Battle of Sardarabad

Bergmann Offensive - Sarıkamış - Ardahan - Van - Malazgirt - Karakilise - Erzurum - Trabzon - Bitlis - Mus - German Caucasus Expedition - Sardarapat - Abaran - Karakilisa - Baku

The Battle of Sardarapat (Armenian Սարդարապատի ճակատամարտ; Turkish Serdarabad savasi ) was a battle of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I, the to 26 May 1918 in the vicinity of the present village Sardarapat (ten kilometers southwest of Armavir ) held from 24 in Armenia. Sardarapat located 45 kilometers west of Yerevan. The battle stopped not only the advance of the Ottomans to Armenia, but also prevented a potentially complete destruction of the Armenian nation.

Background

Just two months after the signing of the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk, the Ottoman Empire attacked the Armenian part of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. This was only recently become independent of the Russian Empire. In defiance of the Treaty of Brest- Litovsk with Soviet Russia exceeded parts of the Fourth Ottoman Army in May 1918, the border and attacked Alexandropol (now Gyumri ) to. The Ottoman Army intended to conquer former Ottoman territory and the South Caucasus. In this area lived hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees who had sought refuge after the genocide. The Government of the German Reich protested against this attack and refused to help the Ottoman army.

The Ottoman troops tried to conquer Armenia with three spearheads. As Alexandropol fell, the Ottoman army towards Ararat Valley, the center of Armenia moved. But the Armenians under the Ottomans Movses Silikyan defeated in a three-day battle of Sardarapat, Abaran and Karakilisa (now Vanadzor ).

The victories were decisive and later allowed the Armenian National Council in Tbilisi, the capital of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, to proclaim the independence of the Democratic Republic of Armenia.

Fight

The Turks took on 21 May Sardarapat and penetrated by Yeghegnut ago. The Armenian General Movses Silikian commanded troops of the 5th Armenian Regiment under Poghos Bek - Pirumyan, a guerrilla unit in reserve and a cavalry unit to observe the advance of the Turkish army. On May 22, an offensive was launched and the Armenian troops could relegate the Turks 15-20 km to the west under Yakub Pasha Şevki on a particular route. The Turkish command could recover from the losses and organized his forces on the northwestern shore of Arasflusses. Repeated attempts to cross the river were defeated by fierce resistance of the 5th Armenian Regiment.

On May 24, several skirmishes between the Armenian and Turkish forces took place and an attempt at Poghos Bek - Pirumyan to expel the Turks on the next day of their well -secured position failed. On May 27, Armenian troops were performing under K. Hasan - Pashayan a flanking maneuver and came from behind on the Turkish position, while the rest of the Armenian forces attacked the main positions. A Turkish army, which was stationed in Talin, was sent to the relief and should attack the Armenian troops from the rear. The Turkish commanders, who suffered heavy losses, associated to a general retreat of the remaining soldiers.

Effects

Worried by the Ottoman invasion of Armenia, asked and received the newly established Democratic Republic of Georgia in the north German protection. Two days later, after the battle of Sardarapat on May 28, 1918, the Armenian National Council in Tiflis proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of Armenia, which existed until the Bolshevik takeover in November 1920. The Democratic Republic of Armenia was later forced to sign the Treaty of Batumi on June 4, 1918, when the Ottoman army again invaded Armenia and only 7 km from Yerevan and 10 km from Echmiadzin was.

Heritage and Commemoration

The Battle of Sardarapat has often been compared a special place in Armenian commemoration and the Battle of Avarayr 451 against the Sassanids. After the demonstrations in 1965 in Yerevan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, was approved by the Soviet authorities of the construction of a monument to the Armenian victory in the vicinity of the battlefield. The architect Raphael Israelyan was commissioned the monument, which was completed in 1968 to design. Well-known Armenian writer Hovhannes Shiraz and as Paruyr Sevak, whose work Sardarapat became a popular song, written songs and poems, which idolized the Armenian fighters and praised.

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