Trebizond Campaign

Trebizond Campaign
Date February 5- April 15, 1916 Location Trabzon, Ottoman Empire Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Russian Empire	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nikolai Yudenich	Vehip Pasha
Strength
Russian Caucasus Army	Third Army

The Trebizond Campaign, also known as the Battle of Trebizond, was a series of successful Russian naval and land operations that resulted in the capture of Trabzon. It was the logistical step after the Erzerum Campaign. Operations began on February 5 and concluded when the Ottoman troops abandoned Trabzon on the night of April 15, 1916.^[1]

Effect on Armenians

Prior to World War I, the vibrant Armenian community of Trabzon numbered 30,000.^[2] In 1915, during the Armenian Genocide, they were massacred and deported.^[2] After the Russian capture of Trabzon, some 500 surviving Armenians were able to return,^[2] as well as Armenian monks of the Kaymakli Monastery.^[3]

References

1. Walton, Robert (1984). The Capture of Trabzon. Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, vol iv. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. pp. 1306–1313. ISBN 0-86307-181-3.
2. (Armenian) Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia, Trapizon, Vol. 12, Yerevan 1986. p. 87
3. The Byzantine Churches of Trebizond, Selina Ballance, Anatolian Studies, volume 10, page 169.