If more resources were given to the Caucasus front, could the Russians knock Ottoman Empire out of the First World War through a land-borne invasion of Anatolia (or by any other means)?
They can even land troops on the Black Sea side of Constantinople to support the allies landing from the Aegean.
I know nothing about Russian war effort in WWI, but was there a prior plan about landing in Constantinople?
How could the Russians logistically support such a landing?
With an earlier PoD (no Russo-Japanese War or less losses in that war, or a different response for that war), was it possible for such a build up plan to start earlier (maybe four years earlier to stop the Armenian Genocide in time)? The Russians should have known that Constantinople was key to the future war, shouldn't they?Indeed, the Russians had been planning for just such a thing. They were developing the Black Sea Fleet towards that specific end: crushing the Turkish fleet and supporting an amphibious assault on Constantinople to seize the straits.
However, they expected it was going to be three to five years before they were ready to do so (the link above says 1917; I've read elsewhere, however, that the estimate was 1919). Of course, some of that involved the estimates of comparative naval strengths if the Turkish Navy had gotten their dreadnoughts, meaning the Russian Black Sea Fleet had to get its dreadnoughts.
With an earlier PoD (no Russo-Japanese War or less losses in that war, or a different response for that war), was it possible for such a build up plan to start earlier (maybe four years earlier to stop the Armenian Genocide in time)? The Russians should have known that Constantinople was key to the future war, shouldn't they?
Hell will freeze over before France and Britain allow the Russian tricolor to fly over Constantinople.Indeed, the Russians had been planning for just such a thing. They were developing the Black Sea Fleet towards that specific end: crushing the Turkish fleet and supporting an amphibious assault on Constantinople to seize the straits.
However, they expected it was going to be three to five years before they were ready to do so (the link above says 1917; I've read elsewhere, however, that the estimate was 1919). Of course, some of that involved the estimates of comparative naval strengths if the Turkish Navy had gotten their dreadnoughts, meaning the Russian Black Sea Fleet had to get its dreadnoughts.
Hell will freeze over before France and Britain allow the Russian tricolor to fly over Constantinople.
I don't think the French had problem with a russian tricolor flag over Constantinople...