Armenians Stop the Ottoman Advance at Sardarapat

In mid-May 1918, Ottoman forces advanced across Eastern Armenia following the collapse of the Russian Caucasian front. After occupying Kars in late April, Ottoman units under the regional command of Yakub Shevki Pasha seized Alexandropol on 15 May, seeking to secure rail links toward Tabriz and advance toward the oil centers of Baku. Only a narrow strip of Armenian territory remained unconquered, crowded with hundreds of thousands of refugees from Western Armenia. As Ottoman columns pressed eastward, Major-General Movses Silikyan organized the Yerevan Detachment to block their route across the Ararat Plain.

Panic gripped the administrative centers of the region. Aram Manukian, who led the defense of Yerevan, is credited with rallying the population to resist. In nearby Etchmiadzin, Catholicos Gevorg V refused to abandon the Holy See, and he is quoted as saying he would not abandon the Holy See entrusted to him. Civilians hauled food, ammunition, and tools to the military staging grounds.