In 1918, the British invited the Armenians to hold out and picked officers and non-commissioned officers to form an "advisory" force, organizing them under the command of Lionel Dunsterville at Baghdad. It was named the Dunsterforce. The military goal of Dunsterforce was to reach the Caucasus via Persia while the Persian Campaign was active. The British planned to organize an army to be recruited from the Armenians and other pro-Allied elements that still existed in the Caucasus. On 10 February 1918, the Sejm gathered and made the decision to establish independence. On 24 February 1918, the Sejm proclaimed the Transcaucasia as independent under the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic. The Transcaucasian Commissariat was anti-Bolshevik in its political goals and sought the separation of Transcaucasia from Bolshevik Russia. On 27 January 1918, the British mission Dunsterforce set out from Baghdad with officers and instructors to the region. Dunsterforce was ordered to keep the Caucasus-Tabriz front intact and put a stop to Enver Pasha's plans. On 17 February, Dunsterforce arrived at Enzeli; here they were denied passage to Baku by local Bolsheviks, who cited the change in the political situation.