War and Revolution in Asiatic Russia
east in Cilicia, and then East in the Assyrian highlands as far as the Persian frontier, where it bends South-east, and is continued along the shores of the Persian Gulf in the Bakhtiari highlands. The Anti-Taurus commences East of Kaisarieh in Anatolia, and running in a North-easterly direction passes Sivas on the South and Erzinjan and Erzerum on the North, finally joining up with the Azairbijan mountain system East of Mount Ararat in the basin of the Middle Araxes. But this chain is broken in one place by the volcanic plateau of Kars and Erzerum, which is piled upon the Anti-Taurus chain, burying it under a mass of detritus. The whole of this plateau is a great volcanic bed composed of layers of lava and dykes, which were erupted here at a comparatively recent date in the earth's history. This volcanic activity has completely altered the original structure of the plateau, and has raised the level of the land some two thousand feet above the surrounding regions. Thus to the North of this great volcanic uplift lies the relative depression of the Chorokh Basin and the Upper Kura valley, so that the upper table-land is laid upon the older table-land of Georgia and Lazistan, while both of these two regions are one step higher than the coast of the Black Sea. On the highest volcanic table-land stand the two fortresses of Kars and Erzerum. It was natural that after Russia had established herself upon the northern strip of this volcanic plateau, she should make Kars her base, facing the Turkish base at Erzerum. These two fortresses were the pivots upon which the Russian Caucasus army and the Turkish Armenian army hinged their operations, since they were the commanding positions on the highest of the plateaux. But it is clear
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