The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dictatorship, and the British Empire, as part of the Middle Eastern theatre during World War I. The Caucasus campaign extended from the South Caucasus to the Armenian Highlands region, reaching as far as Trabzon, Bitlis, Mush and Van. The land warfare was accompanied by naval engagements in the Black Sea.
Clockwise, from top left: The Battle of Sarikamish, The Erzurum Offensive, The Battle of Bitlis, The Battle of Erzincan
1914, Russian Caucasus Army at Sarikamish
Attack of Russian Army in the Caucasus
Siege of Van, Armenian troops holding a defense line against Ottoman forces in the walled city of Van in May 1915
First Republic of Armenia
The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia, was an independent Armenian state that existed from May 1918 to 2 December 1920 in the Armenian-populated territories of the former Russian Empire known as Eastern or Russian Armenia. The republic was established in May 1918, with its capital in the city of Yerevan, after the dissolution of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. It was the first Armenian state since the Middle Ages.
Caucasian Front WWI. The territory of Western Armenia occupied by Armenian Russian troops in the summer-autumn of 1916. Niva Magazine - 1916
Folk dancers celebrating Armenian Independence Day in 1918, Yerevan
Starving children on a street in Armenia
American Commission to Negotiate Peace telegram describing massacres around Nakhchivan