World War I: Fate of Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Kurds and Assyrians

0:11 During the final years of the First World War,

0:14 the Ottoman Empire had lost significant territory to the Entente powers

0:17 and was at risk of negotiating a separate peace, lest it collapse.

0:22 Then, in late 1917, the Russian

0:24 Empire collapsed following the Bolshevik Revolution.

0:27 It was a watershed moment for the Ottomans.

0:30 However, by December of 1917,

0:32 the Armistices of Erzincan and the Eastern Front had

0:35 created a volatile power vacuum in the Caucasus and Persia.

0:38 This would be exploited by ethnic groups,

0:41 including Armenians, Assyrians, Pontic Greeks, Cossacks,

0:44 Georgians, Azerbaijanis, and Kurds,

0:46 all desperate to protect their communities or claim independence.

0:54 The Situation Following the Russian withdrawals,

1:37 a power vacuum emerged in Transcaucasia.

1:40 On November 15, 1917,

1:42 the Transcaucasian Commissariat was formed as a fragile coalition government,

1:46 balancing Georgian, Armenian,

1:48 and Azerbaijani interests through their respective national parties.

1:51 They aimed to maintain order, oversee troop departures,

1:55 and counter Bolshevik influence all while

1:58 rejecting the Bolshevik Decree on Peace.

2:00 However, internal divisions quickly surfaced: Georgians favored federation,

2:05 Armenians focused on defending against Ottoman threats,

2:08 and Azerbaijanis leaned toward Ottoman alliances.

2:11 These tensions culminated in each group declaring independence by late May 1918.

2:17 Meanwhile, the Ottomans, under the Young Turks,

2:19 exploited the vacuum to reclaim lost lands,

2:22 suppress rebellious ethnic groups, and expand into newly accessible territories.

2:27 By early 1918, southern Cossacks, Georgians, Pontic Greeks,

2:31 and Armenians had begun consolidating forces

2:34 to establish a defensive front against Ottoman advances.

2:38 The Georgians During the First World War,

2:40 Georgia’s defence relied upon the Georgian Legion,

2:43 supported by Germany, offsetting Ottoman aggression.

2:46 However, after the Russian departure,

2:47 the Georgians also formed the People’s Guard on September 5,

2:51 1917 to defend themselves.

2:53 Their first military operation came on November 29,

2:56 when they seized a former Imperial Russian

2:59 Army arsenal and artillery depot in Tiflis.

3:02 They then began engaging Ottoman scouting parties

3:05 near the Chorokhi River in January 1918,

3:08 with clashes intensifying in February alongside Cossack

3:11 support to defend passes leading to Tiflis.

3:15 On March 3, 1918, Talat Pasha signed the Treaty

3:18 of Brest-Litovsk with the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic,

3:22 formally ending hostilities with Russia

3:24 and mandating a return to prewar borders,

3:27 including the cession of Batumi, Kars, and Ardahan.

3:31 However, the Transcaucasian Commissariat refused to recognize the treaty.

3:35 Thus to seize these areas, the Ottomans mobilized the 3rd, 6th, and 9th Armies.

3:40 The Ottoman 3rd Army surprised Georgian forces by capturing Batumi on March 31,

3:46 prompting the 2nd and 4th Infantry Legions to retreat to Chakvi and Ozurgeti.

3:51 On April 2, General Giorgi Mazniashvili

3:54 reinforced Chakvi with an armoured train.

3:56 Upon arrival, his troops aided the 2nd Infantry Legion in defeating

4:01 over 1,000 Ottoman cavalry before advancing to Lanchkhuti as Kobuleti fell.

4:05 Mazniashvili then split the 4th Infantry

4:08 Legion into four units to defend Likhauri, Shemokmedi, Vashnari, and Ozurgeti.

4:13 He also bolstered Supsa station with 400 People's Guards, an artillery battery,

4:18 four machine guns, and an armored train carrying 90 troops.

4:22 These forces ambushed 7,000 men

4:24 from the Ottoman 2nd Division heading toward Ozurgeti.

4:28 On April 6, Georgian artillery and the armored

4:31 train bombarded Ottoman positions near Choloki, forcing a retreat with over 500

4:36 Ottoman casualties against just 30 Georgian losses.

4:40 Despite this success, another Ottoman brigade overran Ozurgeti,

4:43 leading to its abandonment.

4:45 The Ottomans then seized Chanieti, Likhauri, Makvaneti, Tsilmta, and Melekeduri.

4:50 Mazniashvili launched a counterattack at Vashnari on April 11,

4:55 but a German diplomatic intervention soon imposed a truce.

4:59 Germany aimed to establish a pro-German Democratic

5:01 Republic of Georgia and secure Baku's oil fields,

5:04 dispatching a 3,000-strong force under Major General Friedrich

5:08 Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein to Tiflis on June 8.

5:11 On June 10, the Ottoman 3rd Army advanced

5:15 toward Tiflis but encountered a joint German-Georgian defense.

5:18 Germany's threat to withdraw military aid compelled Wehib Pasha

5:22 to cease the invasion of Georgia and redirect efforts toward Azerbaijan.

5:27 German troops began training the Georgians,

5:29 who formed a regular army that month.

5:31 The fledgling Georgian state endured for another eight months

5:35 until the Red Army overran it in March 1921.

5:39 The Armenians With the Russian retreat after the Bolshevik Revolution,

5:41 Armenian communities in the Caucasus were

5:43 left vulnerable in the ensuing power vacuum.

5:46 This spurred the rapid growth of Armenian volunteer units,

5:50 drawing regiments from regions like Yerevan, Erzurum, and Van,

5:53 swelling to about 30,000 men by February 1918 under

5:57 commanders such as General Andranik Ozanian and General Tovmas Nazarbekian.

6:01 Supported by Cossack auxiliaries and fedayi fighters,

6:04 they fortified positions to repel the Ottoman Empire,

6:07 which was still perpetrating the Armenian Genocide that had

6:11 already decimated their population and heightened ethnic strife.

6:14 The Ottomans viewed Armenian self-defence as a rebellion and a dire threat,

6:19 launching campaigns to reclaim territories

6:21 lost in the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War, including Kars, Ardahan, and Batumi.

6:27 On February 2, 1918, Wehib Pasha's 3rd Army attacked,

6:31 capturing Kelkit by February 7.

6:34 They assaulted Erzincan on February 11,

6:36 defended by Armenian troops and Cossacks.

6:39 The two-day battle involved heavy bombardment,

6:42 house-to-house fighting, and snowstorms,

6:44 ending with the city's fall on February 13 and massive Armenian casualties,

6:48 plus civilian evacuations eastward.

6:50 Reports of atrocities by Ottoman irregulars

6:53 and Kurdish allies mirrored earlier genocidal acts.

6:56 The Ottomans pressed on, taking Bayburt

6:58 on February 19 and Tercan on February 22, reinforced from the Black Sea.

7:04 Armenian resistance, though valiant, was undermined by poor equipment,

7:09 leading to the loss of Manzikert, Hınıs, Oltu, Köprüköy, and Tortum.

7:13 This displaced thousands and escalated violence tied to the genocide,

7:18 with refugees fleeing amid mass killings and forced marches.

7:22 Emboldened by victories and the Brest-Litovsk Treaty,

7:25 the Ottomans targeted Erzurum in March.

7:28 Armenian defenders, aided by Georgian volunteers

7:31 and commanded by Colonel Nikolay Morel,

7:33 faced assaults starting March 10 amid artillery

7:36 barrages and infantry charges over frozen ground.

7:39 Machine-gun nests, minefields, and Cossack raids provided some respite,

7:43 but shortages and desertions weakened them.

7:46 By March 12, Ottoman forces breached the lines,

7:49 capturing the city and vast Russian artillery stockpiles,

7:53 devastating Armenian morale.

7:54 By March 24, Ottomans crossed pre-1914 borders with little resistance.

7:59 The Ottoman 4th Corps retook Van on April 5 after fierce urban combat,

8:05 outflanking exhausted Armenians and triggering

8:07 a refugee exodus into Persian Azerbaijan.

8:10 Beyazit fell on April 14.

8:13 On April 25, the 10,000-strong garrison of Armenians

8:17 and non-Bolshevik Russians evacuated Kars under Brest-Litovsk terms,

8:21 surrendering extensive armaments to the Ottomans.

8:24 As 20,000 Armenians poured into Yerevan, discontent grew in Tiflis over

8:29 the Special Transcaucasian Committee's representation.

8:31 The Armenians withdrew, declaring the Democratic Republic of Armenia on May

8:36 28 in Tiflis under the Armenian Revolutionary Federation,

8:40 led by Aram Manukian and Alexander Khatisian.

8:43 It covered eastern Armenian lands with Yerevan

8:46 as capital but faced immediate Ottoman threats.

8:49 From May 22 to 26, the Ottoman

8:52 36th Division under Esat Pasha attacked Sardarapat,

8:55 defended by the Armenian 5th and 6th Rifle Regiments

8:59 led by Colonel Daniel Bek-Pirumian and General Movses Silikyan.

9:02 The Ottomans, with artillery and Kurdish irregulars,

9:05 aimed for the strategic rail hub and fertile plains.

9:09 Armenians used trenches, machine guns,

9:11 and counterattacks, including fedayi cavalry charges.

9:14 A flanking maneuver on May 25 reversed Ottoman gains,

9:18 forcing retreat with about 500 Armenian dead and 1,000

9:23 wounded against over 5,500 Ottoman casualties and abandoned artillery.

9:27 Concurrently, the Ottoman 11th Division assaulted Aparan,

9:30 defended by General Drastamat "Dro" Kanayan's 3,000 fedayi.

9:35 Employing guerrilla tactics, ambushes,

9:37 and fortifications, they disrupted supplies,

9:40 inflicting 1,500 Ottoman casualties against 400 Armenian losses,

9:45 securing the northern flank.

9:47 Further east at Karakilisa, 6,000 Armenians under Garegin Nzhdeh faced 10,000

9:52 from the Ottoman 5th and 36th Divisions.

9:55 Nzhdeh's mobile strategy included fedayi raids

9:58 and defensive lines with captured machine guns.

10:01 Fighting peaked on May 27 with urban combat;

10:04 Armenians lost 1,000, and the city fell with 4,000 inhabitants slaughtered.

10:10 The Ottomans also took casualties in the thousands,

10:13 halting further incursion into Armenian territory,

10:15 as Armenian refugees swelled Yerevan, straining resources.

10:19 The Armenians reluctantly signed the Treaty of Batum on June 4,

10:24 1918, granting territorial concessions to earn respite.

10:27 The Ottoman Armenian population would drop from about 2 million

10:31 prewar to under 100,000 by the Republic of Turkey 's founding.

10:36 The First Armenian Republic endured neighbourly invasions

10:39 but fell between Bolshevik and Turkish forces, annexed by the USSR in 1921.

10:45 Total Armenian casualties during the war are estimated at 1-1.5 million,

10:51 from massacres, deportations, disease, starvation, and combat.

10:55 The Assyrians Like the Armenians,

10:56 the Assyrians bore the scars of their 1915 genocide and formed

11:01 militias under leaders like General Agha Petros and Malik Khoshaba,

11:05 allying with Armenian and British forces.

11:07 As Russians withdrew from the Caucasus and Persia in January 1918,

11:11 the Ottoman 6th Army advanced into Assyrian

11:14 strongholds around Lake Van and Urmia.

11:17 From January to July 1918, around 6,000 Assyrian fighters under Petros

11:22 and Khoshaba held against Ottoman pushes toward Baku.

11:25 In late February, 3,000 Assyrians, with Armenian and Cossack cavalry,

11:30 used hit-and-run tactics to initially repel

11:32 Ottoman and Kurdish raids near Salmas,

11:34 though reinforcements forced a retreat by early March.

11:37 On March 3, during truce talks in Salmas,

11:40 Mar Shimun Benyamin was assassinated by Kurdish leader Simko Shikak,

11:44 sparking a battle at Charah.

11:46 Over 2,000 Assyrians from Urmia and Salmas,

11:49 led by Petros, Khoshaba, Malik Oshana, and Malik Shamisdin,

11:53 encircled Kohnashahr on March 15, bombarding it and causing about 500

11:57 Kurdish casualties against 71 Assyrian losses.

12:00 They breached Charah fortress by March 17 via artillery and charges;

12:06 Simko escaped, but the Assyrians sacked it,

12:09 finding documents implicating the murder.

12:11 Kurdish losses exceeded 1,000,

12:13 boosting Assyrian morale and straining Ottoman-Kurdish ties,

12:17 though it fueled further violence.

12:19 Petros achieved wins at Suldouze,

12:22 where 1,500 horsemen defeated 8,000 under Kheiri Bey,

12:26 and at Sauj Bulak, repelling Ottomans to Rowanduz.

12:30 Despite successes, superior Ottoman forces compelled

12:33 the July 31 evacuation of Urmia, with 70,000 Assyrians and Armenians fleeing

12:38 south to British-held Hamadan and Baqubah.

12:41 They suffered attacks, disease, and starvation en route, halving their numbers.

12:47 Scholars estimate that between 250,000

12:50 and 275,000 Assyrians perished in the genocide.

12:53 Today, the Assyrian people largely live in diaspora.

12:57 Pontic Greeks The Orthodox Pontic Greek

12:59 communities endured a genocide starting in 1915,

13:02 part of the broader Greek genocide from 1913-1923.

13:07 Amid deportations and massacres,

13:09 leaders like Archbishop Chrysanthus organized militias of several thousand,

13:13 armed with smuggled weapons,

13:15 to wage guerrilla warfare against Ottoman forces reclaiming coastal areas.

13:19 Under the Brest-Litovsk Treaty,

13:21 the Ottomans aimed to retake Ardahan, Kars, and Batumi.

13:25 Wehib Pasha deployed three corps from the 3rd Army,

13:28 advancing from the Tirebolu-Bitlis line into Pontus.

13:30 A major target was the port of Trabzon,

13:33 defended by White Russian Cossacks and Pontic Greek volunteers.

13:37 By mid-February 1918, Ottomans entered Pontus with naval and Kurdish support.

13:43 Defenders used guerrilla ambushes in mountains like the Giresun heights.

13:47 On February 17, Ottoman gunboats shelled

13:50 Trabzon as infantry and cavalry attacked.

13:52 The city fell by February 24,

13:55 with over 700 Ottoman casualties (including from an ammunition

14:00 explosion) against 1,050 Cossack and 250 Pontic Greek losses.

14:04 Kurdish irregulars then raided Greek villages

14:07 as Ottomans reasserted control over Lazistan province,

14:10 advancing toward Hopa and Batumi by late March.

14:14 Thousands of Pontic Greeks fled to Georgia or Armenia

14:18 or persisted in hill-based guerrilla warfare into the 1920s.

14:22 A proposed Pontic Greek state was discussed at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference,

14:27 but Greece, fearing vulnerability, suggested inclusion in Armenia,

14:30 which later became a Soviet republic.

14:33 The Pontic Greek Genocide continued until 1923,

14:37 claiming about 350,000 lives—roughly half the prewar population.

14:42 Unlike the Armenian case,

14:44 the Ottomans avoided full-scale extermination of Greeks to prevent Greece

14:48 from joining the Entente while it remained neutral until 1917,

14:52 and due to Greece's Muslim minority potentially facing reprisals.

14:57 The Southern Cossacks Many Cossacks, including the Terek Cossacks,

14:59 served as cavalry auxiliaries across multiple

15:02 fronts— reinforcing Armenian lines at Erzincan,

15:05 Erzurum, and Pontic Greek militias at Trabzon,

15:08 and Assyrian fighters near Salmas.

15:10 However, Bolshevik advances from the north steadily fractured these alliances.

15:14 Amid this turmoil, southern Cossack hosts pursued ambitious

15:18 but ultimately doomed efforts to establish independent states,

15:22 mirroring the fragile republics formed by Georgians and Armenians.

15:26 Notably the Kuban People’s Republic,

15:28 Don Republic and Terek People’s Republic formed

15:31 in 1918 against Bolshevik and Ottoman threats.

15:34 However, these states crumbled under Red Army invasions,

15:38 internal clan rivalries,

15:39 and betrayals from White Russian leaders like Anton Denikin.

15:42 By 1920, most were dissolved,

15:45 with brutal "de-Cossackization" campaigns leading to tens of thousands

15:49 of deaths and the suppression of Cossack autonomy under Soviet rule,

15:53 leaving a legacy of displacement similar

15:55 to that of the Assyrians and Pontic Greeks.

15:58 Azerbaijanis Established as the first Muslim democratic republic,

16:01 Azerbaijan drew interest for its Baku oil fields.

16:04 Ottoman leader Enver Pasha pursued Pan-Turanian

16:07 goals to bring Transcaucasia under Ottoman influence,

16:10 granting the Central Powers resource access and Caspian Sea

16:14 control for potential expansion into Central Asia and British India.

16:18 In March 1918, Armenian Bolshevik groups carried

16:21 out the March Days massacre in Baku,

16:24 killing an estimated 12,000 Azerbaijanis and seizing control.

16:28 This prompted Azerbaijani leaders to declare independence and seek Ottoman aid.

16:32 In May, Nuri Pasha assembled the Islamic Army

16:36 of the Caucasus and occupied parts of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic.

16:40 On June 4, Azerbaijan and the Ottomans signed

16:43 a friendship treaty to oust Bolshevik forces from Baku.

16:46 This led to conflict between an Ottoman-Azerbaijani coalition under Nuri Pasha,

16:51 comprising about 14,000 troops with 500 cavalry and 40 artillery pieces,

16:56 including the 5th Caucasian and 15th Divisions plus Azerbaijani and North

17:01 Caucasian volunteers against a loose alliance of Red and White Russians,

17:05 Armenians, British, and Cossacks.

17:07 The Baku commissariat forces, mostly Armenians with some Russians,

17:11 numbered around 6,000 under General Georgy Dokuchaev,

17:14 with 40 field guns and Armenian Revolutionary Federation leanings.

17:18 Fighting began in early June as Grigory

17:21 Korganov's Red Army advanced toward Ganja, looting Muslim areas.

17:25 Meanwhile, Colonel Lazar Bicherakhov's Terek Cossack detachment

17:28 from Qazvin reached Baku on June 22, leaving a Cossack contingent and moving

17:34 north to Derbent to block Ottoman-Azerbaijani attacks.

17:36 From June 27 to July 1,

17:39 the Ottoman Islamic Army decisively defeated the Red Army at Goychay.

17:44 In Baku, a July coup installed the British-backed Central Caspian Dictatorship.

17:49 Dokuchaev allied with Bicherakhov and Major-General

17:52 Lionel Dunsterville's Dunsterforce to defend the city.

17:55 By July 30, Ottoman advance parties reached heights above Baku.

18:00 August saw urban warfare, including a failed Baku offensive at Diga on August

18:05 17 and assaults on Wolf's Gate and Binagadi Hill.

18:09 The main Ottoman attack on August 26 involved heavy shelling,

18:12 capturing Binagadi Hill and Diga, pushing defenders to surrounding heights.

18:17 Bicherakhov seized Petrovsk and sent 600 Cossacks to reinforce Baku.

18:22 Another Ottoman offensive on September 13 nearly

18:26 overran Wolf's Gate but faced a counterattack.

18:29 By September 14 night, the Baku Army and Dunsterforce evacuated to Anzali.

18:35 Casualties included over 2,000 Ottomans,

18:37 several thousand for the Baku coalition, and 180 British.

18:41 In reprisal for the March events,

18:44 Azerbaijani-Ottoman forces massacred 30,000 Armenians in the September Days.

18:49 Azerbaijan's capital shifted from Ganja to Baku on September 17,

18:53 surviving 23 months until a Red Army

18:56 invasion established the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.

19:00 Kurds Kurds navigated between Ottoman loyalty and independence aspirations,

19:04 with some acting as irregulars against Armenians and Assyrians,

19:08 while others rebelled.

19:10 Britain and Russia informally promised support

19:13 for an independent Kurdistan to encourage uprisings.

19:16 The first Kurdish revolt erupted in August 1914 in Dersim,

19:20 sparked by a Ferhatuşağı tribal killing and Ottoman reprisals.

19:25 In spring 1915, a Botan uprising ousted Ottoman troops,

19:29 enabling self-governance for over a year.

19:32 In 1916, an Alevi Kurd-led uprising in Dersim briefly threatened the region

19:37 before Ottoman forces under Ahmed Izzet Pasha suppressed it by May 2.

19:42 Mass deportations from Dersim followed.

19:45 By late 1916, Ottoman defeats to Russians

19:48 prompted renewed Kurdish rebellions in Botan, Dersim, and Kharput,

19:52 attacking convoys and aiding Russians by revealing mountain paths and disrupting

19:56 logistics during Izzet Pasha's failed

19:58 offensive to retake Malazgirt in September.

20:02 Uprisings persisted into 1917, escalating in Mardin,

20:05 Diyarbekir, and Bitlis with limited Russian backing.

20:09 In Diyarbakir and Van vilayets, Milli and Raman tribal sheikhs revolted

20:13 in March and April against conscription and taxes, clashing with gendarmes.

20:18 In Dersim, Seyid Riza's Alevi tribes intensified guerrilla attacks in mid-1918,

20:24 ambushing supplies during Erzurum and Van

20:27 offensives and diverting Ottoman resources.

20:28 Though tens of thousands of Kurds served in the Ottoman military,

20:33 recruitment was poor in areas like Diyarbekir, Bitlis,

20:36 and Dersim, with few joining the Hamidiye cavalry.

20:39 Those who did often showed disobedience, and Ottoman leaders distrusted them,

20:44 providing inadequate equipment and using them as expendable troops.

20:48 Desertions were rampant, leaving few Kurdish soldiers by war's end.

20:52 The Ottomans deported up to 700,000 Kurds during the war,

20:57 with estimates suggesting half perished.

20:59 In October 1918, amid Ottoman collapse,

21:02 Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji tried to form an independent

21:05 Kurdish state in Kirkuk and Mosul under British protection,

21:08 but it fell by June 1919.

21:11 At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference,

21:13 Kurds sought a Kurdistan region under the Treaty of Sèvres,

21:17 but it was not implemented.

21:18 Conclusion In the chaotic aftermath of Russia's collapse,

21:22 the Caucasus and Persia became a crucible

21:25 of ethnic aspirations and brutal conflicts.

21:28 Georgians, Armenians, Assyrians, Pontic Greeks, Cossacks,

21:31 Azerbaijanis, and Kurds forged fragile alliances,

21:34 militias, and short-lived states amid genocides,

21:37 and invasion by the Ottoman Empire.

21:40 By the end of the First World War unfulfilled promises— the Treaty

21:44 of Sèvres chief among them— and Soviet

21:47 invasions dismantled most of these nascent states,

21:50 leaving legacies of diaspora and ethnic trauma that endure to this day.

21:54 In the next episode, we will discuss the drive to Mosul,

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