battle, notable, interwar and Second World War
Battle of Marash
Battle of Marash was a battle fought on 21 January 1920 at Kahramanmaraş, in what is now Turkey. It was part of the Franco-Turkish War, which ran from 1918 to 1921. The recorded result: Turkish victory; French troops abandon Marash; Massacre of Armenian civilians.
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Record
| Date | 21 January 1920 | |
|---|---|---|
| Place | Kahramanmaraş, Turkey 37.585N, 36.926E | |
| Part of | Franco-Turkish War (1918 to 1921) | |
| Kind | Battle, interwar and Second World War | |
| Result | Turkish victory; French troops abandon Marash; Massacre of Armenian civilians | |
| Belligerents | Turkish National Movement; Kuva-yi Milliye | French Third Republic; () French Armenian Legion |
| Commanders | Arslan Bey; "Kılıç" Ali Bey | Henri Gouraud; General Louis Albert Quérette; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Normand; Major Jean-François-Henri Corneloup; Captain Pierre-Jean Daniel André |
| Strength | French claim: 30,000 armed guerrilla fighters; Turkish claim: 2,500 Kuva-yi Milliye; Local support; Modern estimates: 30,000 armed guerrilla fighters | Turkish claim: 3,000 French; 2,000 Armenian volunteers (non-French Armenians were mostly unarmed civilians); 4 armored cars; Modern estimates: 2,000–2,400 total French troops; 600 Armenian volunteers |
| Casualties and losses | 4,500 killed; 500+ wounded; (Including civilians) | 160 killed; 280 wounded; 170 missing; 5,000–12,000 dead Armenian civilians |
Nearest engagements
- Battle of Marash AD 953, 0.7 km
- Siege of Germanicia AD 638, 0.7 km
- Zeitun Rebellion 1895, 33 km
- First Zeitun Resistance 1862, 34 km
- Battle of Raban AD 958, 49 km
In the same war
- After: Battle of Urfa 9 February 1920
- All 3 engagements of Franco-Turkish War
Elsewhere in 1920
- Battle of Warsaw Poland
- Battle of Maysalun Syria
- Kyiv offensive Ukraine
- Battle of the Niemen River Belarus
- Battle of Komarów Poland
Battle of Marash is one of 1,912 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 336 in present-day Turkey.
Sources
Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q4810343, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Marash, revision 1372211830, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.