A map of the Russian-Turkish front from Der Weltkrieg 1914-1918, a 1930s German history of the war illustrated with hand-pasted cigarette cards, showing the Turkish Empire in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas and the Persian Gulf. To the west is Egypt, a British dominion; to the east Persia. Erzerum in Turkey and Kars in Russia were the great fortresses on the frontier.
Mittelmeer: Mediterranean SeaSchwarzes M: Black SeaKasp. M.: Caspian SeaKleinasien: Asia MinorTürkei: TurkeyRussland: RussiaMesopot.: MesopotamiaPersien: PersiaAgypten: EgyptKairo: CairoStellungen der: Positions of theTürken Jan. 1915. . .August 1916Russen Mai 1915 . . . Frühjahr 1916Engländer: November 1914 . . . Ende 1917Herbst 1918Positions of theTurks Jan. 1915 . . . August 1916Russians May 1915 . . . spring 1916English: November 1914 . . . the end of 1917autumn 1918
"New Turkish reinforcements were rushed up from Central Anatolia in a vain effort to stop the Russian advance. That being found impossible, the Turks evacuated Trebizond on April 18th [1916], and the town was occupied by the Russians two days later, after silencing the Turkish guns in the outer forts.The capture of Trebizond gave the Russians possession of a stretch of territory 250 miles in length and 125 miles wide, comprising 31,250 square miles, reaching from the Black Sea to the north to the Turki-Persian frontier on the south, and including the greater part of Armenia."
Since the Battle of Sarikamish in January, 1915, the Russians had steadily advanced into eastern Turkey, territory with a large Christian population, much of it Armenian until the genocidal attacks of the Turkish government on the Armenians. Russia was reaching the limits of its advance in the Caucasus Mountains and eastern Turkey, but was also moving into Persia, an independent but weak country on which the Turks also had designs. The Russians also hoped to break through Turkish defenses to reach Mesopotamia to help relieve a British Army besieged at Kut-al-Amara. King's history of the war in eastern Turkey continues: 'During April and May many minor cavalry engagements were fought along a battle front 200 miles long, with varying successes, the campaign finally resolving itself into clashes between outposts.'
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 211, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
1916-04-18, 1916, April, Trebizond, Black Sea, Persia
