| Battle of Artvin | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Turkish War of Independence | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Democratic Republic of Georgia |  Ottoman Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Giorgi Kvinitadze | Unknown | ||||||||
The Battle of Artvin was a military confrontation between the Democratic Republic of Georgia and the Ottoman Empire in Artvin, present-day Turkey, on 20 April 1919, during the Turkish War of Independence. The battle resulted in a Georgian victory and the transfer of Artvin and Ardahan to Georgia.
The first Battle of Artvin took place in 1918, when Turkish troops occupied Artvin, a town that had been under Georgian control since the end of World War I. The Turks also claimed the nearby town of Ardahan, which had been part of the Russian Empire before the war. The Georgians protested the Turkish invasion and appealed to the League of Nations for assistance. The League urged both sides to respect the status quo and negotiate a peaceful settlement. [1]
Meanwhile, the Georgian army, led by General Giorgi Kvinitadze, launched a counter-offensive to reclaim Artvin and Ardahan. Kvinitadze had previously occupied Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki, two towns in the former Russian province of Kars, on 20 April 1919. [2] [3]
On 20 April 1920, Kvinitadze's division reached Artvin and engaged the Turkish forces in the town. The Georgians had the advantage of surprise and superior numbers, and quickly overran the Turkish positions. The Turks retreated from Artvin and headed towards Ardahan, where they hoped to regroup and resist the Georgian advance. However, the Georgians pursued them and captured Ardahan as well. [4] [5]
The Second Battle of Artvin was a decisive victory for the Georgians, who secured their control over Artvin and Ardahan. [6] The Turks agreed to withdraw from the region and recognize the Georgian sovereignty over the former Russian territories. The Georgians also gained access to the Port of Batumi, which the Turks had previously declared neutral, on the condition that they ensured the economic interests of both countries. [1]
The battle was one of the few successes for the Georgian army, which soon faced the threat of the Red Army invasion from the north. The Soviet–Georgian War broke out in February 1921, and ended with the Soviet occupation of Georgia and the establishment of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. [7] Artvin and Ardahan were annexed by Turkey in the Treaty of Kars in October 1921, ending the Georgian presence in the region. [8]
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey. It is the seat of Kars Province and Kars District. As of 2022, its population was 91,450. Kars, in classical historiography (Strabo), was in the ancient region known as Chorzene, part of the province of Ayrarat in the Kingdom of Armenia, and later the capital of the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia from 929 to 961. Currently, the mayor of Kars is Türker Öksüz. The city had an Armenian ethnic majority until it was re-captured by Turkish nationalist forces in late 1920.
Ardahan Province is a province in the north-east of Turkey, bordering Georgia and Armenia. Its area is 4,934 km2, and its population is 92,481 (2022). The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan. Ardahan borders the Turkish provinces of Erzurum, Artvin and Kars.
Giorgi Kvinitadze was a Georgian military commander who rose from an officer in the Imperial Russian army to commander-in-chief of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. After the Red Army invasion of Georgia, Kvinitadze went into exile to France, where he wrote his memoirs of the 1917–1921 events in Georgia. In 2013 he was posthumously awarded the title and Order of National Hero of Georgia.
The First Republic of Armenia, officially known at the time of its existence as the Republic of Armenia, was an independent Armenian state that existed from May 1918 to 2 December 1920 in the Armenian-populated territories of the former Russian Empire known as Eastern or Russian Armenia. The republic was established in May 1918, with its capital in the city of Yerevan, after the dissolution of the short-lived Transcaucasian Federation. It was the first Armenian state since the Middle Ages.
The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dictatorship, and the British Empire, as part of the Middle Eastern theatre during World War I. The Caucasus campaign extended from the South Caucasus to the Armenian Highlands region, reaching as far as Trabzon, Bitlis, Mush and Van. The land warfare was accompanied by naval engagements in the Black Sea.
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the seat of Ardahan Province and Ardahan District. Its population is 22,927 (2021).
The Turkish–Armenian War, known in Turkey as the Eastern Front of the Turkish War of Independence, was a conflict between the First Republic of Armenia and the Turkish National Movement following the collapse of the Treaty of Sèvres in 1920. After the provisional government of Ahmet Tevfik Pasha failed to win support for ratification of the treaty, remnants of the Ottoman Army's XV Corps under the command of Kâzım Karabekir attacked Armenian forces controlling the area surrounding Kars, eventually recapturing most of the territory in the South Caucasus that had been part of the Ottoman Empire prior to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and was subsequently ceded by Soviet Russia as part of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Hopa is a town in Artvin Province in northeast Turkey. It is located on the eastern Turkish Black Sea coast about 67 km (42 mi) from the city of Artvin and 18 kilometres from the border with Georgia. It is the seat of Hopa District. Its population is 23,846 (2021).
The Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus, Provisional National Government of South West Caucasia or Kars Republic was a short-lived nominally-independent provisional government based in Kars, northeastern Turkey. Born in the wake of the Armistice of Mudros that ended World War I in the Middle East, it existed from December 1, 1918 until April 19, 1919, when it was abolished by British High Commissioner Admiral Somerset Arthur Gough-Calthorpe. A similar provisional government named Igdir National Government was also founded on Iğdır.
The partition of the Ottoman Empire was a geopolitical event that occurred after World War I and the occupation of Constantinople by British, French, and Italian troops in November 1918. The partitioning was planned in several agreements made by the Allied Powers early in the course of World War I, notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement, after the Ottoman Empire had joined Germany to form the Ottoman–German alliance. The huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Ottoman Empire had been the leading Islamic state in geopolitical, cultural, and ideological terms. The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after the war led to the domination of the Middle East by Western powers such as Britain and France, and saw the creation of the modern Arab world and the Republic of Turkey. Resistance to the influence of these powers came from the Turkish National Movement but did not become widespread in the other post-Ottoman states until the period of rapid decolonization after World War II.
The Red Army invasion of Georgia, also known as the Georgian–Soviet War or the Soviet invasion of Georgia, was a military campaign by the Russian Soviet Red Army aimed at overthrowing the Social Democratic (Menshevik) government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) and installing a Bolshevik regime in the country. The conflict was a result of expansionist policy by the Russians, who aimed to control as much as possible of the lands which had been part of the former Russian Empire until the turbulent events of the First World War, as well as the revolutionary efforts of mostly Russian-based Georgian Bolsheviks, who did not have sufficient support in their native country to seize power without external intervention.
The Kars oblast was a province (oblast) of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently in Turkey. The oblast bordered the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Batum Oblast to the north, the Tiflis Governorate to the northeast, and the Erivan Governorate to the east. The Kars oblast included parts of the contemporary provinces of Kars, Ardahan, and Erzurum Province of Turkey, and the Amasia Community of the Shirak Province of Armenia.
Christophor Araratov, also known as Khachatur Araratian and Christapor Araratian, was an Armenian career officer of the Russian Imperial Army. He was promoted to the rank of Major General of the Armenian army during its fight for independence during and after World War I. Araratov participated in the 1918 battles of Sardarapat and Karakilisa against Turkish invaders.
The Georgia–Turkey border is 273 km in length and runs from the Black Sea coast in the west to the tripoint with Armenia in the east.
The Kars okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1918. Its capital was the city of Kars, presently part of the Kars Province of Turkey and the Amasia District of Armenia. The okrug bordered with the Ardahan okrug in the north, the Kagizman okrug in the south, the Olti okrug in the west, and the Erivan Governorate to its east.
The Ardahan okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire between 1878 and 1918. The district was eponymously named for its administrative center, the town of Ardagan, presently part of the Ardahan Province of Turkey. The okrug bordered with the Kars okrug to the south, the Olti okrug in the west, the Batum Oblast in the north, the Tiflis Governorate in the northeast, and from 1883 to 1903 the Kutais Governorate whilst the latter included the Artvin and Batum okrugs.
The Olti okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire existing between 1878 and 1918. Its capital was the town of Olty, presently part of the Erzurum Province of Turkey. The okrug bordered with the Kars okrug to the southeast, the Ardahan okrug to the northwest, the Kagizman okrug to its south, the Batum Oblast to the north, and the Erzurum vilayet of the Ottoman Empire to the west.
The Kagizman okrug was a district (okrug) of the Kars Oblast of the Russian Empire, existing between 1878 and 1918. Its capital was the town of Kagyzman, presently in the Kars Province of Turkey. The okrug bordered with the Kars okrug to the north, the Olti okrug to the northwest, the Erivan Governorate to the east, and the Erzurum Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire to the west.
Artaani is a historical Georgian province on the territory of modern Turkey's Ardahan Province. It is traditionally divided in two sub-provinces of Lower Artaani and Upper Artaani respectively corresponding to left and right banks of Mtkvari river. According to the medieval chronicler Leonti Mroveli the fortified city of Artaani was built by legendary ethnarch Javakhos. Later Pharnavaz I of Iberia founded the Saeristavo of Tsunda which came to include Artaani among with the provinces of Kola and Erusheti. During the 12th and 13th centuries the dukes of Artaani had the title of Monapire. Later part of Samtskhe-Saatabago Artaani was annexed by the Ottomans in the 16th century. Divided into two parts, lesser part of the region entered Kars Eyalet while the greater part entered Childir Eyalet. Parakani was the major city of Greater Artaani at that time. After the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–1878 Artaani became part of the Russian Empire in accordance with the treaty of San Stefano. In 1918 it was occupied by Turkey but in 1919 Georgian forces led by general Giorgi Kvinitadze took its control. Kars treaty of 1921 ceded Artaani to Turkey after the sovietization of Georgia.
The Battle of Batumi was a military battle between Democratic Republic of Georgia and Turkey. The Georgian aim of this battle was to remove the Turkish army from Batumi.
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