The Caucasus Front () was a major formation of the army of the

Russian Republic The Russian Republic,. referred to as the Russian Democratic Federative 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 The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

) during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. 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 was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. New_Style.html" ;"title="5 ...

as part of the military reforms following the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

. 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 The Armistice of Erzincan (also spelled Erzindzhan or Erzinjan) was an agreement to suspend hostilities during World War I signed by the Ottoman Empire and Transcaucasian Commissariat in Erzincan on 18 December 1917 (5 December O.S.). Tadeusz ...

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 was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

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 The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

Creation

Composition

Truce and dissolution

Sources

See also

See also