It is often called a museum of ethnology, since the region is home to a vast variety
of peoples, with dozens of different languages, cultures, and customs.
That has historically created tensions and those tensions came to ahead in the Great
War in Transcaucasia.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War special episode about Transcaucasia and the
First World War.
This is the region south of the Great Caucasus chain of mountains that was boxed in 100 years
ago by the Black Sea to the west, the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, and
to the south by the Ottoman Empire and Persia.
It’s history was seen by many as a history of a troublesome region, a place of endless
conflict between mountain tribes, bound by their own militant political or religious
organizations, but influenced by the Ottomans and the Russians, who had fought a century
long series of wars over the territories on the Black Sea.
There were three groups, though, that were large enough to really matter in the context
of the great empires, the Georgians, the Azerbaijanis, and the Armenians.
By the end of the 19th century, cities like Baku became economic hotspots from oil and
mineral deposits and Tiflis a hub city for the Transcaucasian railway.
Increasing economic value sparked a new wave of Russian imperialism and colonialism.
Georgia, with a strong presence of Russian authority, adopted Russian and European culture
most quickly, which led to a secularization of the country, as many Islamic traditions
were abandoned.
But Georgia still remained a mostly feudal society with an ambiguous political loyalty,
and much of the Georgian aristocracy dreamed of an independent Georgia and a return of
their former status.
In Azerbaijan, where over 80% of a population of 1.800.000 were peasants; the Mullahs propagated
nationalistic and pan-Islamic ideology, wanting independence and unity for all Muslims.
Azeri society was feudal in nature, centered on khans and landowners, who rejected much
of Russian authority, like mandatory military service.
Much of that was religiously based, and many Azeri aristocrats did still serve in the Russian
army, even up to the rank of General, though they were not conscripted.
But most of the common people of the Caucasus, the peasants and the land and factory workers
who were legally still partly serfs, shared a social-democratic or socialistic belief.
They had strong ties to the Russian Social-Democratic Worker’s party and in the wake of the 1905
revolt, many became more and more radicalized in their demands for freedom of speech and
of the press.
Count Vorontsov-Dashkov became Viceroy of the Caucasus.
Now, Russia’s goal had always been to take the Straits of Constantinople, and a future
conflict with the Ottoman Empire seemed inevitable.
Vorontsov-Dashkov believed that the Christian Armenians under Ottoman rule could be pushed
towards rebellion.
The Ottomans saw the dissatisfied people of the Caucasus as potential allies in such a
confrontation.
The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 and the restoration of constitutional rule, stirred
excitement not just in Ottoman lands, but in Russia as well.
Far from seeing it as an expression of ethnic or religious particularism, many contemporaries
saw the revolution as part of a universal march toward representative government and
freedom.
The relatively free atmosphere of Constantinople attracted a large socialist community of former
Russian subjects, like the Georgian separatists, most notably Archimandrite Nicholas, former
head of the largest monastery in Georgia.
He predicted that an Ottoman offensive towards Georgia would spark an anti-Russian rebellion.
As the summer of 1914 approached, the questions abounded.
In case of war, who would follow the call to arms, who would resist for their own cause,
and who would simply defect to the other side?
Enver Pasha, Ottoman Minister of War, engaged in talks with Russia about the possibility
of an Ottoman-Russian Alliance or at least some sort of non-aggression agreement.
These came to nothing, and many Russian ministers favored war with the Ottomans to solve the
regional question once and for all.
So he turned to Germany, who promised not only to guarantee the integrity of the Ottoman
Empire and secure the “Muslim elements in Russia”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov thought that in case of a Russian invasion into Anatolia,
he would have the support of the Kurds, Armenians, and Assyrians.
In August 1914, although Russia and the Ottomans were technically still at peace, a proxy war
was already beginning.
A delegation of Ottoman Assyrians asked the Russian government for 35,000 rifles, promising
that they were prepared to rise up in case of war.
Armenians formed armed gangs like the Druzhiny, and many families left their homes, joining
the refugees who wanted to escape all chaos or conscription once the Russian mobilization
put new strain on the region.
Prices skyrocketed, there were food shortages, and property was confiscated for the war effort.
Possibility of war between the two empires destabilized the whole region.
State authority in many places broke down, and century old political and religious antagonism
bred hostility and violence.
Armed groups harassed each other, burned down religious buildings and ransacked houses.
Irregular forces attacked the police, and army units responded with extreme measures.
By October, the border region was in a virtual state of war.
Russian Cossacks were sent out to kill Muslims in Georgia and burn down mosques.
Christian Armenian militants attacked Ottoman civilians.
This sparked reactions like the punitive expedition into the Chorokhi valley.
Fears of pan-Turkist sympathizers inside the Russian controlled territory led to the deportation
of over 10,000 Muslims from the border regions.
Both sides practiced violence, reinforced by differences in belief and identity, and
encouraged by material incentive or political power.
Troops and tribes were armed and the propaganda machines were in full motion.
The Ottomans began financing pan-Islamic activism, to rally the Muslim parts of the Caucasus.
In Trabzon, the Teskilât-i Mahsusa, the Special Organization, founded by Enver Pasha, carried
out clandestine and guerrilla operations inside North Caucasus, Azerbaijan, and Persia.
Armed with pamphlets, small arms, and explosives, they called upon the “brothers of the faith”
to join the uprising.
There had been already irregular combat operations by British and Russian forces on the Persian
Border and in the Levant against the Ottomans before the countries were officially at war.
Russian forces occupied Köprüköy and threatened Erzurum, prompting an Ottoman counter attack.
Supported by over 5,000 Laz and Ajar irregulars, the Ottomans took the towns of Artvin and
Ardanuch, and after Ottoman warships shelled Odessa, Sevastopol, and Novorossiysk, Tsar
Nicholas II officially declared war on the October 31st, 1914.
Most of the German and Ottoman high command wanted the Ottoman Third Army to be passive,
to tie down Russian forces and have irregulars to stir up the Russian rear.
Only in the case of a major victory on the Eastern Front should that army advance.
Some, though, dreamed of amphibious operations at Odessa and southern Ukraine, to incite
not only the Muslims in Georgia, but also the Jews and Cossacks to rebel against the
Russians.
Those ambitions were pretty unrealistic but Enver wanted a decisive victory in the Caucasus,
and he wanted his own Tannenberg so he launched his winter offensive.
“The Greeks, Armenians, and Russian colonists mostly fled to the North...but the Moslems
stayed on, feeling that no harm would come to them from their co-religionists.
When the Turks retired, the Greeks and Armenians came back, and found their Moslem neighbors
still there.
But there was no longer the old relationship...
The proximity of war and the march of armies had roused that herald of ill-will, the spirit
of Nationalism.
The Armenians and Greeks began to accuse their Moslem neighbours of having assisted the Turks
in their invasion, and betrayed their suzerain, the Tsar.
Armed agents of the Armenian National Societies in Tiflis began to appear in some villages;
hooligans from the bazaar towns began to prowl...
The Russian authorities paid no attention, and the rural police closed their eyes.
Then Christian bands began to be formed, and to march into Moslem villages.
There would be some pillaging, a few shots would be fired, and then would begin a general
massacre.
A large part of the Kars province was laid waste; cattle fled to the mountains and died
of want and cold, and the Mahommedan population was reduced by some 30 per cent, through hunger
and disease during the following months.
This then was the net result of Enver Pasha's attempt to deliver his fellow Moslems in the
Caucasus from Russian rule.”
( Morgan Phillips Price)
The Battle of Sarikamis ended with a rout from which the Ottoman army never really recovered,
and eventually Russia advanced on Erzurum and Trabzon in 1916.
The end of Russia’s Brusilov offensive that summer left the Russian army exhausted, though,
and unable to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously, so the Caucasus front fell silent.
Thing is, neither the Ottomans nor the Russians had any concrete plans for the region.
Russian minister of agriculture Krivoshein wanted to colonize Eastern Anatolia with Cossacks
or Russians, but most other ministers saw the region now as more of a burden than a
blessing.
No side was really interested in an independent Armenia, nor in annexing the “troublesome”
inhabitants of the region.
Then the revolution reached Transcaucasia in March 1917.
Imperial rule crumbled and the prospect of democracy was on everyone’s lips and a shared
hope of brotherhood among the working class of the various peoples of the region rose.
Whereas before, Muslims that served within the Russian army were often treated as secondary
class and prove loyalty through bravery in the form of medals, now Muslim and non-Muslim
Russians were equal.
The provisional government in Petrograd established the Special Transcaucasian Komitee, known
as the Ozakom, from members of the Duma.
But the Ozakom was weak and the government’s attention was far from the Caucasus.
Other committees sprang up and challenged authority.
Police chiefs were arrested, armed groups roamed the streets, meetings and demonstrations
were held by parties and committees, like the Tiflis Soviet, the Baku Soviet, the All-Caucasus
Muslim Congress, the Georgian clergy, and the Soviet Workers Deputies.
They all represented different classes and the Ozakom was too weak to challenge them.
The Mensheviks would emerge as the strongest faction, but although the Bolsheviks were
weaker, they were extremely active, and lines were drawn in the sand as the November Revolution
hit.
“The connection with Russia has been broken and Transcaucasia has been left alone.
We have to stand on our own feet and either help ourselves or perish through anarchy.”
And this is where I’ll end for the day.
The Peace of Brest-Litovsk that marked Russia’s exit from the war also marked an ending of
the old and the beginning of a new era for the Transcaucasia.
It would be an era of instability and strife, of the 26 Baku Commissars, of the Democratic
Republic of Georgia, of the German occupation, and of the Central-Caspian Dictatorship and
the Dunsterforce, all of which we’ll talk about in the future.
Today was a brief look at very complicated region of proud and distinct peoples who ere
led into conflict and often into death by the circumstances of the Great War.
We want to thank Nidjat Azimzadeh for helping us steering through this complex and fascinating
region.
If you want to learn more about another fascinating tale in central Asia, check out our episode
about the Mad Baron right here.
Follow us on Twitter or Instagram for more info on World War 1.
Don’t forget to subscribe, see you next time.