Abstract:

Desertions that cannot be prevented in times of war greatly undermine the manpower of armies. Large desertions began on the frontline when the Turkish army, which had long lacked basic needs in the Caucasus Front, failed to endure against superior Russian forces and began to retreat. Some of the soldiers in the army were non-Muslim soldiers. Some of the non- Muslim soldiers made up of Rum and Armenian mostly participated directly in the Russian army, fighting against the Turkish army in the volunteer Armenian battalions organized by the Russians. Deserters in the army, of course, were not made up solely of non-Muslims. Escapees were also frequent among Muslim soldiers. The fall of important cities such as Erzurum, Trabzon, Bayburt, and Erzincan, especially as a result of the Russian attacks that began after the defeat of Sarıkamış, disrupted the morale of the army. The panic and turmoil during the retreats exacerbated the desertion. Unpreventable desertions not only weakened the military’s combat power but also caused a serious internal security weakness behind the front lines. In this study, desertion cases in the 3rd Army defending the Caucasian Front are discussed. In this context, the causes of desertions, the dimensions they reach, and efforts to prevent desertions are focused on. It is also focused on the activities of deserted soldiers behind the front line, which caused a major internal security challenge in the region, and on measures taken by the Ottoman State against them. Thus, the effect of the escaped soldier problem on the military’s combat capability was revealed.

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