In April 1918 the attention of the British cabinet and military high command turned again to the Caucasus. The Turks appeared to be preparing to invade that turbulent melting pot of Armenians, Muslims and their Russian overlords with the aim of capturing the Baku oilfields, which it was said had resources “enough to light and heat every home on earth”. Of equally troubling concern to ministers was that control of the region would, in theory at least, open the route through Persia — modern Iran — via Afghanistan to India, to where Lenin was known to have ambitions to carry the Bolshevik banner. The Caucasus had recently fallen under the tenuous control of the Baku Soviet, a shaky coalition of the city’s residents presided over by the…

Source: The Times April 26, 2018 23:04 UTC