Russia's Caucasus policy during the First World War

The Caucasus is one of the most important geographies throughout history from past to present. The Caucasus region was under the domination of many states. Ancient geography has attracted the attention of great states throughout history. Thus, the Caucasus region became a field of struggle for these states. Especially Russia was one of the most active countries in the Caucasus region. Our thesis study aims to reveal the policies carried out by Russia on the Caucasus during the years when it was involved in the First World War. However, it is to reveal the determining factors of Russia's relations in the Caucasus region, the ambitions of the powers active in the region and the conflicts of interest in the Caucasus. Another aim of our study is to investigate and evaluate the effect of the general view of Russian foreign policy and foreign policy understanding on the Caucasus policy. In this context, our study consists of three main parts, especially the introduction. In the introduction, the historical background of Russia's Caucasus Policy before the First World War was given. In the first part, information was given about the definition of the name Caucasus, its geographical definition, its strategic importance and its historical process. The political situation of Russia before the war and its activities in the Caucasus region were discussed. In the second part, the general situation of the Caucasus and the policies followed by Russia during the First World War were given. In the third part, the political developments in the Caucasus towards the end of the war were discussed. In the conclusion and evaluation part, the policies followed by Russia in the First World War were interpreted by considering the historical perspective. In this context, political, economic, social and cultural elements were also analyzed and presented. The work titled The Caucasian Front of the First World War 1914-1917 (Kavkazskiy Front Pervoy Mirovoy Voynı 1914-1917), which we use as the main source in our study, is compiled from the Russian Empire Foreign Policy Archive, Armenian National Archive, Russian State Navy Archive, Russia It contains documents from the State Military History Archive, the Federal Archive Agency, the Russian State Archive of Film and Photographic Documents, the Research Institute of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the General Staff Military Academy (Military History). The documents provide information about the planning, course and results of the military operations of the Russian army and navy, and the diplomatic situation of the Russian empire's policy in the region. The arrangement of documents in this work was done according to the thematic and chronological principle. In this study, the Russian Empire Foreign Policy Archive, the Armenian National Archive, the Russian State Navy Archive, the Russian State Military History Archive were used. Keywords: Caucasus, Russia, Politics, War.