The Battle of Sarikamish: Armenians in the Russian Army

The Story of Armenia: Survival Through Empires and Genocide — Fexingo History · May 2, 2026 · 6m · transcript

In December 1914, as World War I raged, the Russian Imperial Army launched an offensive into Ottoman territory near the city of Sarikamish. Among the Russian forces were thousands of Armenian soldiers serving in volunteer battalions, many of whom had survived the Hamidian massacres and saw this as a chance to liberate their homeland. This episode tells the story of the Battle of Sarikamish—a catastrophic Ottoman defeat that cost tens of thousands of lives—and the pivotal role of Armenian volunteers like Khetcho and Dro. We examine how the battle hardened Ottoman suspicions of Armenian…