Ukraine strikes Russian ships near Crimea, escalating attacks on fuel supplies
BBC World →The attacks appear to be the latest phase of Ukraine's bid to choke off supplies and routes into and out of occupied Crimea.
Turkish supply Fleet Destroyed
London July 4 — A dispatch from [location] says that a fleet of fifty-nine Turkish sailing vessels, laden with supplies for the Turkish army on the Caucasus, has been destroyed by Russian torpedo-boat destroyers. The crews were made prisoners.
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Erzurum offensive
After the defeat at the Battle of Sarikamish, the Ottomans tried to reorganise. the end of the Gallipoli Campaign would free up considerable Turkish soldiers, which made Nikolai Yudenich, the commander of the Russian Caucasus Army, prepare to launch an offensive. He hoped to take the main fortress of Erzurum in the area, followed by Trabzon.
Wikipedia →Trebizond Campaign
January 17–20: Russian destroyers crushed a large number of Turkish sailing craft along Lazistan coast that were supplying Turkish army. Operations began on February 5 and concluded when the Ottoman troops abandoned Trabzon on the night of April 15, 1916.
Wikipedia →Sykes–Picot Agreement
The Sykes–Picot Agreement was a 1916 secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France, with assent from Russia and Italy, to define their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire. The agreement was based on the premise that the Triple Entente would achieve success in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I and formed part of a series of secret agreements contemplating its partition.
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