(now Tbilisi), which had been the capital of the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, became the seat of the viceroy and the de facto capital of the region. The South Caucasus was overwhelmingly rural: aside from Tiflis the only other city of significance was Baku, which grew in the late nineteenth century as the region began exporting oil and became a major economic hub. Ethnically the region was highly diverse. The three major local groups were Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and Georgians; Russians had also established themselves after the Russian Empire absorbed the area. With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the Caucasus became a major theatre, the Russian and Ottoman Empires fighting each other in the region. The Russians won several battles and penetrated deep into Ottoman territory. However, they were concerned that the local population, who were mostly Muslims, would continue to follow the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V and disrupt the Russian forces, as he was also the caliph, the spiritual leader of Islam. Both sides also wanted to use the Armenian population, who lived across the border, to their advantage and foment uprisings. After military defeats, the Ottoman government turned against the Armenians, and initiated a genocide by 1915, in which around 1 million Armenians were killed. The 1917 February Revolution saw the demise of the Russian Empire and the establishment of a provisional government in Russia. The Viceroy of the Caucasus, Grand Duke Nicholas, initially expressed his support for the new government, yet he was forced to resign his post as imperial power eroded. The provisional government created a new temporary authority, the Special Transcaucasian Committee (known by its Russian abbreviation, Ozakom) on . It was composed of Caucasian representatives to the Duma (Russian legislature) and other local leaders, it was meant to serve as a "collective viceroyalty", and had representatives from the ethnic groups of the region. Much like in Petrograd, a dual power system was established, the Ozakom competing with soviets. With little support from the government in Petrograd, the Ozakom had trouble establishing its authority over the soviets, most prominently the Tiflis Soviet. Transcaucasian Commissariat News of the October Revolution, which brought the Bolsheviks to power in Petrograd on , reached the Caucasus the following day. The Tiflis Soviet met and declared their opposition to the Bolsheviks. Three days later the idea of an autonomous local government was first expressed by Noe Jordania,