Search

In October 1914 the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Entente joining the Central Powers. Now the Turks threatened Russia’s Caucasian provinces and the communications within the British Empire via the Suez Canal but the main campaign of the Ottoman army would extend from southern Caucasus to eastern Asia Minor. Between 1914 and 1917 the situation on this front was quite difficult for the Turks, only the collapse of the Russian forces would change this situation. In November 1917, a first government of an independent Transcaucasia was created in Tbilisi while the Ottomans aiming at creating their own rule on southern Caucasus launched a new offensive toward Baku. The Russian Revolution and the capitulation of the Central Powers, however, open the way to the rivalry between Caucasian nationalities which will be solved only with the arrival of the Soviet forces. Notwithstanding, the conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijani can not find a definitive solution even if the Treaty of Kars restored at list a stable border between Kemalist Turkey and Bolshevik Russia.

On November 11, 1918, the Great War that lasted for over four years came to a close. The peace treaties imposed by the Entente and Associated Powers after the War tried to establish a new international system. The research project “The Europe of Versailles (1919-1939). The new European balance between the two wars in the sources of the Archive of the Army General Staff” is funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR) under the program “Futuro in ricerca” Firb 2010. It aims to examine specifically the events that marked the First World War and the results of the Peace Conference of Versailles in Central and Eastern Europe trough the digitization of the records of the archive of the Italian Army and the publication of several specific books.