Enver Pasha assumed command of the Ottoman forces arrayed against the Russians in the Caucasus theatre . He wanted to encircle the Russians , force them out of Ottoman territory , and take back Kars and Batumi , which had been ceded after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 – 78 . Enver thought of himself as a great military leader , while the German military adviser , Liman von Sanders , thought of him as incompetent . Enver ordered a complex attack on the Russians , placed himself in personal control of the Third Army , and was utterly defeated at the Battle of Sarikamish in December 1914 – January 1915 . His strategy seemed feasible on paper , but he had ignored external conditions , such as the terrain and the weather . Enver 's army ( 90,000 men ) was defeated by the Russian force ( 100,000 men ) , and in the subsequent retreat , tens of thousands of Turkish soldiers died . This was the single worst Ottoman defeat of World War I. On his return to Constantinople , Enver Pasha blamed his failure on his Armenian soldiers , although in January 1915 , an Armenian named Hovannes had saved his life during a battle by carrying Enver through battle lines on his back . Nonetheless , Ismail Pasha later initiated the deportations and sporadic massacres of Western Armenians , culminating in the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Enver Pasha