WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 Welcome to the deep dive. Glad to be here. So 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:05.580 if you want to understand the modern Middle East 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:07.799 or, you know, the borders of Russia and even 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:11.099 just the global obsession with oil, you really 00:00:11.099 --> 00:00:13.419 have to look at this totally forgotten theater 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:16.160 of World War One. Oh, absolutely. Today, we are 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.179 unpacking the Caucasus campaign. We've got this 00:00:19.179 --> 00:00:22.320 massive stack of historical research, military 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:25.839 records, articles, and our mission here is to 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.460 just extract all the critical, mind -blowing 00:00:28.460 --> 00:00:32.469 insights from these sources. Right. You, listening 00:00:32.469 --> 00:00:35.070 right now, can sound like a master historian 00:00:35.070 --> 00:00:37.310 the next time geopolitics comes up at a dinner 00:00:37.310 --> 00:00:39.929 party. It's just a phenomenal topic to dive into 00:00:39.929 --> 00:00:42.229 because, you know, our collective memory of World 00:00:42.229 --> 00:00:45.289 War I almost automatically defaults to one specific 00:00:45.289 --> 00:00:48.049 image. The trenches. Exactly. The muddy, static 00:00:48.049 --> 00:00:50.049 trenches of the Western Front. We picture the 00:00:50.049 --> 00:00:52.549 Somme. We picture Verdun. Right. Guys just sitting 00:00:52.549 --> 00:00:55.130 in mud for months. Yeah. But the events we are 00:00:55.130 --> 00:00:57.310 exploring today, they paint a wildly different 00:00:57.310 --> 00:00:59.770 picture of that global conflict. We're talking 00:00:59.770 --> 00:01:04.030 about an incredible chaotic, fluid, and just 00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:06.230 largely overlooked clash between the Russian 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:09.810 and Ottoman empires. This was a brutal, high 00:01:09.810 --> 00:01:12.989 -altitude mountain war spanning from the South 00:01:12.989 --> 00:01:15.489 Caucasus all the way down to the Armenian highlands. 00:01:15.890 --> 00:01:18.510 It had global empires collapsing in real time. 00:01:18.730 --> 00:01:20.969 In a level of unpredictability you just did not 00:01:20.969 --> 00:01:23.450 see in France. Exactly. Okay, let's unpack this. 00:01:23.890 --> 00:01:27.150 What was the actual core driver of this massive 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:29.569 conflict? Well, if we connect this to the bigger 00:01:29.569 --> 00:01:32.939 picture, The stakes were just unimaginably high. 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:35.739 And they involved resources that honestly still 00:01:35.739 --> 00:01:40.319 dictate global power today. Oil. Oil. But first, 00:01:40.739 --> 00:01:43.420 territory. The Ottoman Empire, which was led 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:45.879 by War Minister Ember Pasha, they had a very 00:01:45.879 --> 00:01:48.439 specific strategic goal. They wanted to reclaim 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:50.840 land they'd lost to the Russians decades earlier. 00:01:51.019 --> 00:01:54.900 Back in 1877. Right, 1877. Specifically, these 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:57.799 regions like Kars, Ardahan, and the super vital 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:00.760 port of Batum. But beyond just drawing new lines 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:03.159 on a map, their ultimate grand objective was 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:05.939 to sever Russian access to the hydrocarbon resources 00:02:05.939 --> 00:02:08.300 around the Caspian Sea. Because oil was rapidly 00:02:08.300 --> 00:02:10.819 becoming the absolute lifeblood of modern empires. 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:13.139 Exactly. And the Ottomans wanted to control that 00:02:13.139 --> 00:02:15.639 tap. That definitely explains the Ottoman drive. 00:02:16.379 --> 00:02:19.020 But what was keeping Russia so invested in this 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:22.159 specific mountain fight? I mean, they had millions 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:24.580 of men locked in this desperate struggle against 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:26.979 Germany and Austria -Hungary over in Europe. 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:29.319 Yeah, they were heavily extended. Surely they 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:31.460 needed every single available soldier on that 00:02:31.460 --> 00:02:33.560 Eastern front. They did. And for the Russian 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:36.139 Tsarist regime, the Caucasus was technically 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:39.469 a secondary front. Right. However, Foreign Minister 00:02:39.469 --> 00:02:42.310 Sosnov and the Russian high command, they had 00:02:42.310 --> 00:02:45.389 this grand vision that made the risk completely 00:02:45.389 --> 00:02:48.229 worthwhile in their eyes. They wanted Constantinople. 00:02:48.490 --> 00:02:50.889 Yes. They wanted full possession of Constantinople 00:02:50.889 --> 00:02:53.610 and total control over the vital straits convicting 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:56.669 the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. It was this 00:02:56.669 --> 00:02:59.870 centuries old Russian dream to secure a warm 00:02:59.870 --> 00:03:02.909 water port. Unhindered naval access. Exactly. 00:03:03.469 --> 00:03:05.650 And while these two massive empires are throwing 00:03:05.650 --> 00:03:07.610 punches at each other in the freezing mountains, 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:09.939 You have, of course, the British hovering in 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:18.599 the background. Caspian oil enters the geopolitical 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:21.900 equation. Always. The British government desperately 00:03:21.900 --> 00:03:24.539 needed to protect the Anglo -Persian oil company. 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:27.280 They had just secured these massive contracts 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:30.099 right before the war broke out. To supply oil 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:32.740 fuel for the Royal Navy. Right. So when Enver 00:03:32.740 --> 00:03:36.219 Pasha pushed to establish this independent Transcaucasia 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:38.680 under Ottoman influence, the British started 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:41.479 coordinating with Russian forces purely to prevent 00:03:41.479 --> 00:03:43.860 that. They had to protect their petroleum supply 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:47.000 lines. Wow. So this theater, which starts out 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.240 as basically a peripheral distraction for Russia, 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.659 it rapidly evolves into this chaotic multi -empire 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:57.479 collision over energy, territory, and basically 00:03:57.479 --> 00:03:59.780 imperial survival. It really did. And when you 00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:02.280 look at the actual forces that marched into those 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:04.759 mountains, the initial mismatch is striking. 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:07.460 It's massive. The Ottomans deployed their third 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:10.430 army to the region. which gave them a huge manpower 00:04:10.430 --> 00:04:12.750 advantage early on. Yeah, the Ottoman Third Army 00:04:12.750 --> 00:04:16.050 had up to 190 ,000 men available for the campaign. 00:04:16.470 --> 00:04:19.410 190 ,000. But they were severely hampered by 00:04:19.410 --> 00:04:21.730 their own logistics. They were poorly equipped 00:04:21.730 --> 00:04:24.209 for high -altitude winter warfare. On the other 00:04:24.209 --> 00:04:26.589 side, the Russians initially fielded the Caucasus 00:04:26.589 --> 00:04:30.139 Army with about 100 ,000 troops. But they didn't 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:33.420 keep them. No. Because of devastating losses 00:04:33.420 --> 00:04:36.779 in Europe, like the absolute disaster at Tannenberg, 00:04:37.420 --> 00:04:40.279 the Russian high command continually drained 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:43.100 their Caucasus forces just to plug holes on the 00:04:43.100 --> 00:04:45.519 eastern front. So they dropped their regional 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:49.439 strength down to just 60 ,000 men. 60 ,000 against 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:55.069 190 ,000. Being outnumbered three to one in hostile 00:04:55.069 --> 00:04:57.389 mountainous terrain is a strategic nightmare 00:04:57.389 --> 00:05:00.250 for literally any commander. But the Russians 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:02.750 did have some unique advantages that completely 00:05:02.750 --> 00:05:04.769 shifted that balance of power on the ground. 00:05:04.850 --> 00:05:07.310 They did. They received massive support from 00:05:07.310 --> 00:05:10.350 Armenian volunteer units. These were highly motivated 00:05:10.350 --> 00:05:12.589 fighters who had very deep personal stakes in 00:05:12.589 --> 00:05:14.410 the region. And many of them had actually fought 00:05:14.410 --> 00:05:16.629 alongside the Russians in previous conflicts. 00:05:16.730 --> 00:05:19.410 Right. So they knew the drill. Those volunteer 00:05:19.410 --> 00:05:22.209 units, organized under commanders like Andronik 00:05:22.209 --> 00:05:25.189 Ozanian, they provided a critical backbone to 00:05:25.189 --> 00:05:27.709 the Russian defensive line. This line stretched 00:05:27.709 --> 00:05:30.810 from Van all the way to Erzinkin. And their numbers 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:32.670 grew quite a bit, didn't they? Oh, massively. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:35.199 By the later stages of the conflict, there were 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:39.899 up to 150 ,000 Armenian troops operating in the 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:42.480 Near East. Wow. And they possessed an intimate 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:45.319 knowledge of the local terrain that regular Russian 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:48.220 conscripts just completely lacked. Furthermore, 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:50.740 they were incredibly well equipped. With Russian 00:05:50.740 --> 00:05:53.600 gear. Exactly. They frequently recovered and 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:57.110 maintained the absolute best artillery and rifles 00:05:57.110 --> 00:05:59.550 that the regular Russian army left behind. OK, 00:05:59.750 --> 00:06:01.389 here's where it gets really interesting to me. 00:06:01.769 --> 00:06:05.600 Just a completely surprising detail. Japan. was 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:08.300 actively involved in this mountain war in the 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:11.060 Middle East. It's wild. The sheer distance and 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:13.319 logistics involved in that are mind -boggling. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.019 It is one of those stunning historical footnotes 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:18.120 that reminds you this was truly a world war. 00:06:18.420 --> 00:06:20.759 Right. Japan was allied with the Entente powers, 00:06:21.019 --> 00:06:23.579 and their logistical support proved vital for 00:06:23.579 --> 00:06:25.720 a Russian empire that was constantly struggling 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:28.199 with massive supply shortages. Because Japan 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:31.459 supplied them with, what, 300 ,000 rifles? 300 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:35.060 ,000 rifles, they sent military observers, they 00:06:35.060 --> 00:06:37.660 sent artillery captains right to the front lines. 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:41.360 And the divers. Yes. They actually deployed 12 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:44.019 highly specialized Japanese naval divers all 00:06:44.019 --> 00:06:46.160 the way to the Black Sea port of Sevastopol. 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:48.620 Just to help raise that sunken Russian dreadnought, 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:51.740 the Empress Maria. Moving hundreds of thousands 00:06:51.740 --> 00:06:53.939 of weapons and specialized naval teams across 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:56.339 the Trans -Siberian Railway, it just highlights 00:06:56.339 --> 00:06:59.180 how globally interconnected this seemingly isolated 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:01.660 mountain conflict really was. Absolutely. But, 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:04.519 you know, even with global supply lines, no amount 00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:06.779 of rifles could protect these armies from the 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:09.079 environment itself. No. Which takes us to the 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:12.519 winter of 1914. It is hard to overstate the absolute 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:15.259 nightmare that unfolded at the Battle of Sarakamish. 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:18.839 This was December... 1914. Right. Ottoman war 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:21.399 minister Enver Pasha makes the fateful decision 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:24.100 to take personal command of the third army. His 00:07:24.100 --> 00:07:26.560 most experienced generals strongly advised against 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.899 this. They basically told him to remain in a 00:07:28.899 --> 00:07:31.000 defensive posture for the winter. Because launching 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:33.279 an offensive in those conditions was tactical 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.319 suicide. Total suicide. But Enver ignored them. 00:07:36.509 --> 00:07:40.250 He forced this massive, overly complex flanking 00:07:40.250 --> 00:07:43.470 maneuver aimed at retaking the city of Kars. 00:07:43.730 --> 00:07:45.970 And they were fighting at 6 ,500 feet above sea 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:48.189 level. In December. In December. And the sources 00:07:48.189 --> 00:07:50.370 note that many of the Ottoman soldiers were wearing 00:07:50.370 --> 00:07:53.110 standard -issue summer uniforms. Because the 00:07:53.110 --> 00:07:55.269 winter gear had been delayed or just completely 00:07:55.269 --> 00:07:58.329 lost in transit, the logistics were doomed from 00:07:58.329 --> 00:08:01.290 the exact moment the march began. The Ottoman 00:08:01.290 --> 00:08:03.870 army was attempting to supply nearly 100 ,000 00:08:03.870 --> 00:08:06.740 men using a single railway line, and a network 00:08:06.740 --> 00:08:09.800 of snowbound, rudimentary mountain passes. A 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:12.199 complete recipe for disaster. And the Russian 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:15.399 commander, General Nikolai Yudinich, he recognized 00:08:15.399 --> 00:08:18.560 the absolute peril his enemies were putting themselves 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.259 in. So what did he do? He simply held his ground. 00:08:21.550 --> 00:08:24.230 He fortified his defensive positions and let 00:08:24.230 --> 00:08:26.050 the brutal environment do the heavy lifting. 00:08:26.189 --> 00:08:29.189 Let the winter fight for him. The cost was staggering. 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:31.990 Out of the 95 ,000 Ottoman soldiers who marched 00:08:31.990 --> 00:08:34.769 into that offensive, less than 18 ,000 survived 00:08:34.769 --> 00:08:37.529 to retreat. It's just devastating. The historical 00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:41.110 records show that 30 ,000 men literally froze 00:08:41.110 --> 00:08:43.419 to death in the snow. Entire units were found 00:08:43.419 --> 00:08:46.120 frozen in their bivouacs. It wasn't even enemy 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:49.059 artillery that broke the third army. It was the 00:08:49.059 --> 00:08:53.720 sheer inescapable cold. The entire Ottoman NIACS 00:08:53.720 --> 00:08:56.779 Corps ultimately surrendered. It was an unmitigated 00:08:56.779 --> 00:09:00.190 catastrophe. Enver Pasha had essentially overseen 00:09:00.190 --> 00:09:02.049 the complete destruction of his own fighting 00:09:02.049 --> 00:09:04.690 force. So he just leaves? He quietly gave up 00:09:04.690 --> 00:09:06.970 command and scurried back to Constantinople, 00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:09.750 but he faced a severe political crisis. He couldn't 00:09:09.750 --> 00:09:11.610 just return to the capital and admit that his 00:09:11.610 --> 00:09:14.230 own strategic arrogance had annihilated the Third 00:09:14.230 --> 00:09:17.309 Army. So Enver needed a scapegoat, someone to 00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:19.789 deflect the blame away from his horrible leadership. 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:23.149 Exactly. He publicly blamed the defeat on the 00:09:23.149 --> 00:09:25.509 local Armenians living in the region. He claimed 00:09:25.509 --> 00:09:28.019 they had actively rebelled and sided with the 00:09:28.019 --> 00:09:30.460 Russian forces, acting as this sort of fifth 00:09:30.460 --> 00:09:33.620 column that undermined his offensive. Wow. And 00:09:33.620 --> 00:09:36.379 this act of political scapegoating to cover up 00:09:36.379 --> 00:09:39.080 a military failure, it would serve as the catalyst 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:41.940 for horrific, world -altering consequences just 00:09:41.940 --> 00:09:45.019 a few months later. Right. And as we move into 00:09:45.019 --> 00:09:48.519 1915, we arrive at the most tragic aspect of 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:51.679 the caucus's campaign, the devastating toll on 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.679 civilians. Yeah. Now, before we dive into these 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:56.700 events, we need to pause here. We want to be 00:09:56.700 --> 00:09:58.840 completely transparent with you. The historical 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:02.039 tests we are using detail the Armenian genocide 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.240 as well as massive atrocities committed against 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.539 Muslim and Greek populations. Right. Our strict 00:10:06.539 --> 00:10:09.059 rule here is that our goal is not to take sides. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:12.019 We are not endorsing any political viewpoints. 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:15.419 We are strictly and impartially reporting the 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:17.679 historical facts, the statistics, and the claims 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.100 exactly as they are documented in our source 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:22.679 material. Exactly. And the escalation of violence 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:24.720 against civilians really began around the city 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:28.899 of Van. In April 1915, the Ottoman Interior Minister 00:10:28.899 --> 00:10:30.980 issued claims that Armenians in the region were 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:33.059 actively rebelling and coordinating with the 00:10:33.059 --> 00:10:35.360 advancing Russian forces. The source records 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:38.159 describe an incredibly desperate siege at Van. 00:10:38.779 --> 00:10:42.399 A group of about 1500 Armenian defenders barricaded 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.460 themselves inside the city. They were trying 00:10:44.460 --> 00:10:46.860 to protect 30 ,000 residents and an additional 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:49.480 15 ,000 refugees who had fled in from the surrounding 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:52.059 countryside. And they held off regular Ottoman 00:10:52.059 --> 00:10:55.139 forces for more than three weeks. Using mostly 00:10:55.139 --> 00:10:58.500 antique weaponry, reportedly just 300 modern 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:01.279 rifles and a thousand pistols among the entire 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:03.620 group. It's incredible. They maintained that 00:11:03.620 --> 00:11:06.039 defense until Russian General Udenich finally 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:08.419 arrived with his forces to relieve the city. 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:11.259 But following the events at Van, things took 00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:16.399 a dark turn. On April 24th, 1915, Ottoman Interior 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:19.679 Minister Talat Pasha passed orders that initiated 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:21.960 the Armenian genocide. And the official Ottoman 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:24.620 justification, according to the historical archives. 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:26.860 The official justification they documented was 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:29.360 that the Armenian population could serve as a 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.639 potential fifth column in league with the Russians. 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:34.139 So the Armenian population was systematically 00:11:34.139 --> 00:11:36.399 removed from their homes and forced on long death 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:38.840 marches. Directed toward concentration camps 00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:41.139 located in the middle of the Syrian desert. Right. 00:11:41.379 --> 00:11:43.659 And the methods documented in our sources from 00:11:43.659 --> 00:11:47.659 this period are brutal. They include forced marches, 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.679 deliberate starvation, disease, rampant abuse 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:53.799 by guards, and indiscriminate massacres all along 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:56.690 the deportation routes. These actions accomplished 00:11:56.690 --> 00:11:59.309 the Ottoman government's goal of removing Armenians 00:11:59.309 --> 00:12:01.830 from their historic homelands, which resulted 00:12:01.830 --> 00:12:04.389 in the total depopulation of Western Armenia. 00:12:04.590 --> 00:12:07.210 And the human cost. The ethnic cleansings and 00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:09.509 massacres carried out under these orders resulted 00:12:09.509 --> 00:12:14.190 in the deaths of between 600 ,000 and 1 .5 million 00:12:14.190 --> 00:12:17.830 Armenian civilians. To maintain our strict impartiality. 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:20.620 and accurately reflect the entirety of the historical 00:12:20.620 --> 00:12:22.639 record we're looking at. We also have to look 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.720 at the counter atrocities documented throughout 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:28.559 the region. Yes. Historian Usur Umit Ugungur 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:30.879 notes that severe atrocities were carried out 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:33.820 against the local Muslim Turks and Kurds by the 00:12:33.820 --> 00:12:36.259 advancing Russian army and its allied Armenian 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:39.299 volunteer units. Right. The historical consensus 00:12:39.299 --> 00:12:41.899 from the texts is that a massive portion of the 00:12:41.899 --> 00:12:44.740 local Muslim Turks and Kurds fled westward. They 00:12:44.740 --> 00:12:46.480 were trying to stay ahead of the Russian invasion 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.419 in 1916. to escape the violence. And the records 00:12:49.419 --> 00:12:51.299 indicate that the number of Muslim civilians 00:12:51.299 --> 00:12:53.120 killed by the troops of the Russian coalition 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:57.990 reached roughly 600 ,000 people. 600 ,000. And 00:12:57.990 --> 00:13:01.490 in addition to this, 300 ,000 Greek civilians 00:13:01.490 --> 00:13:05.330 also lost their lives amid the wider ethnic conflicts 00:13:05.330 --> 00:13:08.129 and deportations sweeping the region. This raises 00:13:08.129 --> 00:13:10.830 an important question. It does. This raises an 00:13:10.830 --> 00:13:12.789 important question for you, as the listener reflecting 00:13:12.789 --> 00:13:15.549 on this period. How does total war completely 00:13:15.549 --> 00:13:18.669 destroy the civilian fabric of an entire geographic 00:13:18.669 --> 00:13:21.399 region? Wow. When you place these numbers side 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:25.620 by side, up to 1 .5 million Armenians, 600 ,000 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:29.759 Muslims, 300 ,000 Greeks, it forces us to confront 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:32.419 the sheer unimaginable scale of tragedy that 00:13:32.419 --> 00:13:35.000 impacted all populations. It birthed a level 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.799 of generational trauma that far outlasted the 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:40.240 empires that initiated the war. Absolutely. The 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:42.299 devastation was total. And the demographics of 00:13:42.299 --> 00:13:44.000 the region were permanently altered. Yes, they 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.279 were. Now, as we move forward in the timeline 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:49.129 to 1916, the momentum on the battlefield took 00:13:49.129 --> 00:13:52.750 another dramatic turn. Russian General Yudanish 00:13:52.750 --> 00:13:55.429 pulled off what looks like an absolute master 00:13:55.429 --> 00:13:58.110 class in military deception. He orchestrated 00:13:58.110 --> 00:14:01.639 a brilliant offensive basically. by weaponizing 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:05.620 the environment. In early 1916, Yudenich secretly 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:08.059 mobilized his forces out of their winter quarters. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:11.039 Which was unthinkable. Unthinkable. The Ottoman 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.519 command safely assumed that no army would dare 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.820 attack in the bitter mountain cold, especially 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:17.860 after the horrors everyone had just witnessed 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:20.980 at Sarikamish. So Yudenich used that exact assumption 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:23.539 against them. He force -marched his troops through 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:26.039 the winter terrain directly toward the major 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:29.299 Ottoman fortress at Erzurum. He achieved total 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:32.240 tactical surprise. And just completely crushed 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:34.879 the Ottoman defensive lines. The Russian military 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.980 was suddenly dominant across the entire theater. 00:14:37.139 --> 00:14:39.279 Overnight. Following Erzurum, they captured the 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:42.120 ancient Black Sea port city of Trabzon. They 00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:45.200 pushed deep into Anatolia, seizing Mush and Bitlis. 00:14:45.389 --> 00:14:48.690 By the end of 1916, the Ottoman Second and Third 00:14:48.690 --> 00:14:51.629 Armies were entirely on the ropes. Russians had 00:14:51.629 --> 00:14:53.629 decisively won the battlefield. They were preparing 00:14:53.629 --> 00:14:56.610 to push even further south. But then in 1917, 00:14:57.309 --> 00:14:59.409 the absolute unimaginable happens. The Russian 00:14:59.409 --> 00:15:01.850 Revolution erupted. Completely upends the board. 00:15:02.230 --> 00:15:04.649 The entire dynamic of the global war flipped 00:15:04.649 --> 00:15:07.259 overnight. The Russian military didn't suffer 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:09.600 a tactical defeat to the Ottomans on the battlefield? 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:12.799 No. The Russian army simply disintegrated from 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.340 within? That's wild to think about. The political 00:15:15.340 --> 00:15:17.860 and social chaos happening back in Petrograd 00:15:17.860 --> 00:15:20.840 rapidly infected the front lines in the Caucasus. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:22.840 Because the troops were already suffering terribly 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:25.919 from typhus and scurvy. Right. And with the Tsar 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:29.360 deposed, they frankly no longer saw a reason 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:32.259 to fight an imperial war. The psychological shock 00:15:32.259 --> 00:15:34.440 of this moment is fascinating to read about, 00:15:34.919 --> 00:15:36.799 particularly the impact of something called Order 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:39.500 Number One. Oh, yeah. This was a directed issue 00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:42.500 by the Petrograd Soviet, the Council of Workers 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:45.360 and Soldiers that had essentially taken control 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:49.120 of the Russian capital. Order Number One literally 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.720 democratized the Russian military. It's such 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:54.519 a bizarre concept for an army. It allowed individual 00:15:54.519 --> 00:15:56.700 military units to elect their own representatives 00:15:56.700 --> 00:15:58.639 and actually vote on whether to follow the orders 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.009 of their officers. Think about that. You have 00:16:01.009 --> 00:16:03.950 a heavily armed military force occupying hostile 00:16:03.950 --> 00:16:06.570 foreign territory and suddenly their rank -and 00:16:06.570 --> 00:16:08.590 -file soldiers are holding committee meetings 00:16:08.590 --> 00:16:10.830 to vote on whether they should hold the line? 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:13.600 or just board trains back to Russia. And the 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:16.519 vote was overwhelmingly to go home? Naturally. 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:19.480 The command structure just evaporated. The Russian 00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:22.419 army slowly packed up its personal gear and abandoned 00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:24.559 the front. They get good behind. They left the 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.379 newly formed Armenian National Forces completely 00:16:27.379 --> 00:16:30.639 alone to hold a 600 kilometer front against the 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.399 regrouping Ottomans. And the sheer volume of 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:35.419 military hardware they abandoned is staggering. 00:16:35.929 --> 00:16:39.129 In Baku alone, the retreating Russian forces 00:16:39.129 --> 00:16:43.009 simply walked away from 160 artillery cannons, 00:16:43.750 --> 00:16:47.409 180 heavy machine guns, and an estimated 160 00:16:47.409 --> 00:16:50.809 million cartridges of ammunition. 160 million? 00:16:50.950 --> 00:16:53.129 The newly independent local forces suddenly found 00:16:53.129 --> 00:16:56.370 themselves heavily armed but vastly outnumbered. 00:16:56.730 --> 00:16:59.490 This massive power vacuum sets the stage perfectly 00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:01.389 for the absolute free -for -all that consumed 00:17:01.389 --> 00:17:05.500 the region in 1918. It was chaos. With the Russian 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:08.299 regular army entirely removed from the board, 00:17:08.859 --> 00:17:11.839 the Ottoman Empire rushed its forces back in 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:15.059 to reclaim all the territory they had lost over 00:17:15.059 --> 00:17:17.400 the previous three years. But the absence of 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:20.000 Russian authority was so profound that entirely 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:23.559 new, unexpected players scrambled into the Caucasus 00:17:23.559 --> 00:17:26.000 to secure their own interests. Right. And this 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.500 is where the alliances break down into complete 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:31.220 absurdity. Total absurdity. You have German troops 00:17:31.220 --> 00:17:35.049 arriving in the Caucasus in June 1918. But wait, 00:17:35.549 --> 00:17:37.509 the German Empire was allied with the Ottoman 00:17:37.509 --> 00:17:39.750 Empire. They were fighting on the exact same 00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:41.950 side of the war. They were allies in Europe. 00:17:42.109 --> 00:17:44.809 But in the caucuses, the ultimate prize was the 00:17:44.809 --> 00:17:47.190 immense oil wealth at Baku. It always comes back 00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:49.910 to the oil. Always. The German general staff 00:17:49.910 --> 00:17:52.650 actually deployed troops to Georgia to compete 00:17:52.650 --> 00:17:55.349 directly against their own Ottoman allies for 00:17:55.349 --> 00:17:57.789 regional influence and petroleum resources. They're 00:17:57.789 --> 00:17:59.549 fighting their own friends. The Germans went 00:17:59.549 --> 00:18:02.369 so far as to threaten to withdraw all military 00:18:02.369 --> 00:18:04.289 and financial support for the Ottoman Empire 00:18:04.289 --> 00:18:07.009 if the Turks didn't halt their advance into Georgian 00:18:07.009 --> 00:18:10.240 territory. That is a stark demonstration. that 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:12.539 the need for oil trumped even the most critical 00:18:12.539 --> 00:18:15.640 military alliances. The sheer variety of factions 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:18.140 fighting in 1918 makes it look like a complete 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:21.440 geopolitical free -for -all. Enver Pasha created 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:24.000 a brand new specialized force called the Army 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.920 of Islam. which was specifically designed to 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:30.740 march on Baku and seize the oil fields. And meanwhile, 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:33.119 the British are scrambling. They deployed an 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:35.759 allied force of Australian, British, Canadian, 00:18:36.099 --> 00:18:38.539 and New Zealand troops. And they drove all the 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:41.359 way from Baghdad through the mountains in Ford 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.619 vans and armored cars. Which is an insane road 00:18:44.619 --> 00:18:46.619 trip. It really is. They were literally called 00:18:46.619 --> 00:18:49.299 Dunster Force, named after their eccentric commander, 00:18:49.559 --> 00:18:51.759 General Lionel Dunsterville. Dunsterforce was 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:53.859 a desperate attempt by the British Empire to 00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:56.339 secure the Baku oilfield before the Ottomans 00:18:56.339 --> 00:18:58.539 or the Germans could get there. Right. And amidst 00:18:58.539 --> 00:19:01.299 the chaos of armored cars, German opportunists 00:19:01.299 --> 00:19:03.859 and Ottoman advances, you have the desperate 00:19:03.859 --> 00:19:06.400 birth of brand new nations. The short -lived 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.079 Trans -Caucasian Federation collapsed and out 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:11.279 of its ashes came the sudden proclamations of 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.579 the First Republic of Armenia, the Democratic 00:19:13.579 --> 00:19:16.099 Republic of Georgia and the Azerbaijan Democratic 00:19:16.099 --> 00:19:18.740 Republic. These newborn nations were fighting 00:19:18.740 --> 00:19:21.279 for their very existence while centuries -old 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:23.319 empires were just collapsing all around them. 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:26.220 And this is exactly why this chaotic scramble 00:19:26.220 --> 00:19:29.619 in 1918 matters to you today. The borders that 00:19:29.619 --> 00:19:32.599 were drawn in panic during this period and the 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:35.279 fierce ethnic conflicts over regions like mountainous 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:37.980 Karabakh and the Kishovan, these are the exact 00:19:37.980 --> 00:19:40.599 same geopolitical fault lines that continue to 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:42.539 flare up on the news right now. It's all connected. 00:19:42.730 --> 00:19:45.230 The total casualties for this specific campaign 00:19:45.230 --> 00:19:48.549 were staggering, over 300 ,000 dead for the Ottomans 00:19:48.549 --> 00:19:52.049 and nearly 120 ,000 for the Russians. But the 00:19:52.049 --> 00:19:54.650 regional conflicts birthed in the vacuum of 1918 00:19:54.650 --> 00:19:58.089 far outlasted both the Romanov and Ottoman empires. 00:19:58.369 --> 00:20:00.690 So we started this deep dive looking at a battle 00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:04.009 over Caspian Sea oil and imperial borders. We 00:20:04.009 --> 00:20:06.630 journeyed through freezing mountain passes where 00:20:06.630 --> 00:20:09.509 tens of thousands perished in the snow. We witnessed 00:20:09.509 --> 00:20:13.049 the total tragic devastation of civilian populations 00:20:13.049 --> 00:20:16.490 across the board. Saw a centuries old Russian 00:20:16.490 --> 00:20:18.970 dynasty collapse from the inside out. And watched 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:21.490 a bizarre scramble of armored cars and newborn 00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:23.890 republics fight for a new world order. Yeah. 00:20:24.150 --> 00:20:26.789 So what does this all mean? Well, I want to leave 00:20:26.789 --> 00:20:30.009 you with one final, profound historical counterfactual 00:20:30.009 --> 00:20:32.549 to mull over. OK. Consider the timeline of events. 00:20:32.910 --> 00:20:35.910 By late 1916, General Yunesh and the Russian 00:20:35.910 --> 00:20:38.529 army had completely decimated the Ottoman forces 00:20:38.529 --> 00:20:41.069 on this front. They had taken Erzurum, secured 00:20:41.069 --> 00:20:43.630 Trabzon, and were actively preparing to push 00:20:43.630 --> 00:20:46.309 their offensive deep into Mesopotamia. They were 00:20:46.309 --> 00:20:48.410 winning. They were dominating. If the Russian 00:20:48.410 --> 00:20:50.750 Revolution had held off for just one more year, 00:20:50.829 --> 00:20:54.259 just 12 months, the Tsarist empire would have 00:20:54.259 --> 00:20:58.000 won the Caucasus campaign decisively. They almost 00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:59.680 certainly would have achieved their centuries 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:01.880 -old goal of capturing Constantinople. That's 00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:04.259 crazy to think about. Imagine how completely 00:21:04.259 --> 00:21:06.359 different the map of the modern Middle East, 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:08.460 the Soviet Union, and Europe would look today 00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:11.799 if the Tsar had survived just 12 more months. 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.160 It completely rewrites the entire 20th century. 00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:17.819 That is a staggering what -if to think about. 00:21:18.009 --> 00:21:19.990 Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. We 00:21:19.990 --> 00:21:22.029 hope you walk away with a much richer understanding 00:21:22.029 --> 00:21:24.970 of this chaotic, world -altering theater of war 00:21:24.970 --> 00:21:27.569 and the invisible lines of history that still 00:21:27.569 --> 00:21:30.450 shape our modern world. Keep questioning the 00:21:30.450 --> 00:21:32.430 history behind the headlines, and we will catch 00:21:32.430 --> 00:21:33.009 you next time.