Key Facts
- Duration
- 1914–1918 (4 years)
- Campaign start
- 1 November 1914, Russian invasion of Turkish Armenia
- Armenian Genocide begins
- April 1915; 250 Armenians initially arrested
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- 3 March 1918, ended Russo-Ottoman phase
- Armistice of Mudros
- 30 October 1918, ended remaining hostilities
Strategic Narrative Overview
Russian forces advanced deep into Anatolia, capturing key towns including Van and Erzurum, while Ottoman forces countered with varying success. The Russian Revolution of February 1917 halted the advance, and the Caucasus Army disintegrated, replaced by Armenian volunteer and irregular units under the newly formed Transcaucasian state. Britain's Dunsterforce intervened in 1918, and the Ottoman Empire continued operations against the Central Caspian Dictatorship and the Republic of Mountainous Armenia until the Armistice of Mudros.
01 / The Origins
As part of World War I's Middle Eastern theatre, the Caucasus campaign arose from longstanding Russo-Ottoman rivalry over the South Caucasus and Armenian Highlands. When the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in late 1914, Russia launched an invasion of Turkish Armenia on 1 November 1914, seeking to exploit Ottoman vulnerabilities and expand its southern frontier. The region's ethnically mixed population and competing imperial ambitions made it a volatile and strategically significant front.
03 / The Outcome
The campaign ended in stages: the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918 concluded the Russo-Ottoman conflict, and the Treaty of Batum on 4 June 1918 granted independence to Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Hostilities fully ceased with the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918. The campaign left the South Caucasus fragmented among newly independent states and was accompanied by the systematic mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman authorities from 1915 to 1918.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Enver Pasha, Vehib Pasha.
Side B
4 belligerents
Nikolai Yudenich, Lionel Dunsterville.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.