When World War 1 broke out, Russia and the Ottoman Empire shared a common border across the Caucasus. The Russian Army immediately began offensive operations, putting the Ottomans on the retreat. Nicholas II and his government had special trust in the Armenian nation, followers of orthodox christianity, which was reciprocated through the mobilisation of hundreds of Armenian volunteer units, and numerous irregular actions in the Ottoman rear. This was perhaps one of the motivators for the Armenian genocide. In 1917, Russian offensives stopped due to unrest at home, and the Russian Army collapsed. However, Ottoman units continued to be pushed back by the revolutionary forces of the First Armenian Republic and other similar political entities from the Empire's minorities. Once the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, the Ottoman Empire was humilliatingly only conceded the Crimean peninsula, while Quintipoli (in the west known as Georgia) would become an independent kingdom. Ottoman forces which attempted to occupy this region were later massacred by Nestor Makhno's Black Army, with Soviet arms and supplies. The treaty of Brest-Litovsk did not bring peace to the Ottoman throne; it merely slowed its collapse.