Battle of Kara Killisse (1915) 1915
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1915 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | World War I era (1914–1918) | derived from year |
| Location | Turkey | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Caucasus campaign | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 39.7186, 43.0508 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Kara Killisse (Lit. Black church, Turkish: Karakilise Muharebesi), also known as the Battle of Malazgirt, was fought on the Caucasus front in July 1915 after the Battle of Manzikert. In Russian historical literature, this engagement is considered as a part of "Alashkert defensive operation" (9 July – 3 August).
Previously in the summer of 1915 the Russians attacked Turkish positions northeast of lake Van but they underestimated the size of their enemy. They were defeated at the Battle of Manzikert. This success encouraged the Turks under Abdul Kerim Pasha to advance towards the Russians in the Eleşkirt valley while the Turks were pursuing the remnants of Oganovki's army across the Ağrı mountains they spread out and Russian general Yudenich took the opportunity to counterattack from the west with some 20,000 reinforcements, which were mostly Cossack units, to encircle them. In the following battles between 5–8 August the Turks retreated south, but the Russians only partially succeeded. The Turks lost some guns, a large amount of provisions and 10,000 killed and wounded, while 6,000–10,000 became prisoners. Due to difficulties the Russians could not gain total advantage and retreated from the town of Van, and the Turks occupied it on 3 August.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Kara Killisse (1915) (revision 1370444758), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Qara Darra 1336 · 65 km
- Battle of Rhandeia AD 62 · 70 km
- Battle of Manzikert (1915) 1915 · 77 km
- Battle of Aladzha 1877 · 79 km
- Battle of Manzikert 1071 · 79 km
Other battles of the Caucasus campaign
- Battle of Ardahan 1914
- Battle of Manzikert (1915) 1915
- Defense of Van (1915) 1915
- Battle of Abaran 1918
- Battle of Choloki (1918) 1918
- Battle of Goychay 1918
- Battle of Karakilisa 1918
- Battle of Kurdamir 1918
- Capture of Erzurum (1918) 1918
All 10 battles of the Caucasus campaign →
Browse more: battles in Turkey · Asia · World War I era battles