THE MIDDLE EAST FRONT
END OF THE CAUCASUS CAMPAIGN: ARMISTICE OF ERZINCAN: DEC 1917
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE SUES FOR PEACE
(FOR CONFLICT IN THE BLACK SEA (WAR AT SEA) SEE BELOW)
As we have seen, 1916 was a good year for the Russians. Well aware that the Turks – having convincingly beaten the British in the Gallipoli Campaign – were planning a significant increase of troops on the Caucasus front, they launched a preemptive strike early in January. It paid off. The Ottomans, short of well-
But the success on the military front was certainly not mirrored on the political front, and it was there that power presided. Inxearly 1917 the deep unrest which had been simmering within the Russian Empire for so many years – particularly over the abject poverty of the mass of the people, and, more recently, the poor showing of the army on the Eastern Front – thrust the country into the political and social turmoil of the Russian Revolution. This put an end to all military operations. The Russian army virtually collapsed from within, and by April individual units were in full retreat. Byxthe Armistice of Erzincan in December, the Russians had withdrawn their forces. This marked the end of the Caucasus Campaign as such, but it certainly did not put a stop to Ottoman ambitions in the region. After a lengthy period of overhaul – during which they sent five divisions in support of the campaigns in Mesopotamia and Palestine – the Ottomans advanced eastward in February 1918. Their aim was to recapture not only their own pre-
f Georgia, Armenia and Azebaiyan from setting up their own independent states, thereby threatening the Empire’s eastern flank. Asxone would expect, the whole region was in total chaos, and they faced little opposition. Indeed, they made such a rapid advance that in July, ignoring the Treaty of Brest Litovsk (held in March to define Russia’s new borders), Enver Pasha ordered his troops to push on to the Caspian Sea and take the oil city of Baku (
Butxby this time the British were on the verge of victory in both Mesopotamia and Palestine. This, and the capitulation of Bulgaria in the September, meant that Allied forces were in a position to take Istanbul and, indeed, Anatolia itself. The Ottoman leadership had no alternative but to sue for peace. As we shall see, by the Armistice of Mudros, signed on the 30th October, 1918, hostilities between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire came to an end. However, the borders of the Turkish National State, which emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, were not finalized until the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
As noted earlier, the fighting on the Caucasus front was a prolonged and bloody campaign, made far worse by the rigours of the terrain, the harshness of the climate, and the so-
Incidentally, when the RussianxRevolution brought about the virtual collapse of the Russian army, the British government considered it expedient to send a military mission to the Caucasus front. Known as the Dunster Mission (after its commander, Major General Lionel Dunsterville), it was originally made up of just 350 experienced officers and NCOs from Britain and the British Dominions of Australia, New Zealand and Canada, but once the force was established and seen as fit for purpose, it was 
increased to 1,000 men. Given the chaotic state of the region at this time – with a number of ethnic groups struggling for independence, and a revitalized Ottoman army seeking to dominate the entire area – the mission faced a daunting task. In simple terms, it had to accomplish two main aims: firstly, to unify into an effective fighting force all elements opposed to the Turks and the Bolsheviks (and prevent, thereby, any threat towards Mesopotamia, Afghanistan and India); and, secondly, to secure and safeguard the massive oil installations at Baku (see map and pic). Given the circumstances, however, the task force was lamentably lacking in both the men and the equipment required. Arriving at Baghdad early in 1918, Dunsterville made two attempts to reach Baku. In March, having made the long and arduous journey to reach the Caspian Sea – assisted by cars, vans and armoured vehicles – his path was blocked by 3,000 Bolshevik troops at the port of Enzeli. He was obliged to pull back to Hamedan, 250 miles to the south-
The only consolation for the British was that in the following month the Ottoman Empire was obliged to surrender to the Allies, so its occupation of Baku and its Azerbaijani oilfields turned out to be of short duration! As noted above, after their decisive defeat at the Battle of Megiddo, and the British occupation of Damascus in the Sinai-
Acknowledgements
End of Campaign (detail): worldhistoryarchive.wordpress.com Grand Entrance: turkyswar.com Map 1918: maps.com Southern Caucasus: (detail): sites.google.com Oilfields: nam.ac.uk Mudros: boldomatic.com Black Sea: maritime-
WW1-
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THE WAR AT SEA
CONFLICT IN THE BLACK SEA 1914 – 1918
As we have seen, the war in the Black Sea started in October 1914 when the Ottoman fleet bombarded a number of Russian ports, including Sevastapol and Odessa. Known as the Black Sea Raid, this surprise attack brought the Ottoman Empire into the war and made the Black Sea a war zone. Although lacking a worthy fleet of their own, in the first two years of the war the advantage lay with the Ottomans as far as direct naval encounters were concerned The Germans had given them two modern warships from their Mediterranean Fleet, the powerful dreadnought battle cruiser SMS Goeben (Yavuz) and the light, fast cruiser, SMS Breslau (Midilli). Having managed to battle their way through the Adriatic Sea and the Dardanelles (no small achievement), these two warships ruled the waves in the opening phases of the war. As a result, the Russians were forced to resort to cat and mouse tactics, carefully avoiding any set battle pieces in which fire power and range gave the advantage. Nonetheless, there was a large number of short, sharp encounters and some ships were lost or badly damaged. As we saw earlier, the 
Battle of Cape Sarych, fought off the southern tip of the Crimea in November 1914, was a good example (see map above). Technically, the Goeben and the Breslau had the advantage, but faced with a force of five obsolete battleships and a number of destroyers, they feared encirclement, whilst the Russians, though showing good gunnery skill, were anxious to keep at a safe distance. The result was the exchange of a few salvoes and minor damage to ships on both sides. By late 1915, however, the tide had turned in favour of the Russians with the arrival of two dreadnought battleships, the Imperitrista Mariya and the Imperitrista Ekaterina Velikaya. Their presence was felt, but not for long. In October 1916 the Mariya was destroyed by a magazine explosion while in Sevastapol harbour (an accident it would seem), and in 1918 the Ekaterina Velikaya was scuttled at Novorossiysk to prevent it being turned over to the Germans. Nevertheless, during their early years these two dreadnoughts put Russia in a commanding position. Indeed, at one time in 1916 the Russians talked of knocking the Ottomans out of the war by seizing control of the Bosphorus and capturing Constaninople. This was supported, in secret, by Russia’s allies but, of course, the beginnings of the Russian Revolution put paid to that somewhat optimistic project.
But direct naval action aside, the major area of conflict in the Black Sea was along the Anatolian shoreline in the south. There was bitter fighting in this region throughout the war, centred around the Turkish ports. They played a major role in maintaining general supplies and war material to the Ottoman Empire so they, and the vessels that delivered them, were a prime target for the Russians. And particularly important in that respect was the port of Zonguldak. (See map of Black Sea above). It was from there that coal was transported to Constantinople to provide fuel for the Black Sea Fleet and the war effort in general. So successful were the Russians in interrupting that supply, that in the latter part of 1916 both Goeben and Breslau had to ride at anchor in the Sea of Marmora until more coal was available! And, in addition, the Russian fleet mined the exit from the Bosporus, to prevent the Ottoman vessels from entering the Black Sea, as well as the approaches to the Bulgarian port of Varna. And support was not confined to the sea. At times, the Turkish Navy provided gunfire in support of a ground offensive, and the Russians mounted a series of amphibious landings, particularly during their capture of Trabzon in April 1916. Apart from the use of surface vessels, both sides made good use of submarines and the laying of minefields. The submarines, in particular, sank a large number of vessels, but they paid a heavy price for so doing.
The Russian Revolution, beginning early in 1917 with the overthrow of the imperial government and leading in November to the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, took Russia out of the war. The Russian fleet stopped fighting, but the Turks continued their attacks on Russian shipping until the end of the War. And the Black Sea was to continue to play an important role. It was here, off Sevastopol, that much of the Russian fleet was scuttled in 1918 – to save it falling into German hands – and the Black Sea itself was to be a theatre of conflict in the civil war that followed the Russian Revolution.
Elsewhere, however, the war continued unabated, and nowhere more so than on, or rather under, the High Seas. Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare, re-
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