![]() Tiflis acknowledge the existence of a state of war between themselves and the Ottoman Empire. The mood prevailing in Tiflis was very different. On 5 April, the head of the Transcaucasian delegation Akaki Chkhenkeli accepted the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as a basis for more negotiations and wired the governing bodies urging them to accept this position. Enver Pasha offered to surrender all ambitions in the Caucasus in return for recognition of the Ottoman reacquisition of the east Anatolian provinces at Brest-Litovsk at the end of the negotiations. įrom 14 March to April 1918 the Trabzon peace conference was held between the Ottoman Empire and the delegation of the Transcaucasian Diet. In addition to these provisions, a secret clause was inserted which obligated the Russians to demobilize Armenian national forces. It stipulated that Bolshevik Russia cede Batum, Kars, and Ardahan. On 3 March, the Grand vizier Talat Pasha signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Russian SFSR. On 5 December 1917, the armistice of Erzincan (Erzincan Cease-fire Agreement) was signed between the Russians and Ottomans in Erzincan that ended the armed conflicts between Russia and Ottoman Empire. 1917 and the first half of 1918 was the time for negotiations. The Ottomans preferred to keep the Caucasus militarily silent as they had to regroup reserves to retake Baghdad and Palestine from the British. 60,000 Ottoman soldiers died in the winter of 1916–17 on the Mus-Bitlis section of the front. Fighting the Russians in the Caucasus, however, the Ottomans lost ground, and over 100,000 soldiers, in a series of battles. İsmail Enver Pasha set off for the Battle of Sarikamish with the intention of recapturing Batum and Kars, overrunning Georgia and occupying north-western Persia and the oil fields. Russia had to fight alone on the Caucasus Campaign but fought with the United Kingdom on the Persian Campaign. The Ottoman's entrance into the war greatly increased the Triple Entente's military burdens. Top: Destruction in the city of Erzurum Left Upper: Russian forces Left Lower: Wounded Muslim refugees Right Upper:Ottoman forces Right Lower: Armenian refugees An interesting case is Izmir Rahmi Bey behaved almost as if his region was a neutral zone between the warring states. Provincial governors ran their regions with differing degrees of autonomy. Military power remained firmly in the hands of War Minister Enver Pasha, domestic issues (civil matters) were under Interior Minister Talat Pasha, and, interestingly, Cemal Pasha had sole control over Ottoman Syria. The head of the German Military Mission, Field Marshal von der Goltz, survived a conspiracy against his life. Throughout December, the CUP dealt with mutiny among soldiers in barracks and among naval crews. On 13 December, an anti-war demonstration was led by women in Konak (Izmir) and Erzurum. On 4 December, widespread riots took place throughout the country. Army and navy officers protested against the assumption of authority by Germans. Committees formed around the country to rid the country of those who sided with Germany. On 18 November there were more anti-German plots. On 13 November, a bomb exploded in Enver Pasha's palace, which killed five German officers but failed to kill Enver Pasha. That followed the 12 November revolt in Adrianople against the German military mission. On 11 November a conspiracy was discovered in Constantinople against Germans and the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) in which some of the CUP leaders were shot. The empire fell into disorder with the declaration of war along with Germany. It took less time to arrive at any of those fronts from London than from the Ottoman War Department because of the poor condition of Ottoman supply ships. The Army used Trabzon port as a logistical shortcut to the east. To reach the border with Russia, the railway ran only 60 km east of Ankara, and from there, it was 35 days to Erzurum. It took more than a month to reach Syria and nearly two months to reach Mesopotamia. ![]() During Abdul Hamid II's reign civilian communications had improved, but the road and rail network was not ready for war. The great landmass of Anatolia was between the Ottoman army's headquarters in Istanbul and many of the theatres of war. The Ottoman Empire started military action after three months of formal neutrality, but it had signed a secret alliance with the Central Powers in August 1914. Following the attack, Russia and its allies (Britain and France) declared war on the Ottomans in November 1914. The Ottoman entry into World War I began on 29 October 1914 when it launched the Black Sea Raid against Russian ports. Main article: Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
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