russian sources put Armenia's strength as two veteran rifle divisions, three brigades of volunteers, and one brigade of cavalry. Lionel Dunsterville was appointed in 1917 to lead an Allied force of under 1,000 Australian, British, Canadian and New Zealand troops, accompanied by armored cars. Japan provided support to Russia on the Caucasus Front, although direct participation of Japanese troops in combat operations
25179-402: The beginning of the war, there was more light artillery than France, and no less than Germany. The first events were the capture of Kalish and Chenhostov by the Germans without fighting, and the first real clash was clashes at Wierzbołów . The first full-scale operation was invasion of East Prussia on 17 August 1914 and the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia . The Russian offensive in
25410-461: The borders of the Central Powers, removing the threat of Russian invasion of Germany, although there was still slight Russian penetration into Austria-Hungary. At the end of 1915 the German-Austrian advance was stopped on the line Riga – Jakobstadt – Dünaburg – Baranovichi – Pinsk – Dubno – Tarnopol . The general outline of this front line did not change until the Russian collapse in 1917. During
25641-539: The boundaries of the Monarchy – that is at the expense of Serbia's independence – or under Serbia's leadership at the expense of the Monarchy. The cost to the Monarchy would be the loss of its South Slav provinces and thus of almost its entire coastline. The loss of territory and prestige would relegate the Monarchy to the status of a small power. The annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908 by Austrian foreign minister Baron von Aehrenthal in an effort to assert domination over
25872-599: The broad Armenian Revolutionary Federation party (commonly referred to as the Dashnaks), however, the cabinet posts were initially shared with the "bourgeois" Armenian Populist Party and later, Social Revolutionaries . Since Armenia's gaining of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, in Armenia and modern historiography, the state is referred to as the First Republic of Armenia ( Հայաստանի Առաջին Հանրապետություն ) or
26103-460: The buildup of Russian war industries increase the production of war material and improve the supply situation. By mid-1915, the Russians had been expelled from Russian Poland , The whole campaign cost the Russians about 400,000 men, however, the Germans and Austrians suffered setbacks, their attempt to break through to Lublin was repulsed with losses of 37,500 people, the Russians lost 9,524 people, and hence pushed hundreds of kilometers away from
26334-449: The campaign of 1915, the Russian Empire lost the entire line of western fortresses, and more than 4,000 guns. The causes of heavy defeats and losses of personnel, weapons, and as a result - vast territories (the entire Kingdom of Poland, part of the Baltic states, Grodno , partly Volhynia and Podolia provinces - up to 300,000 square kilometers) were to a large extent systemic shortcomings in
26565-510: The catalysts that led the Three Pashas, of which one was Enver , to their decision to conduct the Armenian genocide only a few months later. After his return to Constantinople, Enver blamed this defeat on Armenians living in the region actively siding with the Russians. On January 18, 1915, the Lt. Col. Stange's Turkish unit was recalled from the area around Ardahan. It was to stay behind the lines in
26796-462: The city. In discussions of a territorial settlement, the Armenian negotiators ultimately offered to drop their claim on the Akhalkalaki district in return for the entirety of the Lori neutral zone, however, Georgia was only willing to drop its claims on the districts of Olti and southern Lori. During its independence, Armenia established diplomatic relations with 40 countries. By 10 January 1920,
27027-455: The civil governorship of Stepan Ghorghanyan [ hy ] —this allowed for the repatriation of 60,000 Armenians (out of more than 100,000 had fled in April 1918). As a result of the annexation, Armenia increased its territory to "more than 17,000 square miles (44,000 square kilometres)". In an announcement to parliament, Armenian prime minister Alexander Khatisian announced that as of 3 June 1919, 300,000 Armenians had been resettled in
27258-402: The command of General Tovmas Nazarbekian . Drastamat Kanayan was assigned as a civilian commissioner. The frontline had three main divisions: Movses Silikyan , Andranik Ozanian and Mikhail Areshian . Another regular unit was under Colonel Korganian. The line from Van to Erzincan was also organized through these units. It was mentioned that Adrianic had 150,000 men. After the declaration of
27489-596: The commander of the "united troops of the Soviet Russia and Red Turkey in Nakhichevan" addressed the Armenian army in Şahtaxtı, proclaiming Soviet rule over the rest of Nakhchivan, thereby ending the Armenian campaign. As no country was willing to assume the mandate over Armenia, the peace conference decided to only assign it the vilayets of Erzurum , Van , Bitlis , and Trebizond , with the precise boundary to be arbitrated by American president Woodrow Wilson . Although
27720-683: The conflict. The causes of the Great War have generally been defined in diplomatic terms, but certain deep-seated issues in Austria-Hungary undoubtedly contributed to the beginnings of the First World War. The Austro-Hungarian situation in the Balkans pre-1914 is a primary factor in its involvement in the war. The movement towards South Slav unity was a major problem for the Habsburg Empire, which
27951-432: The construction of fortifications in the rear of the troops. Most often, such work was hastily carried out by militia squads and the mobilized local population, sometimes including women, and then brought to the necessary defensive state by the combat units retreating on them, already exhausted by battles and night marches. Russian strategic expanses allowed the army to take a break from failures and start active resistance,
28182-707: The country as "only a dusty province without Ottoman Armenia whose salvation Armenians had been seeking for 40 years". It has also been known as the Dashnak Republic due to the fact that the Dashnaks were the dominant political force in the country . During the Soviet-era , the Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia referred to the state as the Bourgeois Republic of Armenia ( Հայաստանի Բուրժուական Հանրապետություն ). Sources vary on when Armenian statehood
28413-477: The country of Czecho-Slovakia or the state of Illinois ". During the League of Nations's discussions regarding Armenia's application to join the organisation, it was stated that "Wilson's award might expand the territory from the existing 70,551 square kilometers, or 26,305 (actually 27,232) square miles, to as much as 214,000 square kilometers, or 80,000 (actually 82,604) square miles". According to Hewsen and Walker,
28644-576: The country who had fled the Armenian genocide died from starvation or exposure. In the spring of 1919, Armenia, with British support, incorporated the formerly occupied regions of Kars and Nakhchivan , thereby tripling in size since independence; however, Armenian control of these regions collapsed during the Muslim uprisings that erupted in the summer of 1919. In late 1919, the isolated Armenian region of Zangezur came under attack by neighbouring Azerbaijan . The fighting subsided until an Armenian rebellion
28875-568: The data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 192,000 people died due to the typhus epidemic and famine by the summer of 1919. The Ninth Army of the Ottoman Empire occupied the Kars Oblast at the time of the Armistice of Mudros, being permitted to winter in the district until early 1919; on 7 January 1919, the British ordered their complete withdrawal to the pre-war Russo-Ottoman border. Intended to hinder
29106-415: The defense of Van from Ottoman massacres to be an example. This was the beginning of the Armenian genocide . On May 6, the Russian advance began through the Tortum Valley towards Erzurum. The Ottoman 29th and 30th Divisions managed to stop this assault. The Ottoman X Corps counter-attacked the Russian forces. But on the southern part of this advance, Ottoman forces were not as successful as they have been in
29337-422: The difficulty of tactical responsibility, to slaughter often without purpose. We sent them, being ourselves far away, not seeing either our own or the enemy, and therefore not conforming to reality. Instead of punishment, we reward such leaders, because as far as the leaders were far away, the same, but still more, the higher leaders kept even more distant. People ceased to be people, but turned into pawns. We went to
29568-402: The direction of Köprüköy. They reached Köprüköy on November 4. On the left-wing, the Russian IV Corps moved from Yerevan to Pasinler Plains. The commander of 3rd Army, Hasan Izzet was not in favor of an offensive action in the harsh winter conditions. His plan was to remain in defense and launch a counterattack at the right time. This was overridden by the War Minister Enver Pasha. On November 7,
29799-407: The district of Sardarapat had died. By April 1919, 40 percent of the inhabitants of eight villages near Etchmiadzin and 25 percent of the sixteen villages in Ashtarak perished. During the winter, the population of the district of Talin declined by 50 percent, and nearly 60 percent of Armenians in Surmalu died of starvation. American historian Richard Pipes writes that Soviet estimates place
30030-426: The district, formed as a means to prevent clashes between Armenian soldiers and local Muslims of up to 10,000 armed men. British sympathy to the Aras Republic was reversed under the authority of Major-General William Montgomerie Thomson who suspected Pan-Turkic influence in Nakhchivan due to the presence of Azerbaijani and Ottoman envoys. Thomson believed that Azerbaijan and the Ottoman Empire were scheming to "forge
30261-420: The dreadnought "Empress Maria". Japanese volunteers also fought in the ranks of the Russian army on the Caucasus Front. Two soldiers are known to have died in battle in January 1916, while another 9 Japanese continued to fight as part of the Caucasian Army. The press raised the question of possibly dispatching Japanese troops to the Caucasus Front, but the government did not pursue this option. On November 1, in
30492-406: The end of autumn, the active army suffered from a shortage of rifles and ammunition, the consumption of which turned out to be incommensurable with the volume of production. Contemporaries also noted the isolation of the Russian commanding staff from the soldiers, the lack of practical warfare skills among the top-level commanders. "We did have courage to send people to mass slaughter, hiding behind
30723-441: The entire Polish salient to be defended by local fortresses and the Warsaw garrison. Under this version Russia would not have taken any offensive action and would have waited to react to movements by Germany and Austria-Hungary. The defensive nature of Russian planning went back to the military reforms in the 1860s following the Crimean War and was also influenced by the limited capability of Russia's railway network to facilitate
30954-495: The establishment of the Central Caspian Dictatorship, the Republic of Mountainous Armenia and an Allied intervention force, nicknamed Dunsterforce , composed of troops drawn from the Mesopotamian and Western Fronts. On March 3, 1918, the campaign had terminated between the Ottoman Empire and Russia with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , and on June 4, 1918, the Ottomans signed the Treaty of Batum with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia gaining independence. However, conflict continued as
31185-421: The fight in a state of some kind of oblivion and stunnedness", wrote the representative of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Infantry General Fyodor Palitzin , in his diary. Failures in the Russian system of command and control of troops and the organization of hostilities occurred at other levels. Thus, serious shortcomings in reconnaissance led to the absence of any analysis of the enemy's plans and actions. With
31416-410: The first time in decades that Russian war planning was primarily offensive. Prior to the outbreak of war, German strategy was based on the Schlieffen Plan . With the Franco-Russian Agreement in place from the early 1890s, Germany knew that war with either of these combatants would result in war with the other, which meant that there would be a two-front war in both the west and the east. Therefore,
31647-407: The following "intentionally vague" statement on 30 May (retroactive to 28 May): In view of the dissolution of the political unity of Transcaucasia and the new situation created by the proclamation of the independence of Georgia and Azerbaijan, the Armenian National Council declares itself to be the supreme and only administration for the Armenian provinces. Because of the certain grave circumstances,
31878-402: The following year, the number of refugees declined to 310,835. By late 1920, about 360,000 (almost half of Armenia's population of 720,000) or 200,000 refugees remained. By the time relief aid reached Armenia, some 150,000–180,000 refugees (20 percent of the population) had perished due to famine, exposure, or hunger. According to a report from February 1919, 40 percent of the inhabitants of
32109-532: The following year, the number of refugees fell to 263,393. During this period, there was a flow of Western Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus . In 1918 to the spring of 1919, the number of refugees from Western Armenia was estimated to be 300,000, with 100,000 residing in "makeshift shelters or abandoned military barracks" in Alexandropol alone. In November 1919, the number of refugees again rose, reaching 333,170 and consisting of 284,870 Western Armenians and 48,300 Eastern Armenians. In April of
32340-406: The former, falling back to Selim where they believed the Turks would strike. Accompanying the civilian population, Armenian forces retreated eastwards to more defensible positions. After Karabekir announced his successes to Kemal, the latter ordered a temporary halt to the invasion, fearful of Allied or Russian intervention. The Turkish victory had indicated that "the Armenians had underestimated
32571-405: The heads of intellectuals". On 18 June 1920, Armenia issued an ultimatum to the Muslim insurgents in the outskirts, some 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) of Yerevan, to submit to Armenian rule. Having no expectation that the ultimatum would be answered, the Armenian army launched an offensive to recapture the rebelling villages on the following day; the Armenians were victorious on 21 June and had secured
32802-405: The immediate years preceding the First World War , the Kingdom of Romania was involved in the Second Balkan War on the side of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and the Ottoman Empire against Bulgaria. The Treaty of Bucharest , signed on 10 August 1913, ended the Balkan conflict and added 6,960 square kilometers to Romania's territory. Although militarized, Romania decided upon a policy of neutrality at
33033-498: The initial difficulties in Armenia–Georgia relations , the two governments signed a transit treaty on 3 November 1919 which was "substantive and immediate in its economic implications". The half-million Armenians in Georgia were "resented" by the Georgians due to the former's "decades-long ... dominance in Tiflis". In the Georgian capital, the Armenians had suddenly become a "disadvantaged minority", most who were civil servants were dismissed, and refugees and families were evicted from
33264-404: The initial victories in June. The Brusilov offensive is considered to be the greatest Russian victory of the First World War. Although it cost the Russians half a million casualties during the first two months alone, the offensive successfully diverted substantial forces of the Central Powers from the Western front, and persuaded Romania to join the war, diverting even more Central Powers forces to
33495-411: The inspectors of the corps and ammunition supply units (park brigades and divisions) created difficulties in the operational replenishment of ammunition and shells in the combat units. At the same time, huge stockpiles of ammunition were created in the fortresses, which were then delivered to the enemy during the retreat or destroyed due to the impossibility of evacuation. Special units were not created for
33726-567: The interests of the new Turkish empire". On 30 October 1918, the Armistice of Mudros was signed, thus ending hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies . The armistice only stipulated the Ottomans' withdrawal to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk boundaries, thereby allowing their armies to winter in Kars and Batum. Throughout November, Ottoman forces evacuated the Erivan Governorate, thereby Armenia gained 6,000 square miles (16,000 square kilometres) of formerly-occupied territory. An estimated 50,000–100,000 Armenians had been massacred during
33957-399: The latter policy prevailed in the case of Penek. Armenian and Turkish reports confirmed the presence of Turkish soldiers operating in the district; in spite of this, the Armenian offensive to capture the western half of the Olti district began on 19 June 1920. By 22 June, the Armenian army had converged on Penek and ousted its Turko-Kurdish defenders, setting the new Armenian–Turkish frontier at
34188-411: The major Ottoman fort at Erzurum . The winter is not normally a time for military activity in this part of the world. The bitter cold and terrible roads contributed greatly to the annihilation of Enver Pasha's 3rd Army in the previous year. The Russian General Yudenich viewed this as an opportunity to take the Ottomans by surprise. The Russians achieved total surprise and destroyed an Ottoman division that
34419-424: The management of the armed forces and the defense industry. The multi-stage placement of military orders, their slow passage in the depths of the War Ministry, the disunity of the front and rear played a negative role. Thus, until the autumn of 1915, the Russian Supreme Commander-in-Chief only coordinated the actions of the commanders-in-chief of the armies of the fronts, distributed reinforcements, requesting them from
34650-487: The massive Allied armada that landed in Galipoli . Meanwhile, Russia was preoccupied with other armies on the Eastern Front. However, the appointment of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich as Viceroy and Commander in the Caucasus in September 1915 revived the situation of the Russo-Turkish front. When the Allies withdrew from Gallipoli in December, the Caucasus Army's Chief of Staff General Nikolai Yudenich believed Turkish forces would take action against his army. This concern
34881-407: The men of six villages and destroying "300 Muslim villages ... since the beginning of 1918". Conversely, 25,000–40,000 Armenians in western Azerbaijan were massacred by the Azerbaijani–Ottoman advance in 1918, forcing the survivors to gather in the three remaining Armenian villages (of 51 originally); further, thousands of Armenian women and girls were abducted during the advance, in an extension of
35112-473: The minister of war of the Aras Republic, Kalb Ali Khan Nakhichevanskii [ ru ] , thereby effecting the annexation. Beginning in July 1919, a series of insurgencies against Armenian rule erupted in the Kars and Nakhchivan regions, fostered by Azerbaijani and Turkish envoys who instructed local Muslims to resist. The insurgencies were motivated by the British military withdrawal from Armenia which took place in mid-June. The town of Böyük Vedi and
35343-402: The more adept Erich Ludendorff , was given effective control of the army and ordered to advance on Romania. On 3 September, the first troops of the Central Powers marched into Romanian territory. Simultaneously, the Bulgarian Air Force commenced an incessant bombing of Bucharest . In an attempt to relieve some pressure, French and British forces launched a new offensive known as the Battle of
35574-439: The most notable among them being Quartermaster-General Yuri Danilov 's argument for going on the offensive against both Germany and Austria-Hungary. In early 1912, the Russian high command decided on a variant of the plan known as Schedule 19A, in which two Russian armies would invade East Prussia while four armies would invade Galicia . This did not give Russia the decisive advantage in either location, but it tried to balance
35805-464: The mountain pass known as the "Wolf's Gates"—this again caused the local Muslims to flee, now southward to Sharur . On 14 July, the Armenian advance continued through the Wolf's Gates into the Sharur district, capturing it two days later whilst the locals fled across the Aras river into Iran. Before the Armenians could advance into the Nakhichevan uezd proper, the national council ( Azerbaijani : milli şura ) of Nakhchivan appealed for peace, however,
36036-408: The national council, deferring until the near future the formation of an Armenian National government, temporarily assumes all governmental functions, in order to take hold the political and administrative helm of the Armenian provinces. With the success in the May battles in Abaran, Karakilisa, and Sardarabad, Armenian commander Movses Silikian was urged by the Armenian military command to chase out
36267-433: The need for Russia to support France by attacking Germany while also acknowledging that the main interest of Russian foreign policy was in the Balkans . The plan also meant that Russia would begin its offensive before its army was fully mobilized, but it was believed that this was a necessary risk, because there would be a limited amount of time to attack Germany in support of France. The adoption of Schedule 19A in 1912 marked
36498-430: The negotiations only served in delaying Armenia's advance, after which the town of Şahtaxtı some 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Nakhchivan was captured. By this time, the 11th Army of Soviet Russia (which had previously sovietised Azerbaijan ) reached southern Nakhchivan to form a link with Kemalist Turkey — through this link, Russia hoped to bolster its supply of weapons and ammunition to Turkey. Colonel Tarkhov,
36729-412: The newly established Armenian and Azerbaijani republics engaged in a two-year war over their territorial ambitions. The disputed regions were principally Nakhchivan, Zangezur, and Nagorno-Karabakh. In the 18,000 km (6,900 sq mi) of mountainous highlands of the Elizavetpol Governorate which were mostly controlled by Azerbaijan yet claimed by Armenia, Armenians formed "nearly 70 percent of
36960-420: The night of 28–29 November 1920. On 29 November, the Revkom issued its declaration, proclaiming Soviet rule in Armenia—the declaration began as follows: By the will and desire of the insurgent labouring people of Armenia, the Armenian Communist Party declares Armenia from this day a Socialist Soviet Republic . Henceforth, Soviet Armenia's Red Flag will protect the working people from the centuries-long yoke of
37191-482: The north to the Black Sea in the south, involved most of Eastern Europe , and stretched deep into Central Europe . The term contrasts with the Western Front , which was being fought in Belgium and France . Unlike the static warfare on the Western Front, the fighting on the geographically larger Eastern Front was more dynamic , often involving the flanking and encirclement of entire formations, and resulted in over 100,000 square miles of territory becoming occupied by
37422-403: The north. On May 11 the town of Manzikert had fallen . On May 17, Russian forces entered the town of Van. On May 21, General Yudenich arrived in the city, received the keys to the city and citadel and confirmed the Armenian provisional government in office, with Aram Manukian as governor. The Fedayee turned over the city of Van. With Van secure, fighting shifted farther west for the rest of
37653-408: The number of Armenians who perished due to famine and disease at 300,000. In 1919, 19,000 inhabitants of Yerevan contracted typhus and 10,000 died from exposure, famine, and pestilence. By mid-1919, 200,000 inhabitants of Armenia had perished; according to Hovannisian, there were 8.7 births and 204.2 deaths per 1,000 persons, yielding a net loss of 195.5—"it was verily a land of death". According to
37884-406: The oppressors Eastern Front (World War I) October 1917 October 1917 The Eastern Front or Eastern Theater of World War I was a theater of operations that encompassed at its greatest extent the entire frontier between Russia and Romania on one side and Austria-Hungary , Bulgaria , the Ottoman Empire , and Germany on the other. It ranged from the Baltic Sea in
38115-436: The other side the situation was very different; the Ottoman High Command failed to make up the losses during this period. The war in Gallipoli was sucking all the resources and manpower. The IX, X and XI Corps could not be reinforced and in addition to that the 1st and 5th Expeditionary Forces were deployed to Mesopotamia. Enver Pasha, after not achieving his ambitions or recognizing the dire situation on other fronts, decided that
38346-411: The outbreak of war was known as Schedule 19. Approved by Emperor Nicholas II in July 1910 and amended over the next two years, the plan concentrated Russia's armies on its western border with Germany and Austria-Hungary and was initially defensive. The original Schedule 19 would have had the Russian Army mobilize its troops to locations that were a significant distance away from its western border and leave
38577-456: The peripheries of Yerevan, leading the Azerbaijani population to flee to Aralık in the nearby Surmalu uezd to avoid retribution. Occurring simultaneously with the Armenian counteroffensive against insurgents near Yerevan, an attempt was made to seize the coal reserves in Penek . Armenian policy towards integration of Muslim areas was split between peaceful civilian incorporation with local autonomy and military invasion and threats, ultimately,
38808-406: The population of the two great states. Judging by the military situation, it was to be expected that Rumania had only to advance where she wished to decide the world war in favor of those Powers which had been hurling themselves at us in vain for years. Thus everything seemed to depend on whether Rumania was ready to make any sort of use of her momentary advantage. The entrance of Romania into the war
39039-414: The population"; the claimed boundaries were designed to incorporate a maximum number of Armenians, 300,000, also incorporating "a minimum number of Muslims", 90,000. If Armenia successfully incorporated the highlands of Elizavetpol, its population, "according to pre-war statistics", would rise to 1.797 million, including 1.169 million Armenians. According to Hovannisian, a population exchange whilst practical
39270-407: The port of Batum. In March 1915, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Sazonov stated in a meeting with British ambassador George Buchanan and French Ambassador Maurice Paléologue that a lasting postwar settlement demanded full Russian possession of Constantinople (the capital city of the Ottoman Empire), the straits of Bosphorus and Dardanelles , the Sea of Marmara , southern Thrace up to
39501-421: The president of the Armenian National Assembly , declared at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 that they accompanied the main Armenian units. The Russian defensive line from Van to Erzincan was organized through these units. In December 1917, the Dashnaks of the Armenian national liberation movement through the Armenian National Congress established a military force. The corps realigned themselves under
39732-408: The production of light guns increased 9 times, the production of artillery shells increased 40 times, the production of heavy artillery increased 4 times, and finally, the production of aircraft increased 4 times. It is no exaggeration to say that Roumania may be the turning-point of the campaign. If the Germans fail there it will be the greatest disaster inflicted upon them. Afterwards it will only be
39963-549: The provisional Ottoman government failed to win support for ratification of the Treaty of Sèvres, remnants of the Ottoman Army's XV Corps under the command of Kâzım Karabekir , who had orders from the Ankara Government to "eliminate Armenia physically and politically", invaded Armenia on 28 September 1920. After unsuccessful Turkish manoeuvres in Sarıkamış, Armenian military command, not believing its 2.5 thousand and 1.5 thousand man garrisons in Sarıkamış and Olti-Merdenek, respectively, were enough to hold those positions, evacuated
40194-458: The quick mobilization of troops, though that was gradually improving. Russian strategy remained this way until developments that took place starting in 1911. That was the year that the French Army chief of staff visited Russia and asked the Russian high command to plan for an immediate offensive if war with Germany broke out to help prevent them from capturing Paris. This was also in accordance with Russia's 1892 promise to attack Germany if France
40425-404: The rebellion. As the Armenian army was dispatched by Armenia to assist the rebels, the Red Army put an end to the Azerbaijani republic through an unabated invasion. An ultimatum by the Red Army—which supplanted the Azerbaijani army following the latter's sovietisation—prompted an the army's withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh. The region's Armenian inhabitants blamed the Armenian republic's agents and
40656-404: The region and absorb Muslim-controlled Nakhchivan, however, were forced to retreat some days later due to their defeat in battle, despite initially meeting success on all fronts. According to Hewsen, Armenia's foreign policy objectives consisted of "obtaining foreign aid to prevent its people from perishing, ... securing international recognition ... and ... placing Armenia under the protection of
40887-475: The region was of secondary importance. As of January 1916, Ottoman forces were 126,000 men, with only 50,539 being combatants. There were 74,057 rifles, 77 machine guns, and 180 pieces of artillery. The Ottoman force in the Caucasus campaign was large on paper, but not on the ground. The Ottomans assumed that the Russians would not bother to attack. This assumption turned out to be false. In early January, Yudenich secretly left his winter quarters and marched towards
41118-414: The region; only on March 1, 1915, did it regain its initial position. In February, General Yudenich was praised for the victory and promoted to commander-in-chief of all Russian troops in the Caucasus. The Allies (British and France) asked Russia to relieve the pressure on the Western front. In return, Russia asked the Allies to relieve pressure in the Caucasus by a naval attack. The resulting operations in
41349-438: The reports of large-scale massacres of the local Armenians in the Nakhchivan region, amounting to 10,000 dead and 45 villages destroyed. During the insurgencies, only the Volunteer Army of Anton Denikin sent ammunition to replenish the Armenian army. By late 1919, Armenia lost control of the peripheries of the Kars and Surmalu regions, as well as the entirety of Nakhchivan. In 1918, after attaining independence from Russia,
41580-404: The retreating Ottoman army. The richest areas were left barren, stripped of crops, animals, tools, and any movable possessions. Little trace remained of the former Armenian villages, with all clothing, furniture, utensils, pottery, and even doors and windows taken. Along the railway, no functioning locomotives or freight cars were left, and each station lay in ruins. In Alexandropol , rubble filled
41811-415: The road towards Kraków . This early Russian success in 1914 on the Austro-Russian border was a reason for concern to the Central Powers and caused considerable German forces to be transferred to the East to take pressure off the Austrians, leading to the creation of the new German Ninth Army . The Austro-Hungarian government accepted the Polish proposal of establishing the Supreme National Committee as
42042-487: The situation was saved by German reserves. The Russians also began to go on the offensive to ease the pressure on Serbia, although unsuccessfully, but there was a turning point in the war in favor of Russia, failing to finish the campaign in 1915, the Germans were deprived of the opportunity to win the war. After the Battle of Sarikamish , the Russo-Turkish front quickly turned in favor of Russian forces. The Turks were concerned with reorganizing their army and also fighting
42273-408: The soldiers—using this pretext, Armenia fomented insurrection, thereby elevating tensions. Skirmishes began on 7 December, and escalated in Armenia's favour, with them coming within 30 miles (48 kilometres) of Tiflis, after which Allied representatives demanded a ceasefire. Armenia was unsuccessful in its objective of occupying lands up to the Khrami river and was pushed back by Georgian forces to
42504-417: The south of the Russian offensive force and a "Right Wing Group" was established under the command of Brigadier General Abdülkerim Paşa. This group was independent from the Third Army and Abdülkerim Paşa was directly reporting to Enver Paşa. The Turks were ready to face the Russian attacks. On September 24, Grand Duke Nicholas was promoted to being in charge of all Russian forces in the Caucasus. In reality, he
42735-633: The south. Military action never escalated above small-scale skirmishes—the Ottomans simply did not have enough forces to secure the whole East Anatolian region. On April 20, the resistance at the city of Van began. The Armenian defenders were protecting 30,000 residents and 15,000 refugees with 1,500 able bodied riflemen who were supplied with 300 rifles and 1,000 pistols and antique weapons. The conflict lasted more than three weeks until General Yudenich's force came to rescue them. General Yudenich began an offensive (May 6) moving into Ottoman territory. One wing of this offensive headed towards Lake Van to relieve
42966-469: The start of the First World War, mainly due to having territorial interests in both Austria-Hungary ( Transylvania and Bukovina ) and in Russia ( Bessarabia ). Strong cultural influences also affected Romanian leanings, however. King Carol I , as a Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , favoured his Germanic roots, while the Romanian people, influenced by their Orthodox church and Latin-based language, were inclined to join France. Perhaps King Carol's attempts at joining
43197-519: The streets after the Turks set off explosives and ammunition before withdrawing. Hovannisian further adds: "As the Armenian soldiers advanced, the full significance of the saying, 'the Turk has passed here,' was bruisingly demonstrated". As a result of the Turkish invasion, 200 villages were plundered, half the vineyards in the Aras River valley were ruined, 200,000 large-horned animals were chased away in addition to thousands of carts of agricultural implements, and 80 percent of households were deprived of
43428-412: The summer of 1916 the Brusilov offensive became the largest Entente victory in the war. Russia inflicted over one million casualties on Austria-Hungary and forced Germany to redeploy divisions from the Western Front, at the cost of its own heavy losses. In August 1916 Romania entered the war but was quickly overrun by Germany, though Russia helped prevent a total Romanian collapse. The events of
43659-441: The summer of 1918 was packed with "at least six hundred thousand refugees", one of the factors that led him to write that "of the three Transcaucasian republics Armenia suffered the greatest hardship in the fateful years 1918–1920". By December 1918, there remained 350,000 refugees distributed throughout the Armenian republic, in addition to 30,000 who had accompanied Armenian partisan commander Andranik to Zangezur. In February of
43890-418: The summer. Ottoman forces continued to be pushed back. The region south of Lake Van was extremely vulnerable. The Turks had to defend a line of more than 600 kilometers with only 50,000 men and 130 pieces of artillery. They were clearly outnumbered by the Russians. The region was mountainous, thus difficult to attack or defend. On May 27, during the Russian offensive, the interior minister of Talat Pasha ordered
44121-451: The support of the cavalry. The 3rd Infantry Regiment managed to invade Köprüköy after the Azap Offensive between November 17 and 20. The front had stabilized by the end of November, with the Russians having advanced 25 kilometers into the Ottoman Empire along the Erzurum-Sarikamish axis. There was Russian success along the southern shoulders of the offensive where Armenian volunteers were effective and took Karaköse and Doğubeyazıt. Doğubeyazıt
44352-578: The time of the delineation of Armenia's western frontier. On 10 August 1920, the same day that Armenia signed the Treaty of Sèvres which set their western frontier, a treaty with Soviet Russia was signed which set their "preliminary" eastern frontier; the agreement provided for an end to Soviet–Armenian clashes in Zangezur and Qazax, for Armenia to "occupy" the Şahtaxtı– Xok – Aznabyurt – Bardzruni – Kükü – Gorayk line and in Qazax, "the line they held on 30 July" of 1920. The treaty also recognised Karabakh, Nakhchivan, and Zangezur as disputed districts that Russia
44583-456: The treaty effectively made Armenia a Turkish puppet state. However, the treaty was later declared null by the new authorities in Yerevan who had sovietised the country the previous day. "In consequence of Turkish, and, presumably, Communist, massacres", 200 thousand Armenians were massacred. Another estimate places the number of Armenians massacred by the Turkish army during the war at 100 thousand. Turkish–German historian Taner Akçam mentions
44814-415: The upper hand in battle, seeing them as becoming "nothing more than an Ottoman vassal state". With his three-thousand-strong force, Andranik "pushed over Nakhichevan into Zangezur", where he remained for the duration of the war, destroying Tatar villages and expelling their inhabitants. Thereby the Armenians "retained control in Zangezur". In early November 1919, Azerbaijan launched a campaign to incorporate
45045-432: The village cluster around it served as a symbol of defiance for Muslims in Armenia. As the insurgencies raged, the Azerbaijani diplomatic envoy to Armenia, Mahammad khan Takinski [ az ] , transferred funds to the insurgents and apprised the Azerbaijani government of developments —earlier, he had worked to forestall the Armenian annexation of Nakhchivan. Investigations by American relief workers confirmed
45276-423: The village of Sadakhlo by the time of the ceasefire which came into effect at midnight on 31 December. In spite of being pushed back in the last days of the war, Armenia was successful in loosening Georgian control over northern Lori, which the latter had held before the war, insomuch as the region was designated a neutral zone under British supervision. Yale historian Firuz Kazemzadeh wrote that Armenia in
45507-437: The visit of the Tsar to Constanța on 14 June 1914, signaled in a new era of positive relations between the two countries. Nevertheless, King Ferdinand I of Romania maintained a policy of neutrality, intending to gain the most for Romania by negotiating between competing powers. The result of the negotiations with the Entente was the Treaty of Bucharest (1916) , which stipulated the conditions under which Romania agreed to join
45738-467: The war as quickly because of its much larger territory. The Schlieffen Plan was actually a change from his predecessor in the 1880s, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder , who believed that Germany should first be on the defensive in the west and should coordinate with Austria to defeat Russia. Schlieffen's successor at the General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger , maintained the basic plan that Schlieffen put forward in 1905 of quickly knocking out France in
45969-439: The war on the side of the Central powers would have been fruitful had he not died in 1914, but Romanian disenchantment with Austria-Hungary had already influenced public and political opinion. French endorsement of Romanian action against Bulgaria, and support of the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest was particularly effective at inclining Romania towards the Entente. Furthermore, Russian courting of Romanian sympathies, exemplified by
46200-427: The war on the side of the Entente, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary : Transylvania, Crișana and Maramureș , the whole Banat and most of Bukovina. According to historian John Keegan, these enticements offered by the Allies were never concrete, for in secret, Russia and France agreed not to honor any conventions when the end of the war came. In the years prior to 1914, Austro-Russian co-operation
46431-491: The war provoked major strategic changes for the Germans. In September 1916, German troops were mobilized to the Eastern Front. Additionally, the German Chief of the General Staff, General Erich Von Falkenhayn was forced to resign from office though his successor appointed him to command the combined Central Powers forces against Romania, along with General August von Mackensen . Kaiser Wilhelm II immediately replaced Falkenhayn with Paul von Hindenburg . Von Hindenburg's deputy,
46662-410: The war, the Armenian army fielded 40 thousand men, including 33 generals, more than 2 thousand officers, and 66 colonels. However, the army's structure was "top-heavy with a large, conservative officer corps accustomed to classical battle strategies". On 14 October, the Turkish army resumed its offensive, reaching the Merdenek-Selim-Kağızman line. On 27 October, Karabekir attacked towards Kars, flanking
46893-414: The west before turning to focus on Russia, thereby avoiding a two-front war. This strategy was fully adopted by the German government in 1913. But the plan did not take into account that the growing military capabilities of Russia in the years since the Russo-Japanese War meant that the Russian mobilization would proceed faster than Schlieffen had originally thought. Another problem with the German strategy
47124-533: The westward expansion of the fledgling Armenian and Georgian republics into the Kars Oblast, the Ottomans backed the establishment of the Southwest Caucasus Republic with moral support, also furnishing it with weapons, ammunition, and instructors. The Southwest Caucasus Republic administered the entire Kars and Batum oblasts as well as neighbouring occupied districts for some three months before provoking British intervention, leading to its capitulation by Armenian and British forces on 10 April 1919. British tolerance of
47355-419: The year 1916 was spent by the Turks making organizational and operational changes in the Caucasian front. Fortunately for the Ottoman commanders, the Russians were quiet during this period. The winter of 1916–17 was extremely harsh, which made fighting nearly impossible. First Republic of Armenia The First Republic of Armenia , officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia ,
47586-639: Was also united to this force. Initially, they had 20,000 men, but throughout the conflicts, it was reported that their number increased. At the turn of 1916, Nikolai Yudenich decided to either merge these units under the Russian Caucasus Army or dismantle them. The Armenian national liberation movement commanded the Armenian Fedayee ( Armenian : Ֆէտայի Fētayi ) during these conflicts. These civilian forces generally organized around famous leaders, such as Murad of Sebastia ( Armenian : Սեբաստացի Մուրատ Sebastats'i Murat ). These were generally referred to as Armenian partisan guerrilla detachments . Boghos Nubar ,
47817-419: Was an independent Armenian state that existed from May (28th de jure , 30th de facto ) 1918 to 2 December 1920 in the Armenian-populated territories of the former Russian Empire known as Eastern or Russian Armenia . The republic was established in May 1918, with its capital in the city of Yerevan , after the dissolution of the short-lived Transcaucasian Federation . It was the first Armenian state since
48048-481: Was assigned to his post, the enemy forces were in constant advance. Fighting around the east side of Lake Van continued throughout the summer but was inconclusive. In the earlier periods of the campaign, the XVI Corps managed to take Bitlis and Mush. Ahmet İzzet Paşa decided to attack one week after the conclusion of the Russian offensive. A military force was gathered and sent marching along the coast. The Second Army advanced on August 2. While Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich
48279-417: Was both crucial for European peace and difficult to maintain. Old suspicions exacerbated by the Bosnian crisis stood in the way of agreement between the two empires, as did ethnic sensitivities. The Russian military was the largest in the world consisting of 1,400,000 men. They could also mobilize up to 5 million men, but only had 4.6 million rifles to give them. Russian troops were satisfactorily supplied at
48510-452: Was deemed "preposterous" for the Karabakh Armenians because the region's cession "to the Pan-Turanian fanatics will open the door to endless invasions, endanger the peace of the Orient, and shake the political equilibrium off its foundations". Nagorno-Karabakh, despite initially being self-governed , capitulated to British–Azerbaijani pressure and became an autonomous part of Azerbaijan through an agreement signed on 22 August 1919, pending
48741-422: Was disconcerting for von Hindenburg. On 15 September, Paul von Hindenburg issued the following order, stating that: "The main task of the Armies is now to hold fast all positions on the Western, Eastern, Italian and Macedonian Fronts, and to employ all other available forces against Rumania." Fortunately for the Central Powers, the quantity and quality of the Romanian Army was overestimated. Although numbering half
48972-520: Was facing increasing nationalist pressure from its multinational populace. As Europe's third largest state, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was hardly homogeneous; comprising over fifty million people and eleven nationalities, the Empire was a conglomeration of a number of diverse cultures, languages, and peoples. Specifically, the South Slavic people of Austria-Hungary desired to amalgamate with Serbia in an effort to officially solidify their shared cultural heritage. Over seven million South Slavs lived inside
49203-401: Was in Ardahan. On December 22, at the Battle of Sarikamish , the 3rd Army received the order to advance towards Kars. In the face of the 3rd Army's advance, Governor Vorontsov planned to pull the Russian Caucasus Army back to Kars. Yudenich ignored Vorontsov's wish to withdraw. He stayed to defend Sarikamis. Enver Pasha assumed personal command of the 3rd Army and ordered it into battle against
49434-438: Was in the north and pushing the Ottoman 3rd Army , the Ottoman 2nd Army was in the south facing the insurgency and the second branch of the Russian army under General Tovmas Nazarbekian and a detachment of Armenian volunteer units led by Andranik Ozanian . After fighting from 1–9 August 1916, the Ottoman Army was overwhelmed and the entire region fell to the Russian Empire and Armenian volunteers, and thus an assault on Van
49665-453: Was in the proposed path of Ottoman ambitions, and owned the exclusive rights to work petroleum deposits throughout the Persian Empire except in the provinces of Azerbaijan , Ghilan , Mazendaran, Asdrabad and Khorasan. In 1914, before the war, the British government had contracted with the company for the supply of oil-fuel for the navy. The Ottomans had one army based in the region, the 3rd Army . In 1916, they sent reinforcements and formed
49896-422: Was in winter quarters in the Battle of Koprukoy (January 10–18). On February 16, Mahmut Kamil was forced to order the 3rd Army to retreat from the city, as Yudenich had a numerical advantage over the Ottoman army. The difference was not big enough to be decisive, so Yudenich's plan was to attack the center of the Ottoman defenses, with the key attack falling in a weakly held sector. While diversionary attacks held
50127-492: Was invaded in order to open a second front. In 1912 the Russian chief of staff, Yakov Zhilinsky , told the French that Russia would go on the offensive against Germany fifteen days after the start of its mobilization. By this point, the improvements in Russia's infrastructure made this a lot more feasible, and there was also domestic pressure for Russia to not abandon its borderlands to foreign occupation. In 1911 new proposals for modifying Schedule 19 were made by army officers, with
50358-413: Was justified through a note from the Azerbaijani government to Armenia, accusing it of attacking nine Azerbaijani settlements. On 18 April, officials from Dilijan and Qazax agreed on a ceasefire agreement that included the repatriation of all displaced residents and the restoration of the former boundary, thereby ending the clashes. Encouraged by the Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan in late April 1920,
50589-401: Was launched in March of the following year in Nagorno-Karabakh (then under provisional Azerbaijani rule), ending in April after Azerbaijan's sovietisation . In August 1920, Armenian representatives at the Paris Peace Conference signed the Treaty of Sèvres , which awarded Armenia an additional 40,000 square miles (100,000 square kilometres) of territory in Western Armenia , albeit the treaty
50820-580: Was legitimate: Bulgaria's entry into the war as Germany's ally in October caused serious alarm, as a land route from Germany to Turkey was now open and would allow for an unrestricted flow of German weapons to the Turks. A "window of opportunity" appeared that would allow the Russians to destroy the Turkish Third Army, as the British required assistance in Mesopotamia (now modern day Iraq). Britain's efforts to besiege Baghdad had been halted at Ctesiphon, and they were forced to retreat. This led to an increasing number of attacks by Turkish forces. The British requested
51051-536: Was limited. As early as November–December 1914, Japan began supplying Russia with a large number of domestically produced rifles (6.5 mm caliber). Some of these weapons were sent to the Caucasian Army. In total, about 300,000 Japanese rifles were supplied to the Caucasus and Northern fronts. Several Japanese officers were sent to the Caucasus Front: In November 1916, at the request of the Russian Naval Department, 12 Japanese divers and technicians led by Captain Tanaka Kotaro were sent to Sevastopol to participate in raising
51282-462: Was lost. Though the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia ceased to exist in 1375, other sources suggest that Armenian statehood was lost in 1045 with the fall of Bagratid Armenia as Cilician Armenia was outside of the traditional Armenian homeland, while Bagratid Armenia was the last major independent Armenian state in the Armenian Highlands . In the centuries after losing its independence, Armenia remained mostly under Muslim Turkic or Persian rule until
51513-596: Was never implemented. In late 1920, Armenia was invaded by Kemalist Turkey , ending with its partition and sovietisation by the Russian SFSR , with the latter founding the superseding Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic . Shortly thereafter, an anti-Bolshevik revolt resisted Soviet authority from February to July 1921 . In the two and a half years of its existence, Armenia formed diplomatic relations with 40 countries, gained de jure recognition, underwent parliamentary elections , and founded its first university . The nation's parliament and government were dominated by
51744-452: Was only accepted by the Trancaucasian delegates weeks later on 5 April. Due to this delay, the Ottomans continued their advance and reached the pre-war 1914 Russo-Turkish frontier by the end of March. On 11 May, a new peace conference was convened in Batum ; the Ottoman delegation stated that as the Ottoman Empire and TDFR were in a state of war, they would no longer recognise Brest-Litovsk and instead presented an alternative treaty by which
51975-408: Was prevented. By late September, the Ottoman attack ended. The cost for the 2nd Army was 30,000 killed and wounded. The Russians strengthened their lines. They were strong enough to respond with counteroffensives two weeks after the launch of the Ottoman offensive. The Russians held up the advance. From September to the Russian Revolution, the Russian Navy still dominated the Black Sea. The rest of
52206-408: Was removed from being Supreme Commander of the Russian Caucasus Army which was the highest executive position [actual conduct of the war] for the Caucasus campaign. His replacement was General Yudenich. This front was quiet from October till the end of the year. Yudenich used this period to reorganize. Around the start of 1916, Russian forces reached a level of 200,000 men and 380 pieces of artillery. On
52437-421: Was scheduled to depart to participate in the Trebizond Peace Conference with the Ottoman Empire; however, by the time of the conference, Soviet Russia had signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers , ceding Kars and Batum to the Ottomans. From the outset of the Trebizond Peace Conference, the Ottomans demanded that the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk serve as the basis of peace negotiations, which
52668-509: Was the deliberate choice to not coordinate it with their allies in Austria-Hungary. Moltke the Younger wanted Austria to assist Germany by going on the offensive against Russia in the early stages of the war, and never told his Austrian counterpart, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf , that Germany was not going have its own offensive in the east. Conrad, for his part, was also misleading the Germans by allowing them to think Austria would prioritize an attack against Russia, when he actually planned to focus
52899-417: Was the northern neighbor of Van Province. During December, Nicholas II of Russia visited the Caucasus campaign. The head of the Armenian Church , along with the president of the Armenian National Council of Tiflis , Alexander Khatisyan , received him: From all countries Armenians are hurrying to enter the ranks of the glorious Russian Army, with their blood to serve the victory of the Russian Army... Let
53130-439: Was to conduct highly visible operations to distract and pin down Russian units. Stange Bey's initial mission was to operate in the Chorok region. The unit was materially assisted by the rebellious Adjars of the country, who seized the road. Later Enver modified the original plan toward supporting the Battle of Sarikamish. Stange Bey Detachment was ordered to cut the Russian support link to Sarikamish-Kars line. On January 1, this unit
53361-451: Was to occupy without prejudicing the permanent border settlement. Armenia, in reaction to the "furor" among Allied circles caused by the treaty, stated that "In view of the extraordinary pressure exerted from all sides and the fact that the Armenian army was alone and heavily outnumbered, the government had accepted the temporary arrangement in order to win some time. Armenia would nonetheless maintain its firm anti-Bolshevik policies". After
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