Empire meant that Russia, France and Britain had a significant interest in Ottoman neutrality. During the Sarajevo Crisis in 1914, German diplomats offered Turkey an anti-Russian alliance and territorial gains, when the pro-British faction in the Cabinet was isolated, due to the British ambassador's absence. On 30 July 1914, two days after the outbreak of the war in Europe, the Ottoman leaders, unaware that the British might enter a European war, agreed to a secret Ottoman-German Alliance against Russia, although it did not require them to undertake military action. On 2 August, the British requisitioned the modern battleships and which British shipyards had been building for the Ottoman Navy, alienating pro-British elements. The German government offered and as replacements. In the Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau, the ships escaped when the Ottoman government opened the Dardanelles to them, despite international law requiring a neutral party to block military shipping. In September, the British naval mission to the Ottomans was recalled and Rear Admiral Wilhelm Souchon of the Imperial German Navy took command of the Ottoman navy. The German naval presence, and the success of the German armies, gave the pro-German faction in the Ottoman government enough influence to declare war on Russia. Closure of the Dardanelles In October 1914, following an incident on 27 September, when the British Dardanelles squadron had seized an Ottoman torpedo boat, the German commander of the Dardanelles fortifications ordered the passage closed, adding to the impression that the Ottomans were pro-German. Hostilities began on 28 October, when the Ottoman fleet, including Goeben and Breslau (flying the Ottoman flag and renamed and but still commanded by German officers and manned by German crews) conducted the Black Sea Raid. Odessa and Sevastopol were bombarded, and a Russian minelayer and gunboat were sunk. The Ottomans refused an Allied demand that they expel the German missions and on 31 October 1914, formally joined the Central Powers. Russia declared war on Turkey on 2 November and the British ambassador left Constantinople the next day. A British naval squadron bombarded the Dardanelles outer defensive forts at Kum Kale and Seddulbahir; a shell hit a magazine and the explosion knocked the guns off their mounts and killed Britain and France declared war on Turkey on 5 November and the Ottomans declared a jihad (holy war) later that month. The Caucasus campaign, an Ottoman attack on Russia through the Caucasus Mountains began in