Battle of Baku

Battle of Baku Бакинское сражение
Date 26 August, 1918 — 14 September, 1918 Location Baku, Centrocaspian Dictatorship Result Ottoman-Azerbaijani victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire Azerbaijan Democratic Republic Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus	British Empire File:Dtr.JPG Central Caspian Dictatorship Colonel Bicherakov's force
Commanders and leaders
Nuri Pasha Mursal Pasha	Lionel Dunsterville File:Dtr.JPG Colonel Avetisov Colonel Bicherakov
Strength
Army of Islam 14,000	Dunsterforce 1,000 troops File:Dtr.JPG Army of the Central Caspian Dictatorship 7,000 troops Colonel Bicherakov's force 500 troops
Casualties and losses
2,000	British: 180

The Battle of Baku (Template:Lang-ru) was the final battle of the Caucasus Campaign. It took place in the vicinity of Baku, in 1918 . The Ottoman-Azerbaijani-Dagestani forces of the Army of Islam led by Nuri Pasha won the battle against a coalition of British, Armenian and White Russian forces led by Lionel Dunsterville.

Background

Following the abdication of the Tsar in 1917, the Caucasus Front collapsed, and Russian troops evacuated Armenia. Batum and Van were captured by the Turks.

A number of Russian troops left through Anzali, but 2 parties remained. General Nikolai Baratov remained in Hamadan with a substantial force, who could not evacuate before winter. He waited for spring. At Kermanshah, a Russian colonel named Lazar Bicherakhov remained with 10,000 faithful troops. Both men were supplanted with British liaison officers.

As a result of this collapse, the roughly 800 miles between Mesopotamia and the Caucasus were open for an Ottoman force to pass through. The situation was especially dire in the Caucasus, where Enver Pasha had planned to place Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan under Turkish suzerainty as part of his Pan-Turanian plan. This would give the Central Powers numerous natural resources, including the oilfields of Baku. The control of the Caspian would open the way to further expansion in Central Asia, and possibly British India.

Formation of the Dunsterforce

Threatened by the possibility, the British chose to send a mission of officer and instructors to the region to counter the Turks. The belief behind the mission was that the three republics would fight the Turks to avoid massacre. It was hope that his would keep the Caucasus-Tabriz front intact and put a stop on Enver's Pan-Turanian plans.

The British mission was headed by Major-General Lionel Dunsterville, who arrived to take command of the mission force in Baghdad on January 18, 1918. The first few members of the force were already assembling.

He was set to proceed from Mesopotamia, through Persia to the port of Anzali, then board ship to Baku and on. Dunsterville set out from Baghdad on January 27, 1918, with 4 NCO’s and batmen in 41 Ford vans and cars.

Initial setback

However, the country on their road was overrun by the anti-British Jangalis under Mirza Kuchak Khan, a force about 5,000 strong. On February 17, he arrived at Anzali. However, he was denied passage to Baku by local Bolsheviks, who cited the change in the political situation.

The situation continued to deteriorate, and in March, Turko-German forces occupied Batum, Tbilisi, Kars, Alexandropol and Yerevan. By May, a military mission under Nuri Pasha (Enver's brother) settled in Tabriz to organize the Army of Islam to fight not only Armenians but also Bolsheviks. ⅓ of the newly-formed army consisted of Turkish soldiers, the rest being Azerbaijani forces and volunteers from Dagestan. By June, Moscow had sent a Bolshevik commissar named Stepan Shahumian with some troops to take charge in Baku.

At this point, Bicherakhov was in the vicinity of Qazvin, trying to go north. After defeating some Janglis, he proceeded to check the situation in Baku. Returning on June 22, he planned to save the situation by blocking the Army of Islam at Alyaty Pristan. However, he arrived too late, and instead went farther north to Derbent, planning to attack the invading Army of Islam from the north. At Baku he left only a small Cossack contingent.

Beside the Russians, the Janglis also harassed elements of the Dunsterforce going to Anzali on their way to Baku. Once defeated, the Janglis dispersed. On reaching Anzali in late July, Dunsterville also arrested the local Bolsheviks who had sided with the Janglis.

Coup and arrival in Baku

On July 26, a coup d'état overthrew the Bolsheviks in Baku. The new body, the Central Caspian Dictatorship, wanted to arrest Shahumian, but he and his 1,200 Red Army troops seized the local arsenal and 13 ships, and began heading to Astrakhan. The Caspian fleet, loyal the new government, turned them back.

By July 30, the advance parties of the Army of Islam had reached the heights above Baku. Therefore, Dunsterville, immediately started sending contingents of his troops to Baku. By August 16, all of the British troops.

Opposing forces

Inside Baku itself, the local commander Bicherakhov was succeeded on July 23 by Chief of Staff, former Czarist colonel Z.Avetisov.

Under their command were about 6,000 troops of the Central Caspian Dictatorship. A vast majority (70%) of the troops in this force were Armenians, though there were some Russians among them. Their artillery was compromised of some 40 field guns.

The British troops in battle under Dunsterville numbered roughly 1,000. They were supplanted by a field artillery battery, machine gun section, three armoured cars, and also 2 airplanes.

Opposing them were roughly 14,000 Ottoman troops with cavalry and artillery.

External Links

• Comtois, Pierre. "World War I: Battle for Baku". HistoryNet. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
• Account of British Force in Baku