Battle of Sarikamish

Major military engagement in the Caucasus Front between Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire.

The opening military engagement on the Caucasus Front ended up favourably for the Ottoman Empire that defeated the forces of the Russian Empire during the so-called Bergmann Offensive. Extremely ambitious Ottoman government decided for a winter follow-up offensive in hope of decimating Russian forces in the Caucasus area completely and igniting insurgencies of the Muslims from North Caucasus.   The plan was successful. German advisors managed to persuade the Ottoman command (especially Enver Pasha, one of the triumvirate ruling the Empire since the coup in 1913) to prepare properly and make sure that all soldiers were prepared and supplied with winter clothing and enough provisions. Which was a common sense, and yet despite that Enver Pasha wanted to charge head on to surprise enemy and destroy him with one short, but powerful attack.   Despite local Russian forces enlisting the help of Armenian volunteers (which led to an outbreak of violence against them in Empire that died out early in 1916) they were ultimately defeated due to Ottoman forces outnumbering them. The general offensive, however, failed. While the forces of the Ottoman Empire managed to push the Russian Caucasus Army all the way into Georgia, it was a victory that led nowhere.   Ottoman Army ended up being decisively defeated during the Battle for Tbilisi later the same year when the Ottoman Empire's attention was shifted to the ongoing Gallipoli Campaign. Muslim insurgencies - few and far in between - were squashed by still strong Russian Empire, that also managed to restore its rule (although weakened one) over the Caucasus.