n an interview which
appeared in the Russian press: "When Turkey declared war Russia turned
to Great Britain with a request that she would divert a portion of the
Turkish troops from the Caucasus by means of a counterdemonstration
at some other point. The operations at the Dardanelles were undertaken
with a double object--on the one hand, of reducing the pressure of the
Turks in the Caucasus, and, on the other, of opening the straits and
so making it possible for Russia to export her grain and receive
foreign products of which she stands in need."

The Turkish offensive in the Caucasus, as we found in Volume II, began
in the middle of December, 1914, and reached its farthest point toward
the end of the year. Although it was subsequently broken by Russia,
its renewal was expected when the weather became more favorable. That
it was not renewed during the summer of 1915, and that Tiflis was in
consequence relieved from further menace, was due entirely to the
British attack on the Dardanelles, to which all available Turkish
troops were immediately dispatched. Russia had her hands full enough
at the time to maintain her long front of 900 miles--from the Baltic
through the Polish salient and through the Carpathian line of Galicia.
She could therefore ill afford to spare any considerable part of her
forces for an extended Transcaucasian campaign.

Turkey's first plan of action in the Great War appears to have been an
attempt to recover Ardahan and Kars, both of which places, as well as
Batum, had been taken from Turkey and handed over to Russia by the
Treaty of Berlin in 1878. To forestall any such aspirations Russian
troops had entered Asia Minor on November 4, 1914, and advanced for
seventeen miles along the road to Erzerum in Armenia, and on November
8 they successfully resisted an attack by the Turks, armed with heavy
German artillery, at Kuprikeui, from which place several mountain
paths lead to Erzerum. Further attacks had also been made by the Turks
during the rest of the month and in December likewise in the Euphrates
Valley without any notable result, until they had reached Ardahan and
Sarikamish in an attempt to regain Kars.

In a three days' battle with the Russians, January 1-4, 1915, they
were driven back with enormous losses, the whole of one Turkish army
corps (the Ninth) surrendering. (See Volume II, Turkey in the War.)
The Turks did not get within thirty miles of Kars. In numerical
strength the Turks were e