Early Stages of the Campaign
Empire of Russia. The fortune of war might give to any one of these the control of the southern "gateway", or else it might decide, as up to the present it has decided, in favour of a political Balance of Power in the Middle East, part of Mesopotamia and Arabia coming under Great Britain's influence, Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia under Germany's, and Armenia under Russia's. Now all these territorial gains are cards which at the Peace Conference will play no insignificant rôle in the settlement of the Eastern Question. In so far, therefore, as military events affect the ultimate world-settlement, the Caucasus campaign of 1914–16 has its place in history.
In the period preceding the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, Russia had been engaged in consolidating the position in the Trans-Caucasus, which she had acquired by her voluntary union with the ancient kingdom of Georgia. This had given her a hold over the lowlands lying immediately South of the main range of the Caucasus, and had established her upon the first step of the ladder leading onto the Central Asian plateau. But after 1877, by the occupation of Kars, Russia acquired a footing upon the next step of the ladder in Greater Armenia. This region is, as it were, a bridge connecting Asia Minor and the Iranian plateau. The Central Asian plateau in its western extremity is founded upon two main ranges of mountains which are the spines of the continent; these are the Taurus to the South, and the Anti-Taurus to the North, both running in a parallel direction East and West from Anatolia to Persia.[1] The Taurus, starting along the south coast of Asia Minor, curves North-
- ↑ See Map.
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