A history of the First World War's Caucasus campaign, 1914-1918

A History of the First World War’s Caucasus Campaign, 1914-1918 investigates a relatively little-known episode of the First World War. The entry into the campaign of the Ottoman, Russian, British, and German empires has had a major impact on the march of events in the Middle Eastern theatre of the war as it eventually led to the exit from war of a major Entente Power and the defeat of a major Central Power. The engagement of these empires in warfare shaped the late-campaign armistice, affected the post-campaign peace treaties, and profoundly influenced the configuration of forces and definition of borders in the broader area of the campaign. This thesis examines the interplay between warfare and its impact on military and political strategy of the campaign participants. By determining the military strategic considerations that lay behind their decisions to employ troops, this research defines military strategic goals that were perused and the motives that underlay the choices of various decision-makers. At the macro level, this study seeks to integrate the Caucasus campaign into the mainstream of the First World War history as part and parcel of the war that was waged and experienced in the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Britain, and Germany. In more specific terms, this research seeks to highlight the role the campaign had played in these belligerent states’ war strategy as part of the global confrontation between the Entente Powers and the Central Powers. With this stated aim, this work takes a new and innovative approach to the history of this forgotten military campaign, arguing that the campaign was strategically important for both coalitions that fought the war.