Greek Caucasus Division The Greek Caucasus Division was a division of the Russian Army composed of ethnic Greeks from the Caucasus and Pontus regions during World War I (often referred to as Caucasus Greeks or Eastern Pontic Greeks). Formed in the closing stages of the Caucasus Campaign, it protected the local Greek population from attacks by Muslim militias and the Ottoman army. It was disbanded a year later as a result of the Treaty of Poti. Background The earliest artifacts belonging to the ancient Greek civilization ever found in Pontus date back to 1,000 BC. Most Greek colonies were established on the Pontus coast around 800 BC, with settlers originating from Ionia. By the time of the foundation of the Persian Mithridatic Kingdom of Pontus in 281 BC, the area had been thoroughly Hellenized. The conquest of the Pontic kingdom by the Roman Empire and its subsequent transition into the Byzantine Empire led to the Christianization of the region. Pontus was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1461 following the fall of Trebizond. Up until the middle of the 17th century the Ottomans focused on consolidating their power, granting Pontic Greeks a certain degree of autonomy. The following period that lasted until the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) was marked by the implementation of the Chiflik system of land management and religious persecution of Christians, through forced conversions to Islam. The Russo-Turkish wars that followed led to unforeseen demographic changes, previously ethnically homogeneous due to its remote location and rough terrain, Pontus was to welcome thousands of Caucasus Muslims fleeing violence and persecution, notably the Circassian genocide. At the same time, Pontic Greeks fled to the Russian Empire to escape the repression and punitive measures enacted as a response to the Greek War of Independence. By 1914, the Greek population of the Russian Empire reached 650,000. Despite the challenges they faced, Greek and Armenian merchants came to dominate the Black Sea trade by the middle of the 19th century. Numerous Greek schools were founded in south Russia, where liberal and nationalist ideas flourished and a new Intelligentsia arose. More and more Pontic Greeks embraced the nationalist Megali Idea ideology, while many Ottomans were influenced by emerging Turkish nationalism. Turkish nationalists regarded Greeks as an internal threat to the empire, yet believing that they were resistant to Turkification and should be ethnically cleansed. The solution of the "National Problem" that was put forward by the Young Turk Committee in 1911 and implemented in 1913, marking the beginning of the Greek genocide. The Pontic Greeks responded by forming insurgent groups, with weapons salvaged from the battlefields of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I or obtained from Russia. During World War I, the eastern Pontus was captured by Russian troops, who recognized the autonomous Provisional Government of Trebizond, formed by Metropolitan Chrysanthus. The February Revolution that broke out in March 1917 halted the advance of the Russian army on the Caucasus Front. Soldiers and civilians formed soviets (revolutionary committees) which elected four commissars to rule over Kars, including one Greek. In May, a Caucasus Greek National Assembly convened in Tiflis, during which its delegates decided upon nationalizing Greek schools and issuing a Greek language newspaper. A separate agreement with national assemblies of other Caucasian nationalities resulted in the establishment of autonomous rule over areas populated by a Greek majority and the formation of an armed unit composed of ethnic Greeks to safeguard them. The outbreak of the October Revolution resulted in the dissolution of the Russian army on the Caucasus Front and its withdrawal from the front. The power vacuum was