The Caucasus Front (russian: Кавказский фронт) was a major formation of the army of the

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federal Republic. in the 1918 Constitution, was a short-lived state which controlled, ''de jure'', the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Rus ...

(the successor to the Imperial Russian Army) during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. It was established in April 1917 by reorganization of the Russian Caucasus Army and formally ceased to exist in March 1918.

Creation

The reorganization of the Caucasus Army into the Caucasus Front was undertaken by the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately ...

as part of the military reforms following the February Revolution. During its entire year of existence, the Front was in a process of disintegration as revolutionary propaganda, the weakening of military discipline, desertion, and disease sapped the Front's strength. General Yudenich was the commander of the Front at its creation. On May 31, 1917, he was removed for refusing to obey the Provisional Government's orders to resume offensive operations against the Turks, and was replaced by General Przhevalsky.

Composition

* Caucasus Army **5th Caucasian Army Corps ***other separate formations **2nd Turkestani Army Corps ***other separate formations **1st Caucasian Army Corps ***other separate formations **6th Caucasian Army Corps ***other separate formations **4th Caucasian Army Corps ***other separate formations **2nd Caucasian Horse Corps ***other separate formations **1st Caucasian Horse Corps ***other separate formations * Additional Front components ** Trapezund Fortified District ***other separate formations ** Kars Fortress ***other separate formations ** Alexandropol Fortress ***other separate formations ** Reserve ***other separate formations

Truce and dissolution

On December 5 1917 the Armistice of Erzincan was signed between the new Soviet government of Russia and the Turkish Third Army, formally ceasing fighting in the Caucasus. Nevertheless, the Turks continued some offensive operations, taking advantage of the fact that the Caucasus Front had effectively ceased to exist as a cohesive military force. Such resistance as the Turks met was offered by Armenian volunteer militia units. This was followed on March 3, 1918 by the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

ending all hostilities with the Turks. Since the Caucasus Front dissolved, it did not have a true successor organization. The Army of the North Caucasus, which was renamed 11th Army on October 3, 1918, constituted the main Soviet army in the area during the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

Creation

Composition

Truce and dissolution

Sources

See also

See also