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WcaTeww rwowT

WESTERN Front

r
t

GENERAL ALLENBV. THE CONQUEKOB OF FALESTISE AND SYRIA
Till.

THE LliKHAKY DIGKST

^ History of the World War

Compiled from <)rit:i»'al and Coniii.:porMy

Sources: Aineru:in, Britisli, IrciKli,

Cierman, and Oliiers

FRANCIS Wlin IXG HALS FY

Author of "The Old Xno Yo>k F»"Hticr;' Ihiliur of "'ir.at r:*j.-f' i
American l/iHtorif,'-' "S('tiny Hutopc vith t'tnnuuK Xuth-t.x '
"Balfour, Viriatii, and JofJr(\ TIu ir Spitj'*"
in America," ite.

IN TKN VOLUMES— ILLUSTKATKIJ

VOLUME Vlil
The War AgaixjjT T'Rkky in tiik ''atcasi's, Eg\pt, Pai i:s:im?:, the

J>ARDANELLES AND (iALLIPOLl, AR \BlA AND MkS{)POT.V.M I a —

Serbia's Trv.k' Defeat. Koumaxia OvhRRux and

TilK El.NAL VU'TOKY OF THE EnTFNTE

Tndkh D'Esjfkky
August 1. 1914— r)ftolH'r. 1918

FUNK & WAGNALLS ( OMPANY

NEW YORK AND LONDON

1919

GENERAL ALLENBV, THE CONQLEROB OF PALESTINE A

THE LITERARY DIGEST

History of the World War

Compiled from Original and Contemporary

Sources: American, British, French,

German, and Others

FRANCIS WHITING HALSEY

Author of ''The Old New York Frontier/' Editor of "Great Epochs in

American History/* "Seeing Europe with Famous Authors/*

"Balfour, Viviani, and Joffre, Their Speeches

in America/' etc.

IN TEN VOLUMES— ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME VIII

The War Against Turkey in the Caucasus, Egypt, Palestine, the

Dardanelles and Gallipoli, Arabia and Mesopotamia —

Serbia's Tragic Defeat, Roumania Overrun and

the Final Victory of the Entente

Under D'Esperey

August 1, 1914 — October, 1918

* •• ••

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

NEW YORK AND LONDON
1919

COPTBIGHT, 1919, BT

PUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY

(Printed in the United States of America)

Copyright Under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the
Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910

• ■»

CONTENTS— VOLUME EIGHT

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOVTH— Continued

PART V. THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

PAGE

I. TuEKEY AS Germany's Ally — The Bagdad Railway as

Germany 's Road to India 3

II. Egypt Attacked East and West op the Suez Canal — War

WITH SENUSSI and IN DaRFU — EGYPT AND CYPRUS TAKEN

Over by Great Britain (October 26, 1914 — February 2,
1915) 15

III. The Outbreak of War in the Caucasus, and the Armenian

Massacres (November 19, 1914 — October 15, 1915) . . 34

IV. A Year in the Persian Gulf and on the Tigris — Townshend

Takes Kut-el-Amara, but Fails at Ctesiphon and Re-
tires TO KuT (November 1, 1914 — December 30, 1915) . 56

V. The Dardanelles and the Disastrous Allied Naval At-
tempt TO Force Them, which Almost Succeeded (Novem-
ber 2, 1914— March 5, 1915) 76

VI. The Unsuccessful Land Operations at Gallipoli and the
Evacuation — Achi Baba, Sari Bair and Anafarta (April
25, 1915— January 10, 1916) 94

VII. The Fall of Erzerum, Trebizond, and Erzincjan Under the
Grand Duke Nicholas, and the Death op Von Der Goltz
(February 15, 1916— June 26, 1916) 138

VIII. Townshend *s Surrender at Kut-el-Amara — Kermanshah

AND THE RUSSO-BRITISH JUNCTION ON THE TIGRIS (April 30,

1916— August 8, 1916) 157

IX. Revolt in Arabia and the New Kingdom of Hedjaz Set Up

(June 23, 1916— July 12, 1917) 174

X. Bagdad Falls to the British Under General Maude and
Further Advances are Made (December 13, 1916 — April
29, 1918) 187

XI. The Conquest op Palestine and All op Syria, Followed by

A Turkish D^bAcle (January, 1917— October 26, 1918) . 204

• • •

111

CONTENTS— VOLUME EIGHT

PAET VI. THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

PAGE

I. Balkan Peoblems of the Past, and the Joint Teutonic-
Bulgarian Conquest of Serbia and Montenegro (Sep-
tember, 1915— January 25, 1916) 239

II. With the Allies at Saloniki — Bulgaria Invades Greece,
but Monastir is Recovered and Constantine Abdicates
(May 29, 1916— June 19, 1917) 289

III. Mackensen and Falkenhayn, with Bulgarian and Turkish

Help, Overwhelm the Roumanians (August 30, 1916 —
January 31, 1918) . . . 325

IV. Allied Successes in Albania and Macedonia and Bul-

garia 's Surrender — D'Esp^rey in Command of the
Allies (May, 1917— September, 1918) 368

ILLUSTRATIONS— VOLUME EIGHT

FULL PAGES

PAGE

General Allenby ....... Frontispiece

William II in a Turkish Uniform 2

An American Relief Train Arriving in Armenia ... 53
French Warships Sunk in the Eastern Mediterranean . 83
The Allied Fleet at the Dardanelles . . facing page 88
Three British Warships that Stormed the Dardanelles . 91

British Forces Landing at Gallipoli 97

The "River Clyde" Beached at Gallipoli 103

Three British Ships that Served at the Dardanelles . . 113

Turkish Troops Resting at Gallipoli 119

Wounded British Tboops Landing in Egypt .... 127
Anzac Cove from which a Large Force was Withdrawn .

facing page 128

A Road in the Caucasus Country 141

Field-Marshal Von Der Goltz .... facing page 152
The Entry op General Maude's Army Into Bagdad . . . 193
Reading the British Proclamation in Jerusalem facing page 208

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 211

Mayor of Jerusalem Ready to Surrender to General Allenby 217
General Allenby Meeting the Jews of Jerusalem . . . 236

Serbian Infantry 241

An Historic Meeting in Nish .... facing page 256

German Supplies En Route into Serbia 261

King Peter o^ Serbia Watching a Battle 279

Cattaro and Mount Lovtchen 287

An Allied Camp and Field-Bakery at Saloniki . . . 311
Former King Constantine and His Family .... 321

King Ferdinand of Roumania 327

A Roumanian White Bull as Army Mascot . ... 337

ILLUSTRATIONS— VOLUME EIGHT

PAGE

The Kaiser Visiting Roumanian Oil- Wells . . . .359

Athens from the Acropolis 371

General Franchet D'Esperey facing page 376

General View of Constantinople . . . facing page 384

TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS

General Liman von Sanders 10

The German Cruiser "Goeben" ....... 12

The German Light Cruiser "Breslau" 13

An Egyptian Camel Corps 17

Australians in Camp Near One of the Pyramids ... 21

A British Camel Corps Drilling 25

French Soldiers Near Alexandria, Egypt 27

Wounded Indian Soldiers Near Alexandria .... 29

Camels Leaving Cairo for the Front 33

Camels in the Caucasus 41

Ancient Fortress of Otty in the Caucasus .... 43

Armenians in a Trench Near Van 47

Five Generations of Armenians 49

A Log-Rapt Bearing Freight Down the Tigris ... 59

The British Occupation of Bassora .63

General Sir C. V. F. Townshend 67

A Turkish Gunboat Sunk in the Tigris 70

Turkish Battleship "Messudiveh" 82

Sunday Service on Board "Queen Elizabeth" ... 85

General Sir Ian Hamilton 94

Rupert Brooke^ Poet 100

Turkish Infantry Ill

British Warship "Goliath" Sunk in the Dardanelles . . 133
British Burning Stores on Leaving Suvla Bay. . . . 135
Russians with Turkish Flags Taken at Erzerui«t •. . . 143
A Russian Church Blown Up by the Turks .... 147

Some of the Defenses of Tbebizond 153

Wounded Men from the Tigris Leaving for India . . . 163
The Emir Faisal, Son of the King of Hedjaz . . . 177

ILLUSTBATIONS— VOLUME EIGHT

PAQB

The Flag of the New Kingdom op Hedjaz .... 183
British Reclaiming Swamp Land in Mesopotamia . . 199

General Sib Stanley Maude 201

Armenians Escaping prom a Railroad Train .... 203

A View op Hebron, in Palestine 213

The City op Beirut, in Syria 223

The Shrine op the Holy Sepulchre 225

Street Scene in Damascus 227

The Fortress op Aleppo 229

Indian Cavalry Passing Through Damascus .... 233
The Tomb op St. John the Baptist . . . . . . 235

The Serbian Crown Prince Regent 245

An Austrian Fleet in the Bay op Cattaro .... 249

Concentration op Teutonic Troops 257

Serbian Peasants Fleeing Bepore Teutonic Invaders . . 263
German Bridge Across the Morava in Serbia .... 267

Serbian Battery in the Field 275

Serbian Crown Prince Inspecting Jugo-Slav Troops . . 277

The Harbor op Corpu 283

Reviewing Troops at Nish 285

King Peter Mounting a Horse During His Retreat . . 288

General Sarrail 290

The Waterpront at Saloniki 297

French Troops Disembarking at Saloniki .... 299

French Soldiers in Saloniki. . . . . . . . 302

Italian Troops Arriving in Saloniki . . . . . . 303

British Troops Near Saloniki 305

Russian Troops in Saloniki 306

French Soldiers in a Vardar River Marsh .... 315
British Highlanders Marching to the Front . . . 319

A Corner OP THE Parthenon BY J^ooNLiGHT 324

The Predeal Pass prom Roumania to Kronstadt . . . 339

A Boulevard in Bucharest 345

King Alexander op Greece 369

EssAD Pasha 373

Winter Scene in Albania 374

• •

ILLUSTRATIONS— VOLUME EIGHT

PAGE

durazzo, on the albanian coast 377

The Harbor of Antivari 379

French Officers Training Greeks 383

Soldiers of the Greek Royal Guard 387

Greek Troops on the March . 389

Generals D'Esperey and Allenby in Constantinople . . 390

MAPS

The Environs of Constantinople and Gallipoli ... 7
The Bagdad and Other Railways in Asiatic Turkey . . 14

The War in Egypt facing page 16

The Erzerum and Trebizond Territory 37

The Erzerum^ Trebizond and Erzingan Operations . . 55
British Operations in Mesopotamia . . . facing page 72
Gallipoli_, the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora . . 79

The Gallipoli Campaign facing page 104

The War in Asia Minor facing page 144

Kut-el-Amara 161

Hedjaz facing page 184

Saloniki and the Hills Beyond . . . . . . . 238

The German -Austrian Conquest of Serbia . facing page 264
The German Conquest of Roumania . . . facing page 328
The Franco-Italian Operations in Albania .... 381

Vlll

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST

AND SOUTH

Part V
THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

(£)UKJ>».Dai>.UHD».DOP. ■. t,

WILLIAM II IN THE UKIFOBM OI' A TIRKISri FIELD-MARSHAL

TURKEY AS GERMANY'S ALLY— THE BAGDAD
RAILWAY AS GERMANY'S ROAD TO INDIA

HAD not the Turk dug his own grave and committed
suicide? — this was the burden of most comments after
Turkey forced the Allies to declare a* state of war with her.
For several years Turkey had been in extreme peril ; the * * Sick
Man of Europe" had, so to say, been kept alive by his
friends, the doctors, altho they deemed his malady incurable.
Except for the protection Germany gave her, the political
existence of Turkey in Europe probably would have ceased
after the Balkan wars in 1913. For this reason the Turk
had voted to stand or fall, according as the war resulted in
favor of or against Germany. His entrance into the great
conflict had long been foreseen. Some trained observers
went much further — for example, Sir Harry Johnston, the
traveler, statesman, and diplomat, who had declared at the
beginning of the conflict that Constantinople was ''the core of
the war."

The plans of Germany for years had meant the creation
of a confederation of European and West Asiatic States,
starting at the North Sea and going to the Persian Gulf,
and including within its boundaries Holland, Belgium, Den-
mark, Germany, Austria, the Balkans, Turkey, and Persia.
Great overland roads from central and northern Europe to
the Persian Gulf would thus have been controlled by Ger-
many. As far east as Constantinople, the- completed rail-
ways already existed. The completion of another line from
Constantinople to Bagdad and the Gulf would not only have
thrown open to European capital Asia Minor and the great
plain of Mesopotamia, but would have furnished a commer-
cial road to the East through which in time would flow a
trade making the great confederation rich, and of this con-
federation Turkey would have been an integral and essen-
tial part. Adrianople, the key to the Balkans; Saloniki, the

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

key to the Aegean; Constantinople, controlling the outlet
of the Black Sea and the land approaches of Europe to the .
Tigris and Euphrates valleys — all these an alliance with the
Turk would have given to Germany. The stronger the
Turkish State became, the better organized and the larger its
army and fleet and the greater its resources, the more useful
it would have been to Germany, and the more thoroughly
would it have insured the success of Pan-Germanism.

English and French control of Turkey through a long
period had been fortuitous and artificial ; it depended solely
on a little group of men in Constantinople. German in-
fluence in Turkey, on the contrary, had acquired deep and
fundamental roots in a large and significant part of the
Turkish population, and had appealed to their highest im-
pulses. Enlightened Turks honestly believed they saw in
Pan-Germanism a democratic Turkey with constitutional
self-government, a Turkey developing its own resources,
gradually freeing itself from the fetters of European al-
liances and becoming strong enough to take its place in the
Pan-Germanic chain of states. On the other hand, they saw
in the defeat of Pan-Germanism political and national death,
the annexation of Turkey by its enemies, and its subjection
to the rule of the Infidel.

For more than a century Russia had been the hereditary
enemy of Turkey. Russian aggression had swept away all
ancient Turkish possessions east of the Pruth and north of
the Black Sea, while Russia's support of the Serb and Bulgar
had resulted in driving Turkish rule from the Danube to
the Bosporus. Even there the Russian advance had halted
rather than terminated, for Constantinople still remained
the goal of Romanoff ambition. To plant the cross over
Saint Sophia was the dream of Nicholas II in the twentieth
century, as it had been that of Peter the Great in the
eighteenth. Twice when Russia's soldiers were almost within
sight of Constantinople, British intervention had prevented
its capture. The Crimean War of 1854-56 and the arrival
of British warships after the Treaty of San Stefano in
1878 — ^these were the checks that had twice held back the
Czar. But now the British were allied with the Russians,
and so the chance that Great Britain, in her hour of

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

triumph, would oppose Russia's ancient ambition was slight.

If Russia were the immediate enemy of Turkey, Great
Britain and France had become only less definitely so. For-
mal British occupation of Egypt after the war began had
already deprived the Turk of his finest province, and
France, by acquiring Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco had further
weakened Moslem power. To save Stamboul, to regain
Egypt, Tunis, Algeria and Tripoli, to restore the ancient
Mediterranean Empire of Mohammed, this had long been a
vital part of the dream of every Turkish patriot. For the
Turk, it was clear in 1914 that the final hour had come.
If defeated, he must quit Europe and go back to his earlier
home in Anatolia, lose Arabia, Syria, and the valley of the
Euphrates, and surrender his half of Armenia. Even his
primacy in the religious hierarchy of Islam might be lost.

It was not until Germany acquired a paramount position
on the European continent that she heard **th© East a 'call-
ing,'' and it was then her professors who led the way. Dr.
Sorenger, a distinguished Orientalist, cited Mesopotamia,
the richest land of ancient times, as a fit field for German
colonization. Economists pointed out vast natural resources
that only waited to be developed for German commerce and
industry — corn and wine, mineral deposits, oil-fields extending
to the Persian Gulf, and fertile plains which would yield
all the cotton required for the German market.

Field-marshal von der Goltz was an early advocate of a
forward German policy in Turkey — and was sent to Con-
stantinople. To him the Golden Horn city seemed a bridge
over which Germany could pass from Europe into Asia, there
to find a field of adventure reaching to the Persian Gulf.
Turkey became overrun with German manufacturers, engi-
neers and capitalists. In 1888 the Deutsche Bank obtained the
right to work a short railway from the Bosporus along the
sea. of Marmora — a right that originally had been given to
an English company. To this was added an extension line
to Angora, which, after the Emperor's first visit, was pushed
on with energy, and soon developed into a German monopoly
of railway enterprise in Asiatic Turkey. German trade in-
creased by leaps and bounds. Imports and exports were
multiplied four fold within a decade. At Constantinople

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

German influence became paramount. When other powers,
and notably England, tried to curb Turkish misrule, Ger-
many was ready to deprecate any interference with the
sovereignty of the Sultan.

In the autumn of 1898 William II, accompanied by the
Empress, Inade a visit to Turkey, followed by a progress
through Palestine and Syria. The Emperor entered Jerusa-
lem as a Knight Templar, and appeared at shrines of the
Christian faith, as the protector of Christendom. At Da-
mascus he proclaimed himself the protector of Pan-Islamism,
and defined what was to be henceforth the position of Ger-
many not merely toward Turkey, but toward Turkey and
Islam. Germany publicly recognized the Sultan's title as
Calif, and so endorsed the greatest of his ambitions while ex-
ploitation of the Ottoman Empire went on. Within the
next twelve months a convention was signed between Dr.
Siemens, director of the Deutsche Bank, and the Sublime
Porte, conceding in principle to the German Anatolian Rail-
way Company the right to be extended down to the Persian
Gulf. A commission of German engineers, headed by the
German Consul-General, and including a German military
attache at Constantinople, was sent out to report on the
route, while a German cruiser visited the Persian Gulf in
order to discover a suitable terminus.

The railways of European Turkey had already passed
under control of the Deutsche Bank group. The new con-
cession promised an early fulfilment of the great Pan-
Germanic scheme, already known in Berlin as the B. B. B.
(Berlin-Byzantium-Bagdad Railroad). Not the least of its
features was a kilometric guaranty for the whole trunk
line from Constantinople to the Persian Gulf, and its numer-
ous feeders by which Germany would receive the profits
from a long succession of lucrative financial operations. The'
final convention for the railway was signed, sealed and de-
livered in 1902. Excepting the Manchurian Railway conces-
sion, which Russia had secured some years previously from
China, it was probably the most remarkable charter ever
granted by one independent State to another.

Most writers on remote causes of the war in Europe have
emphasized the Bagdad Railway concession. By this road

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Constantinople would be connected, not only witt the Gulf
of Persia, but by a southern branch line, with Egypt.
Originally it waa believed in England that the enterprise
waa a private one, but more recently it had come to be
regarded as distinctly a Pruasian State undertaking. The
meaning of the concession, in economic and military ad-
vantages to Germany, and its meaning to the future of
Asiatic Turkey, and especially to the valley of the Euphrates,

THE ENVIRONS OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND GALLIPOLI

if not to the Nile valley, was well understood in European
capitals.

With the line completed, a bird's-eye view would have
shown a railway from a point opposite Constantinople run-
ning across the Turkish Empire in Asia to the River Tigris,
and thence southerly to the Persian Gulf, which is the back
door to India. Back on the main line, a second line would
have been seen branching from the first and pointing south-
ward through Syria, parallel to the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean and bringing up near the frontier of Egypt,

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Looked at through English, French or Russian eyes, the con-
cession was a grave menace. But to Germany it was a neces-
sary prerequisite to Pan-Qermanic expansion. The mileage of
the road when completed was estimated at 1,300, of which
538 miles had been built in October, 1914, leaving 800 miles
yet to be constructed.

German engineers, as long ago as 1875, had been author-
ized to build for the Turkish Government a short railroad
from Haidar Pasha, opposite Constantinople, to Ismidt,
which was dignified with the name of the ** Anatolian Rail-
way,*' Anatolia being practically synonymous with Asia
Minor. Thirteen years after this a German company, whose
** angel" was the Deutsche Bank, acquired the privilege of
exploiting this line, and it was extended into northern
Anatolia as far east as Angora, in the province of that
name south of the Black Sea. Had this line been extended
farther east, paralleling the Russian border, it would have
proved of incalculable value to the Turks in their Caucasian
campaign against Russia in the World War. In 1896 an
extension from Ismidt was projected southeasterly to Konia
in the Turkish province of Adana, which borders on the
Mediterranean, a province which Mahemet Ali once said
was worth more than all Egypt. Good cotton is now pro-
duced on the Cicilian plains. Twenty-three years after the
building of the first section of the railway, or in 1898,
when the German Kaiser visited Constantinople, he pro-
claimed himself Abdul's ''only friend in Europe." Abdul
then gave him a concession for the construction of the rail-
way to connect Constantinople with the Persian Gulf by
the way of Bagdad, which was turned over to a German
syndicate. Such was the beginning of the Bagdad Railway
proper, which was to become one of several indirect causes
of a war-drama whose stage was to be three continents and
half the population of the globe its direct or indirect par-
ticipants.

The capital valuation of the road was fixt at 54,000,000
francs per section of 200 kilometers (about 130 miles). It
was expected that, with branches, there would be twelve
such sections. The total mileage afterward projected con-
siderably exceeded this estimate. When the road was fully

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

^' completed, the annual charge to the Turkish Government

^ was expected to be 31,000,000 francs. About 100 miles in

^' the interior lies Aleppo, the emporium of northern Syria,

^ for centuries the receiving and distributing point for the

^ export and import trade of Alexandretta, situated in the

midst of a rich agricultural district and the center of manu-
factures of carpets and rugs, cotton and wool, silk and
^ j leather goods. The Bagdad road runs southeast from Konia
through the Taurus Mountains, and connects with Aleppo.
A branch line connects that city with Alexandretta, thus
* bringing the railway to the open sea. After the Aleppo

^ connection the line turns northeast and cposses northern

Syria. Bridging the Euphrates, it then runs almost directly
^ east to the City of Mosul, on the Tigris, in Mesopotamia.

f Here, too, is a land where cotton can bo produced. Three

hundred miles south of Mosul is Bagdad, formerly the seat
of the Saracenic califate, around which clusters much
romance.

It was believed in November, 1916, that an important
tunnel on this line, running through the Taurus range, had
at last been completed. In piercing the Taurus range, one
of the greatest obstacles in the path of the road was elimi-
nated. It brought the Germans into nearer touch with
Persia and Armenia through the already existing railhead
at Nisibin and with Egypt through the Medina Railway,
with branches at Aleppo. In the first year of the war
Turkish motor-service had counteracted the handicap of a
break in the line in the Taurus. From 15,000 to 20,000
Turkish peasants had been employed in completely rebuild-
ing an old mountain road famous since the days of the
Phenicians. Roads had also been laid or improved in other
parts. There had been several gaps in the Bagdad Railway.
The first was at the Taurus range, where the tunnel was
roughly 20 miles long, and extended* from Karapunar some
13 miles south of Bozanti (645 miles from Haidar Pasha)
as far as Doirak. Between Nisibin and Jibbara, where it
connected by rail with Bagdad, was another gap of some 250
miles.

In the completion of this railway the world was to witness
the reopening of the bridge from Europe to Asia for West-

V. VIII— 2 9

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

em control, througli a great railway covering nearly 2,000
milea from a point opposite Constantinople. That project,
well under way at the outbreak of the war, ranked
in its historical background as one of the most momentous
enterprises of our age — more momentous than the opening
■of the Suez or the Panama Canal, A railway from Constan-
tinople to Bagdad under European control was a aymptom
of the dissolution of the Turkish Empire which had become
a mere shadow of -its former
self and a token of the invasion
of the East by Western enter-
prise. Passing over a highway
on which armies had marched
from the earliest days of which
any records have survived, it
was a link connecting the pres-
ent with the more distant
past.

Turkey had for years been
virtually a member of the
Triple Alliance. If not a very
active or effective partner, she
had in her sympathies been
much more real as an ally
of Germany and Austria than
had Italy, the third actual
oerman commaEder ot the Turkisb member of the Alliance. At

Army durLnjr the war, who fled to .. ■.. , .. j-jvf i..-

ronstantlnoplPwhenGeDeralAlleDby timCS diplomatic difficulties
was advancing from DamaseuB to grose, aS from 1911 to 1912,

when Turkey was at war with
Italy, and again during the Young Turk Revolution of 1908,
when Austria declared the annexation of Bosnia and Herze-
govina, but with Germany herself, since the advent of Wil-
liam II to the throne, ' Turkey had maintained increasingly
intimate relations. Bismarck might have said the Eastern
question ' ' was not worth the bones of a Pomeranian
grenad'er," but in this domain, as in some others, Bis-
marck's politics had now been discarded by Prussia. In the
time of Abdul Hamid, Germany had acquired political and
commercial ascendency, and was advancing her trade in-

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

terests and exploiting her mineral wealth. ** Peaceful pene-
tration" was her method. With the Turk ever pecuniarily
embarrassed, she found many opportunities to strengthen her
hold on this country. To build and own his railways, to be
his banker, to drill his soldiers, to sell him Krupp guns, to
dominate his diplomacy, were the objects pursued, in a
hope that one day, either by some dramatic turn of events,
or gradually and almost imperceptibly, the Sultan's scepter
in Asia would pass from a feeble Oriental grasp into her own
strong hands.

The drama to be unfolded during this Turkish phase of
the great war promised to be of the most sensational kind,
because the end of the Ottoman Empire might be in sight.
What was more, its heirs and successors might be other
great Moslem powers — Great Britain, Russia, France, and
Italy. Thus the future promised to see the British in pos-
session of Turkey's first capital, Mosul; the French in pos-
session of their second capital, Konia; the Russians in pos-
session of their third and last, Constantinople, and the
Italians occupying Smyrna. Each power was already a
Mohammedan empire in a real sense, but the greatest Moslem
country in the world was the British Empire. Moslems in
India were known to favor removing the Sheik ul Islam, or
the head of the Mohammedan creed, from Constantinople to
Delhi or Cairo, under British protection. The Head of the
Church in India had volunteered as a private soHier in
France, and later was serving with the Anglo-Indian army
in Mesopotamia.

In August, 1914, when the war began, two German ships,
the Ooeben and the Breslati, were off the Algerian coast.
The Goeben was the fastest armored vessel in the German
fleet, displacing 22,640 tons, with a speed of 28 knots, and
carrying an armament ten 11-inch, twelve 5.9 inch, and
twelve 21-pounder guns. The Breslau was a fast, light
cruiser, with about the same rate of speed, and a displace-
ment of 4,478 tons. She was the vessel which several months
before had been sent by Germany to Albanian waters in
order to join the international squadron which was to keep
the unfortunate Mpret, William of Wied, in countenance.
Both ships had great coal capacity. The Breslau could

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

cover 6,000 knots without taking in fresh fuel. Both were
admirably suited to act as commeree-destroyers.

In August, 1914, they fired a few shots into the Algerian
coast towns of Bona and Philippeville, but did little harm,
and then turned northwest, with the object, apparently, of
running to Gibraltar, but were headed off by British ships.
On August 5 they appeared at Messina, where their captains
and oEfieers made their wills, and deposited with the German
consul their valuables, including signed portraits of the
Kaiser. Decks were then cleared for action, and with bands
playing "Heil, dicrim Siegerkranz," they sailed out — so at
least it was recorded in German papers — under a blood-red
sunset. Escaping from the British, and (!oing at full speed

THE GERMAN CBUISEH -GOEBES"

eastward, they encountered, olf Cape Matapan, a British
cruiser, the Gloucester, a ship slightly larger than the
Breslau, which attempted to engage them, and did damage
the plates of the Goeben and the amoke-ataek of the Breslau.
The superior speed of the German boats by the end of the
week carried them to the Dardanelles, and presently they
reached Constantinople, where they passed into the hands
of the Turkish Government, and thereby started that dis-
quieting of the diplomatic relations of the Porte to the
Great Powers which, before many weeks, produced war with
Turkey.

"When the Goeben and Breslau appeared at the mouth of
the Dardanelles, it was the duty of Turkey, as a neutral

THE "WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Power, to see that they either left within twenty-four
bours, or disarmed and laid themselves up. But instead of
doing that Turkey "bought" the vessels from Germany,

The most important thing the Turk did for Germany
when it entered the war was to close the Black Sea, for then
a few mines in the Dardanelles promptly put an end to Rus-
sian trade from the Black Sea and so dealt southern Russia
a great blow commercially. Germany thus struck at England
also, because a large part of the English food supply came
through the Dardanelles and the Mediterranean, which had
been one of England's chief reasons for maintaining control
of that route. So important was this source of supply, that

TlIU (iERMAX LIGHT CIH.ISER "BHESLAU"
After thp Brestaa wns takon over hy Taikey shp rpcplTPd n Turklsli name.
In the last ypar of tbe war she was reported to hiiTV been sank off tbe
Island ot Imhros, !q the ^gean Sea, but appears to haie been aaTPd
eventually. The Breatau whs ot the Bamo type aa thi) commercp-ralder Hmdea.

England now had considerable difficulty in replacing it.
The Black Sea district also had supplies of oil of enormous
value to England and Prance, now that extensive use of
the automobile in warfare had made gasoline a commodity
second in importance only to powder and food. If the
Turkish Navy, augmented by German cruisers, could dis-
pose of Russian ships in the Black Sea, the Turk could seize
for Germany the Black Sea ports' supply o£ oil, a stroke of
the utmost consequence. The closing of the Black Sea by
the Turk, plus the closing of tbe Baltic by the German
fleet, accomplished another important result — the absolute

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

isolation of Russia from contact with all parts of Europe,
except her enemies — Germany, Austria and Turkey.'

■ PrlDClpsl Sources : Boland G. L'sber In tbe World't Work, The Ttmei,
Tbe Evening Sun, New York: The Calcatta EngUittman; The Wall Btrttt
Journal, Tile Reviem of Bevittee, New York ; Morrts Jaatrow's "The War and
tbe Bagdad Railway" {J. B. Llpplncott Co.). The Loodon Times' "Hlfltory

THE BAGDAD AXD OTHER RAILWAYS IN ASIATIC TCRKEY
Railways from Con&tBDtinople eastward Into Anatolia for some 300 miles
had existed tor mnDy years before the world beard of. or evea thongbt of, a
railroad to Bagdad. The latter enterprise was a result of the growth of
German Influence In Turkey, Ineludlng an ambition to reach Mesopotamia
and the Persian Gulf, beyond which lay a clear water route to India.

The Bagdad Railway extension, In one sense an cxttnaloD of the Anato-
lian Railway, properly began at Konla and thence ran eastward to Adana.
Aleppo, Nislbla, Mosul, Jabbara, and Bagdad. From Aleppo a FocDectiDg
railroad bad been hullt southward Into Arabia, and there was a short branch
line from Namurle on the main Bagdad Iloe to the Important fort of Alexan-
dretta. The Bagdad line proper was not yet completed. Two tunnels
through the mountains vrat of Aleppo, were understooil not to have been In
use until the second or third year of the war. and further east some con^
slderable roadbed — perhaps ZOO or even 300 miles — remained to be hullt
between Nlslblo, Mosul and Bagdad

EGYPT ATTACKED EAST AND WEST OF THE SUEZ

CANAL— WAR WITH THE SENUSSI AND IN

DARFU— EGYPT AND CYPRUS TAKEN

OVER BY GREAT BRITAIN

October 26, 1914— February 2, 1915

ON October 26, 2,000 armed Bedouins crossed the
Egyptian frontier and watered their camels at Mag-
dada wells, twenty miles beyond the Egyptian line. A
Turkish destroyer flotilla at the same time raided Odessa
and sank a Rus^sian gunboat. British, French, and Russian
Ambassadors then asked for their passports. On November
5 Great Britain being definitely at war with Turkey, Anglo-
Egyptian posts were withdrawn from the Sinai Peninsula west
to the canal. Fort Nakhl was evacuated, and certain build-
ings and rock-wells which might be of service to an invading
force were blown in with dynamite. Save for the exchange
of a few shots between Bedouin scouts and Egyptian coast-
guard patrols no encounters took place till November 21,
when a coast-guard patrol composed of twenty Sudanese
camelmen was surprized while encamped east of Bir-en-
Nuss, and captured. Captain Chope, of the Bikanir Camel
Corps, pushing eastward to gain touch with the coast-
guards, found their camp empty. After an hour's ride
further east Captain Chope saw ahead of him twenty men
mounted on white camels, waving white flags. Thinking
they were the missing Egyptians he let them approach.
When they got within thirty yards the Bedouins raised their
rifles, only to be promptly shot down by the Bikanirs, who
similarly disposed of another party which attempted to
attack.

Captain Chope then advanced toward Katia, when sud-
denly 150 horsemen were observed trying to moye round
his right flank, while a like number tried to turn his left.
He fell back flghting, hard prest by the mounted men, who
kept up a hot fire from the saddle but dared not close with

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the Bikanirs, who fought the enemy off till they reached
their supports. Only five of them escaped wounds. Captain
Chope had a narrow escape, having had his water-bottle
pierced and his sword hilt shivered by bullets. An Egyptian
officer was killed, and ten of the Bikanir men, five other
men being wounded. Of the Bedouins over fifty were killed
and many wounded. Tactically the Bedouins had the best
of the skirmish, but the moral effect of the resistance was
such that the raiders fell back on Katia, and made no other
forward movement to the canal for nearly six weeks.

In Egypt the immediate objective of Turkey and Germany
was the Suez Canal, because to block this would be to in-
terrupt the flow of commerce between England and India,
cut oif Indian soldiers sent to Europe to fight with the
Allies, and, if Indian unrest culminated in a revolt, it would
delay any British troops that might be sent east. For the
Sultan there was in prospect the immediate gain incident to
a possible reconquest of a province still nominally subject
to him. Its Mohammedan population had long been re-
ported disaffected, and it might welcome the Sultan. Eng- '
land would then have to send to Egypt troops that were
needed in France and Belgium and her difficulties, already
increased by a South African revolt, would be multiplied.
The Germans might hope, when the Sultan proclaimed a
'*holy war," to cripple France in Algeria, Tunis, and
Morocco, England in India as well as in Egypt, Russia in
Europe — that is if the Mohammedan populations responded
to her summons. On the other hand, since the Italian
colony of Tripoli was bound to be affected, Germany ran
the risk of bringing Italy into the war against her.

After these border encounters on the canal, Turkish troops
were promptly sent forward by way of the Mecca rail-
road toward the Sinai peninsula and Suez. British war-
ships quite as promptly appeared on these coasts and Lon-
don announced that territorial garrisons had been sent to
Egypt, that the Australian contingent would soon arrive,
that the Egyptian troops remained loyal and that Egypt
showed no immediate signs of revolt. Early in November
a **holy war" was proclaimed against Russia, France, and
England. The chief ecclesiastical dignitary of the Moslem

THE BATTLEGROUND BAST AND WEST OP THE NILE
After the flgbtlng east of the Saez Canal, and while the BrltlHh were mak-
ing their way Into Palpstliie, war woa begun west of the Nile Delta to the
Cytenulca coantry by the Seoussl, and later there occurrea a ahoct-llved
rebelltoQ Id Darlur.
VII— 16

. THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

faith issued a statement to the faithful declaring that it
was the dnty of every Moslem to war against the enemies
of Turkey. His Highness was to make a pilgrimage to
Mecca immediately. It was expected that this announce-
ment would result in serious trouble for England and
Russia among their Moslem subjects, but it caused no disturb-
ance. Correspondents saw no indication that it was effective
anywhere outside the actual dominions of the Sultan.
Neither in India, nor in Egypt was it "anything but a
Platonic pronouncement," It had some effect, however,
in northern Africa, with which France alone was concerned.

AN EGYPTIAN CAMEL CORPS TINDER BBVIEW

Two neutral nations, Italy and Spain, were alarmed more
by it than any of the belligerent Allies. In England it was
not even taken seriously.

The Calif is not an elected Pope, nor a "Lama sanctified
by birth," but simply "the Moslem chief who holds the
. road to Mecca," and if the Sultan's army could not hold
that road, he would cease automatically to be Calif. The
Ottoman Empire might lose Constantinople and still "re-
main the first Power in the Moslem world," but if it lost
Arabia it "would lose all claim to the veneration and
obedience of Moslems." Britain would lose nothing, but
would perhaps emerge the stronger with her Mohammedan

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

dependencies extended. The Aga Kham, whose word in
religioui^ things was law to millions of Mohammedans in
India and elsewhere, did not seem to favor the idea of a
**holy war" made in Germany, for Germany. In his mes-
sage he said:

"If Germany succeeds, which Heaven forbid, Turkey will be-
come only a vassal of Germany, and the Kaiser's Resident will be
the real ruler of Turkey, and will control the holy cities. No Islamic
interest was threatened in this war, and our religion was not in
peril, nor was Turkey in peril, for the British and Russian Em-
pires and the French Republic had solemnly offered to guarantee
Turkey all her territories in complete independence if she had
remained at peace. Turkey was the trustee of Islam, and the whole
world was content to let her- hold our holy cities in her keeping.
Now that Turkey has so disastrously shown herself a tool in German
hands, she has not only ruined herself, but has lost her position of
trustee of Islam and evil will overtake her.''

Late in November an important step for Turkey was
taken in the appointment of Field-marshal Kolmar von der
Goltz, then Military Governor of Belgium, as active German
councilor of the Sultan of Turkey. He was regarded as
one of the greatest of German strategists. Despite his 71
years,- he had been looked upon as likely to lead the German
armies against the Russians. He was a native of East
Prussia and had fought in the Franco-Prussian War and
the Austrian campaign. Thirty years before he had gone out
to reconstruct the Turkish army and remained at his work for
thirteen years, being known as ** Goltz Pasha." He created
an army out of chaos. Turkey's defeats in the Balkans were
not regarded by his apologists as discrediting Von der
Goltz, as it was contended that without his training the
Turkish army would have been much more seriously de-
feated.

When Turkey plunged into war, it was obvious that some
change in the character of the British occupation of Egypt
would have to be made, and so at once the Turkish suzerainty
was declared ended and a British Protectorate proclaimed.
The executive changes made were slight. All that Great Britain
desired was to defend Egypt against attack and keep the
internal administration running smoothly. Other questions

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

could wait until peace were restored. There was a strong
reason why the word ** annexation'' should not be used.
While the Khedive, Abbas Hilmi, was formally deposed, his
uncle, 'Prince Hussein, was placed on the throne in his
stead, and the new ruler received the title of Sultan of
Egypt in disregard of the designation ** Khedive'' which had
been established by an Imperial* Turkish firman. The selec-
tion was made in accordance with the Turkish law of suc-
cession, under which the throne passes to the eldest male
member of the family, but which had not been observed in
Egypt since 1866, when the succession was made heredi-
tary, and that tradition had gone by the board. Prince
Hussein's elevation was also based on the practical ground
that of all his family he was **most worthy to occupy the
position." Prince Hussein was described as a prudent and
experienced man. Thus with scarcely a ripple, so far as
the actual world could see, the Ottoman suzerainty in
Egypt gave place to a British Protectorate. A proclama-
tion announcing Great Britain's decision and explaining the
cause was published, and the thunder of 101 guns laid the
ghost of Turkish rule. Great Britain by tfiis act felt that
she had confirmed and regulated her position in the valley
of the Nile. Until the Anglo-French agreement of 1904, her
occupation had never been ofiicially recognized by Europe.
The agreement of 1904 involved recognition by France,
and subsequently by other Powers, of Britain's predominant
interests in Egypt, but it was ''a self-denying ordinance,"
in that Great Britain bound herself not to make any change
in the status of the country. Neither the Turkish adventure
in 1906, nor the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by
Austria-Hungary, nor the proclamation of a French Pro-
tectorate over Morocco in 1911, induced Britain to alter the
status of Turkey's vassal. It was not till the maintenance
of the status quo had been rendered impossible by Turkey's
attack on Great Britain and her Allies that the British Gov-
ernment took the one step, short of annexation, that she
could take.

For thirty years the actual sovereign of Egypt, the Sultan
of Turkey, had exercised no direct influence on the country.
The nominal government was in the hands of his Vali, or

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Viceroy, the Khidewi-Misr, or as more commonly called, the
Khedive, who ruled through native ministers, each assisted
by an English *' adviser." In reality, the ruler of Egypt
was the British Consul-General at Cairo, whose ** advice" to
the Khedive had the force of a command. The Protectorate
in Egypt as now established followed the model established
by France in Tunis and constituted a control **as real and
complete as sovereignty in the technical sense of the word."
The Allied Powers and neutral countries subsequently
recognized and approved the change. Of more permanent
meaning than any battles could have been was this procla-
matioDL of a British Protectorate. On the political side the
step deprived Turkey of a shadowy sovereignty over some
12,000,006 people and definitely closed the rule of the
Osmanli in Africa. As with Algeria in 1830, Tunis in 1881,
Tripoli in 1911, so now with Egypt in 1914, was set up
a milestone of Ottoman ruin in Africa. Morocco had never
been a Turkish province, but by the proclamation of the
French Protectorate in 1912 it became a Christian de-
pendency, so that the last fraction of an independent Islam
in Africa had vanished.

A triangle of sand-dune, rock, and mountain, its apex
pointed due south, its sides marked to the east by the Akaba
Gulf and the Turko-Egyptian frontier line delimited in
1906, to the west by the Gulf of Suez and Suez Canal, with
the shore of the Mediterranean between Rafa and Port Said
for its base — such are the outlines of the Sinai Peninsula.
Geographically and orographically, it is divided into three
zones — the zone of the Drift-sand, the Plateau, and the
Mountain. Scattered about the region of the drift-sand are
''islands" of firmer ground, outcroppings of rock, patches
of hard gravel, small tracts where torrents, flowing from
the plateau perhaps once in five or ten years, have deposited
layers of mud and gravel. In the main it is a country of
soft sand, sometimes blown by the wind into multitudinous
dunes, where the way is easily lost, so like is each dune to
its fellow. In the mountain-zone a small raiding party
operated during this year's campaign, but was destroyed as
soon as it had ventured out of the impassable labyrinth of
peaks, gorges and cliffs that form the southern third of

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

the peniusula. No army could operate therein; but it con-
tains two of the few permanently inhabited settlements in
the peninsula, the Monastery of Mount Sinai and the Tor
quarantine-station for pilgrims returning from the Holy
places by the Red Sea route. The population of the whole
peninsula did not exceed 40,000 persons, a few settled in-
habitants in and near El Arish, 400 or 500 Djebeliyeh
Arabs, descendants probably of slaves or tenants of the
Sinai monks in pre-Islamic times, who still lived around the
monastery, and Bedouins of small and generally unim-
portant sects.

When the war broke out, the Turks had had three months
in which to complete their mobilization. DifiBeulties of
transport and lack of equipment, which was only gradually
supplied from Austria and Germany, prevented them from
taking an immediate offensive against Egypt. But by the
end of November, and early in December, a large Turkish
army had poured through the Cieilian Gates into the plain of
Adana. The proclamation of a Holy War, however, had been
coldly received by most Moslems in Syria. A few recruits
were obtained in Beirut, Jaffa, Nablus, and other cities, but
they failed, as a rule, to arouse enthusiasm among the edu-
cated classes and the peasantry.

By the middle of December the British garrison in Egypt
had been brought up to a strength that would enable it to
repei a more formidable attack than that which the Turks
ultimately directed against the canal. It was composed of
the "Anzacs," or Australian and New Zealand Army Corps,

AUSTRALIANS IN CAMP NEAR ONE OP THE PYRAMIDS

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the East Lancashire Territorial Division with most of their
divisional troops, a mounted brigade of yeomanry, and a
strong Indian force, including a number of Imperial Service
troops, mostly mounted, and many excellent regular bat-
talions, of the strength of an army corps. The efficiency of
the Anzacs improved rapidly. During the campaign on the
canal few of its units were actually engaged ; it was not till
fighting occurred on the beaches of Gallipoli that it had a
chance of displaying the spirited dash and wild valor of
the colonial soldier.

Early in the New Year Arab bands which had been en-
gaged at Biren-Nuss began to show themselves to the west
of Katia. Meanwhile El Arish had been converted into an
advanced base and large quantities of stores collected there ;
small bodies of Turks had come down to El Audja from
Beersheba, and others had strengthened the force which had
occupied Fort Nakhl. The Turkish transport was well
organized. Each regiment had about 250 camels, the re-
serve transport being effected by shifts of 500 camels working
over stages of as yet unknown length. The bulk of Turkey's
main army left Hebron on January 11, and on January 19
a hydroplane located a force of about 8,000 men at Beer-
sheba. On January 27 the Nakhl column made an attack
on the Baluchistan and El Kubri posts, and was repulsed.
Early on the following morning an attempt was made to
rush the British outposts at El Kantara, but was repulsed
by the Fourteenth Sikhs, who lost a native officer, and had
about twenty other casualties. For the next three days
there were constant skirmishes at long range between
British outposts and the Turkish patrols, while warships
sent occasional shells at the larger bodies which occasionally
showed themselves, but took care to entrench just beyond
the effective range of the shrapnel fired by British naval
guns. More damage was probably done by airmen, who flew
aeroplanes and hydroplanes over the advancing columns,
now and again planting bombs among the men and camels.
Several had narrow escapes. The Turks, marching rapidly
and suffering from cold rather than from heat, brought
their main body to the great pool at Er Rigm.

By the evening of February 1 Djemal Pasha had pre-

22.

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

pared his plan of attack. The main force, composed of the
Twenty-fifth Division and all or part of the Twenty-third
Division, was brought to attack the canal, and if possible
force a passage between Serapeum and Tussum, while by
a feint attack its right wing held the British troops at the
Ismailia Ferry bridge-head. The northern column was to
attack El Kantara while showing itself at Ferdan to pre-
vent the reinforcement of the other post. The south-
ern column was ordered to make a demonstration at Kubri
near Suez, an order which it carried out very feebly. Early
on February 2 an Indian reconnoitering force of all arms
met the Turks about four miles east of the Ismailia Ferry.
A desultory engagement ensued, to which a violent sand-
storm put an end. After nightfall the main attacking force
pushed forward toward its destination. Between 25 and 30
galvanized-iron pontoon-boats, seven and a half meters in
length, which had been dragged in carts across the desert,
were hauled by hand toward the water, with one or two
rafts made of kerosene barrels in a wooden frame. All was
now ready for the attack.

The first warning of the approach was given by a sentry
of a mountain-battery, who heard voices in an unknown
tongue from across the water. The noise soon increased,
and from what could be heard and understood, it appeared
that Mudjah Ideen (''Holy Warriors"), mostly old Tripoli
fighters, were accompanying the pontoon-section and regu-
lars. Loud exhortations, often in Arabic, of ''Brothers, die
for the faith," and '*we can die but once," betrayed also
the presence of enthusiastic irregulars. The Egyptian force
waited till the Turks began to push their boats into the
water. Then Maxims attached to the battery suddenly
spoke and warships on the canal and lake joined in the
fray. The Turks brought six batteries of field-guns into
action from the slopes west of Kataib-el-Kheil. Shells
admirably fused made fine practise at all visible targets.

Supported by artillery, Indian troops took the offensive.
The Serapeum garrison, which had stopt the enemy three-
quarters of a mile from their position, cleared its front, and
the Tussum garrison by a counter-attack drove the enemy
back. Two battalions of Anatolians were thrown into the

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

fight, but British artillery gave them no chance. By 3.30
in the afternoon a third of the enemy, with the exception of
a force that lay hidden in bushy hollo^iw on the east bank
between the two posts, were in full retreat, leaving many
dead, a large proportion of whom had been killed by
shrapnel.

Meanwhile British warships had been in action. A
salvo from a battleship woke up Ismailia early in the morn-
ing and crowds of soldiers and civilians climbed every avail-
able sandhill to see what had happened. A dramatic duel
followed between Turkish guns and a warship. The Turks
fired just over and then just short of 9,000 yards. The war-
ships sent in a salvo of 6-inch shells. As the fighting ceased
at the ferry it died down at El Kantara. There the Turks
came to grief on wire-entanglements and another attempt to
advance from the southeast was forced back by Indian
troops. Late in the afternoon there was sniping from the
east bank. Next morning it was renewed. Indian troops
moving out to search the ground encountered several hun-
dred of the enemy. A sharp fight followed in which all the
Turks were killed, captured, or put to flight. Subsequent
operations were confined to ''rounding up" prisoners and
to the captiure of a considerable amount of military ma-
terial left behind. So ended the battle of the Suez Canal.
The British losses had been small, totaling about 111 killed
and wounded. The Turks probably lost 2,000 men. Indian
troops bore the brunt of the fighting and were well sup-
ported by British and French warships and by Egyptian
troops. The Turks fought bravely and their artillery fired
well if unluckily.

After the conquest of Serbia by the Teutonic forces in
the late autumn of 1915 it was declared that another assault
would now be made by Turkey on the Suez Canal — the
**heel of Achilles'' of the British Empire — but it was not
until August, 1916, that an attack occurred. The same num-
ber of men — 14,000 — was given as the attacking Turkish
force. Looked at from a distance, the attempt seemed as
wild as the former attack had been. Again the Turkish
force had to cross a pitiless desert, drag guns through the
sand, suffer from terrible heat and from lack of water. The

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

decisive battle was fought on August 7 and ended at sun-
set. Under a crescent moon, which faintly lighted up the
desert and east fantastic shadows over the broken, sandy
country, the British pursued the beaten Turks. This second
attempt suffered a more severe defeat than the other, despite
German leadership and more scientific methods. More than
2,000 prisoners were taken, including several Germans.
Machine-gun fire "cut down men like reaping corn," troops
were scattered far and wide in the desert, not in orderly
columns, but in small parties. The brunt of the fighting
was borne by Anzae mounted troop,s, consisting of the Aus-
tralian Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles, re-
leased from Gallipoli. These horsemen had been anxious to
follow their comrades to France, but were retained in Egypt
because they were ideal troops for work iii that country.
For more than a week before the battle they had had little
rest, keeping in touch with the Turks, pushing back patrols,
and reconnoitering in a country where the Turks largely
outnumbered them. At midnight of the day before the battle
the Turks, a division strong, had held a north and south
line through the Katia Oasis, about seven miles long, with
fianks thrown westward. From a little south of Romani to
the Mediterranean coast were Scottish infantry, while the
Anzacs were in front of them, and from an hour before
daylight fought with steadiness and determination against
a well-handled enemy in superior numbers.

The situation at midday was that the British securely
held the line Muhamedie-Romani-Katia-Gannit, the latter a
sand-dune nearly 300 feet high and an excellent observation

,A BRITISH CAMEL CORPS DRILLING IN AN EGYPTIAN DESERT
v. VIII— 3 25

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

post. From Gannit, for a mile to the west, was Wellington
Ridge, an elevated stretch of bright yellow sand, which the
Turks made attempts to reach. Two miles due south was
Mount Meredith. Here and at Mount Royston, three miles
west-northwest, the Turks got a footing in the afternoon.
They had chosen what appeared to be the easiest path toward
the canal, a broad, undulating, sandy plain flanked by sand-
dunes. About 3 o'clock they made a fierce attack on Romani
and Gannit, but the Light Horse and Scottish Territorials
drove them back toward Abu Hamra. Meanwhile a Lanca-
shire brigade, brought up by rail, left the train at a place
within sound of heavy rifle-fire, and light-heartedly marched
away to attack through ankle-deep sand. At 5 o'clock in-
fantry began to attack from north to south, while Yeomanry
moved over the sand-dunes working in touch with the in-
fantry. Nothing could withstand the machine-gun fire. The
Yeomanry and infantry drove the Turks off Mount Royston
and the slopes of Wellington Ridge, and, after a brief delay,
cleared Mount Meredith, collecting 1,000 prisoners during
the advance, and scattering the remainder of the force over
the face of the desert.

The defenses of the canal were evidently stronger than
the Turks had expected. These had been strengthened at
the time of an expected attack by Von der Goltz's forces
and the army in Egypt had also been increased by additions to
the Australian and New Zealand troops. The Turks must
have found the defenders better able than they had expected
to withstand the severe conditions of desert warfare. The
movement, however, must have been well organized in order
to have advanced so near the British lines. * Had it suc-
ceeded, it would have been a severe blow to British prestige
in the East. In its failure, the British remained secure in
control of the canal, and were in position to menace the
Ottoman power in Asia by furnishing more active support
to the revolting Arabians.

The great military importance of Egypt to the British
Empire was now made newly manifest. The country became
at once a training-ground for Australasian, Indian, and
British troops, a base for the Allied Mediterranean Ex-
peditionary Force, and a center from which contingents

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

could rapidly be dispatched in several directions. While
guarding the Snez Canal against attack and retaining a
sufficient force to deal with any poissible internal disturbance,
the British were also able to detach Indian troops for service
in France, Mesopotamia, and elsewhere. The greater
part of the Australasian Army Corps and of the East
Jjancashire Territorial Division were to be employed in
European Turkey. As each force left Egypt new troops
arrived to take its place, to go through a course of training
in great camps around Cairo or near the canal. Here also

FRENCH SOLDIERS NEAR ALEXANDRIA, EUYPT, FOR THE FIRST

TIME SmCB NAPOLEON WENT THERE TO FIGHT THE BATTLE OF

THE PYRAMIDS

had been received the great majority of the Allied wounded
&om the Dardanelles.
;■ " That the Turks would endeavor to invade Egypt from
Syria had been foreseen from the moment when the Otto-
man Empire was drawn into the war on the side of the
Central Powers. An attack upon Egypt from the west —
from the direction of Tripoli — ^was not, however, anticipated.
Therefore surprize was felt near the end of 1915 when a
considerable force of Arabs, Turks, and Berbers, under the

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

leadership of Sidi Ahmed, head of the Senussi fraternity
of Moslems, invaded western Egypt from Cyrenaiea, and
were joined by some thousands of Egyptian Bedouin. It
was only after a campaign of about five months that the
invaders were decisively beaten, and the danger to Egypt
from that quarter rendered nearly negligible. The danger
to Egypt from the Senussi movement had been, serious —
much more serious, in fact, than the Turkish attempts al-
ready made and to be made in 1916 from the Sinai Peninsula
to cross the Suez Canal. General Sir John Maxwell, then
commanding British forces in Egypt, said that throughout the
summer and autumn of 1915 his principal cause of anxiety
had been the possibility of trouble on the Western Frontier,
for such trouble *' might lead to serious religious and in-
ternal disorder." No danger of that kind arose in connec-
tion with the Suez Canal operations. But a jahad pro-
claimed by the Senussi sheikh might have met with a wide
response in Egypt, for the order of which he was chief was
the most powerful Mohammedan sect in Northeast Africa,
and the only brotherhood exercising sovereign rights and
possessing a disciplined armed force on a permanent war
' footing. Up to 1915 the Senussi had maintained friendly
relations with Egypt, but the position was unsettled, be-
cause Sidi Ahmed for many years had fought hard to oppose
the extension of French authority in the Central Sudan,
iand when the war in Europe broke out was conducting a
campaign against the Italians in Cyrenaiea.

Tripoli and Cyrenaiea had become Italian possessions as
the result of Italy's war with Turkey in 1911-12. The
Turks, however, had never withdrawn the last of their
troops from Cyrenaiea, and these, aided by the Senussi, had
continued in a somewhat desultory way the conflict with
the Italians. At the end of 1914 the whole interior of
Cyrenaiea was held by the Senussi, and, as the western
border of Egypt is conterminous with Cyrenaiea, they had
every facility needed for crossing the frontier, where, ex-
cept along the Mediterranean and at the oasis of Siwa, were
stationed no forces to oppose them. The Turks had never
loyally attempted to carry out with Italy the provisions of
the Treaty of Lausanne, which closed the Tripoli war. The

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

invasion of western Egypt was thus a sequel to the cam-
paign in Tripoli and Cyrenaica and was traceable to Turko-
German influence.

Cyrenaica and Tripoli had formed separate governments
under the Turks, and remained separate provinces nnder
the Italians who, however, had taken Libya as a common name
for Tripoli and Cyrenaica. Altho the two provinces have
many characteristics in common, they are distinct entities
separated as they are by the Gulf of Sidra. Tripoli adjoins

WOi:XDED INDIAN SOLDIERS IN A HOSPITAL NEAR ALEXANDRIA

Tunisia; Cyrenaica adjoins Egypt. The strength of the force
at the disposal of the Turks was conjectural ; it probably was
not less than 30,000 and consisted of a nucleus of Turkish
troops, with Turkish, German, and Arab officers, the
Muhafizia or Sennssi regulars (a well-disciplined uniformed
body of some 5,000) and a varying number of irregulars,
every adult male in Cyrenaica being accustomed to arms.
The troops were supplied with machine-guns, pom-poms,
and a number of field-pieces. Starting from Bir, Warr av.d
Msead, camps somewhat west of Solium, they rapidly ov ■-
29

IN THE EAST, NEAE EAST, AND SOUTH

ran the country as far east as Daba. The first encounter
between them and the British occurred on December 11,
with sharp fights west and south of Matruh. When the
eventual failure of Turkish efforts in western Egypt became
certain, they succeeded in getting Ali Dinar, the Sultan of
Darfur, to defy the Sudan Government, and an expedition
against Darfur was sent out under Sir Reginald Wingate,
who had to rely on his own resources, except for the help
of a detachment of the Royal Flying Corps under Major
Groves. All the rank and file engaged belonged to the
Egyptian army, but the officers were British. In March a
mixed force of all arms entered Darfu after slight opposi-
tion. In April, Abaid, a place 90 miles west of El Fasher,
Ali Dinar's capital, was occupied and became the base for
further operations. Many chiefs surrendered, and in a
short time Darfur was at peace.

Since the first defeat of the Senussi, early in 1916, and
the reoccupation of Solium, little had been heard of Sayed
Ahmed and his followers ; but it was known that after they
were driven across the Western Frontier they found their
way in detachments to the Siwa Oasis, and there the Sheikh
rallied them. Altho they no longer constituted a menace to
lower Egypt, Sir Archibald Murray decided to send a force
after them. "During the winter a force, the strength and
constitution of which was not divulged, was assembled under
the direction, if not the executive command, of Major-Gen-
eral Sir Charles Dobell, the conqueror of the Kamerun.
Nothing was made public about the concentration or move-
ment of this force till February 9, 1917, when the main
body of the Senussi had been located in a well-defended
position south of Girba, and 15 miles west of Siwa. They
were taken by surprize, but succeeded in holding their posi-
tion till nightfall, when, after burning their tents and de-
stroying their stores and ammunition, they fled toward
Shiyata, 10 miles west of Girba, where the Sheikh had taken
refuge when the battle began.

The Sheikhas intention apparently was to retreat into
Tripoli and recover his communication with the sea, but the
British commander anticipated his plans by sending a de-
tachment to occupy the Munasib pass, when Sayed Ahmed

TIJE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

turned back in a southeasterly direction and made, as was
supposed, for Kuffra, which is 370 miles from Siwa, and
the headquarters of the Senussi tribe. British troops en-
tered Siwa on February 5. The Senussi lost 200 men killed
and wounded, but no prisoners were taken and little if any
war booty. British armored-cars were used in routing the
enemy. Crews traveled 200 miles into the Libyan desert
and fought a stubborn battle with a well-hidden enemy for
twenty hours. Twenty-two men in cars remained one night
500 yards from a foe who outnumbered them 25 to 1. The
Senussi were found hidden in a series of low hills. The
cars had a hot reception but finally overcame the enemy who
before daybreak retired. When dawn broke figures sil-
houetted against the sky showed them and their camels
trekking westward a long way out of range and impossible
to reach, owing to precipitous hillsides. Fully 200 Senussi
soldiers were killed or wounded.

Brilliant work during the operations in Darfu of 1916 was
done by British aviators. First they had to move south
at short notice, by sea, rail, and desert track for hundreds of
miles before they could reach the barren spot from which they
were to operate against the Turks. On arrival they had
further to face all the difficulties of flying under tropical
conditions with an equipment not designed to meet such
special circumstances, and in a country unknown to them
and where maps were of little use. They became of great
service in the operation. When the natives first saw the
machines in the air they showed no astonishment, but they
were surprized beyond expression when they saw men alight
from them. One was heard to say: **The Government was
always great, but now it is greater than ever.'' The intense
heat that prevailed caused petrol cans to burst and evapora-
tion was so great that a consignment of seven cases sup-
posed to hold fifty-six gallons was found to contain only
thirty-seven. Desert plants having sharp thorns punctured
tires. With the thermometer registering 120 degrees in the
shade it wiis hard work to get stores. Most of the transport
was done with camels. For at least 150 miles it was im-
possible to carry stores except in camel-packs. As the tents
for housing machines had required twenty-eight camels to

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

carry them, the labor involved in transport may be imagined,
especially as it was extremely difficult to find one's way in
the country. In the morning, when camel transport-trains
were on the move, airmen could pick up the exact line, but
the camels had to be rested from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m. Flying
was dangerous after midday because of heavy storms, of
which no warning came.

Another feature of the war in Egypt that developed
unique features was the battle of Romani, in 1916, when
the Sinai had to be crossed with big guns and other war
equipment during the heat of summer. The Turkish expedi-
tion engineered by German officers had laid plans for another
advance from El Arish, ninety miles from the canal. About
half this distance is a waterless desert and at this time of
year the heat was intolerable. Moreover, it was impossible
to march in sands when men sank to the ankle at every step.
The only means of transporting troops and supplies was on
camels, which was the method the Turks employed. Several
hundred beasts were used. Progress was necessarily slow.
Long before the Turks reached watered positions some miles
in front of Romani, British were waiting for them. At mid-
night on August 3 the Turks began the attack, which ended
in complete disaster for them on August 5.

Since 1878, under the terms of a convention between Great
Britain and Turkey, Cyprus had been leased to and ad-
ministered by the former. The island, which has an area of
3,584 square miles and a population of about 290,000, was
now, in September, 1914, definitely annexed to the British
Empire. *An annual rent of £92,800 had been paid to Turkey
since 1878, but that ceased with the annexation. Great
Britain's proclamation turned back the pages of history to
days when King Richard Coeur de Lion conquered this island
from the Roman Emperor Izaac. King R* chard sold it to
the Templars, who had lost many of their knights and much
wealth during Saladin's conquest of Latin Syria. Eventually
the Templars found they could not pay the full price, and
Cyprus went back to King Richard, who gave it to King
Guy, the dispossest ?Lusignan King of Jerusalem, on condi-
tion that he pay the Templars a sum equivalent to that
part of the purchase price which they had paid Richard and

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

which Richard, having spent, could not repay. Thus Cyprus,
the island of Aphrodite Anadyomene and of St. Barnabas,
passed to the French House of Lusignan, under which it ■
became an outpost of Latin civilization in the Levant and
one of the most important trading centers of the Middle
Ages. One of its rulers, a woman, unable to resist the Turks,
finally made over the island to Venice. This was the cele-
brated Caterina Cormaro, a Venetian woman of rank, now

the widow and heir of the Cypriote king, James HI. The
year of the cession was 1489. With Venice in possession of
the island we can understand why Shakespeare could place
there a scene in "Othello." There came an end to Cypriote
glories after the Venetians had starved the island of its reve-
nues and dismantled its castles. The population in lftl6, was
put at 298,775, comprising Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Maro-
mites, and a few Jews. The island has stamps and coins of
its own.*

'Principal Sources; The Loodoa Tlmea' "History o* tbo War," The Sun

<New York), The Calcutta Eni/lishtnan ; The Evening Pott, The Uterary
Digest, The OutlooJc, The Times, New York; The Dallg Ohroame, The
Standard, LoDdon ; a Pctrograd ststement Issued by Reuter ; The Journal
of Commerce, The Tribune, New York; "Xelaon'a History at the War" by
JohD Buehan, The Fortnightlu Reviete (LODdon), Associated Press dis-
patches.

Ill

THE OUTBREAK OF WAR IN THE CAUCASUS, AND

THE ARMENIAN MASSACRES

November 19, 1914— October 15, 1915

IN the Caucasus and on the Armenian frontier reports
chronicled early Russian victories and an advance toward
Erzerum. That Armenia which had long suffered from the
Kurds would welcome Christian armies seemed natural.
Caucasia is a medley of races, tongues, and religions.
Nowhere else in the world can one find in a similar area
so many types, so many languages and dialects, or so many
religions and sects, as in this Russian government where the
troops of the Czar and those of the Crescent were now to
resume their age-long combat. The cosmopolitanism of New
York is provincial compared with the confusion of tongues
and peoples in the Caucasus. Some seventy dialects, strange
to the "West, are spoken within its boundaries. Caucasia is
a broad, rocky isthmus which, extending from the southeast
corner of Europe to Asia, divides the Black and the Caspian
Seas. Its area is about 180,000 square miles, or more than
four times that of Ohio. It has good ports on the Black
and Caspian Seas — Batum on the one, and Baku on the
other. It is ground that has been fought over in all genera-
tions. Such names as Kars, Ardahan, and Bayazid ring
familiar in the ears of students of history. The region has,
in fact, been the cockpit of Asia Minor, the Belgium of the
Middle East. Since Noah's ark rested on Mount Ararat it
is doubtful whether the inhabitants of those mountains have
ever enjoyed any long spell of peace.

The Russian attack on Turkey was opened with a dash
equal to that which earlier in the war carried the Russian
arms into the heart of East Prussia. One column covered
forty-seven miles over difficult mountain tracks in two
days, rushing into a fight with the Turks, who were not

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

expecting so rapid an offensive, captured Diadin, and dis-
persed large forces of Kurds, taking their arms and sup-
plies, and making a number of prisoners. The Russian ad-
vance was made along passes and river-beds in a moun-
tainous, diflScult, and dangerous country. This initial Rus-
sian success was regarded as a demonstration rather than
an advance in force. Transcaucasia was to Russia a sec-
ondary theater of war. Her general policy was to act on the
defensive during the winter months. The Turks, however,
had no intention of remaining on the defensive, and at the
end of November began an advance. Erzerum was Turkey's
most important fortified place in Asia, and corresponded to
Adrianople on her European frontier. The Russian concen-
tration took place at Kars.

When the Turkish offensive began, the Turks pushed the
Russians back toward Khorosan and held it during Christ-
mas week. Meantime two Turkish corps were struggling
through icy winds and deep snow at high altitudes in the
mountains, and reached, but did not enter, Sarikamish on
Christmas Day. The first army, coming from the valley of
the Chorok, crossed a mountain pass 8,000 feet above sea, and
bearing down upon Ardahan, drove out a Russian force of
4,000 men on January 1. On January 3 the Russians drove
the Turks out of Ardahan. With two Turkish corps in re-
treat, a third, which was still fighting, was surrounded and
wiped out. The only unbeaten Turkish corps could as yet
do nothing, for it was engaged with the head of the Russian
column and had made no progress for over a week. Iskan
Pasha, and the whole of his staff, including the German
officers, and the corps which he commanded, surrendered.

During a defense of Sarikamish from December 25 to
December 28 the Russians had assumed the offensive until
reinforcements arrived and saved the town. The Russians ad-
vanced by a forced march through deep snow, engaging the
enemy in the evening about thirteen miles from the town.
Ragged, hungry, half-frozen Turks rolled on in columns of
defense. Machine-gun detachments allowed them to ap-
proach within 300 paces, and then mowed them down. New
columns sprang up in the^'r places, and the Russians then
slowly retired eastward step by step. The enemy, realizing

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

that every hour was precious if Sarikamish was to be taken,
came on fighting in the darkness. Turkish columns hurled
themselves on the slender Russian line, which had to fall
back as the Turks fired standing. The Russians then re-
sorted to the bayonet, and with ringing cheers charged the
enemy in masses, inflicting slaughter. The Turks were
finally driven back under pressure of weight of numbers,
and forced to retreat two or three miles from Sarikamish.
More Turkish artillery arrived at this juncture, but too late
to claim the victory, as the Russian guns were tlien covering
their infantry. Reinforcements poured in steadily. A pro-
tracted engagement culminated in a Russian victory.

The Russians had inflicted a terrible blow on the Turks.
They overcame or destroyed something like 50,000 men,
whom they trapt in fastnesses of the Caucasus range. Of
two Turkish army corps, all that remained were a few hun-
dred prisoners. The best corps in the Turkish army,
normally stationed at Erzerum, had led in the invasion of
Russian territory, supported by another army corps from
Van. The Ninth Corps was surrounded and crusht by the
fire of mountain-artillery, maxims, and rifies. The com-
mander, Ished Pasha, as well as the division commanders,
with a hundred other officers, were made prisoners. The
artillery, maxims, ammunition and stores, all fell into Rus-
sian hands. Another Turkish corps, tho not annihilated,
was hotly pursued by native hillmen. Such was the record
of fighting in the Caucasian area up to the end of January.
It left the Russians far on the road to Erzerum, where the
Turks were hastily attempting a new concentration, while
in the northwest fragments of two beaten corps had effected
a junction and were attempting a fresh offensive.

Here in Russian Armenia, in the heart of the Caucasus
battlefields, with thick, crumbling walls, and ragged founda-
tions of ancient buildings, lies Ani, a sort of Armenian
Pompeii, in a rolling, parched, upland country, now almost
deserted, altho near the Alexandropol-Erivan railway. It
is a little more than thirty miles south of Alexandropol,
and some thirty-five miles from the Russo-Turkish boundary.
Through a tortuous gorge, alongside the dead city, flows the
Arpa Canal, a weird, bright-green stream. Ani was once a

E3 3

tt ^ <

& B H

©a H

III

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

splendid capital, with a thousand and one churches — so says
the legend — whose influence extended throughout the Cau-
casus and at one time reached into Europe, but all that now
remains are an aged Armenian monk, who acts as director
of excavations and a pleasant host of. stray antiquarians and
tourists, with a few Armenian peasants. Before the war
these few were living in peaceful isolation among scant
memorials of a nation's greatness. The monk's home was
headquarters for the dead city, a one-storied, stone structure,
near the cathedral, with a single large, bare, and rather
dirty room in which on occasion guests were accommodated.
Four beds made it a bedroom, and benches a dining-room.

Ani was a strong fortress in its ancient days. Power-
ful walls, with many towers, still stand on the surrounding
plain, but in the centuries in which the city has been un-
peopled they have much decayed. Back of the walls, in un-
even, indiscriminate distribution, lie the remains of churches,
palaces, and public buildings, almost without number, some
heavy in the groundwork that suggests their old-time pro-
portions, with other buildings of high masonry, amid which
stands the cathedral, unbroken, a solitary, weather-torn
edifice of red and brown. A thousand years ago — in 961 —
this city became the capital of the Bagratid kings of Ar-
menia. Later it was captured by the Byzantium emperor
and rose soon to be a wealthy and inviting city. Nearly
twenty years later the Seljuk Turks carried fire and sword
into it. Warlike Georgians took it five times between 1125
and 1209. Mongols overran it in 1239 and an earthquake, in
1319, completed the work of ruin. The great cathedral dates
from 1010.

Here also in the southern Caucasus, near the meeting
point of Persia, Russia, and Turkey, is the most treasured
possession of the Armenian nation — the monastery and
cathedral of Echmiadzin, the Holy See of Armenian Chris-
tians, the source of that strength which has held them to-
gether through centuries of persecution, warfare and
massacre. Echmiadzin is the seat of the Catholicus, or
primate, of the Gregorian Armenian Church. Nearly a
thousand years have gone by since the fall of the last
definite political state of the Armenians, but their church

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

has held them in national consciousness and preserved in
them distinguishing racial and social characteristics. The
Church is more than religion to the Armenian; it is his
patriotism, his hope for survival, and the banner under
which he rallies for his people. Here runs the Russo-
Turkish frontier, and many miles to the southeast lies Persia.
About 3,000 feet above the sea, forty miles north of Ararat,
and twelve miles west of Erivan, the capital of the Russian
government, lies this Armenian Rome, surrounded by
massive, gray-mud walls, which enclose monastery, cathedral,
and academy. The buildings are arranged around a great
quadrangle, in the center of which stands the cathedral of
St. Gregory the Illuminator, a church of more ancient be-
ginnings than Saint Sophia of Constantinople. It has served
as a bulwark for Christianity against the barbarians of Asia
since 302. Its fight has been long, severe, and heroic.
Little is known of Echmiadzin among peoples of the West.

In the library of Echmiadzin are kept manuscripts of the
Gospels dating from the ninth century. Monks maintain a
type-foundry and a printing-press, and have accomplished
great things for the education of their people and the de-
velopment of Armenian literature. The academy is one of
the first educational institutions of the Armenian world.
Many of its pupils have done graduate work in German and
Russian universities. Adherents of the Armenian church claim
that it is the oldest established Christian church in the
world, having been founded in the first part of the third
century. It is probably the most national of all churches
in the world. Only Armenians belong to it.

Mount Ararat, which has known hardly a moment's peace
since Noah and his ark grounded upon its massive shoulder,
forms at present a huge boundary mark between the Rueks
and Russia. Ararat is the original home of the Haik people,
the center of what has ever been the world's most troubled
area. Tribes from Europe and Asia have fought each other
here from the dawn of history. Survivors from many
battles settled here, as neighbors, hating, despoiling, and
massacring one another. Ararat, one of the most impressive
of mountains, rises out of an immense plain sheer up to
the clouds, with no neighboring peaks to soften its isolation

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

and take away its majesty. Mount Everest in the Himalayas
is set well within a massive, sky-touching range of moun-
tains. Mount Blanc is merely one of several imposing peaks,
but Ararat stands aloft, with only a background of sky and
plain and a framework of little mountains, a splendid thing
among mountains and without a peer.

There are two peaks, Great and Little. Great Ararat rises
to a height of 17,000 feet above the sea; Little Ararat, where
the boundaries of the Turkish Empire, Russia, and Persia
meet, reaches 12,840 feet. The snowline here is very high —
14,000 feet — ^but the dome of Great Ararat is covered with
glittering fields of unbroken white. Pastures begin a little
below the snowline. After the pastures runs a belt of for t

the most part sterile land. Purplish-blue is Ararat. It
rests its feet in a plain of golden sands, splashed with vivid ,
greens and reds, which shimmers like a Persian carpet. The
Armenians hold that they were the first people who lived
after the Flood, the immediate descendants of Noah, so to
speak. The first village that Noah founded, after abandon-
ing the ark, was Nakhitchevan — ^so the Armenians think —
and his people were the first race of men who grew up after
the Flood. The name Ararat means '*high." The Persian
name, Koh-i-Nuh, means ''Noah's mountain." Noah's wife
was buried near its base. Grapes are still grown at Ararat
from vines believed by the natives to be direct descendants
of vines planted by Noah. Ararat was first ascended in
1892 by a German named Parrot. The climb has been made
by many tourists since, among them James, now Viscount
Bryce, the noted British diplomat, who wrote a book about it.

Germany still controlled the Turkish fleet and Constanti-
nople was commanded by its guns, but with these Russian
advances the last temptation to Bulgaria to join Turkey
seemed to have vanished. Roumania, meanwhile, seemed
freed from any possible menace from Bulgaria. Russian
troops being in Bukowina and advancing toward Transyl-
vania, were a reminder that if Roumania would share in
the spoils she must enter the battle-line. Turkish defeats in
the Caucasus abolished, or seemed to abolish, the temptation
for the Balkan States to join the Kaiser, It opened a way
to Bulgaria, Roumania, and Greece to win easy laurels and

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

new provinces. In addition it practically assured the
British position in Egypt and the Near East, Thus had
the first German adventures in the Holy War apparently
came to na.ught. It was impossible not to feci sympathy
for Turkish troops, fighting as they had always fought, and
once more caught in the toils of European intrigues and
persuaded to risk their existence. Apparently the gamble
on the Golden Horn had reached the most desperate pl-ght
it had known in its long and checkered history. But this story
had not yet all been told, because in the future lay British

CAMELS IN THE CAUCASUS CARRYING RUSSIAN MUNITIONS

failure at the Dardanelles and German success in the
Balkans.

There was desperate fighting throughout the second week
in January, which seems to have turned to the advantage of
the Russians, who on the 14th almost annihilated with the
bayonet the Fifty-second Turkish Regiment, with the ex-
ception of its commander, staff -officers, and the men who
were made prisoners. The fortunes of the Turkish cam-
paign in the Caucasus had become slender since the Goeben
and Breslau failed to control communications in the Black
Sea between Constantinople and Trebizond, and since the
Turkish army around Erzerum had found itself cut off from
reinforcements and supplies.

By April 8 the Turks were ousted from districts bor-

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

dering on Batum and Kars, and the Russian offensive was
continued in Turkish territory, on the right bank of the
Chorokh, as well as on the front of the Tortum. Over-
coming the difficulties in an extremely mountainous region^
making their way along paths few and far between, fre-
quently moving by ways that passed over almost inaccessible
mountain-summits, and marching in deep snow, the Russian
troops dislodged the Turks from strongly fortified positions,
and by May 4 had taken possession of the Turkish territory
between their old frontier and the rivers.

Russia had carried on a vigorous campaign in this terri-
tory over a front of about 400 miles, running in a diagonal
line across mountains and plateau-valleys in Transcaucasia,
Turkish Armenia, and Persian Kurdistan, from the Black
Sea to the heart of northern Persia. Ever since October,
1914, her army had been drawing away several Turkish
army corps and had held them, up in the Erzerum region.
Irregular bands of Kurds had endeavored to protect them
from the Russians in the Black Sea region, while on the
Turko-Persian borderland remnants of Halil Bey's army
still operated against the Russian left. The Russians in this
enterprise and the British Expeditionary Force to the
Persian Gulf were thus becoming closely related, since for
six months they had been drawing closer and closer to-
gether, the Russians going south, the British north, but with
an inhospitable tract of the Kurdish highlands intervening,
with the opportunities they gave for protracted guerrilla
warfare.

On June 4 the Russians began an attack on certain
Turkish positions that were accessible only with great diffi-
culty. By a thrust in the Sevritchai valley they carried the
first line of fortifications, and afterwards by a series of
assaults extending over five days, stormed one position after
another. Advancing by paths and tracks, transporting men
and guns over mountain-summits reaching 10,000 feet in
height, and frequently making attacks with the bayonet,
they dislodged the Turks from positions they had previously
organized, but which they had defended obstinately. On
June 6 the Russians occupied Ardost, and on the following
day Ide.

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

After a victory at Dilman the Russians had undertaken to
scatter the Ottoman troops that were operating between
Lake Van and Urmia. They began a general offensive with
their left wing and moved in three directions, first on the
north, from the Alaachkert and Kaidin valleys on Meliaseh-
kert; secondly, from the northeast and the east, on Van;
and, thirdly, from Tabriz on Urmia, with the object of carry-
ing out an enveloping movement from the south side of
Lake Urmia. The column that was marching south from
the Alaschkert, by the valley of the Euphrates, began by
bringing close pressure on a number of Kurdish regiments.

THE ANCIENT FORTRESS OP OTTY IX THE CACCASLS

Cossacks charged the enemy who, being unable to with-
stand these onslaughts, fell back in a southerly direction.
By a brilliant dash cavalry captured the town of Meliaseh-
kert, in the Sanjak o£ Moush. On the same day another
column occupied Pathnos, after which cavalry carried out a
series of reconnoissances in various directions. The Turks
then fell back to Kop, and the Russian troops encamped
near Deril in front of the Turkish positions. On June 4,
after another fight, the Russians captured the village of
Adiljevaz, at the northwest extremity of Lake Van. Soon
the whole region between the Alia Dagh mountain-chain and
the northern shore of Lake Van, as well as part of the

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Sandjak of Moush, with the town of Meliaschkert, were in
Russian hands, having been evacuated by the Turks.

Simultaneously with the Meliaschkert offensive the Rus-
sians began a march on Van, in a northeasterly direction, by
way of Karta and Aynch, and also from Dilman. The
Turks, who occupied strong positions in the mountains south
of Dilman, began a retreat toward the southwest, in the
direction of Van, by way of Dizagaverska, with Russian
troops close on their heels. The northern column having
successfully taken the Tapariz Pass, assumed an offensive,
prest the Turkish and Kurd advance guards, and on May
15, after two days' fighting, inflicted defeat on the enemy.
Continuing its offensive this column, on May 19, captured
the city of Van, where the population received the Russian
troops with ceremony, and the notables presented the com-
mander with the keys of the town. The Russians captured
25 pieces of fortress-artillery, over 100,000 pounds of powder,
and a quantity of arms. By June 6 the Russians had
secured the region of Van and a part of the Sanjak of
Moush, had annihilated Khalil Bey *s original corps, and had
cleared of Turkish troops the region between Lakes Van and
Urmia. On the right wing they occupied Turkish territory
between the old frontier and the line of the rivers Chorekh
and Tortum and the mountain-range of Chakhi Baba.

Lake Van is the Great Sea of the Armenian people, and
easily the most striking physical feature of their high
plateau. It is the largest lake in Asiatic Turkey, and
roughly, marks one of the wildest borders of the Near East,
a border to which the authority of Constantinople has seldom
reached and to which the ordering endeavor of the Russian
Cossack had not yet come. Near the borders of Persia and
Russia, Van lies on the borders of Armenia and Kurdistan,
a lake with an area of 1,400 square miles, its greatest
length 80 miles and its greatest width 50 miles. The
Euphrates and Tigris rivers rise in mountains near this lake.

The physical aspects of the country are as savage as is its
history. Densely-wooded, massive mountains, succeeded by
chill, bare, dark rocks, girt the lake. Much of the irregular
shore-line is rugged and dangerous, while the forests be-
hind form a **no man's land," where the hasty usages of

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

raee-feuds hold sway. The water of the lake is bitter
and undrinkable, and, in the autumn and winter, its surface
is «wept by violent storms that make all navigation ' haz-
ardous. It stands more than 5,000 feet above the sea level.
Lake Van has been navigated from earliest times. For a
short time in the ancient world it played a role as a high-
way for commerce. Before the outbreak of the World War
it floated 90 sailing boats, of 20 and 25 tons burden, which
were engaged mainly in the transport of wheat and firewood.
The chief town of the region, near the eastern shore of the
lake, is also called Van, and is a place of some 30,000
people, of the oil-and-water mixture of half Kurds and half
Armenians.

To any one who remembered the rejoicings which wel-
comed the bloodless Turkish Revolution of 1908, the en-
suing fraternization of Moslem and Christian, and the con-
fidence that grew up of a better future for the Armenians,
the story of new and systematic persecution of the Ar-
menians beginning in the early summer of 1915 and extend-
ing over many weeks, was a bitter tale. Talaat Bey and
his extremist allies shocked not only his allies but their
German friends, attaining as they did an eminence for
"f rightfulness" to which the **Red Sultan" had never before
soared. No massacre had taken place during the Turkish
mobilization for war, or during the early stages of the cam-
paign in the Caucasus. It was not till Enver Pasha's army
invaded Russian territory and another Turkish force, com-
posed in part of Kurdish irregulars, had invaded Azerbaijan,
that massacres began in which Armenians were thrown over
cliffs, women violated and abducted, children frequently
Islamized. Many of the population, after suffering great
privations, escaped into Russian territory. In the first out-
burst, according to Russian newspapers and American mis-
sionaries, over 2,000 were killed, under orders from Turkish
consuls in northwest Persia, while Kurdish tribesmen com-
mitted gruesome atrocities near Bayezid, and began to raid
Armenian villages near Van.

The later defeat of Sary Kamish by a Russian army,
which included many Armenians, infuriated Enver. At
this period the systematic massacre of 25,000 Armenians in

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the Bashkala district, of whom less than 10 per cent, were
said to have escaped, appeared to have been ordered. In
April Armenians in Van, who before the war had collected
arms to defend themselves against the Kurds, were attacked
by Kurds and Turkish gendarmes and in some places were
massacred. In others they more than held their own, and
finally captured the town of Van and took a bloody
vengeance on their enemies. Early in May a Russo-
Armenian army entered Van.

Turkish officers commanding in the provinces received
orders in April and May authorizing them to deport all in-
dividuals or families whose presence might be regarded as
politically or militarily dangerous. In the caste of some of
the Cilician Armenians, deportation began earlier. Talaat
was believed to be the chief author of these crimes. **I in-
tend to prevent any talk of Armenian autonomy for fifty
years,'' said he. Their disappearance ** would be no loss,''
he added. Eastern Anatolia, Cilicia, and the Anti-Taurus
region were scenes of the worst cruelties. At Bitlis and
Moush a large number, according to some accounts 12,000,
many of them women, were shot or drowned. At Sivas,
Kaisari, and Diarbekr many executions took place and
several Armenian villages were wiped out. At Urfa the
first massacre did not take place until in the third week of
August, when it was witnessed by Allied women and chil-
dren who afterward escaped from Syria. An English girl
ten years of age saw an Armenian's brains blown out and
the bodies of women and children burned with kerosene.
Several smaller massacres followed the first outbreak.

The massacred Armenians had mostly given up their arms
in accordance with advice from their clergy. At four widely
separated places resistance was offered. At Shaban Kara-
hissar, in northeast Anatolia, they took up arms, and were
fijially overwhelmed; some 4,000 were believed to have been
killed or sold at this place. At Kharput, on hearing of the
intention of the authorities to deport them, the Armenians
rose on June 3, and for a week held the town. They were
then overpowered by troops with artillery and were mostly
killed. In Talaat Bey's methods massacre was followed by
a cruder system of persecution than Abdul Hamid ever in-

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

vented. The Red Sultan's abominations were seldom ac-
companied by the wholesale deportation of survivors; the
violation and abduction of women and the conversion of
children, the sadly frequent in some places, were by no
means general in the massacres of 1894-1896 when, as has
been said, "the wild beast was allowed only to run amuek
for twenty-four hours, and was then usually chained up."
In Talaat Bey's campaign the preliminary massacre, which
was sometimes omitted, was followed by the separation of
able-bodied men from their women-folk. The former were
drafted into labor-battalions or disappeared. Women, chil-
dren, and old men were said to have been led into the
desert south of the Euphrates and left there to starve.

ARMENIAKS IN A TKBNCH NEAR VAN DURING ITS SIEGE
BY THE TURKS

These Armenians were the surilvora of a large number, tbe most of whom

had been maaeacrea. They had fled to the Amerloan Mission Compound

and fortified It agalnet further Turkish attacks

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

By late summer a series of frightful massacres by which
some hundreds of thousands of Christians were affected had
taken place. At Bitlis, in June, in an attempt at a general
disarmament of Armenians, the authorities, without regard
to age or condition, undertook to torture, and even to brand
with red-hot irons, the bodies of notables, hoping thus to
frighten the other people. Turks visited private homes and,
under pretext of searching for arms, robbed them and
dragged out women and girls. Kurds joined the Turkish
assailants. Wholesale abductions of young women and of
boys between 10 and 15 years of age were carried out with
the object of converting them to Islam. Few Armenians
escaped this Moslem barbarity. Refugees swore that on one
occasion Turks tied together some fifty old men and threw
them into the lake of Van. Men above seventy and lame,
blind, or paralytic persons were stript of what few rags
they wore as clothing. Many refugees walked at night in
the darkness through mountains and hid behind rocks, so as
not to be seen by wandering Moslems, and lived on grass
roots which they could gather. Appalling massacres took
place in the districts of Bitlis, Moush and Khinis (Erzerum).
After a desperate attempt at self-defense in Vartemis,
east of Moush, the Armenians were overwhelmed by large
Turkish forces, and about 2,000 men and women of every
age and condition who had taken refuge in the church of
the village were burned to death amid indescribable horrors.

Toward the end of July the military situation of the
Transcaucasian front had taken an unfortunate turn for
the Russians. Apparently encouraged by Russian reverses in
Poland, the Turks had sent large reinforcements, some
40,000 regular troops, to the Armenian front to begin a
strong offensive, whereupon the Russians ordered a general
withdrawal all along the front, even compelling the Ar-
menian volunteers to evacuate the city of Van, which the
latter had captured from the Turks in May and had held
ever since. In consequence, about 250,000 Armenians who
had taken refuge in Van were ordered to leave their homes
and march over a distance of about 100 miles across the
Russian frontiers. As there are no railways, nor even good
roads in Turkish Armenia, all means of transport being

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

scanty and slow, thousands of sick women and children, ex-
hausted by the sufferings of five months, fount] themselves
unable to move. Hard prest by the advancing Turks who
wished to cut off the line of retreat, Armenian volunteers
fought several bloody rear-guard actions in order to hold
back the Turks and secure the safety of 250,000 refugees.

A special correspondent^ described the scenes as the most
horrible he had ever witnessed. He saw people dying by
the roadside owing to hunger and thirst or exhaustion, and
mothers throwing away their children in order to lighten
their burden. One hundred thousand of these refugees were

OF ARMENtANS

quartered in and around Erivan, In spite of the fact that
several Armenian societies and towns in Transcaucasia
volunteered to take care of between 50 and 100 children
each, there were about 3,500 boys and girls below 10, almost
all orphans, who remained in Erivan awaiting attendance
and care. By the end of October it was declared — appar-
ently an exaggeration — that only 200,000 Armenians were
left in Turkey, and that more than 1,000,000 had either
been killed, enslaved, or exiled. It was feared that the
residue might disappear before the end of the war. That

■ OI tfac Horizon, an ArmeoLaD pHpfr pQbllshed In TIflla.

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the Turkish Government had doomed the hapless Armenian
people to extermination many no longer doubted. With
fire, sword and strangling knot, Turkish irregulars were
carrying out a sentence that was pronounced in cold blood
and declared that *'the only way to get rid of the Armen'an
question is to get rid of the Armenians/'

The extermination was carried out by massacre, deporta-
tion, and forced conversion to Islam. Throughout the whole
of Armenia these methods prevailed. The Government re-
leased from prison criminals whom it had organized and en-
rolled. These criminals were put in charge of the Armenian
convoys. There was no brutality they did not commit. An
eyewitness, an Armenian taken prisoner at the. Dardanelles,
where he had been made to serve in the Turkish army,
described the declaration of martial law at Zile as including
the confiscation of all Armenian property. "Women were
tied to the tails of ox-carts and exposed to hunger and
rough weather until they accepted conversion to Islam or
death ; mothers were bayoneted before the eyes of thefr
children, and Armenian girls were distributed as chattels
among civil and military officials. This Armenian had been
compelled to assist in many massacres. On one occasion he
was a member of a party of forty soldiers who superin-
tended the death of 800 Armenians.

The Kurds who on the Persian border shared in these
barbarities are a survival from ancient days when self-
respecting men lived only, or, at least principally, by the
sword. Wild tribes of them are still scattered through Asia
Minor, where they thwart well-meant efforts to give the
land the modem comforts of security through sociaL organi-
zation. Altho they inherit a country once fabulously rich,
that country has not been able to bring forth a sufficiency
through all the years that the Kurds have practised their
untamed housekeeping on its soil. The Kurd is a picturesque
person. Whatever his numbers may be — and the census-
takers of Turkey are indefinite — ^he is much more in evi-
dence than are the Armenians and other people among whom
he lives. It is from the Kurd that the traveler obtains his
first impressions of Asia Minor, and in most cases hie re-
mains the predominate figure. He wears clothes of vivid

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

colors, the poorer ones among them wearing rags of the most
forlorn sorts. He rides the best horse obtainable, is always
armed, and bullies Armenians and travelers at the same
time that his overlord, the Turk, bullies him.

Unable to get a complete mastery over the Kurds, the
Turks have employed toward them an administrative policy
of letting them alone, even when they massacre and rob
Armenians and travelers. Both occupations are considered
by them the exercise of a simple right. In his useful state
the Kurd lives in hills where he herds sheep. In summer he
is a pastoral tent-dweller, in winter he moves to the Meso-
potamia plains, where he either lives in a tent or turns the
owner out of a selected house and lives in that. His tent
is of black, homespun goat's-hair; its furniture, mats, quilts
and cooking tools. His children go naked and his women
ragged. When by chance he builds a winter home, it con-
sists of a. hole in the ground with a flat roof of wattle and
clay, air-tight, smoke-tight, light-tight, except that there are
small smoke vents in the roof. The whole eflfect is that of
a prairie-dog's dwelling.

Kurds are possest of a conscious superiority that gives
them a certain nobility of bearing. A Kurdish chief is an
impressive and, often, an affable individual, and Kurds oc-
casionally attempt some of the arts of civilization. Officially,
they are Mohammedans, but they reject the custom of veil-
ing their women. They reverence fire and on the subject
of religion are altogether liberal. Many are Kizilbashis, or
heretic Moslems, and some few are Christians. Little feudal
organizations give them their only claims to anything ap-
proximating nationality.

The Armenian massacres of 1915 were perpetrated under
cover of the World War by ''the gang who were in control
of Turkey, '^ as Lord*Bryce called the Turkish Government.
Germans at Berlin protested that stories of outrages at
Trebizond and elsewhere were deliberate exaggerations, cir-
culated for political effect, and an attempt was made to
justify the Turks. Lord Bryce gave, in the British House
of Lords, a heart-piercing account of the circumstances in
which the Armenian people were being exterminated. Not
since the days of Tamerlane had the world known such

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

horrors. He computed that from May to October hundreds
of thousands of Armenians, men, women, and children, had
been slain in cold blood in Asia Minor. The Armenian na-
tion, however, was not yet quite extinct; forlorn remnants
had found refuge in the Caucasus; some had managed to
reach Egypt; a few, ill-armed, half-starved bands were
bravely defending themselves from would-be assassins in the
mountains of Sassun and Cilicia. On behalf of these
pathetic survivors of a fine race he made an appeal to
neutral nations.

Americans were sick at heart over these awful disclosures.
The severance of diplomatic relations with Turkey would
have been justified but the United States Ambassador to
Turkey could not be taken from his post without the aban-
donment of the Armenians and without peril to Americans
who remained in Turkey. The Ambassador was Henry
Morgenthau, whose efforts to procure some alleviation of the
lot of the Armenians proved unsuccessful. Talaat and Bedri
both turned deaf ears to all his pleadings. German and
Austro-German residents in Turkey seem at first to have
approved of the punishment of Armenian *' traitors," but
the methods of the Turkish extremists turned their
stomachs and there were some Turkish protests against these
abominations. Turks at Aintab, for example, refused to
permit the exile of local Armenians. Rahmi Bey, the bold
Vali of Smyrna, repeatedly protested to the Porte and re-
fused to hand over suspected Armenians for trial. The
Sheikh ul Islam salved his conscience by a tardy resigna-
tion, and Djahid and Djavid Beys uttered plaintive protests
when it was too late.

What to do about the Armenian atrocities was a question
that agitated many minds. The United States Government
made informal representations to Turkey pointing out ^*the
bad effect upon public opinion in the United States of the
treatment of the Armenians," but, beyond this, nothing
could be done. Lord Bryce said there was only one Power
that could stop the Armenian atrocities and that was Ger-
many. The German press, however, gave warning to the
United States that '*the Germans would not only not interfere
with Turkish massacres of infidels, but that they would not

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

permit the United States to interfere.'* The Frankfurter
Zeitv/tig pointed out that the Armenian affair "was no
more America's business than the lynching of negroes was
Germany's business." A writer in the Vossische Zeitung
added that the Armenian question was **a purely theoretical
discussion about humanity." Germany **had battles to fight
at present in order to insure her very existence."

Two years before an appalling tragedy such as this would
have stirred protests from the whole world. In the summer
of 1915 it occupied only a fraction of the attention of
readers of the daily papers, who turned to it from the more
striking details of some new great battle, not in Asia but
in Europe. Terrible as was this new Turkish massacre, it
failed to fire the public because a neutral nation, such as
the United States, which had read and believed the reports
of German atrocities in Belgium and northern France, could
find no new words, and feel no new emotion, at beholding
the Turk imitating Europeans in the task of exterminating
a population. This terrible page of history was regarded as
an echo and an extension of the incursion into Belgium
fourteen months before.

In a strict sense, there was no Armenia. When used, the
name refers in general to a region centering about Lake
Van in Asiatic Turkey, and extending thence north and
southwest, Armenia means a country whose bounds have
continually changed with the fortunes of war. The greater
part of the region lies within the Turkish Empire, and is
called Kurdistan. It is inhabited by Turks, Armenians,
Russians, Persians, Kurds, Circassians, Greeks, Nestorians,
Yezidees, Syrians, and Jews.

The early history of the Armenians is so mixed with
myth and legend that the truth is difficult to find. During
the Assyrian and Median periods there was evidently a
great organized monarchy, with a strong military power in
the Lake Van basin. At times they were formidable enemies
of the Medes. This country was well known to the Assyrians
as early as the ninth century B.C. It was inhabited by four
races — the Mairi, the Urard, the Minni, and the Hittites.
These races appear to have maintained their independence
until the time of Ashur-banipal, about 640 B.C., when the

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

last king of that series succumbed to the Assyrian yoke. But
in the time of Herodotus, a strange people had entered the
land, bringing with them a new language, new names and
customs, and a new religion. Herodotus believes they came
from Phrygia, but their language and religion indicated
Media. One thing was certain; the old Turanians had ceased
to rule, and the Armenian race had come as a mixture of
ruling Aryan tribes with primitive Turanian populations.*

• Prlnolpfll Sources : The London Times' "HlHtory ot the War, "Bulletlaa"
ot the XfttloBftl Geograpblc Society (New York), The Morning Poit (London),
The Independent (New York). The Timet (London) ; The Evening Sun,
The Literary Digest, New York ; "The Encyclopedia of Missions."

THE ERZEKUM, TREBIZOND AND ERZINGAN OPERATIONS
55

A YEAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF AND ON THE

TIGRIS— TOWNSHEND TAKES KUT-EL-

AMARA, BUT FAILS AT CTESIPHON

AND RETIRES TO KUT

November 1, 19 14 — December 30, 1915

ONE of the immediate effects of Turkey's becoming a
combatant was to extend the war-area to the head of
the Persian Gulf, where hostilities quickly began, between
the Turks and British and Indian troops. The British soon
captured the port of Bassora, gained the delta of the Tigris
and Euphrates, and drove remnants of the Turkish force
northward toward Bagdad. Th^se operations, which formed
an entirely separate campaign, were of much political im-
portance. They seemed at once to shatter Germany's dream
of domination in the Middle East, where Bassora was to
have been the terminus of the Bagdad Railway, Germany's
great enterprise in the domain of world politics. As the
fall of Bassora would deprive Germany of access to the
seas in southern Asia, the political consequence of the cam-
paign promised to surpass the military.

The question was often asked why, with so much on their
hands elsewhere, the British diverted so large a force into
Mesopotamia with the intention of occupying Bagdad. "What
was Bagdad to Great Britain ? The answer was that Bagdad
was on the high road to India. That fact gave the city
strategical importance. If a line were drawn from Berlin
through Vienna, Constantinople, and Bagdad to Karachi, it
would be nearly straight. "With this road completed from
Haidar Pasha to Bagdad, a journey from London to Karachi,
which takes fifteen days by the sea-route through the Suez
Canal, would take only eight by a land-route through Bag-
dad. Thus the Bagdad railway would be a short cut to
India. The British believed that the Germans installed at

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Bagdad would convert it into a powerful offensive point
d'appui for a descent into the Persian Gulf. So great a
menace to the security of Britain's sea-route to India had
to be opposed with all the available strength at her com-
mand. Bagdad, moreover, was not only on the highway to
India, but was the gateway into Persia, where Great Britain
and her Russian ally had long established economic inter-
ests, irreconcilable with the aims of German statesmen.

This war in Mesopotamia was an enterprise of the Indian
Government, and in India alone for several months were
details 'of it published. Modest as the campaign at first was, it
had a strategical importance of the first order. It was of
an old-fashioned campaign type which had become obsolete
in Europe. In Mesopotamia there was no fixt line of
trenches buttressed by impregnable flanks. The Turks had
been skilful at taking up positions and digging themselves
in, but once their front could be broken there would ensue
a rout and a chance for effective use of cavalry. The land,
however, was not without strategic difiSculties. Floods, in
February, 1915, created huge lagoons on both sides of the
river, and as these shrank there remained isolated meres
and large areas of swamp. Old irrigation-canals, often deep
and wide, and running out from the river, complicated the
problem of transport. At dawn the heat might be 110°
Fahrenheit and in the afternoon well over 120°. Baked
sands retained the heat so that night brought little coolness.
Of shade there was none, a blinding glare being reflected
from yellow earth and blue water. Many British soldiers
yearned for trenches in the deep meadow-lands of Flanders.
By the end of September, 1915, this campaign, which for
months had been almost forgotten in Europe, assumed real
importance in the eyes of Allied statesmen. Efforts, here-
tofore sporadic in this region, acquired a major value in
the late autumn, owing to the German menace to the Balkans.
Here was a revelation of strategy which threatened India as
well as the Near and Middle East.

The great battlefields in France and Russia and the dip-
lomatic warfare for control of the Balkans had at the time
completely overshadowed the Mesopotamian contest, which
now was profoundly affecting a region of high importance —

V. VHP— 5 57

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

a region which in time was destined again to support a
civilization worthy of its resources and ^ its fertility, and
more than worthy of its political and economic traditions.
The British campaign represented the consolidation of a
colonial policy in that part of the world that had been in
process of development for two decades. Germany had at
one time hoped to obtain Koweit, which lies at the head of
the Persian Gulf and has a magnificent harbor, as a terminus
for her Bagdad railway, but Great Britain had forestalled
her by treaty with Sheik Mobarek of Koweit, thus leaving
Germany without an adequate i)ort for her railway.

For many years Great Britain had had treaties with Arab
chiefs on both sides of the Persian Gulf. The commerce of
the gulf had been nearly all in British hands, the Indian
rupee had ousted or displaced Turkish coinage, and the only
post-oflSces in the gtlf were under British Indian adminis-
tration. Meanwhile, piracy had been checked as well as
slavery. Great Britain, in fact, had policed the gulf. New
lighthouses were being erected, the entire coast charted, and
a more active commerce had been made possible when the
war came. The battle of Bassora in November, 1914, seemed
at the time to decide the destinies of Mesopotamia. The
viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge, paid a visit to Koweit,
decorated the ruling chief, secured the good will of the Arab
tribes, and also visited Bassora. In both places American
missionaries received acknowledgments for their aid to
wounded during the war, with a donation from the viceroy
in recognition of their services. The streets of Bassora, for
the first time in the memory of man, were made clean.

The possible economic future of the Euphrates valley can
be estimated from the fact that, in the days of Nineveh and
Babylon there flourished in it a jwpulation estimated by
Eawlinson to have reached forty millions; under modern
Turkish misrule the population has been a little less than
two millions. This decline has been attributed chiefly to
tribal warfare, to the disappearance of the vast irrigation
works of antiquity, and to a lack of all enterprise on the
part of the government. Those familiar with the develop-
ment of Egypt under British rule have believed that Meso-
potamia, under some future Lord Cromer, could be made

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

equal to at least one, if not two, EgjT)ts in fertility, com-
merce, and the economie and political happiness of the
people. "When Sir William Willcocks, the engineer of the
Assuan Dam, or some successor of his, shall have completed
similar works on the Euphrates and Tigris, the same agri-
cultural transformation which has come to Egypt may be
looked forward to in Mesopotamia. One of the great oil
deposits of the world is found at Mohammerah in this valley.

A LOG RAFT BEARING FREIOIIT DOWN THE TICRIS

Recorded human history begins in the Persian Gulf. The
destinies of empires were formerly swayed from its lonely
shores, and to a degree that has been too little understood in
the modem world. In Turkish Asia, thirtj- days by
caravan from Constantinople, and westward only fifty miles
from the legendary Garden of Eden, man's birthplace, still
stands the once splendid city of Bagdad, which for centuries
was the capital of the Mohammedan world, and long the

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

second city of importance in the Ottoman Empire. Bagdad
lies on both sides of the Tigris, on the west bank the old
town, with streets so narrow that it is often impossible for
two donkeys to pass one another, on the east bank the new
town, with Government offices, barracks, consulates, prisons
and the Government army factory. From Bagdad, as far
as the eye can reach, stretches the vast, flat, treeless, empty
plain of Mesopotamia. The older houses are box-shaped,
with flat roofs, almost windowless, and huddled together.
Arabs spend sultry summer-nights on these roofs with tom-
toms, flutes-, water-pipes and dancing women. But the license,
indolence, and insecurity of old Bagdad are gone. To-day
the city is commercial in spirit. It has a large foreign
trade, and is a distributing center for a spacious territory.
Only fifty foreigners — British, German, Russian, Italian, and
French — lived in Bagdad before the war began, twelve of
whom were consuls.

Germany saw the value of the Persian Gulf and for
ten years before the war began she had sought to establish
her influence there. No other inland sea possesses so ancient
and so strange a history, and none is so little known or
visited. The narrow entrance to it lies in a comer of the
Arabian Sea, where lees from southern oceans collect and
strange marine monsters disport themselves. In approaching
the entrance, a ship may either shape its course past the
land-locked harbor of Maskat, set in the midst of volcanic
heights, or coast along the desolate shores of Mekran, where
dwell the Icthyophagi, or fish-eaters, as they did in the days
of Alexander's retreat from Sind. The bay of Koweit is the
finest harbor on the gulf. At the head of the gulf sands and
mountains are replaced by green and smiling fields, with
palm groves which, with desert and swampy lands beyond,
form the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates. From the
point where these rivers unite the stream flows through an
alluvial land as flat as Holland. Some sixty miles above
the river stands Bassora, the center of Turkish influence in

the gulf.

Local issues have long unsettled the Persian Gulf. The
Turks tried to dispute in various ways the predominant in-
fluence which the British exercised for perhaps three hun-

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

dred years. After the Turks entered into an understanding
with the Germans, their pressure against British interests
at Bassora steadily increased, so that the whole situation
gradually changed. It was not now Turks and Britons
alone who were at Bassora, but Germans too, and they were
seeking domination, in the gulf. The lure which lay before
them was the short road to India.

Dreams of controlling as administrators the fertile plains
of the lower Euphrates and Tigris, and making them once
more the granary of the world, must have been wonderfully
attractive to the Germans. In this rich country primeval
man found wheat growing wild. It was here that man first
evolved the art of cultivating the soil and making a wilder-
ness into a garden. Paul Rohrbach, a German economist
and State official, whose eyes were long on Mesopotamia,
told the Germans that, as recently as the eighth century,
the land between these rivers produced ten million tons of
wheat annually, and supported six millions of people, while
now it maintains only one million. The objects of the Ger-
mans were economic, ,but they were also political. While
wishing to build a railway terminus in the gulf waters,
whatever flag the port should fly the place was meant by
them to be a German stronghold, with an army at its back,
under German influence, and to serve in future years as a
stepping-off place for India. The vital thing, however, was
first to reach the Persian Gulf. Whether it paid or not,
the Bagdad railway, on its economic side, was most praise-
worthy. Asia needed railways, and no part of that continent
was more in need of good ones than Asiatic Turkey. British
opposition to the railway had been based partly on im-
proper methods of finance, but far more on a belief that
Germany's motive in promoting it was primarily political,
and meant to undermine British influence in the Middle
East and British paramountcy in the Persian Gulf.

After ten years of growth in German influence, the Ham-
burg-American Company entered the Persian Gulf in 1906,
and a line of steamers plying between Hamburg and all
principal gulf ports was started. The arrival of the first
German steamer was long remembered at each port in the
gulf, where it had entered with a band playing **Deutsch-

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

land iiber AUes," an air which some listening Britons at the
time fondly assumed to be **God save the King." German
trade thenceforth made steady progress at Bassora until the
"World War stopt it.

British claims to paramountcy in the Persian Gulf rested
on a long sequence of events. The flag of England was
flying in the Straits of Oman as long ago as when the Ger-
mans were engaged in the Thirty Years' War. England had
shouldered burdens there before the Mayflower landed at
Plymouth. Had England in the meantime lost her grip,
piracy, slave-dealing raids and counter-raids, all the char-
acteristics of barbarism, would probably have reappeared
there. Having performed a work for civilization during
three hundred years, England was aggrieved that Germany
should challenge her presence and purposes. Great Britain
regarded predominance in the gulf as an essential part of
her defense of India. She believed the . mere presence of
another power, whether its port were fortified or unfortified,
would have an unsettling effect on India. People in India
could not be induced to believe that from such a port their
country could be safeguarded. The fact that another flag
was flying in a region where the British had been dominant
for three hundred years, and supreme for more than a cen-
tury, would persuade them that England's strength was
declining. Such confidence as she inspired would be dimin-
ished. It was not for strategic reasons alone that Britain
was compelled to maintain her position in the Persian Gulf.
She had to think also of the moral effects on India.

A rupture of the relations between Great Britain and
Turkey had been fully expected in 1914 by the small British
community at Bassora. Many had left for Mohammerah,
which is in Persia. A British warship of 1,070 tons had
been lying off Mohammerah for some weeks, when people
at IMohammerah noticed on October 31 that she was clearing
for action. Then they knew a conflict was near. The Gov-
ernment of India, which had charge of operations in the
gulf, had been fully forewarned, and some time earlier
had strengthened their forces in the gulf. First came the
taking of Fao, which was a very brief episode; two gunboats
bombarding the Turkish fort and reducing it to silence in

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

about an hoar. A force of marines from a battleship which
lay outside was then landed and the town occupied. The
invasion of Chaldea had begun. With a position at Fao made
good, a detachment of native infantry, under General Dela-
main, advanced thirty miles up the river, its hanks lined
with trees, largely dates, and behind them swamps and
desert lands. Proceeding past the Abadan Oil Works and
round the bend of the river, he anchored at San!yeh and
debarked his brigade, which made an entrenched camp close
to the river and awaited the arrival of reinforcements. At
dawn on November 11 the British outposts were attacked

THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF

by a Turkish force, evideutly from Basaora, but were quickly
cheeked by Mahrattas. The enemy having established them-
selves in a village from which they could be dislodged only
by considerable effort, the Punjabs made a counter-attack,
supported by fire from a mountain-battery. The Turks were
finally routed, the Turkish casualties amounting to about 80.
On November 21 came news that the Turks had evacuated
Bassora, and that Arabs were looting the city. General
Barrett pushed on at once. When in sight of Bassora he
saw black clouds of smoke rising from the Turkish Custom-
house, which had been fired. Ships had meanwhile arrived.

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

A quarter of an hour afterward the Qerman flag on the im-
posing German Consulate was lowered, and the British naval
ensign hoisted in its stead. When the British expedition
made a formal entry into Bassora on November 23, a procla-
mation, stating the reasons for the occupation and the
friendly intentions of the British Government was read in
Arabic, the Union Jack hoisted in the presence of guards
of honor and, as the troops presented arms, three cheers
were given for the King and Emperor. Warships fired a
salute of thirty-one guns.

Late in July, 1915, a British force, under Major-General
G. F. Gorringe^, attacked and captured in succession ad-
vanced Turkish positions, in face of a stubborn resistance.
On the same day gunboats shelled Nasiriyeh on the
Euphrates. During the night the Turks retreated toward
the north, and British troops occupied the town. In the
earlier part of the fight the British captured eleven guns, two
machine-guns, and several hundred prisoners, while about
500 dead Turks were counted. British casualties were esti-
mated at between 300 and 400. In forwarding his report,
General Sir John Nixon stated that these operations, lasting
for twenty days, and culminating in an attack on a series
of entrenched positions, were carried out in a shade tem-
perature of 113 degrees under most difficult and onerous
conditions, the country being a network of marshes and
canals. In June there were twenty-seven cases and nine
deaths from enteric fever. Troops were supplied from
Bombay with spine protectors and goggles, mosquito-nets and
veils, ice, mineral waters, and fresh vegetables. Electric
lights and fans were fitted up in buildings where possible.
1 In September the British won another battle in the retreat
of the Turks toward Bagdad. One position carried by the
British contained a long line of defenses extending astride
the Tigris. At a point seven miles east of Kut, two brigades
crossed the river from the right bank, and by a forced march
reached the left wing of the Turkish position, carrying it
hy assault. The Turks had clung with great tenacity to
their trenches, which, when finally reached, were found filled

»A cousin of Commander Gorrlnge, U.S.N., who brought from Egypt to
New York the "Cleopatra's Needle" now in Central Park.

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

with corpses. A number of cannon, many rifles, several
hundred prisoners and a quantity of ammunition were cap-
tured. General Nixon gave the British casualties as ** under
five hundred.'' Kut, or Kut-el-Amara, is ninety miles south-
east of Bagdad, and two hundred and thirty miles northeast
from the head of the Persian Gulf, on an elbow of the
Tigris, which at this point runs east about fifty miles. It
was on the morning of September 28 that the British moved
forward to the final attack. The Turks resisted bravely ;. but
after hard fighting and several counter-attacks their left was
completely enveloped, and by two o'clock the whole northern
end of the position was in British hands. A scorching wind,
with dense clouds of dust, had swept the desert during the
whole day; and the long fight in the heat, coming after the
night march, had exhausted General Delemain's troops, who
were suffering severely from thirst, the marsh water being
undrinkable. He was therefore obliged to give them rest.
Then he set them in motion again and prest on to complete
the victory. His weary troops swept forward, and altho
the Turks fought well, they were overthrown and routed.
During the night the Turks evacuated all the trenches they
still held, and their whole force fell back along the river.
They had lost fourteen guns and 4,000 men, of whom over
1,000 were prisoners. The British loss in killed and wounded
amounted to 1,233. Altho fought some distance below Kut,
the battle was called the battle of Kut.

The British force comprised about 11,000 British-Indian
troops and a few hundred British Territorials, who had been
sent from Egypt after the Turkish pressure on the Suez
Canal was relieved in December, 1914. The opposing army
was made up of from 15,000 to 20,000 Turkish troops and
Arab irregulars. Among them were a score or so of German
officers. By October, when the British cavalry were in
Kut-el-Amara, the town was found deserted, with the Turks
in flight toward Bagdad by road and river. Along the river
gunboats and steamers with an Indian brigade aboard,
started in pursuit. An aeroplane dropt bombs on one of
the Turkish steamers. The captured Turkish positions had
shown that the trenches were constructed with remarkable

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

thoroughness. They had communication, trenches extending
for miles, and a system of contact mines.

Kut was occupied by General Townshend's troops on Oc-
tober 29. It was described by Sir Mark Sykes, who saw
it at this time, as **a dirty, tumble-down, unsanitary little
town," but with a minaret and decorated po-rtals as perfect
in design and line as the best work of ancient days. The
town lies in a loop of the Tigris, about 340 miles from the
sea, by the river route, and contains about 6,000 inhabitants,
mostly Arabs. There is fertile ground about it, which
might be greatly developed, but, except for its position at
the northern end of the Shatt-el-Hai, it has no special im-
portance, and it will owe its place in history solely to its
connection with one of the outlying episodes of the World
War. Under Nixon, Townshend was here in full command.

The floods that had spread over the valley of thje Tigris
had subsided in September. North and west of marshes
which surrounded Kurna the country opened out into a
valley of luxuriant pasture land, where herds of cattle and
horses and flocks of sheep met the eye. Canals intersect
the great Tigris Valley in all directions, while every now
and then ruins bear record of some long past civilization.
Encampments of wandering* Bedouins were seen in the cam-
paign dotted about here and there, and hordes of naked
children played along the banks of canals. Before the war
the Arabs used to vary the monotony of their peaceful lives
by firing on trading steamers as they passed up and down
these great waterways. In the summer of 1915, they had
learned to treat with more respect the armed boats which
plied there, but among the Expeditionary Force it was. still
an axiom in the art of preserving life that an Arab should
never be allowed to approach too close.

An inspection of* the position captured by the British
showed that the Turkish defenses were designed and con-
structed with remarkable thoroughness and study of detail,
and on the most approved principles. The communication
trenches extended for miles. Ranges were marked by flags.
Arrangements had been made for covering the retirement of
troops, and for their embarkation. There was an elaborate
system of observation and contact-mines, a number of which

THE WAE AGAINST TLKKEY

were exploded by British engiiieers without accident, but
severe casualties were caused by m.nes. The field of fire was
everywhere open and flat. Nur-ed-Din Pasha's forces con-
sisted of six squadrons of cavalry, 26 guns, and the 38th
infantry regiments, with some other formations, aggregating
some four extra battalions, as-
sisted by a considerable number
of tribesmen.

The action at Kut, altho a
victory, had not resulted in
the complete rout of the Turks.
After the first confusion of
defeat, they had retired in
fairly good order, covered by
a strong rear-guard with in-
fantry and guns; and by Octo-
ber 3 Townshend knew that
they had halted and taken
up a fresh entrenched posi-
tion at Ctesiphon, across the
Bagdad Road. All chance of
riding into Bagdad at the heels
of the rout was now over. The
question had to be regarded
from a fresh point of view.
Townshend, pressing on in pur-
suit with part of his force,
reached Azizieh, 30 miles from
Ctesiphon by land, about 100
miles by river, and from there
sent to Sir John Nixon, or

his_ Chief of Staff, a telegram ^^^ g_^ ^ ^ ^ townshend
which seemed to show that

under existing conditions he considered it dangerous and unde-
f^irable to march on Bagdad. Notwithstanding this, on No-
vember 11 his advanced troops — cavalry and a brigade of
infantry — broke camp at Azizieh, and a few days later the
whole of the force found itself on the march for Bagdad. It waa
still a small force for such an undertaking — perhaps 12,000
men all told. "Why they moved forward was not made clear,

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

On November 24 a communique issued by the British
India Office announced that on November 22 Townshend
had reached Ctesiphon, eighteen miles from Bagdad and
three or four miles east of the Tigris, where he found the
Turks holding a position which he attacked, and after severe
fighting captured, along with 800 prisoners and a quantity
of arms and equipment, his losses being estimated at 2,000
killed and wounded. It was further stated that after
bivouacking on the field of battle, the British force was
** heavily counter-attacked" by the Turks on the night of
the 23d, and that owing to want of water, the British troops
had withdrawn to the Tigris. A second communique was
published on the 27th, stating that Townshend 's troops were
in possession of the battlefield, and the Turks retiring on
Dialah, ten miles above Ctesiphon, while the British wounded
were being sent down the river. The number of prisoners,
previously given as 800, was reported to be 1,300, and the
number of British wounded as 2,500. A third cowrmunique
was issued on the 30th, in whicll the enemy's strength at
the battle of Ctesiphon was reported to have been four
divisions, one of which was believed to have been completely
wiped out.

Owing, however, to the approach of Turkish rein-
forcements, Townshend, having completed the removal of
his wounded and prisoners, had withdrawn his troops to
a position lower down the river. Further information 'was
given in a fourth communique, published on December 4,
when the British casualties were reported to be 4,567 and
the Turkish prisoners 1,600, and the Turks were stated to
be following up the British retreat. On the night of Novem-
ber 30 Townshend had fought a rear-guard action against
greatly superior Turkish forces, his casualties being esti-
mated at 150. He reported his troops as retiring in order,
but he had been obliged to leave two river-boats behind,
after destroying their engines. On December 7 the India
Office reported that the British troops had retreated to
Kut-el-Amara without further fighting, and on the 12th
another covimunique announced that, after arrival at Kut-
el-Amara, the British position was ''heavily bombarded," and
that the Turks made infantry-attacks, which were repulsed.

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

When Townshend reached Ctesiphon he found a much
larger force opposed to him than he had anywhere previously
encountered on the way up from Fao. Four Turkish divi-
sions were brought into line as against one British division,
which, however, had been reinforced by other troops. The
Turks were probably not less than 20,000 strong. Out-
numbered and attacked by fresh troops, Townshend event-
ually had to fall back on his reinforcements rather than
wait for their arrival. The Turks were holding Bagdad
in force, and he was 350 miles from his sea-base on the
Shatt-el-Arab, and his troops had suffered severely in the
Ctesiphon fighting. Depending on water-transport for feed-
ing his troops, ie had experienced great diflSculty in getting
up supplies owing to the river being at its lowest in Sep-
tember, rendering the passage of even small boats slow and
precarious. Retreat was clearly necessary.

Unless the British could take and hold Bagdad, the ex-
pedition into Mesopotamia would have failed in the main
object for which it was undertaken. Setting aside the pres-
tige attaching to possession of the place, the strategic posi-
tion of Bagdad, on the high road into Persia, was incon-
testably of such importance as to justify the effort to cap-
ture it before the Germans could come to the assistance of
the Turks. If Bagdad was to be taken and fortified against
attack, no time was to be lost in pouring reinforcements of
British troops into Mesopotamia, for by the middle of 1916
the Bagdad Railway might be completed, when the strategi-
cal advantage enjoyed by Great Britain would pass out of
her hands into those of the two Central Powers. A ** severe
check'' had been administered to the Expeditionary Force,
whose record till then had been one of unscarred success.
There was now to be no early capture of Bagdad. It was a
deep disappointment to the British Nation, already saddened
by the gloom which hung over the Dardanelles.

Ctesiphon was a place of deep historic interest. It had
been the capital of the Persian kingdom of the Chosroes;
and thirteen hundred years before the date on which it first
heard the sound of British guns it was the scene of memor-
able warfare between Moslems and Infidels. In the year 636
A.D., soon after the death of the Prophet, when the Arab

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

tribes, swarming from their desert sands in all the ardor of a
new-born faith, had boldly thrown down the gauntlet to the
two great powers of the world, Rome and Persia. The host
of Islam, marching from victory to victory, finally drove
the Persians back to their capital on the Tigris. At that
time Ctesiphon extended to both banks of the river, and in-
cluded Seleucia, the former capital of the Alej-.andrian kings.
The Persians, taken by surprize, fled panic-stricken, and the
whole city fell into the hands of the conquerors. The spoil
was of priceless value — millions in coin, with countless ves-
sels of gold and silver, and a great store of jewels and
wealth of all kinds, including the regalia of the Persian
Empire and the sword of the Chosroes. The Arab leader
took up his residence in the royal palace, and the Great Hall
was turned into a house of prayer for the worship of the
god of Islam.. A hundred years later, when the Khalif of
the day had chosen Bagdad for the site of his future capital,
he resolved to demolish the palace of the Chosroes to pro-
vide material for a new city. Much of it he overthrew
and carried away, but not all. A noble arch, hard as iron,
withstood the pickax, defying all efforts. On the river's
left bank still stands that ancient monument, while all
around it is a bare and sandy plain. This arch now was
looking down, after twelve centuries had passed, upon a grim
struggle in which British and Turks, backed by their Indian
and Arab allies, contended for the mastery of Mesopotamia.
From the British line at Lajj on the evening of November
21, it had been seen standing out against a blood-red sunset

A TURKISH GUNBOAT SUNK I

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

sky; and in the morning the British soldier awoke from his
sleep on the chilly moonlit plain to see it facing the sunrise,
with the Turkish host gathered about it.

Townshend attacked the left of the enemy's position, and
after a severe fight the front line of trenches was stormed.
The Forty-fifth Turkish Division, which held them, was
practically destroyed. It lost 1,300 prisoners, and the
trenches were choked with dead. The attacking force then
prest on, across the flat, bare desert, toward the second line,
losing heavily from the artillery- and rifle-fire of the Turks.
Nevertheless, advancing by short rushes they at last reached
the line, and, fighting fiercely, carried a portion of the
trenches, taking eight Turkish guns. After this the success
of the British troops came to an end. Bringing up strong
reinforcements of fresh men, the Turks made one counter-
attack after another ; the tide of the battle swayed backward
and forward; the captured guns changed hands time after
time ; ammunition ran short, all the mules having been killed
by shrapnel, and at last^ as night fell, it was seen that the
British could do no more. More Turkish reinforcements
came up afterward, and during the afternoon large columns
moved down to turn both of the British flanks, while bodies
of cavalry began to threaten the rear. Faced by fresh
troops greatly outnumbering his own, perhaps in the pro-
portion of three or four to one, and encumbered by thou-
sands of prisoners and wounded, the British commander
recognized that another attack could not succeed. To
remain where he was w^ould be to incur the danger of being cut
off from his base. Accordingly during the night of the
25th he withdrew to Lajj, where his boats and supplies had
remained. The advance on Bagdad was over. The Arch of
the Chosroes for the present proved the high-water mark
of the British invasion.

It was necessary to withdraw down stream to a more
secure locality until conditions might permit of a resump-
tion of the oflPensive The place selected was Kut, which had
already, to some extent, been supplied and prepared. There
the retreating force might h,ope to be joined before many
weeks had passed by reinforcements from below. Kut was
far in the rear — 120 miles by river, and 70 or more by road

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

— ^but tte decision seemed sound. On November 27 the
retreat began, and for about half the distance was not
much molested. But the Turks had no intention of letting
their enemy escape unscathed, or escape at all if they could
help it. Their mounted troops were pushing down the river
round the British flanks, and, as Townshend had foreseen,
the Arabs of the neighboring country were hostile. The
position was one to cause grave anxiety.

On December 3, the British force was ** installed at Kut,"
and the retreat was at an end. Altho closely prest, Town-
shend had brought in with him 1,650 prisoners taken at
Ctesiphon, and there had never been anything approaching
a rout. Nevertheless, the losses of the force during the bat-
tle and retreat had been severe — 4,567 men. Once the re-
treat was over, Townshend set to work to strengthen his
position and prepare to stand a siege until relief should
arrive from the south. Reinforcements for Mesopotamia
were known to be coming from overseas. The siege of Kut
now set in. On December 8 the enemy bombarded from three
sides, and Nur-ed-Din called upon Townshend to surrender.
On the 9th the Turks attacked the detachment on the right
bank covering the bridge, and it was forced to- retire. Then
followed several days of continuous bombardment, varied by
attacks which were beaten off with severe loss to the Turks.
After this the enemy settled down to regular siege opera-
tions, and confined themselves to sapping -and mining. Thus
had ended an advance from which much had been hoped.

The attempt on Bagdad had failed, but the invaders were
still in possession of a great tract of Turkish territory.
Townshend 's force had been far too small for the work ex-
pected of it. Had Bagdad now fallen, the whole Arab world
might have sprung to arms against the despised Turk,
Islam might have been divided, Syria provoked into revolt,
and the road from Constantinople to Suez permanently
closed. All this would have meant that the Turkish frontier
would be thrown back upon the Taurus Mountains, that
Mesopotamia would become a possession of the British Em-
pire, an outpost of India, and that the German dream of
an advance .along the Bagdad railroad to the Gulf of Sinai
and the Indian Ocean was destroyed. But the venture

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

failed. The back door to the Turkish Empire seemed to
have been slammed shut, soon after the front door at Gallic
poli was bolted by German guns in the hands of the Turks.

Under peculiar conditions of hardship for British troops,
the Mesopotamia campaign had been conducted, fhe climate,
admittedly one of the worst in the world, took a heavy toll
of British and Indian troops. The fruits of the first nine
months of the campaign included the defeat of the Turks on
three lines — ^the Tigris, the Euphrates, and on the Ahwax
line — and the occupation of a large area of valuable country.
The troops who opposed the British were in the main
Turkish regulars. In these were included several Constan-
tinople regiments who had been dispatched to the southern
campaign before Constantinople was threatened by the Allies.
The Turkish regulars were ably assisted by Arab and Kurd
levies. Turkey, even in her most distant provinces, enforced
universal military service. Another class who resisted the
British were warlike Arab tribesmen. Throughout the cam-
paign these tribesmen, who seemed to spring in thousands
from nowhere and anywhere, played a three-cornered game,
watching for their opportunity as the fortunes of the fight
swung in the balance, and devoting their energies to harass-
ing whichever side should waver. Altho the Turks had a
primary claim on their services, it happened more than once
that a Turkish defeat was changed to a disastrous rout by
the actions of their treacherous allies.

Never was a campaign fought under such adverse condi-
tions. Two important actions occurred on the supposed site
of the Garden of Eden. Nothing has ever shaken a local
Mesopotamian conviction that in Kurna, at the junction of
the Tigris and the Euphrates, Mesopotamia possesses the
original first home of civilized man. Units of the garrison
who occupied its defenses during the torrid months of May
and June, 1915, acquired new doubts of the authenticity of
this tradition, but yielded to local opinion in so far as to
apply such names as ** Serpent's Corner,'' ** Temptation
Square," etc., to the more important thoroughfares. Meso-
potamia is bitterly cold and damp in winter and intensely
malarious and hot in summer. The heat adds enormously
to the difficulties of operations. During the first half of the

V. VIII— 6 73

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

year in which operations took place, excessive floods inun-
dated the country. An amphibious sort of warfare was the
result, where soldiers of the British and Indian armies and
sailors of the Royal Navy met one another half-way.

Bagdad lies on the natural line of communication between
Persia and the West, and between the West and the Persian
Gulf. Three caravan routes, one from Khorasan, another
up the Euphrates into Syria, and a third leading up the
Tigris into the Armenian plateau and to the Black Sea
behind it, were the sources of Bagdad's trading strength in
ancient times. To-day, its importance is almost wholly
bound up in the potential wealth of its surrounding plains,
watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, and in its dominating
position on lines of communication between India, Persia,
and the West. Bagdad, once **the Magnificent," was now
a city in decay. The years that had rolled by since a
Turkish over-lordship was first established had seen it sink
slowly in importance as a mart for trade, as a station on
the path of caravans from the East and West, and as the
center of a land of abundant harvests.

The Tigris, on whose banks flourished the great city of
Lagash and the Babylonian Empire more than three thou-
sand years before the Christian Era, has to-day fallen to so
lowly a state that even Turks and Arabs scorn to honor it.
Almost contemptuously, they call it **the cheap cameleer,"
because it is used by natives on its upper reaches to bring
down kelleks or rafts of wood from Diarbekr to Bagdad.
At Bagdad inflated skins used as floats, are deflated and
then transported badk to the hill-country by caravan. On
its turbid course through Mesopotamia the Tigris, which is
traversed by small boats for a distance nearly four times as
great as the navigable reaches of the Hudson, flows past
ruins which have proved an almost inexhaustible mine of
information for archeologists. Opposite Mosul, from which
came our word ** muslin," as applied to the fabric flrst im-
ported into Europe from this town in the twelfth century,
are the extensive remains of what was once Nineveh, a
place still associated in the popular mind with the Biblical
account of Jonah, the great fish, and the gourd.

Sixty miles below Nineveh, which was the last capital of

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Assyria, is the little Arab village of Karat-Shergat, on the
buried ruins of Ashur, the oldest great city of the Assyrian
Empire. It was in honor of their good Ashur that the high-
priests founded the city of the same name. These. priestly
builders and administrators were at first under the sover-
eignty of Babylonia, but when that empire fell into decay,
they succeeded in establishing themselves as independent
kings, founding a dynasty which held sway over this section
of the world for centuries. The Tigris has two main sources
in the Taurus Mountains, at an elevation of 5,000 feet. The
head-waters of the western branch are only two or three
miles from one of the sources of the Euphrates. After the
two branches come together, the river flows in a southeast-
erly direction for 800 miles, until it unites with the
Euphrates seventy miles above the Persian Gulf, and forms
the Shatt-el-Arab.«

« Principal Sources : The London Times' "History of the War" ; The Times,
The Journal of Commerce, New York; The Times (London), The Outlook
(New York), The Manchester Guardian (London), •'Bulletins" of the Na-
tional Geographic Society (New York), The Fortnightly Review (London),
"Nelson's History of the War" by John Buchan.

THE DARDANELLES AND THE DISASTROUS ALLIED
NAVAL ATTEMPT TO FORCE THEM, WHICH

ALMOST SUCCEEDED

November 2, 1914— March 5, 1915

THE Turks were still in Europe, for they held the
Dardanelles. Thus they controlled the southern door
leading to Russia and divided the strength of the Allies.
With the Dardanelles in an enemy's hands, Russia could not
send to France and England her grain and goods in ex-
change for guns, ammunition, and other war-supplies. In
the north her few open doors — ^Vladivostok and Archangel,
when open — were already congested with incoming freight.
At Archangel and V>adiv()stok she could receive locomotives,
freight-cars, automobiles, cotton, shell, cannon, rifles, and
barbed wire, but so heavily taxed were her facilities at these
points that it was almost impossible to transport and dis-
charge to steamers the foodstuffs she had to sell. Thus she
could take, but she could not give for egress, as the Baltic
was barred by the Germans, the Black Sea by the Turks.
In the meantime, the ruble had fallen to a disastrous dis-
count in London and elsewhere, because, as Russia could not
export goods in exchange for the material she imported, she
was expected to pay for goods in actual money. Russia
owed money to everybody. As nobody owed Russia any
money, the exchange value of Russian money greatly de-
preciated. A Russian oil company earned a dividend during
the war, but was unable to pay dividends to its English
shareholders because of the loss involved in converting Rus-
sian into English money. This situation would have been
greatly altered if the entrance to Russia through the Black
Sea had been open.

The magnitude of the economic gain to come to Russia
from the opening of the Straits should not be obscured by
the political arid military considerations that prompted and

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

sustained the effort. The enormous volume of Russia's
Black Sea trade was not generally appreciated. Russia had
exported by sea twice as much in volume, and two and one-
half times as much in value, of merchandise as she exported
by land. Of these exports, valued in 1913 at 1,520 millions
of rubles, 557 millions were sent out through the Black Sea
and the Sea of Azof. For nearly twenty years the economic
growth of Russia, both in the products of its agriculture
and the activity of its industries, had come from immense
fertile plains, whose great rivers are her cheapest and most
convenient highways and lead out to sea-borne commerce.
Odessa was j'apidly developing into another Hamburg, and,
given the development of tributary railways, and canal-
feeders for the great rivers, there was no longer question
about -the Black Sea littoral becoming the granary of Europe.

The war operations now to be undertaken in the Darda-
nelles inspired memories of momentous events in human
history — of the fleets of historic Greece; of the legendary
heroes of Greece; of ancient Troy; of Xerxes sitting on his
throne above Nagara Point watching columns of Persian
warriors, said to number 2,000,000 men, crossing the bridge
of boats which Egyptian and Phenician engineers had built
for him across the Hellespont, seven days and nights being
consumed in the crossing; of Alexander of Macedon, leading
his legions on to Arabia; of galleys bearing Byzantine and
Saracenic soldiers; of the hosts that composed the Fourth
Crusade, with its splendid purpose turned into an historic
crime.

Here at the Dardanelles Europe and Asia met, and here
still meet. The bold headlands which guard its entrance
from the JBJgean Sea are crowned on either side by two
ponderous masses of medieval architecture, the Castles of
Europe and Asia, or as they have been sometimes called,
the Castles of Roumelia and Anatolia, massive stone walls,
with crenelated towers and moated approaches rising
squarely against the sky-line. Here is the setting of the
story of Hero and Leander, one of the earliest of all love
stories, which Kit Marlowe wove into passionate verse. It
was this feat of Leander, in swimming the straits to gain
the presence of the beautiful priestess of Sestos, that in-

77-

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

spired Lord Byron nearly 3,000 years afterward to emulate
his achievement.

With the development of the ancient world, the Darda-
nelles are inexplicably entwined. This corner of Asia Minor,
known of old as the Troas, and later as the Troad, contains
the site of Troy within which was waged the famous ten-
year siege. Archeologists in the last century actually un-
covered the precise location of the city that owned the rule
of Priam, and to which the stolen Helen was taken by Paris.
The site of Troy lies near the present Turkish village of
Hissarlik. Far beneath it are the crumbling remains
that represent seven of its vanished communities. Here,
where British marines and French bluejackets in the spring
of 1915 were landing in whaleboats, Agamemnon's flimsy
galleys, in the tenth or twelfth century before Christ,
beached their keels and discharged their companies of spear-
men and archers in order to assault **the topless towers of
Ilium.'' By a curious circumstance, one of the British ships
which in 1915 bombarded the fort on the Asiatic shore,
sending shots so far inland as to reach the reputed tomb of
Achilles, bore the name of Agamemnon. Where now mod-
ern ordnance was hurling messengers of destruction, Homer's
heroes waged their spectacular, single-handed combats, with
admiring armies grouped around to watch them.

From the siege of Troy to the impersonal battle of
1915 w^as a far cry, yet the old walls of Troy must have
brought some sort of inspiration to the soldiers who were
fighting in their shadows, whether soldiers of the Allies or
of the Turks. The Trojan walls of thirty centuries ago are
still in evidence — ^the actual walls that defied the onslaughts
of Agamemnon and Menelaus, of Ajax, Nestor, Diomedes,
Ulysses, and Achilles, only to fall at last by the stratagem
of the wooden horse. They provided the stage for an insig-
nificant little drama compared with the modern one, but a
drama that was made big with human interest became so
divinely recorded that the world has not since produced its
equal. If we take the ** Iliad" literally, men then fought for
an ideal; the Homeric warfare was a beautiful pastime,
from which emerged a happy few who were rewarded with
immortality in son^

QALLIPOLI, THE DARDANELLES, AND THE SEA OF MARMORA

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

It was no mere coincidence that, after the lapse of more
than thirty centuries, a new war should again have come
around in these waters, that a new Agamemnmi — a ship now
instead of a man — should sail the same sea from which the
king of Mycenae landed his army; that blood should flow
among hills and valleys in full s'ght of Troy, and even of
the banks of the Scamander. Turks and Germans were
fighting in 1915 for the same object as Trojans and Lycians
in the twelfth century B.C. The aim of both alike was
to keep the ships of southern and western Europe from hav-
ing commerce with the Black Sea. The Black Sea or Euxine
trade is now, just as it was then, one of the essential needs
of western Europe. Those who could stop or control it have
always been in a commanding position. The tolls which they
could derive from it in one form or another were, however,
so abundant that an actual stopping of the passage would
have been to them economically suicidal. It was possible for
the king of Troy to close. the Hellespont (the ancient name of
the Dardanelles) to ships when he chose to do so. As he
was rich, he did not venture permanently to block the way.
His plan was, by preventing ships of the west from sailing
up the straits, to force other ships to bring their wares down
from the north and east and then to barter with the west
under the walls of his fortress, a method of procedure which
became the source to him of great wealth and power, and a
power that became intolerable to the enterprising Greeks,
just as it had" long been intolerable to modem western coun-
tries, that all the world should be cut off by Turkey from
the rich granaries of Russia and the Danubian plains. The
Greeks of 1000 B.C., as the Allies of 1915 a.d., fought in
order that this waterway should not be closed against the
economic needs of a great and masterful race lying west.

The Dardanelles cut off Europe from Asia along a course
from southwest to northwest. They are only 45 miles long,
and vary in width from one to five miles. The average
depth of the water is 180 feet. On the European side the
shores are steep and barren; on the Asiatic they have long
slopes, are fertile and, for the most part, are clothed with
beautiful forests. The Dardanelles were first fortified by
two castles, one on either shore, by Mohammed II. in 1462.

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

These forts have often been remodeled. During the last
century, with Turkish power and initiative on the wane, the
modernization of the fortifications was secured, now under
French, now under English, now under German, prodding
just as the interests of one or the other nation centered in
the Golden Horn.

The expedition of the western Allies to the Dardanelles in
the early months of 1915 was criticized because it diverted
strength from Flanders and the north of France, where Sir
John French needed every man, gun, and shell he could get.
Concentration, said the critics, not dispersion, should be the
guiding principle in all strategical combinations. The Allies
had for their task first of all to drive the Germans out of
Belgium and the north of France. "When they had done
this, it would be time enough, to think about driving the
Turks out of Europe.

Critics who talked and wrote thus misconceived the condi-
tions under which the Allies were waging this war, and un-
dervalued the advantage which sea supremacy conferred.
The primary purpose in seizing Constantinople was, not to
expel the Turks from Europe, tho that would incidentally
follow, but to open up communications with Russia, facili-
tate the intervention of neutral states, and establish a fresh
base for operations against Austria-Hungary. It was easier
to attack Austria from the south than to attack Germany
from the west or from the .east. If the Allies could reach
Vienna by the valley of the Danube, the effect would be
to divert German troops for the defense of Germany's south-
ern frontier, and by so doing relieve the pressure on
Belgium.

As soon as war broke out between the Allies and Turkey
in the arutunm of 1914, a joint Franco-British squadron
established an effective blockade of the Dardanelles. On
November 2 the squadron bombarded at long range the forts
at the entrance to the Dardanelles, in order to ascertain the
range and to test their defenses. The reconnaissance being
inconclusive was not prest. On December 13 Lieutenant-Com-
mander Holbrook navigated a British submarine beneath the
mine-field in the Straits and succeeded in torpedoing in the
Sea of Marmora the old, but still useful, Turkish battleship,

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH
the Messudivrh, and for this feat received the Victoria
Cross. Holbrook's submarine, the B-11, was not fitted with
the latest appliances, as she dated from 1905, and her sub-
merged displacement was only -313 tons, as compared with
800 tons in the E class. Her length was 135 feet, diameter
13% feet, surface speed 13 knots, submerged speed 9 knots,
and armament two torpedo tubes. Considering her com-
paratively small size, the work she did showed that the older
classes were still effective, and might do better work in nar-
row waters than bigger boats.

The B-11 had for some time been attached to the Medi-

terranean fleet. Lieutenant-Commander Holbrook had been
appointed to command her on December 30, 1913. Five
successive rows of mines in the Dardanelles were passed
under by the B-11, all being anchored. It was an act of
extreme hardihood to dive under these mines, because at any
moment the submarine might have fouled an anchor chain,
or entangled her screw, or drawn one or more mines into
contact with her hull as she went ahead. No one withheld
admiration for the daring Holbrook displayed. But daring
was not the only quality required. There was endurance ag
well. So long as the submarine could use her periscope, she
could direct her course by observation, but she had to re-
main submerged for long periods. A handful of otficers and
men, perhaps twenty altogether, had to be submerged for a

FRENCH WARSHIPS SUNK IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

The upper Bblp, the Bouvet. vae sank tn the Dardanellea operation ; tbe

middle ODe, the Lion Qambetm, by an Austrian submarine; tbe lower ooe.

tbe Suffern, b; a aubmarlne off Beirut

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

period of nine hours in narrow quarters, in parts of which
a man could not stand upright. During a large part of
that time they were as good as blind, owing to the necessity
of withdrawing the periscope.

The Messudiveh was built in the Thames in 1874, but
reconstructed at Genoa in 1901, when she received water-tube
boilers and engines of 11,000 horse-power. Her displace-
ment was 9,120 tons. She carried two 9.2 inch, twelve 6 inch
and fourteen 3 inch guns, and twelve of lesser caliber. For
her size she had a large anti-torpedo armament, but this
availed nothing against B-11; nor did the pursuit of the
torpedo-boats which followed the sudden raid. Another
British submarine, 5-9, entered the Straits next day, but
was detected before she had gone far. Altho observation
mines were exploded all around her, she made good her
escape. A month later the French submarine Saphir was
less fortunate. While traversing the Straits, she struck the
bottom near Nagara Point, came to the surface in a disabled
condition, and was destroyed by shore batteries.

During January 1915, a decision was reached by the
Allies to attack the Dardanelles in real earnest. The watch-
ing warships had been increased in numbers, and by Feb-
ruary a powerful fleet was assembled, including the then
newest British super-dreadnought, the Queen Elizabeth.
The islands of Tenedos and Lemnos, near the entrance to
the Dardanelles, were occupied. The bay of Mudros, in the
latter island, became the principal base for the operations
which followed. On February 17 the Triumph, accompanied
by several destroyers, began their naval operations against
the Dardanelles. The destroyers made dashes to within a
thousand yards of the batteries guarding the entrance, but
the Turks did not fire. Then the Aliioii bombarded a bat-
tery between Cape Hellas and Point Texel (which the blue-
jackets had rechristened ** Tickle Point"), and the Triumph
at 7,700 yards opened a slow indirect fire with ten-inch guns.
The Queen Elizabeth, which bluejackets called ''Big Lizzie,"
a super-dreadnought just out from the hands of the build-
ers, followed with 15-inch shells. Still the Turks failed to
reply. The Ark Royal, a water-plane ship, reported that
Battery 50 was undiscoverable ; that trenches and barbed

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

wire had been set up and could be seen on shore, and there
were troops at the top of the cliffs, but the Turks still
refrained from responding. The Triumph reconnoitred
along the shore and then opened fire with 7.5-inch guns on
trenches and field-works. A naval chaplain wrote:

"You can not ims^ne a sj^ht more majestic than the one we
saw as we went back in the evening to join the fleet. The French
sliips were firing furiously against tbe Asiatic torts and the Ven-
ffeance and the CoTmeallia were steamiog up and down firing sal-
voes at Fort 3, which was a tough nut to crack. Imagine a glorious

sunset flaming across the sky hehind the ships and the constant
blazing of the salvoes shooting out over the smooth water. The hi^
barren hilla and the absence of everything to distract the eye from
the great shrpg and their thundering guns made the bombardment
a scene of grim, unforgetlable impressiveness."

Bad weather now set in on February 19, and lasted until
the 25th, which obliged the fleet to confine its activities to
pafroling. On February 25 the Triumph discovered Battery
50 and pounded it to pieces. That day three runs into the

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

straits were made. The Vengeance and Cornwallis went
first, the French warships Gaulois and Bouvet next, and
then the Albion and Triumph, When the ships had steamed
up 3,000 yards (less than two miles), they hove to under
a tornado of Turkish shells that lasted three-quarters of an
hour. Some of the shots fell short, and some fell beyond,
the ships. Bricks and masses of earth, heaps of stone can-
non-balls, which had been lying in the fort probably for
a hundred years or more, were thrown into the air. When
night came on the Turks set fire to the ruins of forts and
barracks. Then bad weather -started in again and brought
the operations to a standstill.

On the 26th, as the only Turkish defenses left at the
entrance were a few howitzers and field-guns, French and
English mine-sweepers passed into the Straits. By March
1 all the defenses up to, but not including, the Narrows
were believed to have been reduced. Then the Albion and
Triumph, ordered to make a run to a fort on the Asiatic
side, passed under heavy fire, the ships being deluged with
shots falling all around them. Two Turkish shells fell on
the Triumph^ s quarter-deck and one bruised the armor-belt.
Of two that pierced her, one burst in the captain's cabin
and destroyed the furniture. Another fell near the gun-
room. In the evening men who had landed blew up and
dismounted what guns were left in the batteries. An ob-
server^ of this storming, who was stationed on the heights
of Mount Ilios, said of it:

"The sight was most magnificent. At first the fleet was ranged
in a semi-circle some miles out to sea from the entrance to the
Straits. It afforded an inspiring spectacle as it came along and
took up positions. The picture became most awe-inspiring when
the guns began to boom. The bombardment at first was slow,
shells from the various ships screaming through the air at the rate
of about one every two minutes. Their practise was excellent, and
with strong glasses I could see huge masses. of earth and stonework
thrown high up into the air. The din, even at a distance, was
terrific, and when the largest ship, with the biggest guns in the
world, joined in the martial chorus the air was rent with the ear-
splitting noise.

'Writing in The Daily Mail (London).

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

"The Turkish batteries, however, were not to be drawn, and, see-
ing this, the British Admiral sent bne British ship and one French
ship close inshore toward the Sidd-ul-Bahi; Forts. It was a pretty
sight to see the two battleships swing rapidly away toward the
Northern Cape, spitting fire and smoke as they rode. They- ob-
scured the pure atmosphere with clouds of smoke from their fun-
nels and guns, yet through all I could see that they were getting
home with the shots they fired as they went.

"In they sped, right under the guns of the shore-batteries, which
could no longer resist the temptation to see what they could do.
Puffs of white smoke dotted the landscape on the far shore, and
dull booms echoed over the placid waters. Round the ships foun-
tains of water sprang high up into the air. The enemy had been
drawn, but their marksmanship obviously was very bad.

"Out came the two ships again, ineffcjctively pursued by shells
from the Turkish batteries. As they retired they still continued
to make excellent practise, and their parting shots were quite as
good as their first. The position of the enemy's batteries had been
covered as a result of this work, and soon the Turkish guns were
under a hail of the most deadly shells warfare has ever known.
From a distance, which must have been ten miles at least, monstrous
projectiles dealing destruction* and death were poured in upon the
forts guarding the entrance, and each appeared to create a frightful
inferno where it landed. The people gathered on all high points
to see the awe-inspiring spectacle, the wonder of which struck them
with iftter* amazement."

Extreme caution was necessary in using the attacking
battleships, as the number of mines in the Straits was enor-
mous. The Turks used not only anchored mines', but float-
ing mines, which swirled round in uncertain fashion at the
mouth of the Straits. Some of these mines were picked up
outside as far away as Tenedos Island. The larger Turkish
batteries were skilfully hidden, and it became necessary to
knock out each gun individually. Seaplanes -were busy dur-
ing the bombardment on March 5, in order to discern the
effect of indirect fire and to locate concealed positions.
They had to fly very low, and thus were often in danger.
Seaplane No. 172 was hit no fewer than 28 times; and Sea-
plane 7 eight times. One day a seaplane became unstable
and dived nose forward into the sea. Both oflScers were
injured.

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Admiral de Robeck, who had taken command of the Allied
squadrons, decided to deliver another naval attack unsup-
ported by land forces. Shortly before noon on the following
day, March 18, three successive squadrons entered the
Straits and steamed toward the Narrows, bombarding
vigorously. Three British battleships, the Queen Elizabeth,
Lord Nelson and Agamemnon, with the battle cruiser Inflex-
ible, mounting between them eight 15-in., sixteen 12-in.,
twenty 914-in., and ten 6-in. guns, bombarded the west and
east sides of the Narrows, while the battleship Prince Oeorge,
armed with four 12-in. and twelve 6-in. guns, engaged at
Kephez Point, which is about three miles outside the Nar-
rows. These ships did not get within decisive range of the
forts which they were attacking, for when the French squad-
ron of four battleships, the Suffern, Gaulois, Charlemagne,
and Bouvet, moved up the Straits, soon after noon, to engage
the forts at closer range, the forts replied so savagely as
to indicate that the first bombardment had not been effec-
tive. Subsequently the fire of the ten battleships inside the
Straits silenced these forts.

Admiral de Robeck followed up this initial success by
sending into the Straits six battleships, the Vengeance, Ir-
resistible, Albion, Ocean, Smftsure, and Majestic, their com-
bined armament being twenty 12-in. and four 10-in. guns.
They were to relieve the six ships which had been engaged
during the forenoon. It was on this occasion that the Bouvet
was blown up by a mine north of Erenkoi, and sank in less
than three minutes with all hands on board. Later on dur-
ing the same day the frresistible and the Ocean were also
sunk, after having been struck by mines; but their crews
were saved. In spite of these casualties, the remaining
British ships continued in action till it was too dark to see
their targets, when they withdrew, but without having com-
pletely subdued the fire of the shore-batteries.

The ships sent into the Dardanelles never had a chance
of accomplishing their purpose. Owing to the narrow
waters in which they were operating and the heights on
shore, they were unable to get within decisive range of the
forts without exposing themselves, not only to the risk of
floating mines, but to being attacked individually by the

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

concentrated fire of shorcrbatteries. A battleship is a big
target, and her only chance to avoid being hit is to keep in
motion, as ships did during the bombardment of Alexandria,
when, after advancing to within decisive range, they c'rcled
round and round in front of the forts all the time they
were firing. While the ships bombarded the Dardanelles forts,
they in turn were bombarded by mobile guns and heavy
field-howitzers from concealed positions outside fixt batteries.
The damage done to the ships was, for the most part, due
to the field-pieces, which were moved about as circumstances
required. While the ships could keep out of the eflfective
range of fixt forts, they could not get away from mobile
howitzer-batteries, which, favored by the configuration of
the ground on both sides of the Straits, were able to fire
at the ships without the latter being able to fire back at
them. Herein lay the diflSculty of the operations as long
as they were confined to a naval action, a d fiiculty -which
was increased by danger from floating mines and from tor-
pedo-stations on the shore. A German artillery officer who
wrote an account of the battle claimed that the three Allied
battleships were sunk by the fir^-of guns situated close to
Chanak. He said the fire of the f &^t|L,was first concentrated
on the Bouvet, and, when she was-^Saiik, was diverted to the
Irresistible and subsequently to the Ocean, causing both to
share the fate of the French battleship. Admiral de
Robeck's report stated that the three ships were sunk after
striking floating mines.

It was now clearly seen that, before again sending ships
against the Dardanelles, it would be necessary to land a force
of men in the Gulf of Xeros, to seize the lines of Bulair,
and to subjugate the Gallipoli Peninsula. So there was
nothing to do but to wait for the arrival of land forces.
Operations for the next five wieeks were accordingly con-
fined to mine sweepng and occasional bombardments of forts
in the Narrows. Attempts at long-range bombardment had
not prospered. The majority of the batteries at the Narrows
were still effective. Neither indirect nor direct fire from the
biggest guns afloat had really put them out of action for
any length of time. Thus the high hopes created by the
initiation of the naval operations were greatly diminished.

v. VIII— 7 89

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Even the destruction of batteries at Kum Kale and Sedd-el-
Bahr, the two points forming the outer entrance, had not
achieved the full purpose of the assailants. Turkish troops
had afterward crept forward and entrenched themselves near
the ruins, so that they had to be shelled once more. It was
evident that the Dardanelles could never be forced by long-
range fire, and it was still more evident that an army was
needed to carry through the operation.

If the moral effect on the Balkan States and ' Italy of
the opening of an attack on the Dardanelles had been great,
it was impossible to exaggerate the counter-effect on them
of this disaster. Greece settled back placidly to await a
more promising time for casting in her lot with the Allies;
Bulgarian soldiers once more began to invade Macedonia and
threaten Serbia with a war on two fronts; German oflScers
in Constantinople — ^Von der Goltz, notably — issued state-
ments proclaiming that the forts of the Dardanelles were im-
pregnable; the Sultan, himself, invited war-correspondents
to visit him that he might express to them his confidence in
his forts. Not even the appearance of a Russian fleet at the
Bosporus served to counterbalance the confidence of the
Turks. For the time being, sea-power had met with a con-
siderable reverse. But if the loss in warships was heavy,
it was not vital. The French and British ships actually
sunk were old, had become mere platforms for heavy guns,
and were of little value in the battle-line; but for these
losses, such as they were, there had been no corresponding
military advantage.

When a coming Allied attempt on the forts of the Dar-
danelles became known in Constantinople, in January, 1915,
Henry Morgenthau '^^ says it was rejwrted that the Allies
had assembled **a fleet of forty warships,'* and a belief
generally prevailed **that such an attempt would succeed."
Even Baron von Wangenheim, the German Ambassador,
'* shared this belief," and so **in a modified form" did Field
Marshal von der Goltz, ' Vho probably knew as much about
the Dardanelles defenses as any other man, as he had for
years been Turkey's military instructor." On all sides
** there were evidences of the fear and panic that had

'•"Ambassador Morgenthau's Story" (Doubleday, Page & Co.).

THREE OF THE BRITISH WARSHIPS THAT STORMED THE
DARDANELLES FORTS
Tbe upper ship Is tb« Irreiittible, wblcb was auak; tli^ mlilillp one
lofiexlble, whUb was hit and set on flre ; tbe lower oac tbe Ocean, vl

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

stricken not only the populace but the oflBcial classes."
Wangenheim, making little attempt to conceal his appre-
hensions, had set on foot preparations to send his wife to
Berlin, and had invited Mrs. Morgenthau to accompany
her, '*so that she, too, could be removed from the danger
zone.'' Wangenheim even showed a fear, which was then
the prevailing one, **that a successful bombardment would
lead to fires and massacres in Constantinople, as well as in
the rest of Turkey."

Mr. Morgenthau remarks that it *'all seems so strange
now that this conviction should have been uppermost in
the minds of everybody then" — that the success of the
Allied fleets against the Dardanelles was thought to be in-
evitable and that the capture of Constantinople **was a
matter of only a few days." Among the wild rumors afloat
was one that seventeen transports had arrived at the strait
loaded with troops; another was that the warships had
already fired 800 shots and had leveled all the hills at the
strait. Had the Allies been able to capture the city, Mr.
Morgenthau says, the ruling powers had made their plans
for the event. They had intended to do to that great capital
''precisely what the Russians had done to Moscow when
Napoleon appeared before it." ''They will never capture
an existing city," some of them told Mr. Morgenthau, "only
a heap of ashes."

This, he says, was no idle threat. He was told that cans
of petroleum had been actually stored in police stations and
other places, "ready to fire the town at a moment's notice,
"which, as Constantinople was largely built of wood, would
have been no very difficult task. The plans even aimed at
Saint Sophia, which had been marked for dynamiting. Early
in March the exodus from the capital had begun, Turkish
women and children being moved into the interior ; all
banks compelled to send their gold into Asia Minor; the
archives of the Sublime Porte carried to Aski-Shehr; while
practically all the ambassadors and their suites, as well as
most of the government officials, "had made their prepara-
tions to leave." At the station stood trains which were to
take the Sultan, the Government and the ambassadors to
Asia Minor. These trains "had steam up, ready to move

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

at a minute's notice.'' We were all awaiting** the triumphant
arrival of the Allied fleet." Enver Pasha was the man who
had demonstrated **the vulnerability of the British fleet."
When on March 18 the fleet made its greatest attack on the
strait, the attack ** proved disastrous to the Allies," the out-
come being the sinking of the Bov/vet, Ocean, and Irresistible
and the serious crippling of four other vessels. Even then
most people ** still believed that the Allied fleets would suc-
ceed in forcing their way through." The only question was
whether the Entente **was ready to sacrifice the necessary
number of ships." Then the fleet went away and for days
the Turks '* anxiously waited for the fleet to return." It
never came back.

Had the ships returned, **what would have happened?"
asks Mr. Morgenthau. He answers by saying **the one over-
whelming fact was that the fortifications were very short of
ammunition"; that they **had almost reached the limit of
their resisting power" when the British fleet passed out on
the afternoon of the 18th. Once these defenses could have
been made helpless, the problem of the Allied fleet would
have been a simple one, the only bar to their progress being
a mine-field, but the Allied fleet had plenty of mine-
sweepers, which could have made a channel in a few hours,
and once having silenced the outer straits, ** there was noth-
ing to bar the passage to Constantinople, except the German
and Turkish warships." The Goehen was the only first-class
fighting ship in either fleet, and would not have lasted long
against the Queen Elizabeth, As for Constantinople, the
populace and the best elements among the Turks, far from
opposing the arrival of the Allied fleet, *' would have wel-
comed it with joy." The Turks themselves were ** praying
that the British and French would take their city," for this
** would have relieved them of the controlling gang, emanci-
pated them from the hated Germans, brought about peace,
and ended their mission. " ^

•Principal Sources': The Fortnightly Review (London) ; The Evening Post,
The Sun, "Bulletins" of the National Geographic Society, New York ; Walter
Leaf in The Quarterly Review (London), The Literary Digest (New York) ;
The Times, The Morning Post, The Daily Mail, The Daily News, London ;
Reuter's News Agency, The Daily Chronicle (London), The Cologne Oaeette,
The Journal 0/ Commerce (New York), The Standard (London), The London
Times' "History of the War."

THE UNSUCCESSFUL LA\D OPERATIONS AT GALLI-

POLU AND THE EVACUATION— ACHI BABA.

SARI BAIR AND ANAFARTA

ApKl 25, 1915— -January 10, 1916

IN the weeks which elapsed between the great naval at-
tack on March 18 and the first landing of troops on
April 25, field defenses on the Peninsula had been prepared
with feverish haste by the
Turks under German supervi-
sion. British troops had ex-
pected open fighting, and so be-
lieved they could carry Aehi
Baba (Tree Hill) by nightfall
on the first day. Instead o£
this, they found themselves in
contact with what proved to be
a tremendous fortress, in which
all natural advantages had been
utilize^ to the utmost. The
Turks held the heights and the
British were on the lower
ridges. It was like the posi-
tion at the Shipka Pass, in
(BtiiJOTiifJi. 1877, when the Russians held

the summit for six months and
were never dislodged.
The Turks on Gallipoli had their hands comparatively
free. It might almost be said that there was no limit to the
number of men whom they had available for use on the
Peninsula. Nearly 800,000 had been mobilized at the out-
break of war, and of these 600,000 had been armed. For all
practical purposes, at the time the Allies landed on ihe
Peninsula at the end of April, they were potentially in
contact with the bulk of the strength of the Turkish Army.
94

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Not all the Turkish troops were there, but they were ** within
call.'' The Allies were thus matching 120,000 men against
a military reservoir containing perhaps half a million.
Under these conditions the man at home — the tax-payer who
was ready to spend the last penny that the world might win
the great fight for free government, free institutions and
the right of the people to be governed according to their
lights — was wondering why, instead of landing in the Gulf
of Saros and following the course of the Maritza River for
water, the British army had been sent to put its head into
the lion's mouth at the entrance of the Dardanelles.

General Sir Ian Hamilton, who commanded the British
troops, then just over 62 years old, had been soldiering all
his life. He had been born in the Mediterranean, on the
island of Corfu, within a short voyage of the scene of this
most desperate undertaking. No soldier of high rank in
the British army had seen so many varieties of warfare, or.
had enjoyed so many opportunities of studying at first hand
operations on a grand scale in the struggle that now ensued.
What came to be known as the battle of the Landing
was in certain respects unlike any other battle ever known.
Hamilton found himself in an extraordinary position. He
had not planned the campaign, was without intimate knowl-
edge of the scene, and had to undertake a task for which
the number of available troops had been prescribed by
others. The hills of the Gallipoli Peninsula really formed
a natural fortress defending the Dardanelles. From the
southern point a rocky plateau more than 600 feet high ex-
tended inland for five miles. Its highest ridge runs up to
a summit known as Pasha Dagh. These hills form a salient,
having its point toward the Gulf of Saros, the sides curving
back to the Dardanelles above and below Kilid Bahr. To
the north the high ground is broken into by a pass,
through which a rough track runs from Krithia to the town
of Maidos, on the channel opposite Nagara in the Narrows.
To an invader, coming from the West and aiming at Maidos,
the Pasha Dagh is not the only obstacle. West of it and
south of Krithia rises the bold peak of Achi Baba, nearly 600
feet high, which sends out rocky spurs on both sides to the
Dardanelles and the Gulf of Saros, and forms a barrier

IN THE EAST, NEAB EAST, AND SOUTH

from sea to sea across the narrow western point of the
Peninsula.

Hamilton found on arrival that while a force of troops
had been assembled at the Peninsula, it was practically
impotent, owing to the transports having been wrongly laden,
a mistake for which he was in no sense responsible. Twenty-
four hours after he arrived he had the mortification of wit-
nessing a great naval attack accompanied by the loss
of three Allied battleships. Because of the improper loading
of the transports, he saw himself compelled to remove his
troops to Egypt in order that the transports might be laden
afresh, altho every day's delay enabled the Turks still
further to improve their defenses.

The gathering-place of warships and troops was in the
harbor and town of Mudros, on the island of Lemnos, which
now became packed with men and ships, both British and
' French. Besides British soldiers there were Frenchmen in blue
tunics and red trousers. Chasseurs d'Afrique with exquisite
Arab horses, Senegalese Infantry, black as one's hat, with
little tents, 8 feet long by 4 feet wide, and 2 feet high, in
the middle of which six men slept. These tents were made
in six pieces and were buttoned together, two on either side,
and one at either end. The oflScers were Frenchmen, fine,
sunburnt, big men; some dark-haired from the south, some
quite fair. Ordinary French soldiers were in khaki. The
Australians were big men, loose-limbed and big-jawed, riding
carelessly, rough-coated, ugly horses. Here also were Ter-
ritorials, Marines, Artillery, Flying Corps, Sappers, Army
Service Corps, and all sorts of Gre^k soldiers and sailors,
and women wearing the yashmak.

Wooden shops, run by Greeks who sold fruit, candy, post-
cards, sponges, canned goods, whisky, brandy and beer
sprang up in all directions at Mudros. Mules staggered
about under heavy loads of fodder and supplies. There were
ammunition carts. Red Cross wagons, and small boys crying
**Pennie! Signor, pennie!" Out in the bay were battle-
ships, cruisers, destroyers, transport supply ships, colliers,
hospital ships, Greek trading schooners by the score, huge
flat barges laden with fodder, and everywhere little pufiing
French patrol boats and larger British ones.

TURKISH BARBED-WIRE ON TOP OF A

BaiTISU FOBCES LANDING IN GALLIPOLI

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

The debarkations began on April 25. There were three
of these: the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps,
which landed on the shore north of Gabe Tepe — that is,
about ten miles above the southern end of the Peninsula on
the -^iEgean side; the troops from India on the extreme
point south, and the French Division on the Asiatic .side
of the Straits in the neighborhood of Kuni Kale. Altho
tlie landing at all three points was successfully accom-
plished, the losses of the Allies were very heavy, owing to
the nature of the shore combined with the elaborate defense
which the Turks had constructed under the direction of
German engineers, and the skill with which the defense was
organized.

The advanced guard of the Gaba Tepe force was disem-
barked from three battleships, troops being sent ashore in the
shall boats towed by pinnaces, followed by seven destroyers
and a number of transports containing the rest of the force
with guns and equipment. The landing took place north of
Gaba Tepe, where only thirty or forty yards of beach in-
tervened between the sea and the high cliffs which rise
precipitously from the shore. The Turks were entrenched
on the beach under the cliff, and opened fire on the boats
just as they reached the shore, but were dislodged with the
bayonet from their first position, as also from a second one
on the cliflf, which was stormed by the Australian covering
parties, who then advanced inland in order to drive the
Turks away from the coast, and enable the transports to
land the rest of the troops and supplies in safety. The
Turks being reinforced, counter-attacked the Australians in
such numbers that they had to retire to the crest of the
cliff, where they entrenched themselves against further
attacks. Through the night Turks, led by German, officers,
continued their attacks with great determination, but with
help from the fire of the ships their offensive was broken.
By the night of the 26th, Colonial troops had dug them-
selves securely into their positions on the lower slopes of the
Sari Bair ridgeway northwest of the Bokhali Valley. "While
the Turks renewed their attacks with the help of a rein-
forcement of field-guns, they could make no impression on
the Australians and New Zealanders, who held a semi-

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

circular line of trenches on the cliff covering the descent to
the beach.

The Twentieth Division of the southern force landed sim-
ultaneously with the northern force. Under the same con-
ditions, warships covered the debarkation with fire from
their guns. Landings were effected on five different beaches.
'At places the troops gained a footing on land without much
difficulty, but in and around Sedd-el-Bahr the Turks were
so strongly entrenched that, after going on shore in two
places, the landing parties had to withdraw till forces
landed under Cape Helles, made a flank attack on the Sedd-
el-Bahr position and drove the Turks out of their entrench-
ments. By the evening of the 27th, the Twentieth Division,
after hard fighting, established itself across the whole of
the Peninsula. The French landed on the same day at
Kum Kale, not for the purpose of operating on the Asiatic
shore of the Straits, but as a feint, made with the object of
diverting attention from the British debarkation on the op-
posite shore. After the landing had been accomplished, and
Kum Kale occupied, the French crossed over to the Gallipoli
Peninsula and joined the British.

In the interior, which is a mass of tortuous hills and
ravines, with here and there commanding points which dom-
inate the surrounding country, is Achi Baba, which rises
730 feet above the sea and commands the road from Sedd-el-
Bahr through Krithia to Maidos, as well as the Suandere
Valley on the north. Before the Allied troops could pass
the hill had to be stormed. It was here that the guns of
the fleet came in with help afterward. The hill afforded a
good target from the sea. Achi Baba is just six miles from
the lower point of the Peninsula and midway between the
Straits and the sea. From it two arms extend in a slight
semi-circle reaching to the shore line on both sides. The
mountain itself has a particularly forbidding aspect. One
writer described it as most resembling an old Chinese
idol, with great round stupid-looking head and two short,
thickset shoulders, two long arms stretching out on either
side as if barring the way to some forbidden inner temple.
Between these arms lies the plain across which the Allies
had to charge with the utmost heroism in their efforts to
storm the mountain.

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

At the northeastern end of the Peninsula lies the eity
of Gallipoli, toward which the Allies were expected to make
their way. It guards the Peninsula where it joins the main-
land, and is near an elbow formed by the Dardanelles and
the Sea of Marmora. It ia the last inner defense of the
Dardanelles, powerfully fortified, defensive works in modern
style having been begun there in 1878, when the Russians-
threatened to take possession of Constantinople. At irreg-
ular intervals the work of
strengthening it had been car-
ried on. Gallipoli is not com-
parable in strength to the
world 's great fortresses, yet
with modem batteries and ex-
tensive outworks it was made
to form a proper complement
to the other fastnesses of the
Straits. It was the first land
in Europe that the Ottomans
gained in the 15th century. To-
day the town itself is anything
but beautiful. The streets are
narrow and dirty. Most houses
are wooden structures, in decay
and untidy, with few buildings
of any architectural interest. It
has lead en -domed bazaars that
appeal to westerners and a few
uncared for relics of the East-
ern Empire and Greek times,
but these are in a state of neglect and decay. It has two good
harbors, both improved. One serves as the principal roadstead
of the Turkish fleet. Gallipoli is 132 miles from Constanti-
nople, and lies south of Adrianople. Here the Dardanelles are
about two miles wide. Until the Turkish occupation Gallipoli
seemed destined as a well-placed port, on one side of Nature's
natural avenue of water trade, to become one of the greatest
commercial cities in the Near East, but through centuries of
Turkish rule it had slept an almost dreamless sleep.
The story of the landing of troops on the Peninsula was

RnPEBT Beookb
The EngltBb poet who flled durlDif'
the Gallipoli campalgQ. Brooke Ilea
burled OD tbe laUud of LcmnoB

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

told in much impressive detail by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett.
He described how ** every round of ammunition, all water
and all supplies had to be landed on a narrow beach, and
then carried up pathless hills, valleys and bluffs, several
hundred feet high, to the firing-line/' The whole mass of
troops, ** concentrated on a very small area, and unable to
reply,'* were exposed to a relentless and incessant shrapnel-
fire, which swept every yard of the ground, altho fortu-
nately a great deal of it was badly aimed, or burst too high.
On going ashore, through a fire of burning shrapnel, you
landed on a beach thirty yards wide between the water and
a cliff which rises steeply for some hundred feet, to find
there regiments waiting to move to the trenches, fatigue-
parties unloading boats and lighters, others making great
pyramids of canned foods and biscuits, others bringing
water, of which a supply had been found on shore. Trains
of mules were dragging field-guns into position; Indians
were in charge of mountain-guns, and dressing-stations where
the w6unded were hastily tended before being sent to the
ships. Other fatigue-parties were laying telegraph and
telephone wires, and still others carrying supplies up the
cliffs.

Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett said the problems in Southern
Gallipoli were different from those which the Australians
sucessfuUy solved further north. Here cliffs rise from fifty
to one hundred feet from the water's edge, with little or
no foreshore, jagged rocks making landings in some places
impossible. There were at intervals stretches of beach. Five
of these were selected for the disembarkation of troops,
each -under the covering fire of warships. Once men had
climbed the low cliffs at any of these points, they found
themselves on an open, grassy plateau, which stretched
inland about two miles until the ground became more hilly
and broken, near the village of Marethia, and the slopes of
the dominating heights of Achi Baba. It was hoped by the
Allies that the trenches would be rendered untenable by
fire from the ships' guns, but the expectations failed to be
realized.

A desperate struggle raged all day for what Mr. Ashmead-
Bartlett called **W Beach," and the adjoining hills between

101

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Cape Tekeh and Cape Helles. The landing parties had to
land on a wide expanse of sand, enfiladed by hills, and to
force their way up a semi-circular valley inland. Everywhere
the Turks had made trenches, protected by barbed wire
and held in. force, while their snipers, hidden in broken
ground, covered every yard of the foreshore with a deadly
fusillade. The place was described as a death-trap. At
dawn, for three-quarters of an hour, it was swept by a tre-
mendous fire from covering ships, which it was hoped would
effectively destroy the barbed wire on the foreshore.

Just at daylight troops were taken ashore from the
cruiser Euryalus in eight tows. All were exposed to a
heavy fire, when approaching the shore. The tows which
made for the cliffs to the right reached the beach, and im-
mediately scaled the cliffs and obtained a footing on the
crest right under the Turkish trenches, but here they were
held up and could advance no further. Troops literally
clung to the edge of the cliff on both sides of the beach.
The tows on the left, which had made for the shelter of
Cape Tekeh, finally got ashore and hung on in the same
manner. Other boats found themselves confronted by a
solid edge of uncut barbed wire and exposed to a terrible
cross-fire from concealed pom-poms, Maxims, trenches, and
snipers. In the cliff were holes in which Maxims were con-
cealed, rendering them perfectly immune from shell-fire
from ships. Almost all who landed in the center were shot
down. Afterward another regiment landed, swept up the
valley and cleared the Turks off the sky-line, when it be-
came possible to clear the wounded from the beach, cut the
barbed wire, and start landing stores and ammunition.
On the following day, more troops debarked on W Beach,
and the whole line, joining up with troops on X Beach,
was able to move forward and get astride the Peninsula.
Everywhere was found a scene of destruction and desolation
— trenches knocked into shapeless heaps by shell-fire, aban-
doned kits, broken rifles, and wire.

Running back from a fort was a perfect net-work of
trenches and barbed wire, running round a semi-circular
valley overlooking the beach and finally joining up with
the old castle and fort of Sedd-el-Bahr on the farther side.

102

=1.1

s|ll

g SSi
S SI.

I Is

i Si

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

The Turks had mounted pom-poms on the Cape Helles side,
and had snipers concealed everywhere. On the right was
the old castle fronting the Straits, but now sadly battered
by shells, yet still presenting a solid mass of masonry in
which sharpshooters and Maxims could lie concealed. Just
east of the castle were remains of the great battery which
had been silenced by guns on February 19 and 25. Twelve-
inch guns were finally demolished by a landing party of
marines and bluejackets.

Behind the fort and castle lay the remains of the village
of Sedd-el-Bahr, in which there was not a house left stand-
ing, for all had been destroyed by repeated bombardments
of castle and fort. Nevertheless the ruins and gardens pro-
vided cover for the enemy's sharpshooters, from which to
snipe the foreshore. Behind the remains of the village the
ground rises to a height known as Hill 141, on which Turks
had constructed a maze of trenches and barbed wire, and
from which they could dominate the beach at point-blank
range. The foreshore and valley leading inland were like-
wise protected by trenches and wire. The whole position
was indeed one of the most formidable which troops ever
attempted to take under normal conditions. Remembering
that these troops had to be landed in boats and rowed ashore
without cover, the feat becomes almost inexplicable.

The landing on V Beach will remain memorable, because
of the novel experiment of running a liner — the River Clyde
— full of troops deliberately ashore and thus allowing them
to approach close in under cover without being exposed — a
sort of application, of the ** wooden-horse" strategy of the
Greeks at the seige of Troy. A great many lives were saved
by the cover which steel sides afforded to hundreds of sol-
diers crammed between the side decks. Great doors were
cut in the ship's sides, to allow a rapid debarkation, and
wooden gangways were slung from ropes gradually down from
these doors, so that men could pass down on both sides in
single file and either jump into the water, if it was not too
deep, or on to the Tghters which were towed in with her.
Her bridge was made a citadel with steel plates, and twelve
Maxims, also protected by improvised casements and manned
by the Maxim section of the Naval Division, were placed in

104

n the weat coast ot the penlnBula, are indicated a» "Beach W," "Beacb X,"
etc., runnlDg north to "Beftch Z" where the AniacB (that Is. Australians,
New Zealandera, etc.) landed. Points where Bome of tbe severest flghtlng
took place, atter the cllIT on the shore had been surmouated. were Krlthla,
Acbl Baha. Gaba Tepe, and Annfarta. In the earlter operations with ships
the Dardanelles were penetrated almost through the Narrows. Many have
since believed that the Frpnch aim British ships ralftht have forced their
way through to the Sea ot Marmora, had they held on a few days longer,
Turkish ammunllion being about exhausted. The question then would have
been, could C-Jostantlnople have been.talien without a long siege?

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

her bows and lower bridge to sweep the shore when the
troops debarked.

Over two thousand men were aboard the River Clyde,
when at dawn, after a rapid bombardment from the battle-
ship Albion, she slowly steamed toward shore, preceded by
eight tows of steam-plnnaees and boats, that were to land
the covering party. Those in the boats suffered terribly
from rifle-fire, machine-guns, and the four pom-poms which
swept the foreshore. Along the front of the beach was a bank
of sand about four or five feet high. The survivors and the
wounded crawled behind this, which gave them cover from
the leaden storm. Meanwhile, the River Clyde had gone
ashore further east than had been intended, bow-on, close to
a reef of rock. The water was too deep to allow of men
leaping from her and wading, but th's contingency had
been foreseen, and a steam-hopper was brought up and also
run ashore to provide a gangway from the wooden gang-
ways on either side. But this being not sufficient, it was
necessary to drag a lighter to the far side of the hopper
before the troops on board could attempt to debark. Dur-
ing this time the River Clyde was subjected to a tornado of
rifle, Maxim, and pom-pom fire, th^ bullets rattling against
her sides like hail-stones. Thfe* tro'ops on board knew it
meant almost certain destruction to leave her, yet at the call
of their officers about two hundred dashed down the gang-
way to the starboard side and attempted to reach the reef.
Some were shot on the gangway; others were killed as they
reached the hopper ; others on the reef, and many of the
survivors no sooner reached the beach than they fell. A
few only survived, and lay under the shelter of the bank.
Annihilation for the whole force was promised now if any
further attempt to debark was made.

The battleships Cornwallis, Albion and Queen Elizabeth
opened a furious bombardment on Sedd-el-Bahr, the hills be-
hind and on the Turkish trenches, endeavoring to silence the
pom-poms. Throughout the entire day, the River Clyde lay
with two thousand of her men packed like sardines between
her decks, and with officers crowded on her protected bridge.
Bullets rattled against her steel-plates, but could not pene-
trate them, while the sharpshooters on shore picked off

V. VIII— 8 105

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

every ene who dared to show his head. Turks on the Asiatic
shore endeavored to destroy the River Clyde by howitzer
fire, but this was kept under by the covering warships in
the Straits. Nevertheless, she was pierced by four big
shells, all of which, fortunately, failed to explode. One
way and other, about 1,000 men had left the River Clyde,
and nearly half had been killed, wounded, or drowned.
Most of the remainder were lying huddled under the sandy
shelter on the beach, many with wounds. More than
1,000 were still cooped up on the collier, unable to land.
The Turkish fire had grown in intensity, until it was almost
certain death to pass down the gangway. After a time
Maxim-guns held off the Turks and about 8 p.m. the whole
of the thousand men still on board came out and quietly
walked down the gangway without a casualty. Not a shot
was fired against them.

Beach W had meanwhile been the scene of wonderful
exploits. Sir Ian Hamilton said that **so strong were the
defenses that the Turks may well have considered them
impregnable." It was his firm conviction that **no finer
feat of arms had ever been achieved by the British soldier
or any other soldier than the storming of these trenches
from open bojats on the morning of April 25.'' The beach
was practically in a bay enclosed by hills, and the way
out of it led through a narrow gully. The Turks had fully
expected a landing at this point, and had prepared for it.
They had laid both land-mines and sea-mines, and on the
edge of the sea had constructed broad wire-entanglements
along the whole length of the beach. Heights overlooking
the beach were covered with entrenchments, to which the
gully gave sheltered access. Machine-guns were concealed
in holes in cliffs and trained on the hedge of barbed wire.

Once the assailants emerged from the cup-like bay, they
were instantly exposed to fire from two strong infantry
redoubts near Hill 138, protected by wire-entanglements 20
feet broad. The fire swept a bare, open zone which had to
be crossed in attacking the Turks. From these redoubts
another strong wire-entanglement had been carried to the
edge of the cliff, thus making communication between W
Beach and the adjacent beach impossible until the redoubts

106

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

were taken. Add to these defenses a host of snipers con-
cealed behind sand-dunes and tufts of grass, and it was not
surprizing that the Turks firmly beLeved W Beach able to
resist any attack. The Turkish position had one weakness
in rocks at the two ends of the bay which gave just a small
^foothold. From these rocks it was possible partially to
enfilade the defenses. To this fact the success eventually
achieved against heavy odds was in great measure due.

In the afternoon companies of troops landed on "W Beach,
advanced along the shore, and captured Turkish trenches
on the hill overlooking V Beach, and also two pom-poms,
but they were forced to retire at night. When it was
suflSciently dark a fresh attempt to debark was made, and,
strange to say, almost the entire force got ashore without
the Turks firing a shot. On landing the troops were not
pushed straight up the valley in front, but eastward, to get
the shelter of the cliffs under the castle of Sedd-el-Bahr.
At eleven o'clock the enemy was alarmed, and again opened
a furious fusilade, sweeping the whole beach, but the Allies
lay down under cover and suffered small loss. About eleven
next morning began a final attack on the Turkish trenches.
The losses were severe, but at noon the position was taken
and the Turks fled. After these unparalleled exertions, V
Beach was cleared, and the way paved for a further advance
inland.

When the R ver Clyde had been run ashore at the landing
beach immediately west of Sedd-el-Bahr, it seemed up to
the last moment that the landing was to be made without
opposition, but the moment the first boat touched sand the
storm broke. A tornado of fire swept over the beach. The
Dublin Fusileers and the Naval boat-crews suffered exceed-
ingly heavy losses in the boats. Those who landed and
crossed the strip of sand managed to gain some cover, but
none of the boats was able to get off again. All were ab-
solutely destroyed by Turkish fire on the beach. The sit-
uation was probably saved by machine-guns on the River
Clyde, which managed to keep down the Turkish fire.

The ruins of Sedd-el-Bahr, as Ashmead-Bartlett describes
them, presented an aniazing spectacle. The castle, forts,
and villages were a jumble of crusht masonry. Guns in the

107

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

forts were smashed into huge pieces of steel, and had been
thrown by the force of the explosions several yards from
their mountings. Great piles of unused ammunition were
piled up beside them. The old towers of the castle were
partly standing, altho riddled by huge shells. The barracks
at the back had been gutted by shells and flames. In the
village beyond it was difficult to follow the lines of streets,
as houses, orchards, and gardens seemed thrown into a
great pot together. Everywhere the ground was scattered
with debris — fragmentts of shell, scattered graves, knap-
sacks, great-coats, broken rifles, twisted bayonets, soldiers'
caps and helmets, and tattered heaps of uniforms and
clothes. Not a living soul was left in the village, except
stray soldiers sight-seeing, and a horde of starving cats
prowling among the ruins of their former homes. Interiors
and roofs of houses had fallen in and lay mixed up with
furniture, bedding, fire-grates, and cooking untensils. It
was a scene of complete desolation. Beyond the village
you could follow the line of the last attack, which ended
in the capture of the Turkish trenches on Hill 141, by the
graves, the barbed wire, and the extraordinary mazes of
trenches which twisted and turned in all directions, many
having disappeared altogether under the rain of shells from
the ships. So ran Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett's thrilling narra-
tive of which an outline has been given here.

Immense work was accomplished by the warships during
these operations. The whole responsibility for landing the
troops, and keeping up supplies of food and ammunition was
left to them, and in addition the responsibility of protecting
the flanks of the combined armies and keeping down the
enemy's artillery-fire. All troops, animals, guns, wagons,
stores, ammunition, and a thousand other things had to be
taken from the hundred transports lying off the Straits,
which arrived from Egypt full and left empty for a fresh
cargo at all hours of the day and night, and conveyed in
trawlers or lighters to two narrow beaches, neither of which
was more than 200 yards in width. Cliffs prohibited land-
ing anything at any other point. Naval commanders, lieu-
tenants, and midshipmen in charge of this work developed an
efficiency which astounded even expert theorists.

108

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Piers were built out into deep water, so that the largest
lighters could come alongside, with cut roads along the
cliffs to increase the area of debarkation. A hundred
devices were hit upon to lessen labor and increase efficiency,
including systems of lighting which enabled the work to go
on uninterruptedly night and day, for even when the day's
work was over, and the last lighter had discharged her
cargo, streams of wounded were walking or being carried
down to the beaches, where they were embarked on empty
barges and dispatched for transportation to hospital ships.
The whole work of this landing meant perfection in organ-
ization. How it was managed will ever remain somewhat
of a mystery. Perhaps such a task was never before at-
tempted by an army and navy — even when the landing had
been completed. The Turks on the Asiatic shore shelled the
beach almost every day. Warships were continually en-
gaged in trying to locate guns and knock them out, or force
them to change position. On one beach the sight of the
**ship of Troy," as the River Clyde came to be called,
seemed to excite peculiar indignation. The Turks fired
round after round at her, while the work of debarkation
went on uninterruptedly.

The ultimate objective was to obtain possession of Achi
Baba. But before this could be attempted it was necessary
to obtain possession of the two great arms of that somber
mountain which stretch out, one to the Gulf of Saros and
the other to the Dardanelles. From a hill above the beach
a perfect view was obtained of the entire battlefield. It
was from this observation-post that Ashmead-Bartlett saw
and then described scenes which occurred, culminating in a
tremendous combined infantry assault on the enemy's whole
line on the evening of May 8. From this hill Achi Baba was
distant exactly six miles to the northeast. The battle had
lasted for two days without cessation, when it was continued
next day with greater violence.

The ships opened up a bombardment of the right arm
of Achi Baba, Krithia, and the ground behind them.
When this had lasted for half an hour, infantry on the
left center advanced to the attack, and again began another
furious outburst of rifle- and machine-gun fire which showed

109

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

that the Turks were still holding trenches with determination.
Throughout this fighting in broken ground on slopes lead-
ing up to Krithia, a plain stretching below looked as if
some annual maneuvers were taking place. Across the
whole successive lines of khaki figures were pressing over
green fields and through farms and orchards toward the
firing-line. The enemy's shrapnel burst over them, but
inflicted small damage, owing to the open formations. When
each successive line reached the fire-zone, it doubled across
open ground, resting in vacated trenches, and then passing
on to the next. The whole plain seemed alive with these
khaki-clad infantry. They were the New Zealand Brigade,
who had moved up for the final assault, and, on their
left, the Australian Brigade, who passed on the left of the
Krithia Road for a like purpose.

"Weeks of effort produced practically no alteration in the
position of the Anzac lines at Gaba Tepe. On the other
hand, the Turks pursued a course of action which had for
its object the reduction of the confiict to one of siege opera-
tions, after the manner of the struggle in France. They at-
tained their object, but at a heavy cost. The Germans and
Turks, realizing ,the impossibility of driving the Allies off
the Peninsula by infantry attacks, spasmodic night-attacks,
and heavy shelling, put forth their best endeavors to
dig, blast and bomb their enemies back into the sea. The
fact that they did not accomplish their object with their
greatly superior forces, and more commanding tactical posi-
tion was because they were meeting troops of greater
bravery, endurance and resource than themselves.

There was terrible carnage among the Turks during their
supreme effort on May 19. The sight of seemingly endless
masses of them adviancing might well have shaken the nerves
of already severely tried troops, but British machine-guns
and artillery mowed them down in hundreds. Still the ad-
vancing wall swept on as if the ranks would never waste their
strength. Not till the wave was at point-blank range from
nimble trigger-fingers did it break and speed itself among
barbed-wire entanglements. Some of the Turks were shot
when in the act of jumping into the Allied trenches, so
that their corpses lay with heads' and arms hanging over

110

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

the parapets. Allied fire gradually dominated the ground,
and Turks who tiirned to fly were mowed down before they
could run a dozen yards. The Germans sent supports and
reserves forward in droves. It was sickening to observe the
slaughter the Allied fire made among the massed battalions
as they issued from concealing into open spaces. Turks
scrambled over piles of dead bodies, but in an instant a
company would be enveloped in the smoke of a shrapnel
salvo. "When the air cleared that company would be
stretched, or writhing, on the ground, with another company
approaching, and ready to sh-are its predecessor's fate. It

TURKISH INFANTRY

became a question, not of the success or otherwise of the
attack,' but of how many Turks the British could kill. The
wastage of life continued long after the failure of the
assault had become apparent. A green patch became a
shambles. On a few acres the burial party, working during
the armistice which followed, counted no fewer than 4,000
Turkish and German dead. The Allied losses were perhaps
not a tenth as many.

On May 22 the actual presence of submarines in the
neighborhood of the Dardanelles was proved beyond a doubt.
At 1.30 P.M. on that day a periscope was sighted. Mr. Ash-
Ill

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

mead-Bartlett, six months afterward, declared that the true
history of the voyage of the German submarines from the
English Channel and their arrival off the Dardanelles would,
when written, make one of the most fascinating stories of
the war. He could not help admiring the enterprise their
commanders showed, and especially the skill with which
they had organized their depots of oil. Judging from what
English submarine boats had already accomplished in the
Sea of Marmora and in the harbor of Constantinople, he
believed, however, that, if they had had opportunities equal
to those of the Germans, they would have accomplished far
more.

The Allied fleet at the mouth of the Dardanelles had been
confident and happy until the third week in May when vague
rumors came that hostile submarines had passed Gibraltar,
followed by other rumors that one had been seen oflf Malta,
another had passed the Doro Channel and then been
sighted again off Cape Matapan. One fine day the pride of the
British fleet at the Dardanelles, the Queen Elizabeth, faded
mysteriously away before all observers' eyes bound for some
unknown destination. Men mourned her departure, but
realized that some necessity unknown to them existed.
Other vessels of the fleet, all of good fighting capacity, then
were discerned to be visible on the horizon less and less,
or off shore for short periods only and then they would
fade away, bound apparently for distant ports. The ad-
miral was seen to transfer from time to time four large
flags to smaller and less valuable ships, and then the larger
one which he had left would disappear. In the course of
two months Ashmead-Bartlett himself lived on six different
floating homes, which as to size and importance went
gradually down in scale. When the submarine menace
finally assumed definite and concrete shape, no ships of
great, fighting value, altho there were many that bore his-
toric names, remained off the coast of Gallipoli. The
smaller ships that remained now took up the work of the
others as if nothing had happened. It was from the deck
of the Swiftsure that Ashmead-Bartlett saw the Triumph
go down, struck by a torpedo from a submarine.

After the Triumph was sunk the whole of the available

112

THREE BRITISH SHIPS THAT SERVED IN THE
DABDANELLEH OPERATIONS
The sbtp at tbe tap of tbe picture la tbe Queen EUiabeth ("Big Bessl
SRllorB cftllea her), a auperd res dn ought. The one Id the eentpr 1
Queen Mary, irhlch was aflerward sunk In the Jutland buttle, a shell
Ing her thiQ-srmoced plating and rauslng her magazine to e^tplode. si
she went dowo "In a smolh^r of smoke and flame." The one at the hoi
la the Majeetie, which was sunk olT GaUlpolI by a torpedo

113

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

British destroyer craft started on a hunt after the sub-
marines which were said to be making their way south from
Gaba Tepe toward Cape Helles. The Admiral transferred
his flag to the twenty-year-old Majestic which was now the
only battleship left off Cape Helles, and the oldest British
man-of-war at the Dardanelles. Thus the veteran of the
fleet, after twenty years of service all over the world, found
herself once more a flagship. Destroyers kept up an un-
ceasing chase of the hostile craft which were sighted more
than once beneath the surface, but they were at too great a
depth to be rammed. On May 26 the Majestic was at her
old anchorage off Cape Helles. Ashmead-Bartlett was on
board. At 6.40 next morning, when sleeping on deck, he
was aroused by men rushing by when some one of them trod
on, or stumbled against his chest. This woke him and he
called out, *' What's the matter?'' to which a voice replied:
** There's a torpedo coming." He had just time to scramble
to his feet when there came **a dull, heavy explosion about
fifteen feet forward of the shelter-deck, on the port side.
His narrative proceeds:

"The old Majestic immediately gave a jerk over toward port, and
remained with a heavy list. Then there came a sound as if the
contents of every pantry in the world had fallen at the same moment.
You could tell at once she had been mortally wounded, and you felt
instinctively she would not long stay afloat. Later the Majestic
rolled right over to port, and so the old flagship disappeared for-
ever, except for a small piece of her ram, which remained above
water, as her bows were lying on a shallow sand-bank. As she
turned over and sank, a sailor ran the whole length of her keel
and finally sat astride the ram, where he was subsequently taken
off without even getting a wetting. Some of those still clinging
to the ship were dragged down by the fatal nets before they could
get clear; others were probably killed inside by the explosion.
Nevertheless, the loss of life was small, numbering only fifty."

On June 4 a general assault was begun on the Turkish
trenches in front of Achi Baba, preceded by a bombard-
ment. For an hour the fire of every British and French
gun on the peninsula poured shells of various calibers into
Turkish trenches. Battleships and a large destroyer off the

114

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

northern coast battered the enemy's right, while a French
warship in the entrance to the Dardanelles dropt heavy
projectiles on the left of the Turkish position. British 18-
pounders and French **75's'' kept up a rain of shells on the
parapets of the enemy's trenches. At times the whole line
was obliterated behind a billowy curtain of creamy smoke.
In Krithia a tower which had withstood a score of minor
bombardments came toppling down, and fire broke out in
the village. For an hour the air was rent with terrific
crashes, one blending into another, and alive with shrieks
and whistles of projectiles as they sailed overhead toward
the enemy's lines.

Punctually at 12 the order to go forward was given, and
men in the first line of trenches leapt out, parties of bomb-
throwers accompanying them, and dashed across the inter-
vening hundred yards to the Turkish trenches. The first
line was to occupy and clear the first trench. The second
was to pass over the first and capture the second. The
second had thus considerably farther to go than the first,
the lines of trenches being about 500 yards apart. A third
was to advance after the others, fill up the gaps, and press
home the attack. The second did not advance until a
quarter of an hour after the first started.

The enemy, who had made no effective reply to the bom-
bardment, immediately began to pour shrapnel on the troops
rushing to the assault. The troops went forward with the
capture of the first trench, being the work of a few min-
utes. The Tu-rks, dazed and deafened by the avalanche of
shell-fire which had been bursting around them for an hour,
fired a shot or two upward from the trenches and then fled
along the communication trenches to the rear trenches. A.
large number who were found dead and wounded in the
trenches seemed to have fallen victims to the shell-fire. The
second line, dashing forward under hot fire from the Turkish
rear trenches, captured the second line, *and the Turks being
fairly on the run for the moment, British troops followed
up their advantage wherever they could, which was chiefiy
in the center, where the resistance was weakest. They cap-
tured line after line of trenches.

At noon armored turret motor-cars using improvised paths

115

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

leading from Sedd-el-Bahr and Cape Helles to Krithia passed
into something like roads, dashed up to the firing-line, four
on each road, timing their attack to coincide with that of
the first line. Crossing the British trenches on bridges,
they went on jolting and rocking over pitfalls in* the
ground and so up to the* Turkish trenches. Here the cars
opened fire with Maxims on Turks fleeing from the first
trenches to the rear. Soon bullets began to fall against
the armored sides of the cars, and shells to fall around
them. Being unable to advance further, the cars with-
drew, shells falling between them as they drove back along
the roads. One car was hit and the top of its turret
knocked off, but nobody was killed. The total loss was a
few men wounded. All the cars came back, only two being
damaged.

The quick success of the Allied center had carried their
line 600 to 1,000 yards forward. On the flank the Turks
were much more strongly posted, and a desperate struggle
began. On the right the French, stopt by the formidable
barrier of the Kereves Dere gully, were unable to make'
similar progress. The Royal Naval Division dashed for-
ward with the rest of the British line, but found itself
unable to maintain the ground won, because it would have
meant a gap between them and the French. The situation
here tended more and more to resemble that in eastern
France. The enemy -had an ideal defensive position — a
narrow peninsula traversed by ranges of hills or .small
mountains, every inch of which could be entrenched to ad-
vantage — ^with one flank safe from attack by sea and both
incapable of being turned by land, as they reached dowji
to the water's edge.

Achi Baba, the barrier in front, altho far less rugged and
steep than the ridge on which the Australians established
themselves, proved no less difficult to assault. The Aus-
tralian ridge was like Majuba Hill,^* so steep that men
climbing it would often be out of reach of others who were
firing down from the crest. Achi Baba, on the other hand,
was a series of smooth slopes, terraced at intervals, and much

8« A hill In South Africa, stormed by the British In the Boer War of

1880-81.

116

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

the same to mount as the glacis of an old-fashioned fort.
Turkey was an enemy less fertile in .resource than the Ger-
mans; less well equipped; less rigorous in attack; but she
had advantages which the Germans could no longer claim.
She had an ideal defensive position — a narrow peninsula
traversed by ranges of high hills or small mountains, every
inch of which could be entrenched to advantage.

Lack of progress by the Allies in the Dardanelles in
April and May had produced a cheerful frame of mind in
the Turkish capital. Constantinople papers were crying vic-
tory and' seemed to regard the war as virtually over. They
pointed satirically to the series of defeats which were to be
inflicted by the Allies on Germanic arms as soon as the
spring campaign began, and recalled Kitchener's famous
prophecy that the war would ** begin in May." Taking this
for a text under the title of *'The First Fruits of May,''
the Constantinople Ikdam said:

"As soon as the weather opened up, England was to send to
France millions of troops ; then with her Allies they would take up
position against the Germans and mak^ violent attacks on them;
within two weeks, or three at the most, they would cut through the
line of battle of the Germans; Alsace-Lorraine on the one side and
Belgium on the other should be entirely freed; the Germans would
receive such terrible blows that before June they would be suing
for peace, for they would be beaten by land and by sea. At the
same time the Russians would be well on their way toward Berlin.
As for Austria-Hungary, that country would be cut to pieces by
June; and because of the advance of the Russians toward Vienna,
the Hungarians would secede and try to form a little State under
the protection of Russia. Transylvania and Bukowina would also
secede; Serbia would have occupied Bosnia and Herzegovnia; in
short, the name of Austria-Hungary would have been wiped off the
map. As regards Turkey, the Allies were to be in Constantinople
before May, and the armies of Russia were to have made great
progress in Anatolia.

"The first-fruits that spring has ripened are as sweet and pleasant
to us as they are bitter and poisonous to them — so poisonous that
they are carrying them off to death. In the west the Allies are
being beaten; they are retreating, leaving prisoners, cannon and
ammunition behind them. On the sea the German submarines and
in the air the German Zeppelins are constantly striking blows at

117

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the English. On the Eastern Front, whether in the East Prussia
region, in Poland, op in Galicia, the victories that are being gained
are terribly shaking the Russians, especially do the Galician vic-
tories seem to be decisive. As for ourselves, by the grace of God,
our heroic defenders have succeeded in inflicting terrible blows on
the enemy in the Gallipoli Peninsula. Each day of spring that
passes brings our enemies discouraging defeats."

All reports from the Dardanelles in those spring and
summer days brought out with startling clearness the
formidable nature of the Allied undertaking. The moun-
tainous country which lay ahead of them was to be com-
pared only with an immensely strong fortress, that could
be taken only by storm. Some estimates of the losses of
the Turks named 70,000. British losses, naval and military,
up to the end of May were stated by Mr. Asquith in the
House of Commons at 38,636. Nevertheless the battle of
the fourth of June ended in substantial progress. The
British and French line across the peninsula from the
JEgean to the Dardanelles had been confronted by rising
ground culminating in the center with the flat summit of
Achi Baba, 800 feet high. On either side the ground falls
away ^o the sea in ravines- and dry watercourses, which the
Turks had had time to make almost impregnable. The
Allies had to storm an immensely strong fortress the ad-
vanced works of which, by an amazing feat of arms, they
already held, but the glacis of which had to be crossed be-
fore they could move forward to the assault upon Achi
Baba and beyond to the final assault upon the walls of the

fortress.

Further up the coast the Australians and New Zealanders
had made a lodgment on one of the strongest advance-works
of the Kilid Bahr Plateau. As seen from the northwest,
they threatened the communications of the fortress Rnd
were drawing against them a large part of the garrison.
This was composed of the flower of the Turkish army. These
troops were flghting with gallantry; with desperation, in-
deed, because they realized that when the bastion of Achi
Baba fell the occupation of the Kilid Bahr Plateau would
become a mere question of time, and that when Kilid Bahr

118

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

fell the doom of Constantinople was at hand. The gain of
a score of yards in the Gallipoli Peninsula fairly repre-
sented for the purposes of comparison a gain of 500 yards
in the western theater of war. Therefore, to find its im-
portance the gain of 500 yards on June 4 had to be named
with Neuve Chapelle. Minor actions, generally inconclusive,
followed for many days.

On June 21 it was determined to straighten the line on
the extreme right. At 1.30 a.m. the preliminary bombard-
ment began. The dawn had come clear, but soon a curtain
of silver, through which gleamed the ghost of the rising
sun, hung over the Kereves Dere, formed by the smoke of
bursting shells. Slowly as the sun climbed up, the curtain
became more substantial, then seemed to droop and sweep
along hollows with a vanishing mist. During a respite the
blue smoke of bivouac fires came tranquilly into the still
air and the bombardment began again with greater fierce-
ness than before. The 75 's drummed unceasingly, while the
reverberations of the 125 's and the howitzers shookj the
observation-post. Over the Kereves Dere and beyond, on
the sloping shoulders of Achi Baba, the curtain became a
pall. As the sun climbed higher and higher all that first
mirage of beauty disappeared. There was nothing but the
monstrous shapes of bursting shells and ghosts of smoke
along the Turkish lines.

All through that morning the cannonade went on. By
noon the French on the left stormed and captured all the
Turkish trenches of the first two lines. Even the Haricot
Redoubt, with its entanglements and maze of communicating
trenches was in French hands. But on the right, the First
Division, after reaching their objective, were counter-at-
tacked so effectively that they fell back only to advance
once more to take trenches, and again to be driven out.
There were still five hours of daylight for this battle on the
year's longest day, with British guns and howitzers. At
half-past five it seemed as if every gun on earth were
pouring shells on the Turkish lines. At six o'clock there
was a temporary shortage of ammunition in a Turkish
trench but the Turks fought with stones, sticks, and fists.
A battalion, hurrying up to reinforce the trench, was caught

120

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

on open ground by drumming 75 's and melted away. Six
hundred yards of Turkish trenches were taken.

The smoke of the shells, which at dawn had been ethereal,
almost translucent, was now at the sunset, turbid and sinis-
ter, yet the sunset was splendid, flaming in crimson
streamers over Imbros, tinting the east with rosy reflections,
and turning the peaks of Asia to sapphire. This possest
peculiar significance for the longest day of the year, crown-
ing as it did those five hours of daylight that, for the
French, were fraught with achievement. Slowly the color
faded out, and, minute by minute, the flashes of the guns
became more distant; the smoke was merged in the gather-
ing dusk, and over the more distant Turkish lines bursts
of shrapnel came out like stars against the brief twilight.

The Turkish casualties were believed to be about 7,000.
One trench, 200 yards long and 10 feet deep, was brimming
over with dead. French officers who had fought in the west
said that, as a fighting unit, one Turk was worth two Ger-
mans. With his back to the wall the Turk was magnificent.
The French casualties were few, considering what a day it
had been, what enemy was being attacked, and how much
had been gained. The profile of Achi Baba seemed now to
write itself less stolidly against the sky.

On June 28 Sir Ian Hamilton ordered the attack con-
tinued, his intention being to threaten Krithia by advancing
his left wing west and east of the Saghir Dere ravine, which
runs nearly parallel to the -S3gean coast, about a mile inland.
The battle opened with a combined artillery bombardment by
French and British guns, assisted by the fire of the Talbot,
Scorpion, and Wolverine, The bombardment was longer and
more effective than that on June 4, the wire entanglements
in front of the Turkish trenches being completely destroyed,
and the trenches themselves so shattered that when the men
of the Indian and Twenty-ninth Divisions rushed forward to
attack they had a comparatively easy task. West of Saghir
Dere, where the Turkish trenches had been exposed to the
naval gun-fire, the Indians captured three lines of trenches,
with little opposition, many of the Turkish soldiers being
found buried in the debris, while those who remained were
taken prisoners. East' of the ravine the Royal Scots made

V. VIII— 9 121

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

a fine attack, capturing two lines of trenches. Meanwhile
the Gurkhas, pressing along the Saghir Dere, captured a
commanding knoll directly west of Krithia, the final result
of the day's fighting being a gain of 1,000 yards, while the
left wing was thrown forward so as to face east instead of
north.

The net result of the fighting on June 28 was a gain of a
mile along the coast, the capture of four lines of Turkish
trenches, about 200 prisoners, three mountain-guns, and an
immense quantity of small arms, ammunition, and many
rifles, the total gain being, a right angled triangle, each side
of which was about a mile long. This, at the time, was the
most successful engagement fought on the peninsula, and
became newly important when judged by its effect on the
morale of the Allied troops. The success was mainly due
to changes made in tactics and to an enormous improvement
in the support given by the artillery.

The battle of the Gully Ravine, as it came to be known,
was a classical example of sectional attack, the kind which
alone leads to decisive results in modern warfare; that is to
say, there was no general advance along the whole line. A
section was selected and every available gun concentrated
on the works to be assaulted, which were battered to pieces
or completely smothered by high-explosive shells, while the
wire in front was cut to pieces by twenty minutes' concen-
trated shrapnel-fire. Thus, when the Allied infantry were
let loose, they were able to walk into some of the works
without opposition. The Turks who were not dead were
running away or surrendering.

The captured trenches presented an extraordinary ap-
pearance. They were smashed by high-explosive shells and
littered with dead and debris of all descriptions ; .the stench
was unbearable; the entanglements had been cut to shreds
in places by shrapnel. The Allies captured hundreds of
rifles and thousands of rounds of small-arms ammunition.
Every rifle taken was as good as a prisoner or a dead Turk,
because the Turks had only a limited number, and in one
€ngagement there were troops in the front line firmed only
with Martinis. The prisoners captured were mixed, coming
from all parts of the Turkish Empire, while most of the.

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THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

officers were young and inexperienced, with only a few
months' service behind them.

Years from now, when the surviving veterans of this cam-
paign in Gallipoli shall gather round some festive board in
London or Paris, in Australia or New Zealand, holding an
annual celebration to commemorate the final Allied success in
the war, the name which will recall to them the most somber
memories may be the Gully Ravine. Someone described it
as ''a devil of a place,'' and that description was not inac;-
curate. Steaming along the western coast of Gallipoli you
would not have suspected its existence. It varied in depth,
in width, and in security as you passed along its course. After
leaving the seashore it took a general direction toward
Krithia and twisted and turned in a remarkable manner. At
one point you could walk in security behind a bluff, while at
another you caught a stream of bullets from Turkish trenches.
The Ravine lay between overhanging craggy hills, which
were in places 200 feet high,' and covered with a thick green
shrub, varied by patches of yellow, sandy soil, which seemed
common to the whole of the southern end of Gallipoli. Ex-
cept for the war, soldiers would have stopt to admire the
beauty of the scene, which resembled the Scottish Highlands
in its rugged grandeur.

The heat in summer was almost unbearable because no
sea breezes penetrated the depths of the peninsula, and the
sun beat down on the war-worn road with pitiless severity.
But there was plenty of good water for men. and horses,
parched by sun and sand. Springs, carefully guarded
against pollution, were known and beloved by every thirsty
soldier. Some of them, flowing from interior hills, entered
the valley in a tiny, trickling stream, clear as crystal and
icy cold. Crowds of perspiring, dusty, thirsty men would
wait indefinite periods in a long queue, each with his water-
bottle in hand, for the privilege of obtaining a draught from
one of these springs, more valued in Gallipoli than the
choicest brand of champagne would have been in London
or Paris. Along the road in every* spot sheltered by over-
hanging cliffs could be found hundreds of weary men from
the trenches who had flung themselves down to snatch a
few hours' sleep. There they would lie unconscious of, and

123-

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

indifferent to, shells bursting overhead and the stream ot
stray bullets ** sizzling'' along. A man would drop and be
immediately carried to the dressing-station, but no one took
the smallest notice, for prolonged experience had the effect
of making nearly all indifferent or fatalists. In the ravine
one constantly came upon lonely graves, each with a cross
and a name, marking the last resting-place of some soldier
fallen in one of the early engagements, or who was buried
just where he fell.

All the way up that gully which only twenty-four hours
before had been in Turkish possession, had become a litter of
the debris of the camp. Scattered bodies half protruding
from the ground, hastily dug graves, hundreds of rifles and
bayonets, some broken, but the majority intact; thousands
upon thousands of rounds of ammunition, entrenching tools,
loaves of bread, soldiers' packs, Turkish letters, a Mullah's
prayer-stool (a souvenir eagerly sought), an overcoat and
kits, blankets, and old sacks, cooking utensils, and firewood,
left just where the enemy had abandoned them when the
Allied infantry broke through at the bayonet's point. Great
fires were burning at intervals. They were avoided by all,
and gave forth a horrid, sickly stench. On these the
Turkish dead, who had been hastily collected, were being
burnt, for it was all important to get the dead out of the
way as quickly as possible in so hot a climate.

On July 6 some of the heaviest fighting that had occurred
on the peninsula resulted in a swing forward of the south-
ern line for something over 3,000 feet and the infliction of
severe losses on the Turks. British estimates placed the
Turko-German casualties at 7,000 killed and from 14,000
to 15,000 wounded. The whole army in the southern part
of the peninsula was engaged. The Australians and New
Zealanders further north also took part. The success
marked an indefinite stage in the initial work of throwing
forces around Achi Baba, which the Allies had now begun
to believe one of the strongest fortresses in the world.
French and British machine-guns were rushed to the front,
until a perfect wall of guns was in position. Suddenly the
stillness was broken by a tremendous burst of shells from
Turkish guns, and shrapnel poured down on the French

124

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

front. The men were safely in positions in dugouts and
little loss resulted. The battered Ooeben was at work again,
and pounded the Allied right with 11-ineh shells, many of
which, however, did not burst.

The hail of shells lasted an hour and a half and was the
severest bombardment to which the Allied lines had been sub-
jected during the struggle on the peninsula. No sooner had
the heavy fire ceased than great solid masses of Turks leapt
to the attack. On they came, the silence unbroken, save
for their shouts, until they reached a point within sixty or
seventy yards of the French position, when from well-placed
machine-guns a devastating fire burst from the trenches, and
rifles joined in, 20,000 of them, the big guns flaring and
casting a lurid light over the scene. They reached the
barbed-wire entanglements only to find that their artillery
had been ineffective in attempting to demolish them. The
slaughter here was terrible. At three points the enemy
managed to swarm into the French trenches and even to
turn some of the French weapons on the defending troops,
but the second French line hurled itself instantlv on the
foe who, being badly supported, fled. Into the struggling,
fleeing masses Maxims poured streaks of death, mowing the
enemy down in heaps. Meanwhile, the naval division had
been sustaining a portion of the attack and turned its
machinie-guns on the wreck of the attacking force. They
held searchlights firmly fixt on the Turks and thus pro-
vided a ghastly target for guns and rifles. Soon the field
presented an appalling spectacle Soldiers who fought in
some of the fiercest fights in France and Flanders, and who
had been through the terrible experience provided by the
landing of Allied forces on the peninsula, said they sickened
at the sight which lay before their eyes when the dim glow
of morning was spread over the scene.

Bodies were lying four and five deep on the ground.
Fallen men lay strewn on the barbed-wire entanglements,
while many of the enemy's dead still stood erect, propt up
against masses of their stricken comrades. Further and
further, amid yells and groans mixed with shouts and the
whistling of officers, the battered and beaten rabble re-
treated, followed by relentless death. The sight was so

125

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

terrible that many could not fire guns or rifles. This espe-
cially affected those in charge of machine-guns. At last the
poor remnant of the Turkish attacking force was sheltered in
trenches in front of Achi Baba's slopes. The opposition was
feeble. The first line of attackers easily carried the first line
of the Turkish position. Then the second line swept on, and
after a stubborn struggle the Turks were in headlong re-
treat. The British for the next two hours, in new positions,
were subjected to a bombardment of between 7,000 and
8,000 shells. When this died down, the Turks attempted to
recover the lost ground. No fewer than seven times did they
hurl themselves against new lines. On every occasion they
were driven back.

By July 14 the Allied line had made a further advance
against Turkish trenches to the right of the Achi Baba
nullah. This success was achieved after desperate fighting.
During the previous three months the Turks had constructed
a network of trenches and small redoubts, protected by
barbed wire and connected by saps and communicating
trenches. But they had been made to realize that no in-
fantry could withstand tremendous bombardments, with
high-explosive shells concentrated on a small section of the
defense and, therefore, withdrew most of their men down
the communicating trenches while the bombardment lasted,
and so the Allied infantry were able to occupy two or three
lines with small loss. The majority of the Allied casualties
occurred in holding the trenches after they were won, for
the enemy, knowing the ground and the plan of their
trenches, attacked them with bombs through the saps, and
so the fighting took place at close quarters.

Parties of men would get too far forward and frequently
be lost for hours, while it was no uncommon occurrence for
men to gain possession of an advanced trench while the
Turks were still holding sections of those behind. Thus, after
each advance it took a long time to straighten out and con-
solidate a captured position. Many men had to be sac-
rificed, so many shells fired, and so many grenades used for
every hundred yards of ground occupied. It was bludgeon-
work, brutal and unattractive, and giving little or no scope
for skill in tactics or strategy. In front of Achi Baba the

126

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

situation was the same as before Ypres, or Soueliez. Vic-
tories could not be won in a day any more than they could
in France, for sections of the enemy's line had first to be
pounded to pulp, then stormed, and finally held against
counter-attacks.

While a warship bombarded the observation-station on
the top of Achi Baba with 12-inch guns, regiments of a
brigade leapt from trenches and surged forward toward the
redoubt and trenches. The whole scene ** resembled some
picture from the Inferno, for guns, shelling the works be-
hind, made a great background of earth and smoke." Again
Mr. Ashmead-Bartlett said the attack ''^resembled a gigantic
steaming caldron, into whose thick vapors the gallant brigade
poured without once hesitating or looking back.'' Indi-
viduals soon became swallowed up in mist, and all one
could see were ** black dots rushing about or jumping into
trenches with bayonets flashing in the shrouded sun amid
a continuous roar of musketry, which showed the Turks
were resisting valiantly." But when the smoke lifted the
Allies were seen to be in possession of the trenches. For
nearly three hours this fighting continued on the right,
hidden partly from view, and no one knowing exactly what
was happening. The attack on the left was successful, being
conducted with skill and dash. The infantry swept over
everything in their front, bayoneting Turks who did not
succeed in escaping down the saps. The infantry swept for-
ward in small parties, often in twos and threes, in spite of
shells and heavy rifle-fire. The Turks seemed demoralized by
this final charge, and fled a long way back to the foot of
Achi Baba, pursued by shells.

While a new landing was being successfully carried out
early in August in Anafarta Bay, the Australian and New
Zealand Corps at Anzac became engaged in a desperate
struggle to obtain possession of the main ridge running
northeast from the Anzac position. No troops were ever
called upon to make an advance over more difficult and
broken country. After the close of the battle of August 6
to 10, the greatest that had been fought on the Gallipoli
peninsula, both armies were engaged in consolidating new
positions, taking stock of gains and losses, replenishing am-

128

ill

'¥-.

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

munition and munitions, and sorting put and reorganizing
divisions, brigades, and battalions which, of necessity, had
become intermingled in that rugged, mountainous country.
In the fighting on the ground over which Australian and
New Zealand army corps advanced in desperate efforts, ex-
tending over four consecutive days, to reach the crest of
Sari Bair, the^ commanding ridge overlooking the Dar-
danelles, which gives access to the highest peak of all, the
sinister heights of Koja Chemen, which was torn asunder by
a giant ravine, the New Zealand infantry, the Gurkas, and
other battalions almost reached their objective. A battalion
of Gurkas actually got onto the crest of the plateau. At
the same moment the Turks counter-attacked in great force,
and then these gallant men from the hills of India were
driven back.

But the survivors had obtained a view, and gave a descrip-
tion of, the promised land which lay beneath them. Below
were the waters of the Dardanelles. These men looked down
on the Narrows and on Kilid Bahr. Along the roads they
had watched Turkish transports streaming southward and
motor-cars dashing to and fro. It was a bitter disappoint-
ment to them to relinquish the crest when it seemed almost
within their grasp, after so many months. The Anzac
Corps had accomplished a feat of arms in climbing these
heights almost without a parallel, but they were handi-
capped by the failure of a corps to make good its position
on the Anafarta hills further north, and thus check the
enemy's shell-fire. When details of these operations are*
collected they will form one of the most fascinating pages
of the war. It was a combat of giants in a giant country.

At dawn on the 10th the Turks, reinforced, made a des-
perate assault on the Allied lines from Hill Q and Chunuk
Bair. They hurled themselves on two regiments, who, after
desperate resistance, were driven from their position by
artillery-fire and sheer weight of numbers further down the
slopes of Chunuk Bair. Following up their success, the
Turks charged over the crest to gain a great gully. But they
had reckoned without the Allied artillery and ships' guns.
Four successive lines of infantry in close formation were
plainly visible to all the warships and to all batteries on

129

IN THE EAST, NEAB EAST, AND SOUTH

land. The Turks were caught in a trap. The momentum
of their charge down hill prevented them from recoiling in
time, and they were swept away by hundreds in a storm of
high explosives, shrapnel, and common shell from ships'
guns, howitzers, and field-pieces. As huge shells from the
ships exploded, huge chunks of soil were thrown into the
air, amid which human bodies were seen hurled aloft and
then dashed to earth or down deep ravines. Even this
artillery-fire might not have checked the Turkish advance
had it not been assisted by the concentrated fire of ten
machine-guns at short range. For haif an hour they main-
tained a rapid fire until the guns smoked with heat.

Thus closed for the time being amid blood-stained bills the
fiercest battle since Inkermann. But Inkermann was over in
a few hours, whereas Englishmen, Scotsmen, Australians,
New Zealanders, Gurkas, Sikhs, and Maoris kept up this ter-
rible combat with the Turks for four consecutive days and
nights, amid hills, dongas, and riavines nine hundred feet
above the sea, to which point all water-rations and ammuni-
tion had to be borne along trails that existed t>nly on maps,
and down which every man who fell wounded had to be borne
in the almost tropical heat of August in the Mediterranean.
The result extended the Anzac position. The Allies no
longer had a confined, stifled feeling of being too many men
crowded into a restricted area.

The first attempt to seize the hills round Anafarta having
broken down, it required time to sort and reorganize the
units. It was not until August 21 that the army was in a
position to make a frontal attack on the Turks in this
quarter. For the bombardment which was to precede the
attack the battleships moved in closer to shore, supported
by cruisers and several monitors. Exactly at 3 p.m. on
August 21 the first gun was fired. For half an hour was
witnessed another of those terrible bombardments which had
become commonplaces on that bloody soil. The battleships
and cruisers concentrated on Hills 70 and 112, supported
by field-guns and heavy howitzers. Once again the enemy's
trenches appeared to be swallowed up in clouds of earth and
smoke, but the Turks showed no sign, and not a man left
his position. While this bombardment lasted the enemy's

130

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

guns replied furiously, concentrating their fire chiefly on
and behind Chocolate Hill, which was wreathed in bursting
shrapnel. Very soon the shells set fire to the brush and
shrub, which, fanned by a breeze, burnt furiously, spreading
with amazing rapidity, and at times blotting out positions
in clouds of rolling smoke and flame.

The Battle of the Landing succeeded in its initial object,
because the landing was effected, but it failed in its later
objects, which were to effect a junction between the Anzac
and the southern contingents, to take Krithia and Achi
Baba, and to advance upon Maidos and the Narrows. The
primary cause of the failure was that the Allies delivered
their attack in insufficient force; the second, that the
forces available were unduly dispersed. Behind these lay
a third; lack of accurate topographical knowledge of a
peninsula which had been for centuries an object of deep
interest to ardent soldiers, and especially to British soldiers.
To these causes may be added the complete elimination of
the element of surprize, due to the original Allied decision
to rely on naval strength alone.

When in October it was announced that General Hamil-
ton had been called home *'to report," and that General Sir
C. C. Monro had been appointed to succeed him, rumor was
rife that the expedition itself was about to be recalled.
Official reports showed that British casualties in the land
operations up to October 9 had amounted to 96,889 men.
The estimates placed French losses at nearly the same figure.
For the seven months from the date of the landing of troops
this campaign had cost the Allies nearly a thousand lyien a
day, and to this was to be added the naval losses, including
the battleships Irresistible, Ocean, Bouvet, Majestic, and
Triumph. The operations were apparently no nearer suc-
cess than they had been months before.

Every advantage of terrain was held by the Turks. The
Anafarta region was compared to half of a huge saucer
which had been broken, the line of breakage being formed
by the shore of the ^gean Sea, and the bottom and rim
Deing in the hands of the Allies and Turks. Until August
16, when the Turks retook Kiretch Tepe, the position of
the Allies had been better, as they were masters of at least

131

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

a part of the Anafarta region, but this advantage was lost
on that day. The Allies thereafter held themselves in the
Anafarta region solely by virtue of an immense artillery-
fire superiority, supported by some forty warships, cruisers,
and torpedo boats. Military observers attributed the failure
in the Dardanelles rather to delay in beginning the attack,
to mismanagement at the War OflBce, and to the natural
difficulties of the task rather than to any shortcomings of
General Hamilton.

General Monro was a striking instance of the emergence
of Scottish leadership during the months the war had been in
progress. At the outbreak he was merely an officer of a
territorial force. He was now entrusted with the most
difficult and dangerous task ever undertaken by British arms.
Monro belonged to a definite type ; sturdy-framed and strong-
jawed, and looked every inch a soldier. All the characteris-
tics of first-rate generalship were his — instant judgment,
unlimited receptiveness to ideas, imperturbability, unflinch-
ing courage, and the dual capacity of winning popularity
among his officers and men and inspiring confidence. He
was comparatively young for such high command, being
only 55 years ' of 'age. In August, 1914, he had gone out
to France in command of the Second Division of the London
Territorials. Before the battle of Mons-Charleroi he assumed
command of the Second Regular Division. After the retreat
of the Marne and the fighting in the Aisne, he was men-
tioned in dispatches, made a Knight Commander of the
Bath, and given command of an army corps.

Would the British now undertake to withdraw their
troops from Gallipoli? It was foreseen to be an operation
of great delicacy and peril. Moltke once said he could see
a dozen ways for invading England, but not one for getting
away. The effect on the whole political and strategic situa-
tion of an Allied withdrawal from Gallipoli would obviously
be grave. It would be plainly to acknowledge defeat, and
it would have released a triumphant Turkish army for
operations elsewhere. The apparent way out of a bad situa-
tion was to keep the Gallipoli army where it was, to
strengthen it if necessary, and to keep *' nibbling" at the

132

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Turks, attacking them in force sometimes, and so holding
them where they were, even if little progress was made
against them. Meanwhile, Russia and Roumania might sud-
denly change the whole aspect of things.

The announcement made on December 20 of the British
withdrawal from Gallipoli overshadowed all other war news.
The shock was hardly broken by the fact that the with-
drawal had been for weeks a matter of widespread discus-
sion, or ever since Lord Ribblesdale 's speech in Parliament,
in which he declared that withdrawal had been recommended

THE BRITISH WARSHIP "GOLIATH" SUNK IN THE DAEDANELLES

by "a high military authority." Thus ended an enterprise
»n which the highest Allied hopes had been built and which,
if it had succeeded, might have turned the tide of the war.
British troops continued for a time longer to occupy the tip
of the peninsula at Sedd-nl-Bahr, which commanded the en-
trance to the Straits, and where many British have declared
that a new Gibraltar will one day arise. The position here
was protected by a double line of ships. At the beginning
of August the British on Gallipoli had come near to their
greatest victory in the war, and had suffered their greatest
defeat. While a battle was in the balance, a detachment

133

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

from Anzac had reached the top of Sari Bair, the dominat-
ing hill in the neighborhood, and for a few minutes had
seea below them the whole of the Dardanelles Narrows.
This was one of the supreme moments of the war.

**A tragic blunder'' was the term used by the London
Daily News to describe the ill-fated attempt to force the
Dardanelles. The ** blunder,'' if not tragic, was certainly
costly, for the British alone suffered 112,921 casualties, in-
cluding the death of 1,609 officers and 23,670 men. Only a
tiny foothold had been obtained by the Allies. After nearly
a year's operations they believed the expedition was hope-
less, and so withdrew every man from the peninsula. In
essence the expedition was an attempt, first, to liberate
Russia from her blockade ; secondly, to force Turkey to con-
clude a separate peace; and thirdly, to influence the Balkan
neutrals. The whole scene . of things changed when King
Ferdinand of Bulgaria decided to throw in his lot with the
Central Empires.

The withdrawal was a frank, if belated, recognition of the
failure of a great campaign and the frustration of a great
hope. The one event of the war with which the retirement
could be compared was the defeat of the German armies at
the Marne. The German rush on Paris, like the Allied
attack on the Dardanelles, was an attempt to win the war
by a single great stroke. If the Allies had forced the Dar-
danelles and entered Constantinople the Balkan nations
would then have united against Austria at a moment when
the Russians were at the crest of their power, and the Haps-
burg resistance would have collapsed. But the Germans
had been more quick to recognize failure and to seek a
remedy than the Allies. When the (Jermans failed around
Paris they tried for Calais. When they failed there, they
gave up their offensive in the west and turned to Russia and
the Balkans. The Allies, now suffered in prestige just as
Germany suffered at the Marne. But this war was not to
be decided by prestige. It had resolved itself into a bitter,
grinding test of ultimate resources. The Allied failure
against Constantinople, like the German failure against
Paris, testified to the fact that in this war there were no
short-cuts to victory.

134

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Every man, every animal, every baggage-cart,. and all but
six guns, intentionally left behind to fire till the last minute
and then be destroyed, now embarked from Suvia and Anzac
under the nose of the unsuspecting Turk. Whatever the
fruits of the Dardanelles campaign may be adjudged to
be, it will always stand out in military records for two
things — the gallantry of the first landings and the skllful-
ness of the evacuation. In the evacuation masses of men
and material were brought down in a: short space of time
to Anzac and Suvla. The few stores remaining were set on
fire, chiefly bully-beef, biscuits, and rice. They were a small
proportion of the supplies which had been kept there. Next,

BSITI8H BURNING THBIK STORES ON LEAVING SCVLA BAY

the breakwaters which had been built of old hulks were
smashed by shell-fire from the ships at short range. The
decision to leave Suvla and Anzac had been reached after
long deliberation. The final word in an operation of this
magnitude came from London, and it was given there on
.'vitchener'a return from the Dardanelles.

Tennyson immortalized the heroic blunder at Balaklava,
but what living poet was competent to sing the waste of
human life at Suvla Bayt When the roll was called after
the Light Brigade's return from the "jaws of death" it
was found that 247 men bad fallen on the field of battle.
At Suvla Bay the loss to the British was 12,000. Whole

136

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

brigades were shot to pieces, an army division was decimated
and regiments were left without a single officer in command.
Here was war's havoc on a titanic scale, and it was equally
deadly to the Turks, whose losses were enormous. It was
a staggering price to pay for **two pieces of ground, small
and worthless as they seemed, but worth, according to the
ethics of war, 10,000 lives'' to the victor. "Some one had
blundered" again, and with a genius for blundering with-
out a parallel. No reinforcements came to sustain the ad-
vantage gained by this and subsequent attacks by the
British; and the Turks, their ammunition spent and their
last hope of resistance gone, reaped the fruits of the sac-
rifice. But if the poets should fail, General Hamilton's re-
port would remain the prose epic of the fiasco in the Dar-
danelles. History has no more moving tale than that story of
bravery in war baffled by incompetence. The crowning act
of British "muddling along" was embalmed forever in the
official report of a general who missed by a hair's breadth a
great height of fame.

By January 10 the remaining jwsitions held by the
Allies on Gallipoli were abandoned, with the wounding of
only one man among the British and French. All the guns
and howitzers were taken away, with the exception of seven-
teen womout guns, whi6h were blown up before leaving.
News of the final evacuation of the peninsula had then been
expected for several days by observers of the Near Eastern
campaign. The retirement of the troops from Anzac and
Suvla Bay three weeks before had left no strategic ad-
vantage in a retention of the peninsula. The evacuation,
in point of pure technical skill and soldierly resolution,
ranked with the retirement of the Allies from Mons and
the withdrawal of Russia from the Vistula.

Just as across the ribbon of the Dardanelles, on the green
plain of Troy, the most famous of old world wars had been
fought, so now the European shores had been made classic
ground of arms. If the banks of the Scamander had seen
men striving desperately with fate, so had the slopes of Achi
Baba and the beaches of Helles. Had the fashion endured
of linking the strife of mankind with the gods, strange
myths would have sprung from the rescue of the British

136

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

troops in the teeth of winter gales and uncertain seas! It
would have been rumored, as at Troy, that Poseidon had
done battle for his children.

The news of the withdrawal, at first received in
France and Britain with incredulity, speedily changed into
relief. The gallantry of the April landings, the long
struggle for Krithia, the Australasian attack on Sari Bair
had gone for nothing. Great Britain had spilled blood like
water to win a mile or two of land, and now had to re-
linquish it. Fifty thousand Allied graves with rude crosses
passed for a few years under the sway of the Crescent.
Having failed, Great Britain escaped the worst costs of
failure. She brought oflF three army corps to be refitted
and reorganized for use in other lands.*

* Principal Sources : In the main, a condensation of accounts printed in
London and other papers, written by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, an official eye-
witness and war correspondent ; in part compiled from The Fortnightly Re-
view (London) ; "Bulletins" of the National Geographic Society, The Literary
Digest, The Times, New York; The Daily News, The Standard, The Man-
chester Guardian, London ; The Evening Post, The World syndicated articles
by G. Ward Price (New York) ; The London Times* "History of the War,"
'•Nelson's History of the War" by John Buchan.

V. VIII— 10 137

VII

THE FALL OF ERZERUM, TREBIZOND, AND

ERZINGAN UNDER THE GRAND DUKE

NICHOLAS, AND THE DEATH

OF VON DER GOLTZ

February 15, 1916— June 26, 1916

WITH the great Russian defeats in Poland and the
retreat of the Russian army from Kovno and Vilna
in the early autumn of 1915, the Grand Duke Nicholas had
relinquished his European command and gone to the Cau-
casus, the Czar himself taking command against the Ger-
mans and Austrians. This change to outside observers
implied censure, if not degradation, for the Grand Duke.
His astounding successes early in the war, first in overrun-
ning East Prussia, then taking Lemberg and capturing the
fortress of Przemysl, later his penetration of the Car-
pathians to points beyond their crests, and two successive
repulses of German drives into Russian Poland where the
drives had reached almost to the gates of Warsaw, seemed to
have availed him little in the face of his subsequent loss of
nearly the whole of Galicia, of practically all of Russian
Poland, and of a considerable strip of Russia itself. That
his failure was due, not to his want of skill as a commander,
so much as to an extraordinary shortage of effective guns
and ammunition, in consequence of Russian inability to
manufacture or forward them, apparently had not saved
him from disgrace. To the Caucasus he went, almost as if
into banishment, but only to achieve, five months later, a
greater victory than he had won at Lemberg or at Przemysl ;
in fact, one of the most spectacular Allied victories thus far
in the war — the conquest of Erzerum.

The whole country of the Caucasus is one of extraordinary
difficulties for military operations. Switzerland and its
mountains could be dropt into that region stretching down
from the plains of Russia into Asia Minor and Persia with-

138

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

out producing any remarkable variation in its rugged out-
line. Elburz and Ararat would still tower unchallenged
over Mount Blanc and the Matterhorn. Ever since Ivan took
Astrakhan, and Peter took Azof, the heart of Russia had
been set on acquiring this mighty barrier stretching be-
tween two great inland seas and closing to Russia the
gates leading south. To obtain possession even of the north
ranges, Russia, as General Kuropatkin pointed out ten
years before this war, had fought two wars with Turkey,
only to find at the last that the south was guarded against
her **not only by the Turks but by the Germans.''

The traveler who would reach Erzerum has a choice of
three more or less arduous routes. He might embark from
Odessa on a Black Sea coaster and follow the northern shore
of Anatolia, where a great plateau breaks down in forested
steeps, with scarcely a creek or bay to vary the line, till he
reached Trebizond, the walled city to which the Ten Thou-
sand Greeks under Xenophon struggled through the Armenian
hills. Thence a good road runs inland to Erzenim, crossing
three passes, one of them 8,000 feet high, the distance from
port to fortress 200 miles, with a week of fine weather needed
for the journey. Or the traveler might cover a thousand
miles by the Bagdad railway line to Ras-el-Ain, in the
Euphrates valley, whence he would have 250 miles of hill-
roads through the Armenian Taurus before he reached the
city. Again he might go by rail to Angora, two days'
journey from the Bosporus, and after that move eastward by
road through the great wheatlands of Anatolia, where dwells
the flower of the Turkish peasantry and the main strength
of the Sultan's armies, past the rich city of Sivas, till the
Euphrates vallev had been reached at Ersingan and the real
highlands beginl

Erzerum lies well among the mountains, a true frontier-
fortress, guarding the road from Russia to the fruitful vales
of the ancient Lycus and Halys, the heart of Asiatic
Turkey. It stands on a pocket of flat ground, 6,000 feet
above the sea. South and north and northeast rise lofty
mountains through which roads to Moush and Trebizond
make their way over high and difficult passes. Southwest
is the vale of the western Euphrates ; east are ranges of hills

139

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

forming the watershed between the Euphrates and the
Araxes. Erzerum is one of the highest placed of cities, and
frequently snowbound for six months, in its hollow sur-
rounded by high mountain peaks. Many writers have ex-
hausted their powers in descriptions of the sublimity of the
situation. This great fortress, seemingly untakable in winter
and believed to be impregnable in summer, **by far the most
important strategical position'* in Asia Minor, reorganized
and strengthened by Posselt Pasha, with an outer breast-
work of forts on the eastern hill and with an armament, it
was claimed, of over four hundred modern Krupp guns, not
to speak of mountain-guns, was taken by the Russians, led
by General Yudenitch, in the depth of a terrible winter, and
within four weeks after the opening of the Grand Duke's
projected campaign.

The strength of Erzerum against an army from the east
lay entirely in its horseshoe of hills called Deve Boyun, the
'*neck of the camel." Its weakness lay in the fact that it
was a fort pushed into the borderland beyond the area of
good communications, so that it could not speedily be .muni-
tioned or reinforced from a base. The nearest available rail-
road in the south was at Angora, 440 miles as the crow flies, and
the way from Angora to Sivas traversed 200 miles of hilly
country. Thence a rough road 230 miles long ran to
Erzingan, and from Erzingan one had to cover a road of
seventy-five miles to reach Erzerum, Assuming that con-
voys covered on an average twenty miles a day, two days
by rail and twenty-five by road lay between" the fortress and
the Bosporus; so that, allowing for inevitable delays, thirty
days was the minimum time for supplies to travel from that
Turkish base.

While it could not be said that the fall of this fortress
was a complete surprize, few had really expected it. That
the Russians were conducting an aggressive campaign in the
Caucasus was known, and now and then in newspapers items
were printed about it. But nothing like a master-stroke
was looked for — especially in winter when the snow around
Erzerum might be several feet deep and the cold 40 degrees
below zero. It was as far back as the beginning of Sep-
tember, 1915, that events had led to the transformation of

140

2 S

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the Transcaucasian campaign, with the Czar's decree
that he had himself taken over the supreme command of the
sea and land forces of the empire, with General Alexeieff
as his chief of staff, and that he had issued a rescript to
the Grand Duke Nicholas, appointing him to command in
the Caucasus. About that time — on September 28— the
British army on the Tigris, having defeated the Turks at
Kut-el-Amara, was advancing on Bagdad, and to facilitate
this advance and relieve Turkish pressure increased Russian
activity was being displayed in Persian territory. South of
Van the Turks attacked from the Persian side on December 1
but were driven in disorder out of two fortified posi-
tions, while ten days later another Persian force carried the
Sultan Bulak Pass and again opened the road to Hamadan,
a body of Turkish and German mercenaries being routed
with great loss. The Russians next took the Persian towns
of Hamadan and Sultanabad, eighty miles to the southeast,
on the road to Ispahan, intercepting the telegraph wire con-
necting the German headquarters at Teheran and the
Turkish troops in Mesopotamia. By the end of February
General Baratoff had reached Kermanshah, 100 miles south-
west of Hamadan in the direction of Bagdad.

The British advance on the Tigris, however, had in the
meantime received an unwelcome check at Ctesiphon when
Townshend, almost in sight of Bagdad, late in November, was
compelled to fall back on Kut. At the same time Serbia was
being overrun by Teutons and Bulgarians, and the Anglo-
French soon evacuated the Gallipoli peninsula, which released
a large Turkish army, composed of the flower of the Ottoman
troops, some of whom were sent to strengthen the army
in Armenia. Mid-winter had now come. Even in the best
of times six or seven weeks would be required to get the
first of these Turkish reinforcements to the front. In these
circumstances the Grand Duke decided to strike at once for
Armenia. The evacuation of Gallipoli took place on January
9, 1916. The march on Erzerum began on the 16th. Kiamil
Pasha, who was in command of the Turkish army, appears
to have been completely taken by surprize by the suddenness
and vigor of General Yudenitch's advance.

The forward move spread over a front extending from

142

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Lake Tortum on the north to a point near Malazgert, just
north of Lake Van. Before the Turks were well aware that
the campaign had begun, Yudenitch had advanced twenty
miles and struck against their main central position at
Koprukeui, where the road from Kars to Erzerum crosses
the Aras River. The result was a striking victory, which
soon developed into a rout for the Turks, who fled, leaving
behind them guns, munitions, and supplies. This was on
January 19, On the 20th the victors were already at Hassan
Kale, ten miles farther on the road to Erzerum, and only
thirty miles distant from that "impregnable bastion" of

RUSSIANS WITH TURKISH FLAGS TAKEN AT ERZERIJH

Asia Minor. On the 29th Yudenitch was before Erzerum
with a force equipped only with mountain- and field-guns,
in a country swept by constant snowstorms and with a
temperature liable to reach 40 degrees below zero. Such
daring movements might have been regarded as insane under
ordinary circumstancesbot Yudenitch sent back to his base for
howitzers and heavy guns, and moved his headquarters into
the fighting-line. On the 15th the inner ring of forts was
stormed, and on the 16th Erzerum itself was captured, the
Turks in their retirement going west or south as they
could find an opening to escape from Russian guns.
143

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Yudenitch's victory was so sudden that the Grand Duke
Nicholas, whose labors at headquarters had been invaluable,
had not time in which to come up and be present at the
final triumph. He received the great news at Tiflis, where
he was enthusiastically acclaimed by the people in the palace
square. It was compensation to him* for the disheartening
retreats of the previous year. It appeared after the victory
that, in the third week of January, a violent and unexpected
thrust against the Turkish center had resulted in the Turks
being disorganized and dislodged from strong positions ex-
tending east of Erzerum, from Lake Tortumghel to the
River Chariason; that is to say, along a front of over sixty
miles, and that the army was withdrawing in the direction
of ErzeruTQ. At several points this retreat had assumed the
nature of a panic-stricken flight, in which several Turkish
units were almost annihilated. The Russians had advanced
across heights which towered above the clouds, and had dug
trenches in deep snow during severe storms. The Russians
then pushed steadily on toward Erzerum and before the end
of the jnonth were within thirty miles of the fortress and
by the middle of February, as already told, had captured it.

This success was achieved as a counter-offensive to a
Turkish attempt late in November to envelop a wing of the
Russian army. Great things had been expected at that
moment by the Germans who planned the Turkish move-
ment. Field-marshal von der Goltz being, it was understood,
in virtual command. Three army corps were concentrated
at Erzerum, with the Russians in some strength at Kars,
which is about eighty miles from Erzerum. Kars has rail-
road connection northwesterly with Tiflis, the old Georgian
capital, and southwesterly with a point near the Turkish
frontier. The German Staff had planned the enveloping of
the Russian army at Kars. Bringing up reinforcements
from Bagdad and Trebizond, the commander had 150,000
men at his disposal. To cope with this force the Russians
had 100,000. Under German leadership the Turkish plan
was to hold the Russians on the Kars-Erzerum road and,
with columns marching to the left over the mountains, to
turn the Russian right at Kars and then work round its
rear. Meanwhile, a Turkish force at Trebizond was to

144

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

traverse a mountain-pass 8,000 feet high, capture Ardahan,
which lies north of Kars, and cut the railroad to Tiflis. The
Turks in this movement succeeded in driving a force of 4,000
Russians out of Ardahan, and threw them back on Khorasan,
toward Erzerum, seized the Saganuk heights above the rail-
road terminus of Sarikamish and made an effort to cut the
railroad on the north.

But at this point the Russians rallied and beat back the
Turkish Tenth Corps, ousted the First Corps from Ardahan,
and surrounded the Ninth, which had occupied Sarikamish.
At Kara-Urgan followed a week's fierce fighting, the Rus-
sians routing the Turks during a storm in which the snow
fell ceaselessly. After driving the Turks out of Ardahan,
they cut their communications with Trebizond. It was an
old-fashioned campaign with incidental trench-fighting. The
Russians were at fir&t inferior in numbers, but were able
later to bring down by rail from Tiflis reinforcements that
had been spared from the Eastern Front in Europe. The
Turkish enveloping movement was thus defeated, but the
Turks, reinforced and with the aid of one of the ablest of
German generals. Von der Goltz, had succeeded in blocking the
road to Erzerum for weeks.

At this point the Grand Duke Nicholas toijk f^ver the com-
mand in the Caucasus, and soon redeemed fiis'^eputation by
investing and taking Erzerum. It became clear now that
he had been sent to the Caucasus, not as punishment, but
to undertake another job — at least that was how the change
now appeared to the Entente world. The capture was accom-
plished by methods in which Russia had by this time been
well drilled by the Germans. The attack was a typical Teutonic
operation, as much so as the great ** drives'* of Hindenburg.
It left nothing to improvisation, strategem, and maneuver-
ing, but built up success out of elements that could be
handled beforehand — efficient transportation, ample supplies
of munitions, superior forces and a prearranged plan of ad-
vance. The Grand Duke's victory was the victory of rail-
road facilities, of ammunition supplies, of stronger regi-
ments, of better planned lines of advance and of greater
speed and method in movements. The points of Russian con-
centration were Batum on the Black Sea, Tiflis on the rail-

145

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

road from the Black to the Caspian Sea, and Baku on the
Caspian. Here the Grand Duke assembled and trained his
men and accumulated supplies. "When ready, he moved for-
ward from the frontier of Kars, which is within fifty miles
of the Turkish border, taking the road that leads from Kars
to Erzerum, the only passable road in the whole district.
The Russians probably numbered eight army corps, roughly
300,000 men, to whom the Turks opposed perhaps two-thirds
of that number. In an incredibly short time the Russians
reached the defenses of Erzerum, which consisted of a ring
of eleven fortresses that required garrisons of about 6(i,000.
Nine of the forts had been constructed within a few years
under the direction of German military engineers, and were
armed with modern Krupp guns. Yet in five days after
the fall of the first fort, the others had dropt into the
Grand Duke's hands.

Military history received here another example of the
truth, first illustrated on a great scale by Alexander of
Macedon, that good generalship in leading courageous and
trained troops can overthrow any odds. To the Grand
Duke with his chief of staff. General Yanuskevich, belonged
the plans of the Caucasus campaign, the execution of which
was entrusted to General Yudenitch, who had held the
Caucasus command ever since Russia took the field in Asia.
In the attack on Erzerum the military odds were against
Russia. Forty years before she had spent the best part of
a year in efforts to capture the outer line of its defenses.
Those defenses now had the advantage which German
technical science and modem weapons could give them.
Chobon Dede fort stood 8,500 feet above the sea-level, and
none of the forts was under 6,000 feet altitude. All were
taken with the bayonet.

The wiping out of this Turkish base promised to disrupt
the whole Caucasus campaign of the Turks, since Erzerum
not only served as a base for operations in the Caucasus
but for others in Mesopotamia. Its fall left no strongly
fortified point between Erzerum and Sivas, about 230 miles
to the west, and brought once more to men's minds consider-
ation of an eventual attack from the Allies on Constanti-
nople from the east. Its capture had the immediate effect

146

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

of making more secure the Russian positions along the
Black Sea coast, while the possibility of a sueeessful Russian
thrust in aid of the British Expeditionary Force in Meso-
potamia increased. Przemysl yielded a larger number of
prisoners — 120,000 odd — but in all other respects the cap-

A RCSSIAX CHURCH AT ST. STEFANO BIXJWN CP BY THK TURKS

IN THE WORLD WAR
At St. Stefano, wblcb la d^bt ConBtantlnople, irss ceRotlated tbe famous
trwity bearlog that name between Rusela and Turkey In 1S7S. wblcb waa
afterward torn np and tbe Trpaty of Berlin subatltuted In Its pUee. It
WIS tbroueh the Tren4y of BettiD tbat AuBtrta acquired ber hold on Bosnia
a,aa Herzegovina, ending II tbclr annexation In 1008. and followed In 1914
by tbe assassination o( tbe Austrian Arcbduke

147

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

ture of Erzerum stood out as a more fruitful and brilliant
military achievement. Przemysl was virtually starved out,
having been isolated for several months. Its fall did not
make it any easier for the Grand Duke Nicholas to push his
armies across the Carpathian barrier into Hungary. Nor
did it forestall the German-Austro-Hungarian offensive
which, two months later, swept back the Russians far beyond
the San, cleared Poland of them and forced a partial evacua-
tion of the Baltic provinces. The fall of Erzerum, however,
opened up wide strategic and political vistas, Erzerum being
the key to the Turkish defense of her Caucasus front. Kars
used to be that key, but Kars, taken by the Russians in the
war of 1877-78, remained Russian under the terms of the
Treaty of Berlin. Erzerum thereafter was converted into
Turkey's main military base on the northeastern frontier.
Its loss meant that Trebizond, on the Black Sea, would be
difficult to hold, the more so as the Black Sea itself was
under Russian control; while to the south, in the Lake Van
region, the Turkish position was outflanked, and Turkish
access to Persia from that direction would be speedily cut
off. The loss of Erzerum also weakened Turkey on her
Mesopotamia front, where her prospects had been bright.
Bagdad might now have to be evacuated, provided British
pressure up the Tigris could be renewed with fresh troops.

The Grand Duke's success showed Russia's recuperative
powers. A successful offensive had been conducted in the
Caucasus, simultaneously with vigorous assaults against the
Austro-Germans on Russia's southwestern front and a
vigorous defensive in the direction of Dvinsk and Riga.
The successful stroke at Erzerum was bound to be felt else-
where. It meant a relaxation of Turkish pressure on the
Tigris and in Thrace, a dissipation of the Turkish threat
against Egypt, a shifting of the balance around Saloniki,
and that the ambitious plan of a joint attack upon Turkey
from the rear, the British coming north along the Tigris,
the Russians coming south through Armenia, was once more
making headway. Students of the art of war expected soon
to see a Russian advance in Asia Minor to the west, and
possibly in two directions, westward toward Trebizond on
the Black Sea, southward to Diarbekr on the Tigris and

148

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

within striking distance of the projecte4 Bagdad railway.
Trebizond and^Diarbekr are about 150 miles from Erzerum.
The occupation of a large slice of Armenia was thus immi-
nent. But not until Erzingan had been passed, and the
plain of Sivas reached, could a blow be struck at the true
heart of Asiatic Turkey. In any such advance the flanks
had first to be pushed forward; Trebizond to be taken, and
Russia to be in possession of the Armenian Taurus and roads
from the south.

On March 7 the important position of Rizeh, only forty
miles east of Trebizond, was captured, a detached force
having been able to cross the mountain pass between the
Chorok valley and Rizeh and thus join hands with the Rus-
sian coastal force. The combined forces then took up a
westward advance, and soon the Turks were thrown back
across the Kalopotamos, which brought the Russians within
little more than thirty miles of Trebizond. The doom of
Turkey's chief Black Sea port now seemed sealed. Prepara-
tions for the evacuation of the civil population were hastily
undertaken, altho a month was to pass before the actual
fall. A British entry into Bagdad, coming on top of re-
cent events in Armenia, Egypt, and Arabia, would at this
time have turned the scale and so shortened the war in its
Eastern developments, but Kut instead fell to the Turks at the
end of April. After this the Turko-German regime in Con-
stantinople received a fresh lease of life.

Along the coast the Turks were soon sending forward all
the reinforcements that could reach Trebizond by road, with
a view to stopping the Russian advance, which was now
only thirty miles to the east. At the same time an almost
as desperate attempt was made to reinforce and revictual the
city from the sea. With the mystery as to the condition
and whereabouts of the ships Goeben and Breslau still un-
solved, the Russians could not claim absolute mastery of
the Black Sea. One of the exciting incidents of these event-
ful days was the sudden reappearance of the Breslau, acting
as convoy to a number of Turkish transports and grain-
ships destined for Trebizond. The Turks claimed to have
sunk two Russian transports, and endeavored to bombard
the Russian positions on the coast, but the Russians were

149

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

able to sink or burn a considerable number of Turkish
vessels and to compel the Breslau to retire. Turkey's en-
deavor to stop the Russian coastal advance on land was thus
made as ineffective as her efforts had been at sea. Taken
between two fires Turkish resistance broke down as it had
done at Erzerum; it collapsed with startling suddenness.
Some of the Turkish troops, it was said, never came into
action at all, bewildered as they were by simultaneous at-
tacks from the east, west and the sea. Before the evening
of the 12th the Russians were in full pursuit along the
Gumushkhane road. The Trebizond garrison having de-
parted, the Russians were received at the outskirts of the
.city by a deputation of citizens headed by the American and
Greek consuls.

In the third week of April Trebizond fell. Quantities of
supplies, including armored motor-cars, big guns and aero-
planes sent from Germany were captured. Trebizond was
far less strongly fortified than Erzerum, but, after the fall
of Erzerum, a good deal had been done to strengthen it on
the land side. The importance of its fall lay in the fact
that the rest of the Russian front in Asia had been waiting
for its occurrence, so that, with their right flank made
secure the whole Russian force could now be swung forward,
using Erzerum as a pivot. Russian strategy aimed at keep-
ing all Turkish forces, brought from Constantinople for the
defense of Trebizond, occupied over the widest possible
front, so that, while armies were making a successful advance
in the Kara Dere region, and bringing up reinforcements by
land and sea, the Turks were assailed by continuous attacks
in the southeast, in the region of Erzingan and Baihurt.

The fall of Trebizond caused rejoicings in all Allied coun-
tries, since it was believed that it would involve the loss by
the Turks of Erzingan, Kharput, and Diarbekr, and with the
fall of these towns would come a complete isolation of the
Turkish armies in Mesopotamia. The Turks had now lost the
second of their two principal fortified points in Asia Minor.
They would in the future have to depend solely on impro-
vised defenses and the natural difficulties of the country,
if they were to prevent a westward sweep of Russia's Cau-
casian armies. As Trebizond had never before surrendered

150

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

to a Russian army, altho it was threatened from Baiburt
in 1829, the moral effect of the victory promised to be
enormous. Optimistic Russian observers were soon speculat-
ing on the possibility of a successful campaign against Con-
stantinople from the west. Russia's new conquest was in a
way more striking and inspiring than that of Erzerum.
That great fortress, grim and forbidding on its snow-clad
heights, was a symbol of forfeited power; but Trebizond,
apart from its importance as a port and a mart, presented
a scene of Mediterranean beauty and luxuriance. Nowhere
else is the dawn of day more essentially *' rosy-fingered.''
The scene is to-day the same as the one that brought tears
to the eyes of Xenophon and his Ten Thousand followers,
or that which inspired the Roman Emperor Hadrian at his
first view of shore and sea. Trebizond is much older
than Rome. It was already an ancient place when Xenophon
and his men reached it in 401 B.C., after the long retreat
from Cunaxa. The place is still shown at *the mouth of
the Pyxitis where he pitched his camp, rested for thirty
days and celebrated the Olympic games. Long afterward
Trebizond was a Roman colony. Hadrian is claimed as the
builder of the harbor.

This triumph, was unhappily followed within ten days by
the news — inevitable and long expected — of the surrender of
General Townshend and his gallant little force at Kut-el-
Amara, which rendered futile all the chivalrous efforts that
had been made, alike by the extreme left wing of the army
of the Grand Duke and by General Barstoff 's force in Persia
— ^not indeed to approach or to capture Bagdad, but to re-
lieve the pressure on Kut and the Tigris valley by threaten-
ing some part of the Turkish communications, and creating
a diversion on their flank. But Kut, having fallen, and the
Bagdad enterprise being at an end, for the time being, there
was no further object in an extreme lengthening of the
Russian lines, eithep on the Persian frontier or south of the
Van district. At this time, however, the Russian movement
across the Persian frontier to Rowenduz against the Turkish
flank had taken place, Rowenduz being eighty miles north of
Mosul, and 200 miles north of Bagdad. The Russian forces,
in spite of repeated attacks from Kurds and regulars, were

151

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

everywhere successful. The Persian movement had been,
on the whole, a profitable achievement, altho the Russians
had been halted. In the Hamadan-Kermajishah district they
gradually fell back in readiness for the counter-stroke that
was sure to come.

The Russian position was a peculiar one, and by no means
entirely satisfactory, depending, as it did, on command of
the Black Sea, and not on land communications in the direc-
tion of Erzerum. The only road along the coast was con-
trolled from the sea, and Russian command of the Black
Sea was not altogether complete, as there were still several
Turko-German submarines unaccounted for, not to speak of
the Ooehen and the Breslau. The Russian fleet, in forward-
ing Russian supplies and preventing the passage of Turkish
supplies, had to patrol over 2,000 miles of coast line. But
it could bombard Turkish camps, disperse bodies of troops,
and effect important armed landings absolutely essential to
the capture of Trebizond. With command of the sea not
unchallenged, however, and with a good portion of the road
between Erzerum and Trebizond in the hands of the Turks,
the situation could not be regarded with complete com-
placency.^*

In the midst of these events Baron Kolmar von der Goltz,
Field-marshal and Commander-in-chief of the First Turkish
Army, died at Turkish headquarters. The cause was stated
to be spotted fever, but there were rumors of assassination.
Von der Gtoltz, one of Germany's greatest strategists, was
at the time of his death seventy-two years old. He had ,seen
extensive military service, having fought in the Austrian
campaign of 1866 and been on the staff of Prince Frederick
Charles in the Franco-Prussian War. In 1883 he was sent
to Turkey to reconstruct the Turkish army, and remained
there thirteen years. In August, 1914, he was appointed
Military Governor of the occupied part of Belgium, but in
November was relieved of that command and sent to Con-
stantinople, where he was appointed Military Commandant
and Acting Minister of War. He was instrumental in form-
ing the strong defense made by Turkey on the Gallipoli
Peninsula, and had frequently predicted that the Allied

»The London Times* "History of the War."

152

(or Fmnfe in lOH, l)ut wns Ronn sont to Turkey, where he formerly h

a large part Id the recon struct Ion of the Turkish army, lie died somewhat

suddenly In Asiatic Turkey during the war. lie wng one of the oldest

General! In tbe German (ervlcei being over TO nben tbe war began

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

fleet would not be able to force a passage of the Dardanelles.
Dispatches had since reported him as engaged in operations
in Asiatic Turkey. Before the fall of Erzerum he was said
to be bottled up in that Turkish stronghold with 80,000
Turks.

The mastery of eastern Asia Minor virtually passed to
the Russians with the capture of Trebizond, which was the
gateway to Armenia and the geographical outlet for the
trade of western Persia. The significance of the capture lay
as much in the manner in which it was accomplished as in
the fact itself. The fall eame as a direct result of the battle

SOMK OF THE DEFENSES OF TREBIZOND

of April 14, on the Kara Dere, fifteen miles to the east. It
was clear that the Turks were badly beaten and were unable
to Tstty. The part played by the Russian fleet appears to
have been noteworthy, Russian supremacy in the Black Sea
was so near being established as to mean the loss of sea
transport for the Turks, Men and supplies would have to
be forwarded from Constantinople over hundreds of miles
of country destitute of railroads, while Russian armies would
be fed from the sea. To grasp the full value of Russia's
achievements, it needed to be recalled that Erzerum had
fallen five days before the GermMi attack on Verdun began,
and that Trebizond fell when the Verdun attack seemed

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

to have failed. The Oermans had won in France 100 square
miles of territory, and the Russians in Turkey between
10,000 and 15,000 square miles. Even when allowing for
differences in value between ground in France and ground
in Asia Minor, the result remained striking. A peculiarity of
the German mind was revealed, however, i^ a comment made
by an eminent German-American, a man who was a genius in
his profession, that the fall of Erzerum was **a joke."

Altho the Russians were still a long way fron^ their main
objective, which was Constantinople, no theater of the war
was filled with greater possibilities. Russia was driving at
Constantinople from a back door. It was in some sense not
strictly necessary for Russia to reach Constantinople in
order to achieve her object. "Where the Mediterranean ex-
tends deep into Asia Minor and along the Holy Land, a line
drawn from the Gulf of Alexandria to the Black Sea is only
300 miles long. If the Russians could reach this line, driv-
ing the Turks before them, they would have matters very
much in their own hands. There was no defensive position
the Turks could take along this line that could not be out-
flanked from the sea. Starting with the capture of Erzerum,
the Russian campaign in Turkey had steadily grown in ex-
tent and importance.

Trebizond was a prize carrying with it the commercial
mastery of the whole southern Black Sea coast. More
coveted than Erzerum or Kermanshah, since it lies on the
sea and advantageously near the old border of the Russian
Caucasus, it was worth a war in itself. Its value as a means
to further operations in war exceeded any intrinsic value it
possest. From now on it would be possible to ship Russian
supplies to troops in northern Asia Minor by direct route
from Odessa to Trebizond. The Russian frontier was thus
brought a full week nearer its ultimate base. A week was
saved in the transmission of the cumbrous freight that
follows an army, and this might mean as much as 100 per
cent, in real fighting efficiency. Trebizond, in the course
of a few weeks, would be serving as a new base on Turkish
soil. Karahissar, Erzingan, Kharput and Diarbeker, forming
a trio of inland cities running from north to south in the
path of the Russians, were all within about 200 miles of

154

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Trebizond and each seemed likely to fall under the battering
of Russian shell brought down from Trebizond.

In the region of Ashkala in the direction of Erzingan,
the Turks, after the fall of Trebizond, assembled large forces
and took the offensive. After a furious battle, which lasted
the whole day, they succeeded in forcing back the Russian
advanced posts in places, but were compelled to cease their
offensive owing to severe losses. Obstinate fighting con-
tinued until, on June 1, the Russians admitted they had
withdrawn from Mamakhatun in face of simultaneous attacks
and a threatened outflanking movement. The Turks had
conducted a somewhat spasmodic offensive at various points.
At Trebizond, toward the end of May, a series of attacks
began without leading to any marked result. The Russians
countered by an attack in the direction of Gumushkhane,
which dislodged their opponents from a well-organized posi-
tion on the northern slopes of the coast.

The Entente Allies at this time were on the eve of the great
Anglo-French advance on the Somme. Desperate and almost
continuous attacks were being made on Verdun. The Aus-
trians were advancing in the Trentino; Bagdad and the
Dardanelles had ended in failure; nothing was being done
at Saloniki; there was Turkish pressure along the Armenian
front; in Persia General Barstoff had been compelled to
fall back, and Lord Kitchener had been lost on his way to
Archangel. The first definite news of the advance of Gen-
eral Yudenitch came on July 12, altho the new movement
itself appears to have begun on the 2d of the month. The
great advance was soon in full swing and promised to be
swift and as irresistible as that on Erzerum and Trebizond.

On June 26 Yudenitch entered Erzingan. The town was
practically undamaged. As it was the headquarters of an
army corps, With extensive barracks and military factories,
the booty was very considerable. In three weeks Yudenitch
had carried the Russian front forward seventy miles and
had added two or three thousand square miles to his con-
quests. At Erzingan the advance was made over the scene of
the most horrible of Armenian massacres. Erzingan, in
fact, acted as the clearing-house of the victims who were
being driven west, as Trebizond did of those driven north —

165

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

a clearing-house leading to death. The extraordinary fea-
ture of the fall of Erzingan was that the bulk of the Turkish
forces based on that town did not retire westward toward
Sivas, as was expected. Instead they swept southe^istward
toward Lake Van, in the hope of falling upon the Russian
left flank, or of cutting the line of communications; and
eventually portions of these Turkish troops penetrated far
into Persia.

This victory brought the Russians eighty miles further
on the road, seven hundred-odd miles long, between Erzerum
and Constantinople. They had now a less mountainous
country to traverse. Sivas, their next objective, was 150
miles further on. Then further on would come Angora,
the first station on the railroad to the Dardanelles. From
here they had about two hundred miles of not too moun-
tainous country to traverse before reaching their goal.
Meanwhile their parallel campaign along the Black Sea
had to go on, because, until Angora was reached there was
no east and west railroad, and armies had to be provisioned
by water from Batum. It was plain that an expedition mov-
ing southward from Erzingan could threaten Adana, a
Mediterranean port, on the Bagdad railroad, and so could
cut oflf European from Asiatic Turkey. Bagdad and Meso-
potamia would then fall like ripe plums without more
fighting.^^

" Principal Sources : The Sun, The World, New York ; The London Times'
"History of the War" ; The Times, The Tribune, The Evening Post, New
York; Associated Press dispatches, the Encyclopedia Britannica; The Wall
Street Journal (New York) ; The Morning Post, The Daily Chronicle, Lon-
don ; The Journal of Commerce (New York), "Nelson's History of the War"
by John Buchan, TJie Fortnightly Review (London).

156

VIII

TOWNSHEND'S SURRENDER AT KUT-EL-AMARA—

KERMANSHAH AND THE RUSSO-BRITISH

JUNCTION ON THE TIGRIS

April 30, 1916— August 8, 1916

WHEN at the end of September, 1915, the Turkish de-
fense at Kut-el-Amara was broken by the British,
and the British began an advance on Bagdad, only to be
checked at Ctesiphon and forced back to Kut, General
Townshend was in a position in which many British generals
had found themselves since the days of Elizabeth. He com-
manded little more than a single division, was outnumbered
by potential Turkish levies and was well over three hundred
miles from his sea-base. Townshend had a river for his sole
communication, assisted by armed vessels, but that river was
full of shallows and mud-banks more formidable than the
cataracts of the Nile. All around him lay a country ill-
suited for operations by white troops — a sparsely-watered
desert and reeking marshes, baked by the hottest of Asian
suns, and brooded over by those manifold diseases which
heat and desert-soil engender. The local tribes were either
treacherous or openly hostile, and might at any moment
strike at his long, straggling connections with the coast.
That a little British army, wearied with ten months of
incessant fighting, should have advanced to conquer a
great province belonging to a still powerful empire might
well seem one of the rashest of enterprises.

The conquest of Bagdad at that time would have given
great political advantages — if it could have been achieved.
Its fall would have been a make-weight to German domina-
tion at Constantinople. It would have cut at their nodal
point the principal routes of German communications with
Persia and the Indian frontier. This success would not,
however, have been final. There would have remained the

157

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

great caravan routes of the northern Shammar desert, which
followed the projected line of the Bagdad railway to Mosul,
and went thence to Rowandiz on the Persian frontier. Full
success in the British objective demanded control of the
whole of northern Mesopotamia. Such a control might have
been won, but it required an adequate force — at least two
army corps fully equipped, and not one weary division.
When the same task fell into Maude's hands after Townshend
had become a prisoner of Turkey, success was achieved be-
cause Maude had ample supplies of men and equipment.

At the end of September, 1915, the advance on the Somme
in western Europe had reached its limit with no decision.
The Balkan affair had gone from bad to worse, with Serbia
about to be isolated, Bulgaria entering the field on Ger-
many's side, and Mackensen's guns beginning to sound on
the Danube. British diplomacy, justly or unjustly, had
suffered a serious loss of credit. Looking round the globe
for something to restore British prestige, the eyes of soldiers
and statesmen naturally fell on Mesopotamia. The expedi-
tion there had been up to date a brilliant success, with no
mistakes. Miracles had been performed with a handful of
troops. Kut-el-Amara and Nasiriyeh, however, were names
not familiar to Europe, while Bagdad was known to all the
world. If the old city of the Califs could fall to British
arms there would be a resounding success wherewith to
balance failure in the ^gean.

In October Turkey had in the field as many men as the
British Empire. She was fighting nominally in four theaters
of war — in Transcaucasia, on the Egyptian frontier, in
Gallipoli, and in Mesopotamia. But of her four theaters, three
were virtually in a state of stagnation. Probably not more
than 150,000 had been mobilized along the Asiatic Russian
frontier. Nothing was being done on the Egyptian border.
The enemy in Gallipoli had shot his bolt. In Mesopotamia
alone was there any urgent question of a needed defense.
It was therefore open to Turkey, given a little time and
some assistance from Germany in the way of supplies, to
(ieploy on the Tigris little short of a quarter of a million
men. To meet this possibility, Sir John Nixon had an
Anglo-Indian division and an extra brigade — all told, per-

158

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

haps, 15,000 bayonets. White troops formed one-third of
the force. The remainder were Indian troops, including a
number of Punjabs, Mahrattas, Rajputs, Gurkhas, and four
regiments of cavalry. The accompanying flotilla was com-
posed of every conceivable type of boat, from ancient Ad-
miralty sloops to Burma paddle-steamers, river-boats, motor-
launches, and flat-bottomed native punts of the Delta. The
whole British force was battle-worn and weary. Large num-
bers had contracted ailments and diseases. AU were jaded
from an incessant struggle during a hot summer. To cheer
them they had had, however, a record of unbroken success.
Wherever and in whatever numbers they had met the
enemy, they had beaten him. Little did they dream of the
grim fate soon to overtake them.

In Mesopotamia, as in the Nearer East, the British found
themselves confronted with the results of German foresight
and organization, the Turkish army being now a very dif-
ferent organization from what it had been in the Balkan
Wars, in numbers, efficiency, and armament. German
officers, known to be engaged in its reorganization and ex-
pansion, had produced this marked improvement, and the
results probably transcended any anticipations that the
Allies had formed of them. Turkey, despite heavy losses,
had been able to detach troops to Bulgaria and to send con-
siderable reinforcements to the Tigris, beside maintaining a
force of some kind against the British on the Syrian fron-
tier. When contrasted with her defeat in the Balkan wars,
her performance was remarkable

The British expedition had had to contend with exceptional
diflSculties. From April to October, the heat on the Tigris
is excessive, and the rate of invaliding had been unusually
high. The line of communication from the Persian Gulf to
Ctesiphon is 350 miles in a direct line, and traversed a coun-
try peopled by hostile and predatory tribes. It absorbed
large forces in its defense, thus diminishing the numbers
effective for fighting at the front. The Turks had had their
forces augmented by large numbers of tribesmen, who, if not
very eflScient, had their uses so long as things went favora-
bly. The Turks also had the advantage of possessing ample
«ources of intelligence, while the British commanders were

159

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

either ignorant of the enemy's strength and movements, or
were liable to be deceived by false information. The one
advantage enjoyed by the British was possession of facilities
for the transport of troops and supplies by sea and river
from Bombay and Karachi to the front, and for the co-
operation of gunboats. The objects of the expedition were in
the main political, the maintenance of British prestige in
the East, which the Germans had been making every possi-
ble endeavor to undermine. This was cited as justification
for an enterprise which could promise no decisive military
results.

Aylmer's"* advance up the Tigris to join Townshend at
Kut-el-Amara met with stubborn resistance. Townshend
was entrenched there in a loop in the Tigris, and seemed
to have a good defensive position, protected, as he was, on
three sides by the river, and open only to attack on the
north. Aylmer left Ali Gherbi on January 6, 1916, with his
relief force, and on the 7th came into touch with the Turks,
who were in position on both sides of the Tigris, two or
three miles below Sheikh Saad, and were composed of three
divisions, under command of Nair-el-Din. A battle took
place on the 8th, resulting in the retreat of the Turks to
Orah, twenty-five miles down the river from Kut-el-Amara.
Heavy rains prevented pursuit of them, and Aylmer halted
on the 10th at Sheikh Saad, partly on account of the weather,
partly to get his wounded away. The Turks meanwhile had
fallen back to the Essin position, from which Townshend
had driven them in September.

Finding that Aylmer was not following him, Nair-el-Din
went forward again to Orah, where he took up what was de-
scribed as the '* Wade, position." There he was attacked by
Aylmer on the 13th, and driven back to his entrenchments
at Essin, six miles down the river from Kut, but owing to
the continuation of bad weather, which lasted till the 8th,
there was again no pursuit. Aylmer had fought two pitched
battles, and won them both. Bad weather coming when it

***When Aylmer's name emerged with the day*s war news many wondered
if he might not be related to Rose Aylmer, that early sweetheart of Walter
Savage Landor's, who died early In India, and In memory of whom Landor
wrote his best-remembered lines, beginning "Ah, what awaits the sceptred

race."

160

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

did was unfortunate, as it prevented the general from reap-
ing the full fruits of his victories, and gave time to the
Turks to strengthen their defenses.

During the week that preceded the surrender of Town-
shend on April 30, such news as came to Europe from
Mesopotamia had indicated that he might soon be relieved.
On April 5, a victory on the Tigris twenty miles below
Kut-el-Amara was reported by General Lake, who had suc-
ceeded Aylmer in command of the British forces. A Turkish

'j^ Bridge of Boatt

—British Detached
Post

entrenched position at Umm-el-Henna had been attacked and
carried, and Lake had reported that operations were pro-
ceeding satisfactorily. The capture of Umm-el-Henna was
the moat important news from that theater received in
weeks, and was regarded as giving promise of early relief
for Townshend's force now uztder siege in Kut-el-Amara.
Umm-el-Henna lies at an important bend in the river, and
was believed to be the last serious barrier to Townshend's re-
lief. Two or three less strong positions had, however, first to

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

be overcome. Next to the Dardanelles expedition, the operation
in Mesopotamia was the subject on which the British Gov-
ernment was most severely criticized; not only on account
of the breakdown in its hospital arrangements, but on the
question of responsibility for making an advance with insuffi-
cient forces.

Five days later the British attacked a Turkish position at
Sannayyat, on the Tigris just below Kut-el-Amara, but failed
to break through the lines. The check was due to floods,
which were rapidly extending and seriously hampering
British movements. The relieving force consisted of two
divisions: one under General Gorringe, who was in chief
command on the left bank of the Tigris, and the other
under General Keary, who was on the right bank. The
Sannayyat position extended about two miles on either bank
of the river, the left bank resting on the Suwekie Marsh,
and the right on nameless marshy ground stretching for
twelve miles between Orak and Essin. Had Gorringe suc-
ceeded in driving the Turks from Sannayyat, there was
another strong Turkish position at Essin, both flanks of
which were protected by water defenses, which he had to
overcome before he could reach Kut-el-Amara. Gorringe had
had great experience in river warfare; he was with Kitch-
ener in the advance to Khartum. In view of rising floods,
further attempts to advance up the Tigris had now to be
put off.

On April 15, the British troops on the Tigris, including
those of the beleaguered garrison at Kut, did not number
more than three, or at most four, divisions. Water trans-
ports were their sole means for bringing up supplies. The
Turks were better off, being within easy distance of Bagdad,
which had been turned into a large supply depot, and was
constantly replenished from Constantinople. It was believed
that they had at least six divisions in position on the Tigris,
the British troops being thus outnumbered two to one.
The Turks, moreover, were standing on the defensive, while
the British were attacking in order to raise a siege.

On April 30 it was made known that Townshend's army
in Kut had surrendered, after a resistance protracted
for 143 days, and conducted with gallantry and fortitude.

162

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Townshend was compelled to this step by exhaustion of
supplies. The force under him consisted of 2,970 British
troops, of all ranks, and some 6,000 Indian troops and their
followers. The surrender had been expected after the fail-
ure of Gorringe and Keary to break through at Sannayyat,
and after an unsuccessful attempt to send to the blockaded
army provisions by steamers. Townshend's last messages
to London from Kut were received by wireless on the morn-
ing of April 29, when he reported: "Have destroyed my
^ns, and most of my munitions are being destroyed; and
officers have gone to General Khalil, who is at Madug, to
say am ready to surrender. I must have some food here,
and can not hold on any more, Khalil has been told to-day
and a deputation of officers has gone on a launch to bring
some food from Julnar," In his next message he said:
"I have just hoisted the white flag over Kat fort and town,
and the guards will be taken over by a Turkish regiment,
which is approaching. I shall shortly destroy wireless. The
troops go at 2 p.m. to eamp near Shamran." On the same
day the Turkish general, Khalil, received the British parle-
mentaires. He was anxious, he said, that the garrison should
be well rationed, and that Townshend especially, for whom
he exprest admiration, should receive every possible comfort
after the privations he had endured. He welcomed the re-
quest for food, and regretted that the supplies at his
command were not more plentiful. The Pasha said he con-
templated no reprisals. He could give no pledge, but he
did not intend to hang or persecute any one.

Kut had held out to the verge of starvation. From April
16 the garrison had been reduced to a four-ounce ration

WOUNDED MEN FROM THE TIGRIS LEAVING FOR INDIA

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

of flour daily, with a ration of horse-flesh. During the first
month of the siege men were fighting for their lives, only
afraid that ammunition would give out before the relieving
column could reach them. The relieving force, advancing
from Algharbi in the first week of January, believed that
Townshend was near the end of his resources, and the
urgency of his case made it necessary to press on. As
soon as the British advanced from Aligharbi the enemy
relaxed his hold on Townshend, and there was no longei' any
danger that the ammunition would run short; but the check
at Oran made longer resistance a question of supplies. The
location of Kut-el-Amara on a peninsula extending into the
Tigris River made it impossible to send supplies by air, as
there was no landing place for aeroplanes. The forces which
attempted to relieve Townshend had met with almost con-
tinuous misfortunes. Several times rising waters made further
progress impossible, the Turkish position at Sannayyat
being surrounded by water. The British once actually
attacked Turkish positions after wading through mud and
water waist deep, but, while meeting with some success,
failure at other points made their sacrifices futile.

The British public never lost faith in Townshend, even
after he was forced to capitulate, and regarded his cam-
paign, despite its sorry end, as a brilliant one. The sur-
render was one of the few instances of the war in which an
entire fighting unit had laid down its arms. Kut-el-Amara
was nothing but a small collection of ramshackle mud-
houses on somewhat raised ground. Behind the river front
were a mosque and a collection of one- or two-storied houses.
When it became evident that Townshend could not
fight his way out, thirty thousand Indian troops and two
Anglo-Indian divisions, which had been fighting in France,
had been transported to the head of the Persian Gulf, mak-
ing with the remnants of Townshend 's main expedition, a
relief force of 90,000 men, but General Aylmer^s march up the
river was turned to a retreat after the first dash. Floods
came to increase his troubles, due to lack of equipment, until
his position become almost as precarious as Townshend 's was
at Ctesiphon. Like him, Aylmer retreated.

Townshend, at the time of his surrender, was heir pre-

164

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

sumptive to the Marquisate of Townshend, but soon after the
surrender a child was bom to the existing Marquis, who
before had been childless. Townshend was a great-great-
grandson of George Townshend, who fought with distinction
at Quebec in 1759, when Wolfe died in the arms of victory.
He was 54 years of age, was married to the, Countess Louise
Cahen d 'An vers of France, and had served in the Nile ex-
pedition. His surrender was generally regarded as a blow
to British prestige in the East, but it was clear that for a few
thousand men to have attempted to penetrate four hundred
miles into an enemy's country, with no support on either
flank, and with only a shallow and uncertain river to con-
nect them with a base of supplies, was a reckless undertak-
ing. Nevertheless, he seemed at one time near success. The
story of Townshend 's siege, whenever it comes to be told,
promises to form a thrilling chapter in British annals. The
beleaguered garrison ran short of provisions and medicine,
were weakened by disease and incessantly beset by superior
numbers of Turks and Arabs. The narrow circumference
of their camp afforded no landing place for aeroplanes,
which, when they attempted to soar low enough to drop bags
of flour, were liable to be brought down by fire.

When Townshend found he could no longer hold out, he
offered to surrender his artillery and his money, over
$5,000,000, on condition that his troops be allowed to retire
down the river with military honors. The Turkish com-
mander, Khalil Pasha, refused, and then Townshend sur-
rendered, but was allowed to retain his sword. Turkish
estimates of the British casualties on the Tigris were 20,000
for March and April. Most of the losses were suffered by
forces under Gorringe and Keary in their last desperate
attempts to rescue the Townsend expedition twenty miles
away. Townshend was first bottled up three months after
the fall of Grodno, in the autumn of 1915, during the great
German invasion of Russia; one month after the Bulsrarians
captured Nish; a few days after the pro-German uprising in
Persia, and a fortnight before the British evacuation of
GallipoH. Since then the face of the war map had changed.
The recovery of the Russians under Brusiloff in a splendid
but ultimately futile offensive, the collapse of the Turkish de-

165

IN THE EAST, NEA!k EAST, AND SOUTH

fense in Armenia, the end of uprisings in Persia, the main-
tenance of a Franco-British force under Sarrail in Chal-
cidice, the Austrian reverses before Czernowitz, and the
repulse of the German attack at Verdun had swung the
scales of fortune adversely to the Teutonic cause.

In most of their military operations the British had
suffered from lack of preparedness, or from underestimating
the force to be met or task to be performed. But notwith-
standing this, British prestige had not commonly been
affected by early defeats in the field — at least this had not
been the case when it concerned the alien races whom
the British governed. More than one British expeditionary
force had been destroyed in Afghanistan, but ultimately
Lord Roberts was able to march to Candahar. The Boers
repeatedly defeated the British, and under humiliating con-
ditions, but the British flag now floats over Pretoria, and
Boers fought under it in this World War. The Zulus
wiped out a British regiment at Isandula, but the British
for a generation have governed Zululand with only a hand-
ful of white policemen. The New Zealanders were not sub-
dued in the field, but by the diplomacy of Sir George Grey.
Egyptians saw Gordon sacrificed and Hicks Pasha's army
wiped out in the Sudan, but they fought shoulder to shoul-
der with the British during Kitchener's march to Khartum.
India has seen the British defeated, but these defeats did
not affect the prestige of the British Raj. Macaulay
pointed out that Warren Hastings endangered British rule
in India, not by his military reverses, but by his departures
from uprightness in government, which was the real basis of
British prestige. The British have won few battles, but
they have not lost wars in recent times, or as some one has
said, they never in war win but one battle — the last one.

Kut was a military disaster which could neither be ex-
aggerated on the one hand, nor minimized on the other. The
surrender, no matter for what reason, of five British gen-
erals, 240 British and 270 Indian officers, and 9,000 men,
combatants and non-combatants, could not take place with-
out striking a blow at British military prestige. The British
could comfort themselves with knowledge that their troops
were overwhelmingly outnumbered, but, while this exon-

166

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

erated Townshend and his men from any blame for failure,
it did not remove responsibility from those who, without
counting the cost, had placed them in an impossible position.

A report published in July, 1917, ascribed England's fail-
ure at Kut-el-Amara to lack of proper preparation and
foresight, and proved, what had been suspected all along,
that the Indian Government, which was responsible for the
Mesopotamian expedition, originally had no adequate con-
ception of the task with which it was faced. It failed to
realize the difference between an enterprise directed against
uncivilized Afghan tribes, and one against well-drilled
Turkish soldiers organized by German military genius.
There was lack of ammunition and medical supplies, and,
above all, of transportation facilities for the relieving forces.
Bitter experience finally taught the Government of India
how to go about its task, with the result that Bagdad later
feU into British hands.

Near the end of February some Persian troops concen-
trated in the region of Kermanshah, with the help of Ger-
man and Turkish sappers, occupied and fortified two
mountain passes, the Budsurks and the Sakahe. The Rus-
sians, after dislodging them from Bidsurks, and occupying
Sakahe, pursued them and took Kermanshah, which lies 280
miles southwest of Teheran. Trade routes from Bagdad,
Ispahan, Hamadan and Suleimaniyah all meet at Kerman-
shah and make it an important center. Built on rising
ground, and connected with hills to the south, it has ancient
walls, three or four miles in circumference, but now in
ruins with the moat encumbered with debris. Kermfanshah
is in reality an open town in spite of five gates and numer-
ous loop-holed towers that flank the ruined walls. Many
Americans first learned its name from the rugs for which it
and its neighborhood are famous. Rug manufacture, how-
ever, is almost a lost industry in Kermanshah itself. Rugs
and carpets exported through its custom house come mostly
from other parts of Persia. They are merely shipped by
way of Kermanshah as a distributing center. Here was
clearly seen a Russian attempt to effect a junction between
their Caucasian army and the British then in sore straits on
the Tigris. Aylmer's relief column, which had been pushing

167

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

up the Tigris to relieve the beleaguered British under
Townshend at Kut-el-Amara, late in February had opened
a heavy artillery attack on the Turkish positions.

About a fortnight after the fall of Erzerum, the Russian
army operating in Persia advanced seventy-five miles west
of Kermanshah to Karind, on its way to Bagdad. Karind,
like Kermanshah, is on the River Dijala, a tributary of the
Tigris. From Karind this river runs northwest for fifty
miles and then dips to the southwest for thirty miles to
the frontier. For about seventy mjles, broadening as it
goes, it flows through Mesopotamia and joins the Tigris
fifteen miles below Bagdad. This advance promised soon
to flank the Turkish army opposing the British; indeed, the
occupation of Bagdad by the combined Anglo-Russian armies
seemed in prospect of early realization. The progress made
in Persia had been little noticed, but it was hardly less
important than the progress Russia had made in Armenia.
Hamadan, a recognized center of pro-German agitation, had
been taken before the Russians advanced against Kerman-
shah. When the main army captured Bitlis, it was only
forty miles from the eastern Tigris and 125 miles from
Missibin on the Bagdad Railway.

The Russian advance in Asia Minor, radiating along three
main lines from Erzerum toward Trebizond, Sivas, and
Bitlis, was meeting with success in all three directions.
There had been no serious Turkish resistance since the fall
of Erzerum. Baratoff, having occupied Karind on March 12,
called a halt for two months in order to secure his flanks
and reconstruct the road from Hamadan, which in some
places was nothing more than a mule-track. In the first
week in May he resumed his march, and on the 5th attacked
and defeated the Turks in a position which they had strongly
entrenched at Sermil, seven miles from Karind. "Without
giving the enemy time to rally, he advanced to Kasr-i-
Shirlin on the 9th. This brought him within a day^s march
of Khanikin.

Thus, the campaign in the Caucasus which the Grand Duke
Nicholas had launched in January, was now being carried
on along a front extending for 700 miles or more from
Trebizond to Kut-el-Amara. The front, however, was not

168

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

continuously occupied, owing to the mountainous nature of
the country. There were many localities in which movements
by bodies of troops were impracticable. In this respect,
the conditions in Armenia were different from those on the
"Western and Eastern Fronts in Europe, where rival armies
faced one another across an unknown line of entrenchments,
and where at Verdun more than twelve weeks had passed
away since the opening attack, the Germans being as yet no
nearer the fortress than on February 25, when they reached
the Douaumont plateau, in their first offensive movement.
By April 12 the Russian force in Persia having traversed the
mountain district separating it from the Turko-Persian
frontier, and driven the Turks upon their strongly fortified
base at Khanikin, stood at the threshold of Mesopotamia,
110 miles northeast of Bagdad. Mosul, which before had
scarcely been considered in the war, now became a chief
center of interest, for one of the Grand Duke's armies there
sat astride a main caravan route in the Tigris valley, and
had cut an important line of communication with Bagdad.

Russian forces rapidly closed in on the ancient fortified
town of Jaziret-ibn-Oinar, which lies on an island in the
Tigris, less than 130 miles southeast of Diarbekr, and
about eighty miles northwest of Mosul. This movement,
taken with the advance of Russian forces toward Mosul,
brought pressure on the rear of the Turkish armies in
Mesopotamia and placed between 100,000 and 125,000 men
in jeopardy. The advance meant the cutting of the line of
the Bagdad Railroad, and this meant not only disaster to
Turkey, but the overthrow of one of the great German
schemes of empire, in which the scattered Ottoman Empire
was to have been braced together by German railways and
German ports, its varied races to acquire consistency and
Turkey to be employed as an instrument against England
in Egypt and India — ^the only instrument by which British
power could have been effectively curbed and controlled.
Great Britain could be attacked and mortally wounded by
land from Europe only in one part, and that was in Egypt.

Townshend's surrender at Kut-el-Amara, instead of caus-
ing the Russians to abandon, or change, their plans for
invading Mesopotamia, appeared rather to inspire them with

V. VIII— 12 169

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

fresh incentives. They soon made conspicuous progress
along the difficult roads of the Persian mountain-province,
which borders Mesopotamia, and drove the Turks from
another series of positions far to the westward, and close to
their own frontier. The main threat upon Mesopotamia,
however, lay not in this isolated Persian expedition, which
was far removed from Russia's other Caucasian armies, but
in concerted Russian efforts to drive the Turks southward
from Mush in the direction of Diarbekr. This was the
shorter route for reaching the Bagdad Railway, possession
of which by the Russians would have been equivalent to a
Turkish renunciation of Mesopotamia.

The Russians now partly achieved one of their main
objectives in Asiatic Turkey — ^the joining of hands with their
British allies fighting against the Turks on the Tigris. With-
out preliminary announcements, and apparently quite un-
expectedly, a force of Russian cavalry, ** after a bold and
adventurous ride," formed a junction with the British
General Gorringe on the right bank of the Tigris in the
region of Kut-el-Amara, where only a few "weeks before a
British force under General Townshend, after a long siege,
had been forced to capitulate to the Turks. How this junc-
tion of the Russians with the British on the Tigris was
effected remained long unknown. The supposition was that
it represented the work of a detachment from the Russian
army which was threatening Khanikin, about 120 miles to
the north. The sudden appearance of the Russians with
General Gorringe raised the question whether the Russians
already had not cut the Bagdad railway at Mosul.

To reach the British forces on the Tigris, Cossack cavalry
would have had to ride about 200 miles across rough coun-
try from Russia's furthest south in the mountains west of
Kermanshah. That was a difficult ride, but it could have
been completed in four or five days. Infantry in this war
had sometimes covered close to thirty miles a day. The
strength of the force that reached General Gorringe was
presumably not large, but it might be effective enough for
reconnaissance work and skirmishing operations against
Turkish line of communications. Like the arrival of the
Russians in France, the primary purpose of this dramatic

170

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

coup was not strategic. It was intended to serve notice on
the Central Powers of that unity of Allied purpose which
Premier Viviani had reasserted and specifically imprest
upon the Turkish Government and the populations of Cen-
tral Asia, and to show that the defeat of Kut-el-Amara
had not checked the Allied advance against Bagdad and the
Mesopotamian provinces. . Simultaneous pressure against the
Turks from the Caucasus, from Persia,, and from the Persian
Gulf made the defensive task of the Ottoman army highly
diflScult. It compelled a thinning of the line along a front
of seven hundred miles, and left the initiative in the hands
of the Allies. The Cossack officers were invited to Bassora
to meet General Lake, where by order of the King of Great
•Britain they were decorated with the Military Cross.

The ride across that wild country into Mesopotamia was
a daring achievement, an extreme test of hardiness, mobility,
and resource. The route took the Cossacks across a moun-
tainous region, which had been a familiar landmark to the
British for months, but it was rough and precipitous, and
the path often difficult even for mules. Some of the passes
were over 8,000 feet high. The Cossacks met with no actual
opposition during the whole journey, other than a few stray
shots at long range. For transport they had less than one
pack animal for ten men. These animals carried ammuni-
tion, cooking-pots, and a tent. Otherwise, beyond a few
simple necessaries, Cossacks had no kit except what they
stood in, and lived on the country, purchasing barley, flour,
rice and sheep from the villagers. Fodder and fuel were
always obtainable. They had only one surgeon provided with
medical wallets, but none of the Cossacks fell sick. Their last
march was one of thirty miles, during which five of their
horses died of thirst or exhaustion on the parched desert.
They reached the British camp after night-fall. After a
dinner given in their honor, they indulged in singing and
dancing, and did not turn in till one o'clock in the morning.
The ride of the Cossacks, establishing direct contact between
the Russian force in Persia and the British force on the
Tigris, imprest tribesmen on both sides of the frontier.

Meanwhile the Russian column, advancing westward on
Mosul, the ancient Nineveh, was attacked late in May by

171

IN THE EAST. NEAR EAST. AND SOUTH

Turks on a ten-mile front extending from Rewanduz to
Dergala. On the previous day a mixed force of Turks and
Kurds had attacked the southern Russian line at Serdasht.
Both attacks proved ineffective. The Turkish forces which
were thus attempting to stay the Russian progress toward
Bagdad and Mosul were not new arrivals, but Mesopotamian
commands released by the capitulation at Kut. Owing to
railway connections, the Turks could still draw upon the
central resources of the Ottoman Empire for a prolonged
resistance, and thereby strengthen the defense of Bagdad.
The loss of Mosul would inevitably have meant the loss
of Bagdad. The Turko-Germans hoped to break through
the Russian left center and take up a threatening posi-
tion on the flank and rear of the Bitlis and Mush forces.
The scene of fighting was only forty odd miles southwest of
Erzerum, and about the same distance northwest of Mush.
The country was all mountains, cut by gorges and occasional
river valleys. The roads were mostly goat-tracks. This de-
velopment indicated a definite strategic plan in reply to the
Russian push southward from Trebizond, and these moun-
tain-barriers were the last natural obstacles to a Russian
march on Constantinople. Once they could be forced, there
lay only a broad expanse of level plain of the richest soil
in Asia Minor. Here was the route eastward and westward
that had been followed by great world-conquerors of an-
tiquity from the time of Greek and Roman domination to
Tamerlane.

The Turks, in June, taking the offensive at three points,
temporarily checked the Russian advance. All their attacks
were finally repulsed, except one at Mamakhatum, 50 miles
west of Erzerum, which was evacuated by the Russians.
Here the fighting was over a front of about twenty miles.
Attempts by the Turks, who had been reinforced by Aus-
trians and Germans, to press back the Russians near Bair-
burt and Diarbekr, failed. Again in August the Turks made
gains. On August 8 they captured the Armenian towns of
Bitlis and Mush, and carried on obstinate fighting in the
regions of Mush, Bitlis, Vanskou, Rmijsk, Semesk, Hker-
manghan and Khanazan. In time they were forced to
evacuate Bitlis and their attempt to encircle the left flank of

172

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

the Russian Caucasian army received a crushing blow.
Three weeks later the Russian forces reoccupied Mush.

Turkish forces in June made raids into Persia. The fall
of Kut had released Turkish troops, and some of these had
been diverted to the Persian frontier. By the beginning
of June, they had driven the Russians from the neighbor-
hood of Khanikin and Kasr-i-Shirin, and by July 1 had
retake Kermanshah. News that the Grand Duke was ad-
vancing into Armenia did not check their movements.
Farther north a Russian force near the frontier town of
Rowanduz was driven back in the last week of July in the
direction of Lake Urmia. In this area a great deal of
obscure fighting developed. The main Turkish invading
force did not pause long at Kermanshah, but soon captured
Hamadan, which, by the most direct route, is 200 miles
from Teheran. These checks to the Russians in Asia
foreshadowed the disaster which ultimately was to overtake
the splendid offensive which Brusiloff had seemed about to
carry out with success on the frontier of Galicia and Buko-
wina. But they were followed in good time by the advance
up the Tigris of the British under Maude and the capture
of Bagdad."

"Principal Sources: The Times (New York), The Times (London), The
Journal of Commerce (New York), The Fortnightly Review (London), The
Evening Post, The Independent, The Evening Sun, "Bulletins'* of the Na-
tional Geographic Society, The Wall Street Journal, The World, New York;
"Nelson's History of the War" by John Buchan.

173

EEVOLT IN ARABIA AND THE NEW KINGDOM

OF HEDJAZ SET UP

June 23, 1916— July 12, 1917

REPORTS reached London on June 23, 1916, of a
serious uprisings against the Turks in the Hedjaz part
of Arabia. Rebels had displaced them in the Holy City
of Mekka, as well as at Jidda, the chief seaport of the
country, while Taif, sixty-five miles southeast of Mekka,
had proclaimed its independence of Ottoman rule. The ris-
ing had been preceded by a similar insurrection at Karbela,
about forty-five miles southwest of Bagdad in Mesopotamia,
also a sacred city containing the tomb of Hussein, a grand-
son of Mohammed. Hussein-ibn-Ali, the Grand Sherif of
Mekka, was the most powerful prince of western and cen-
tral Arabia. He, rather than the Turks, was the real ruler
of Mekka. Along with his able sons, he exercised a unique
authority, due to temporal possessions and the religious
prestige that came from having sprung from the blood of
the Koreish.

As the hereditary Keeper of the Holy Places, he had been
the natural leader in a movement for Arab independence.
As head of one of the two principal families in the Hedjaz,
and of the tribe of the Prophet, he held a position re-
sembling that of a feudal lord or a Highland chieftain.
His tribesmen and dependents held property all over the
Hedjaz, and acted as his deputies in the administration of
ancient Arabic law. His office was temporal — that of Emir
(Prince) of Mekka — ^but as custodian of the Holy Places he
was looked upon as a religous leader, and in his action had
the full support of the Ulema of Mekka. His personal quali-
fications added to his authority. A man somewhat past
middle life, of good presence, known as a sagacious and
prudent prince, strictly orthodox and yet free from fanati-

174

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

cism, he had a receptive mind and an appreciation of the
material advantages of Western civilization. His sons, or
the elder among them, had traveled extensively, were of
keen intelligence, and already were known as capable leaders
of men. One of them attended the Peace Conference and
made an excellent impression on Europeans.

Difficulties had to be overcome before Hussein could take
his decisive step. Turkish troops garrisoning the country
numbered 20,000, and were highly disciplined, well equipped,
and strong in artillery. Altho the Arabs could put double
that number of men in the field, they had little military
discipline, lacked material, and had scarcely any artillery,
but they had the advantage of great mobility and an inti-
mate knowledge of the country, the most of which was a
barren, fairly level plateau, separated from the Red Sea
coast strip by a rugged mountain range. Fully 700 miles
in length and nowhere more than 200 miles wide, the Hedjaz,
with an area somewhat larger than that of Great Britain,
had only five towns of any size, and a total population
scarcely exceeding 300,000, the majority of whom were
Bedouins. The proclamation of independence was made at
Mekka on June 5. The townsmen sided with the Sherif,
but the Turkish garrison rejected his summons to surrender,
and opened fire with their artillery on the Great Mosque.
It was not until June 13 that the resistance of the Turks
was completely overcome in the town, altho Turkish soldiers
in one or two small forts outside the walls held out till the
middle of July. The total captures of the Sherif were 950
unwounded and 150 wounded men, 28 officers, four guns,
and large stores of munitions.

The immediate causes of the revolt, which extended be-
yond the Hedjaz, were both racial and religious. Secular
hostility between Arab and Turk was notorious. While
the Turk hated and distrusted the Arab, and had de-
spoiled him of his finest lands, nowhere and at no time had
Ottoman rule in Arabia been accepted by the Arab, who
looked with disdain on a race intellectually and in many
other respects his inferior. The Arabs in Arabia had suc-
ceeded in retaining a large measure of independence.
After the conquest of Egypt in 1517 by Selim the Grim,

175

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

who had already made himself master of Damascus and
Jerusalem, the Emir of Mekka acknowledged him both as
Calif and lord of the Hedjaz. Since that time the Emirs,
or Sherifs, of Mekka, altho virtually independent, had been
nominally Ottoman vassals. In recent times the Turks had
maintained a precarious authority, chiefly by control of the
seaports and heavy subsidies to Arab princes and tribes.
The troops stationed in the country were only a garrison,
whose authority extended no further than the range of their
guns. The Hedjaz had always been a drain on the Turkish
treasury, but it was a question of prestige for the Turks to
hold the Holy Cities of Islam. To be **the Servant of the
Cities of Mekka, Medina and El Kuda (Jerusalem)'' was
one of the most prized of their titles. The Sultan Abdul
Hamid, by his Pan-Islamic policy, had kept the support of
the Sherif of Mekka, and by building the railway from
Damascus to Medina had appreciably increased Ottoman
power in Western Arabia. Begun in 1901, the section of the
line from Damascus to Ma 'an (285 miles) was completed in
1904, and Medina, 820 miles from Damascus, was reached in
1908. Built to a considerable extent with money obtained
from the Faithful, on the ground that it made easy pilgrim-
age to the Holy Cities, the railway enabled the Turks to
tighten their hold on the Hedjaz and the provinces south
of it, Asir and Yemen. Thus when Turkey joined in the
World War in October, 1914, her position in Western Arabia
was fairly strong.

The summer of 1916 appears to have been chosen for the
revolt because the success at that time of the Grand Duke
Nicholas in Armenia had weakened Turkish military power
throughout Arabia. Great Britain, being in control of
India, the greatest Moslem empire, had been interested in the
movement. Since the early days of the war, she had en-
deavored to maintain an attitude of the highest respect for
the Mohammedan religion, and a proclamation had been
issued declaring that the holy places of Arabia, including
the Shrine of Mesopotamia and the port of Jidda, would be
*^ immune from attack or molestations by British military
forces as long as there was no interference with pilgrims
from India.'' The uprising was in a sense an outcome of a

176

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Pan-Arab movement, which aimed at the ejection of the
Turks from the Arabian Peninsula, and the formation of a
great confederation of Arab tribes. It had a twofold character.
In addition to its political side, it was probably stimulated
by resentment among Mohammedans of the German domina-
tion of Turkey. "While Turkey remained free and inde-
pendent most races professing the Mohammedan faith had
been content with Turkey's guardianship of the Holy

THE EMIR FAISAL, SON OF THE KING OP HBDJAZ
The EmTr arrtvefl In Enaland on December 10. IftlS. to nrpsipnt the resnecta
of his fitlier to Klnj[ George. In the war he Imd led troonfl through three
SDCceesirDi ramnalens. He Is se«n wearing a lonz blaek "abbs," or cloak.
and tbe nsttonnl bpsd-rloth ot Damaacua gllh witb golden head-rone of
Mecca manufacture. From Lonrtnn hp wpnt to Parla. to attend tbe Peace
Oonferrace

177

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Places; they looked up to her as the last great Moham-
medan State, a revered survival of days when the sword of
Islam won widespread domination in three continents. But
German control of Constantinople they thought meant in the
end German control of the Holy Cities, and when the road
from Berlin to Constantinople was reopened after Serbia
was overrun in the autumn of 1915, Turkish independence
came to an end. Many Mohammedans began then to feel
that Turkey had forfeited her right to control Mekka and
Medina, and the pilgrimages of pious Mussulmans to those
sacred spots.

The rising was only the last of a series of Arab rebellions
against Turkish rule. For nine years adjacent provinces
had been centers of an insurrectionary movement under
Said Idris, while the Yemen had periodically rebelled ^ver
since the Turks first invaded it in 1870. Turkish control,
in fact, had never been firmly established over the great
tribes of Central Arabia, where the important cities of
Riadh and Hail maintained independence. In 1913 Ibu
Sand drove Turkish forces out of El Hasa, in Eastern
Arabia, on the borders of the Persian Gulf. The revolt in
the Hedjaz was the final episode in a long series of events
which had been set in motion before the great war began.
The so-called Pan- Arab movement had gained impetus since
1913. It aimed at the abolition of Turkish misrule, oppres-
sion and maltaxation, at the ejection of Turks from the
Arabian Peninsula, and the formation of a confederation of
Arab tribes. Arabia, never truly conquered by the Turks,
had remained the real stronghold of the aristocracy of the
Moslem world. More than a century before the great war,
the Arabs had driven the Turks not only from the Holy
Places, but from all Arabia, and even from Berbela, a
Mesopotamian city. Never had the Arab wholly bowed to
the Osmanli, and now that the Osmanli had fallen under
the spell of the unbeliever, in yielding to German supremacy,
it was logical that the conservative theologians of the Penin-
sula should assert themselves and precipitate a revolt.

Abdul Hamid built the Hedjaz railroad to Medina be-
cause he foresaw that the time might come when the Arabs
would seize the Holy Cities, and he wanted facilities for

178

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

sending troops southward. Since the Turkish Revolution
of 1904, the conspirators who acquired control of Turkey
had practically abjured Islam, making it certain that the
Orthodox Moslems of Arabia, of whom the Grand Sherif was
the principal representative, would eventually, thrust the
Turks out of Mekka. And so, when in the autumn of 1916
Turkey practically ceased to exist, when Enver Pasha and
his colleagues almost transferred their country to Germany,
making Prussian officers the real possessors of Turkish
authority, the end was near.

Politically, the Sherif of Mekka as representing the old
Emirs of Mekka, gave the Bedouins such laws as they could
be made to accept. Two patrician families, howeyer, had
contested the office. By setting one against the other, the
Sultan of Turkey had sustained with their varying fortune
his hold on Arabia. While his position was bettered by the
Iledjaz railroad and its strategic value, nothing had made
his position in Arabia other than precarious. The Young
Turks, with a genius for blundering, had sacrificed many
soldiers in vain attempts to enlarge, or maintain, occupation
of certain parts of the peninsula, but for eight years had
steadily lost territory, and now Hedjaz was about to be lost.

Arabians, always ripe for insurrection, found in the plight
of Turkey and the Russian successes in Armenia, sufficient
motives for a revolt. Exactly what the Sultan, who then
had little left to lose, would lose by this revolt, was hard
to estimate, because the value of guardianship of the Holy
Cities, a privilege that had passed from one chief Moham-
medan State to another, had much diminished in modern
times. No great Mohammedan State now survived, and the
myth of a religious solidarity of Islam had been exploded,
the Sultan's religious headship being a fiction more tolerated
than believed in. At the same time, the spiritual focus of
the Moslem world was Mekka. The innermost shrine of the
place contains the Kaaba, a great sacred black stone, toward
which every son of Islam turned when he offered his devo-
tion, but Turkish troops had been indiscreet enough to bom-
bard this ''symbol of the unity of God."

The Sherif, after declaring his independence, divided his.
forces — ^horsemen, camelry, and foot — into four parties: one

179

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

remained at Mekka, another was sent north under the Emir
Faisal towards Medina, a third, under the Emir Abdulla,
went south to Taif, and a fourth, under the Emir Zeid,
westward to Jidda. For the success of the enterprise it was
essential that the Sherif should become not only master of
Mekka, but of the means of access to it, namely Jidda, and
the forty to fifty miles of country which lay between it
and Mekka. The conquest of the rest of the country might
follow more at leisure. Ability to receive and safeguard
pilgrims to Mekka would be the test of his claim to inde-
pendent authority. The revolt spread like wildfire. The
Emir Nuri Shalan, who had ialready refused to support
Djema, joined the Grand Sherif, and presently the Said
Idrissi of Asir took up arms, and captured the Red Sea port
of Kunfidah, 150 miles south of Mekka. On July 27, Yambo,
the port ©f Medina, fell. In Medina itself Turkish troops
were closely besieged, while the fires of revolt spread north-
ward among the Arabs all the way to Damascus. Constanti-
nople could not sit still under a blow which threatened the
little religious prestige that remained to her, and so Turkish
troops were hurried south, forces destined for another in-
vasion of Egypt being diverted to the new theater of war.

At the beginning of operations the Emir Faisal laid siege
to Medina, and hi» horsemen, riding across the desert, tore
up a considerable section of the railway near El Ala, 150
miles north of the city, an action which delayed the arrival
of Turkish reinforcements from Damascus. In August the
Turks made a great sally, and a pitched battle was fought
in the plain south of Medina. In this encounter Faisal's
casualties were about 500, those of the Turks were estimated
at over 2,000. The Turks retreated to the city, where they
perpetrated every species of barbarity upon inhabitants who
favored the Sheriffs, cause, many being hanged or crucified.
The Emir Fa^'sal was unable to follow up his advantage, and
for months there was little alteration in the military situa-
tion. The first phase of the campaign was ended. Before
operations were actively renewed the Arab forces were re-
organized and turned into a disciplined permanent army.
In September, Taif, the Turkish headquarters, and with its
vali and commander-in-chief, Ghaleb Pasha, surrendered,

180

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

and by the end of the year Ottoman authority in the Hedjaz
had ceased to include more than a strip of territory border-
ing the railway leading from Medina to Eastern Palestine
and Damascus.

In November, 1916, the Grand Sherif took the title of
King of the Hedjaz, and early in 1917 sent an army northr
ward, where it gained a series of njotable successes between
Akabah, at the head of the gulf and the Red Sea, at
Ma 'an, on the southern border of Syria, and in places on
the Hedjaz railway between Medina and Damascus. Earlier
in the war, from the time when they first appeared on the
frontiers of Sinai, Mekkan forces had constituted a friendly
army on the right of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force,
and the British, from August, 1917, onward, had given
them help by conducting air-raids on Ma 'an, which was then
in Turkish possession.

The formation of the Kingdom of Hedjaz, with the
Grand Sherif as its King, followed by its recognition by all
the Entente Powers, had a twofold importance. From the
political point of view, it meant the resurrection of an Arab
State and the independence of the Arab Nation after cen-
turies of subordination to the Turks. From the religious
point of view, it possibly meant a new orientation for 200,-
000,000 souls professing the Islamic faith. In Hedjaz was
the birthplace of Islam. Its population had not been ascer-
tained, but it was estimated at 1,500,000, of whom 250,000
were city-dwellers, while the rest led a nomadic life. The
Sherif was about sixty-two years old, of medium size, white-
bearded, with a white round face, large eyes, and a big
head. He was well educated and knew, besides the Arabic
language, Turkish and Persian, both of which he spok6 and
wrote. He also spoke English, French and Russian, all of
which he had studied in Constantinople. He was the first
Sherif to have so wide -a knowledge of foreign languages.
Thus a new State that the war developed was seen in the
Kingdom of Arabia.

When the victorious Sherif proclaimed himself King, the
boundaries of the kingdom were not defined. Great Britain
expected eventually to have as much to do with fixing them
as the Arabs themselves. To detach Arabia from its

181

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

shadowy allegiance to the Ottoman Empire and to bring it
within the sphere of British influence had long been a part
of England's political program in the Near East. "With the
Russians standing sponsor for a restored Armenia on the
north, and the British for a revival of ancient Arabia in
the south, the hold of the Turks was becoming as insecure
in Asia as it was in Europe. The area of the peninsula
of Arabia was about 1,200,000 square miles; but most of
it was desert and half of it ^unexplored. The portion over
which Turkey claimed lordship was the Red Sea coast coun-
try of Hedjaz, Yemen, etc., embracing JViekka, Medina, Jidda,
the Holy Places, and the trading-ports — a tract with an
area about twice that of the British Isles and a population
of 1,000,000. The rest of Arabia was either waste or coast-
wise country toward the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf,
where British influence was paramount and the ruling chiefs
were friendly.

Farther away, on the Edom border, was the forest of
Hish, the principal source whence the fuel consumed by
locomotives on this section of the Hedjaz Railway was
obtained. A narrow gage railway connected the forest with
the main line at Anaise station. It was to conquer this
valuable region that the Emir Faisal set the Northern
Hedjaz Army in motion in the early days of January, 1918.
Strong parties were detached to keep the Turks at Ma 'an in
check, and General AUenby, who was then advancing to the
north of Palestine, assisted with three air-raids on the town,
in which barracks, supply depots and railway buildings
were bombed. The Emir Faisal quickly followed up his
advantage. Two days later (January 28) another of his
columns prest north between El Kerak and the Dead Sea
and reached the shores of that remarkable lake — the lowest
point in the earth's surface, 1,292 feet below the sea level.
They attacked and captured El Mezra, seized an. armed
iaunch and several dhows, captured large stores of grain and
took 60 prisoners. The remnant of the Turkish force, some
40 men, fled to Kerak.

Now firmly established east of the Dead Sea, Faisal rested
and reorganized his troops for the next phase, the advance
on Kerek itself. Occupying a hill 3,000 feet high, with

182

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

strong defenses, and only 20 miles from El Kutrani Station
on the Hedjaz Railway, and thus capable of being quickly
reinforced, the attack upon it required careful preparation.
The operations were indirectly helped by AUenby's cam-
paign. Jericho had fallen on February 21, and in March
Allenby, crossing the Jordan, raided the Hedjaz Railway at

THE FLAG OP THE NEW KINGDOM OF HEDJAZ

Amman, 55 miles east-north-east of El Kerak. AUenby's
raid gave the Emir Faisal his opportunity ; he was further
aided by units of the Royal Plying Corps and the Austra-
lian Flying Corps, which, on March 19, bombed El Kutrani.
The raid was primarily intended to assist AUenby's own
trans-Jordan advance, which began three days later, but it

IN THE BAST, NEAE EAST, AND SOUTH

served a double purpose. The raiders were met by enemy
aeroplanes, one of which was shot down. Two of the British
machines were forced to descend by anti-aircraft fire, and
were burned by their occupants. Two pilots and an observer
were made prisoners by the Turks. Despite this mishap,
the raid, Allenby stated, was effective, 470 bombs having
been dropt on the station-buildings and on railway-trains,
direct hits being observed. The result was that El Kerak,
left to its own resources, was abandoned by the Turks al-
most without a struggle.

Leaving a contingent to mask Ma 'an, the Arabs, shortly
after the surrender of Jerusalem to Allenby, prest north-
ward and in a brilliant campaign between January and April,
1918, conquered the fertile region south and east of the
Dead Sea, El Kerak, the capital, being captured on April 7.
Repeated and daring raids on the Hedjaz Railway were
marked features of Arab operations, some of these raids
being made as far north as the neighborhood of Damascus.
Nevertheless the Arabs were unable for a long while to
effect a permanent occupation of any part of the lines.
The Turks, with German help, had shown great energy in
repairing the damage done, and were able by means of the
railway to send reinforcements to Ma 'an and Medina, so
that those places were able to hold out.

In two years of warfare, besides clearing the Turks en-
tirely from southern and central Hedjaz, and from 300
miles of the Red Sea Coast, the Mekkans had killed, cap-
tured or immobilized fully 40,000 Turkish troops, the ma-
jority belonging to the finest regiments in the Ottoman
Army. The loss was a great moral blow to the authority of
the Osmanli Sultan in the eyes of almost aJl Moslems. As
careful guardians of the interests of their Moslem subjects,
all the Allied Powers continued to look with sympathy upon
the Arab movement and to aid it from Palestine. It was
the settled policy of Great Britain — a policy which had the
support of France and Italy — ^that the '^Sacred Lands**
of Mekka and Medina should be under Moslem rule, and
when it became apparent that Turkey was ceasing to repre-
sent Islam they were prepared to welcome the transfer of
the Hedjaz to a native prince. As soon as his capture of

184

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Mekka and Jidda showed that the Emir Hussein possest real
authority he received the moral and, as far as could be,
the material support of the Allies. No countries were more
intimately concerned, both politically and economically, in
the fortunes of the Hedjaz than Egypt and the Sudan,
inasmuch as the Red Sea little more than separated them.

The success of the Sherif reacted favorably on the African
shores of that sea, and, coming about the same time as the
overthrow of Ali Dinar in Darfur, and the Senussi Sheikh,
in northwestern Egypt on the border of Tripoli, it had a
salutary effect on the small but dangerous pro-Turkish
party in Egypt. So long as Turkey held the opposite shores
of the Red Sea, England's watch and ward, on land
and sea, along the Egyptian and Sudan coast, had been an
arduous business; but with a friendly State in possession
of the Arabian Coast, that business was distinctly lightened.

There being every sign of a settled and independent con-
dition, official recognition of the new State by the Allies
was not long delayed. A month after the Grand Sherif as-
sumed the title of King of the Hedjaz, his title was definitely
recognized by Great Britain, France and Italy. British and
French cruisers were sent to Jld^^'to congratulate the new
sovereign, who went down to Jiddji,/with his principal min-
isters to meet them. *'The greatest of Arab princes," as the
commander of the French cruiser hailed him, visited all
the warships in turn. **I am happy,'' he said, '*to visit the
brave and heroic Allies, who have proved their virtues to
the world, and who merit all respect and honor." This visit
of Allied warships was more than a ceremony; it was out-
ward evidence of the support the Allies were prepared to
give a great Moslem prince in his efforts to liberate the
Arab world from Ottoman tyranny,

Medina was surrendered to King Hussein of Hedjaz Jan-
uary 15, 1919, under the terms of the armistice of 1918 with
Turkey. It was the last Turkish stronghold in Asia to
complete the compliance of the Ottomans with the armistice
terms. It also marked the end of the rule of the Sultan
over the most sacred shrines of Islam. Of still more im-
portance to the Moslem world, was the faet that the tomb
of the Prophet had been saved from desecration. Medina

V. VIII— 13 185

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

was held in revereuce next to Mekka, the true believer con-
sidering his hadj incomplete without a pilgrimage to the
spot where the Prophet died and was buried. For more
than three years Medina had been closed to pilgrims. With the
small force at his command, King Hussein had been unable
to overcome strongly entrenched Turkish forces which held
defenses of the town. The most that he could do was to cut
the line of communication which the Hedjaz Railroad af-
forded, and to imperil the position of the Turks. Aggres-
sive action was halted by a threat from the Turkish com-
mander that he would make his final stand at the tomb, that
he would fortify it and the mosque of which it was a part,
with artillery, and that rather than surrender he would
destroy the shrine and then take his own life. This intelli-
gence, which was quickly spread throughout Islam, caused
the situation to be watched with intense interest. Had he j

carried out this threat, the Turkish commander would have
ended all Turkish leadership in the Mohammedan world;
but, at the same time, according to his own reasoning, he
would have caused unpleasant complications for Allied na-
tions having large Moslem populations. This was the ex-
planation of an oflBcial statement that ** it was incumbent I
upon King Hussein to secure the capitulation of Medina by
arrangement and not by assault. "^^

»» Principal Sources : The London Times' "History of the War,** "Nelson's
History of the War" by John Buchan ; The Uterary Digest, The Times, The
Sun, New York; The Times (London), Associated Press and Renter dis-
patches.

iR6

BAGDAD FALLS TO THE BRITISH UNDER GENERAL
MAUDE AND FURTHER ADVANCES ARE MADE

December 13, 1916— April 29, 1918

DURING the months that followed the disaster to Town-
shend at Kut-el-Amara, new supplies of men and am-
munition had been collected and in January, 1917, the British
resumed the offensive. Northeast of Kut their troops drove
the Turks from a strip of land on the right bank of the
river until they obtained control of a trench-section on a
front of 2,500 yards, and advanced to a depth of 1,100
yards. Meanwhile the right bank of the river had been cleared
of Turks below Kut. Southwest of the town further prog-
ress was made. Constantinople, however, said that east of
Kut the British had launched three attacks, but that none
of them had been successful. Thus, while a German thrust
in the Champagne, a British advance on the Ancre, and
British success in Mesopotamia, were signs by mid-February
of the approach of grand-scale operations, it was only around
Kut that there rose the possibility of something like a
decision.

The Tigris at Kut flows from west to east, but makes a
sharp turn to the south and back to the north forming a
narrow peninsula within which, on the left, or northern
bank of the river, lies the town. The locality might be
compared to Manhattan Island as enveloped by the Hudson
and East Rivers; in a way those streams correspond with
the course of the Tigris around Kut. Before the end of
the month Kut had fallen to the British and thus atoned
for the long struggle which Townshend had made there in
1916. General Sir Stanley Maude, destined to conquer
Bagdad and then to meet a melancholy fate, had started for
Kut and Bagdad with 120,000 men on December 13, 1916, and
now two months later the Turks were in flight. The

187

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

fighting was of an open character, with the British forces
disposed on a wide front. Having lost their trenches, and
having no time to dig new ones after the fall of Kut, the
Turks were soon driven twenty-four miles beyond Kut, altho
fighting rear-guard actions. Bagdad was only ninety miles
away.

Maude's victories became important, not only as dealing a
blow at Germany's Bagdad ambitions, on which she had
intended to lean heavily in peace negotiations, but as de-
creasing the available German forces on any given front in
Europe. From Kut to Bagdad was less than half the dis-
tance which the British army had already covered in Meso-
potamia from its base at Bassora. A swift advance upon
Bagdad was expected, and this was what followed. The
British were now much stronger in numbers, equipment, and
leadership than the hazardous expedition which in 1916
had tried to take Bagdad. But in fairness to that expedi-
tion, it was to be said that everywhere in the war the fore-
runner among the Allies had made mistakes by which his
successor was to profit. The mistake made on the Tigris
of leaving open an undefended line of communication had
not again been repeated. Altho important in itself as evi-
dence of British determination and recuperative powers, this
renewed thrust against Bagdad brought into the foreground
once more the probable defeat of that Berlin to Bagdad
dream which Germany had been inclined to regard as vir-
tually realized. A southern terminus for the great nerve-
line of Middle-Europe became now no longer an assured fact.
Nor was the partnership of Turkey in that scheme likely to
be established when one British army was in Mesopotamia,
when Russians were in Armenia, and another British army
was on the frontiers of Palestine.

Other factors in the situation were now more favorable
to the Allies than when the British were hemmed in at
Kut in 1916. The Turkish forces that threatened the Suez
Canal had been driven back. The Kingdom of Hadjaz had
been established in Arabia. A considerable force of Arabs
had been armed by the French and British in their war against
the Turks. The army of the Grand Duke Nicholas, now
holding a strong position in Armenia, had been increased

188

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

and was better equipped than ever before to force a way
southward to the Bagdad lines and cut off the Mesopotamian
Valley from the Turkish Capital. It was foreseen that a
Russian line from the Caucasus to Alexandretta on the
Mediterranean might eventually enable the Russians to open
up a way from the east to Constantinople.

On March 2, what was left of Turkey's army in retreat
had covered half the distance from Kut to Bagdad. Eight
days later the British were in Bagdad. The day before by
a surprize they had effected a crossing of the Diala and
the Tigris, and driven the Turks back to within three miles
of the city, the Turks for two days offering considerable
resistance. Owing to the intensified submarine warfare that
Germany had carried on since February 1, hardly anything
more welcome than this progress could have come to the
British public. Great Britain was beginning to feel the
effects of the war in a reduced food supply, besides being
thrown into a state of depression by revelations made in an
oflScial Dardanelles report, censuring the administration for
that ill-starred expedition. On the night of March 8, the
British established a footing on the north bank of the Diala,
and on the 9th and 10th the troops on the right bank of the
Tigris, in spite of dust and storms, drove the Turks back
on Bagdad. At the same time troops on the Diala thrust
them back, and the city was entered on a Sunday morning.
Maude, in these operations, had made a march of 110 miles
in fifteen days, during which the Tigris was crossed three
times, and the march made over a country destitute of
supplies.

The British fought their way to the walls of Bagdad on
both banks. General Cobbe's force occupied the Bagdad
railway station and adjoining parts of the city on the right
bank, while General Marshall entered the part lying on the
left bank. There was no display, nothing in the nature of
a triumphal entry, but as the victorious troops, dirty and
unshaven, tramped between palm groves and orange gar-
dens, crowds of Bagdad people came out to meet them —
Persians, Arabs, Armenians, Chaldeans, and Christians of
divers sects and races, who lined the streets, balconies and
roofs, hurrahing and clapping their hands. Groups of

189

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

school-children danced in front, shouting and cheering, and
the women of the city turned out in holiday attire. The
gunboat flotilla, meanwhile, with mine-sweepers ahead, pro-
ceeded up the river, Maude and his Staff going with the
flotilla and arriving at the citadel soon after the troops.

So fell Bagdad, the immediate base of Turkish warfare in
Persia and Mesopotamia, and one of the most famous cities
in the East. No romance could be stranger. Bagdad, which
lies only sixty miles from the ruins of ancient Babylon,
with memories reaching back to Harun-al-Rashid, now re-
sounded to the footsteps of British soldiers, and Mosul, op-
posite which lay all that remained of Nineveh, **the great
city," once mistress of the world, was at their mercy. Above
the remains of an ancient tower that, had formerly been one
of the temples of Babylonia was a ** wireless" station that
had been installed there since the beginning of the war — a
tower which tradition associated with the famous Tower of
Babel.

When the British proceeded to consolidate their positions,
their first act was to destroy all German wireless installations,
which had been completed at enormous cost, and comprised
one of the most powerful installations in their system. It
had direct communication with Berlin, and possibly the
earliest definite information that Bagdad was in British
hands had arrived in Berlin by this route. Various measures,
political and military, were then taken in hand to establish
order, reassure the population and guard against mischief on
the part of the beaten Turkish forces. For a fortnight before
the fall, the Turks had systematically plundered the inhab-
itants. Large sums of money had been extorted from them,
and Everything of value that was portable had been carried
off. ''The Turks have taken everything," a Jewish Rabbi
said, *'even the pigeons on the Mosques are getting thin."

When the last train steamed out of the Bagdad railway
station at two o'clock on the morning of March 11, the
Kurds and other rabble of the slums had swarmed out to
loot the wealthier quarters. For seven hours shops and
houses were gutted in all directions, and even the Turkish
hospital was not spared. The robbers looted shops, and took
bedding, medicine and drugs, letting in their friends to

190

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

share in the spoils. British troops arrived in time to save
patients from being turned out of their beds. Summary
steps were taken to put an end to this general orgy of loot-
ing, and soon the city was in order. Shops began to open
again, , the trading classes here, as elsewhere, showing con-
fidence* in British administration. Jews, Arabs, Armenians —
such of the Armenians as had escaped from recent massa-
cres — ^all alike seemed glad to be rid of the Turks, who had
never been for them anything, more than a horde of foreign
oppressors.

Meanwhile General Maude, in his capacity as ** political
chief," issued to the people of the Bagdad Province a procla-
mation assuring them of the goodwill of the British Gov-
ernment and its Allies, and of their desire for the prosper-
ity of the country. The British advance had covered more
ground in a short period than almost any other movement
of the war. It was assisted materially by defections of
native tribes from Turkish rule, a result mainly of the
action of the Grand Sherif of Mekka in declaring Arabia's
independence. Various Bedouin tribes had put aside old
enmities and become united. Peace, for example, was made
between the Emir Arab ar Rowleh near Damascus, and the
Emir of the Anzeh tribes near Aleppo, who had helped to
assemble a troop of horsemen to fight the Turks after being
supplied with drill-masters, presumably British, who had
effected the organization of an Arab fighting unit possest
of arms and ammunition of the latest type. The importance
of this union of tribes lay in the fact that, all told, Arab
tribes numbered not fewer than 4,000,000 souls.

The British cavalry which hung on the flanks of the
Turkish army on the Tigris, and chased it to Bagdad, was
almost exclusively Indian. The infantry included Indian
units which had already fought in France, GallipoH, and
Egypt. This Tigris expedition was part of a comprehensive
Entente plan against Asiatic Turkey. From Egypt British
troops under Sir Archibald Murray were then approaching
Jerusalem. In the Bitlis region the Russians were renewing
their activities south of the Caucasus. On the Persian fron-
tier the Russians who retired beyond Hamadan after the sur-
render of Townshend at Kut, were again starting out for

191

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Kermanshah and Mesopotamia. Junction of the Russians
with General Maude would form an Entente line of over
1,000 miles, broken only by mountains and reaching from
Bassora, at the head of the Persian Gulf, to Trebizond on
the Black Sea.

Germany's dream of world dominance received a severe
setback at Bagdad. Here in the Near East she had aimed
at an economic control which would have supplied her with
the raw materials she had formerly imported from outside
countries. Already she had acquired many Turkish con-
cessions for exploiting and monopolizing nearly everything
between the Dardanelles, the Tigris, and the Persian border.
Some of the earth's most fertile soil lies in this region, as
the ancient cities of Nineveh and Babylon bear witness.
Bagdad itself, centuries before Christ, had a population of
2,000,000. Modern engineering projects had been started to
restore Mesopotamian fields to their former productivity, the
success of which would have meant for Germany a plentiful
supply of wheat and other grains, fruit, vegetables, cotton,
wool, and livestock. There is a rich oil territory northwest
of Bagdad which was being connected with the city by
branch railroads. Copper, silver, coal, cement, and other
minerals were under German concessions, and not only the
''Cedars of Lebanon," but other forest products which Ger-
many needed, had practically passed under her control.

By the fall of Bagdad the Persian Gulf became free to
the world, as policed by Great Britain. Had that control
been wrested from Great Britain a naval base could have
been established there by Germany, and connected with the
Bagdad railway, so that a military line would have been
opened from the Baltic to the Persian Gulf, as a standing
threat to India and the Suez Canal, while the southern
extension of the road through Syria would have threatened
the western end of the canal and laid Egypt open to attack.
Success here would in fact have meant a three-fold in-
crease in the German Empire's population, and put the
world at the Kaiser's feet. But the British had now made
secure for themselves the eastern terminus of the road and
were asking whether this had been the irony of fate or the
hand of providence.

192

! E

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Underlying the military was the political meaning of this
new turn in the war. Mohammedans tho they were, the
Arabs had never reconciled themselves to the supremacy of
the Turks. The traditions of the great days of the Prophet
and his successors who carried the Green Banner from Bag-
dad to the Loire in France still survived. The decline of
Islam had been for the Arabs a consequence of Turkish su-
premacy. For many years there had been growing restless-
ness among them. Syria, which is Arab by population, was
on the verge of a revolt when the Young Turks overthrew
Abdul Hamid. It was long a Syrian dream to create an
autonomous Syria. Away to the south, about Mekka, in-
terminable Arab revolts had occurred, and now the last of
these had driven the Turk out of the Holy City, had deprived
him of the possession of the center of Islam, which was
one of his chief claims to power. A succession of events —
the failure of the Turkish expedition against Egypt, the
fall of Bagdad, the invasion of Palestine — ^had combined to
shake Turkish power. Then events, joined to the great misery
and suffering that the war had brought to Syria and Meso-
potamia, had created a sufficient basis for a revolt of
the whole Arab population, from the Amanus Mountains to
the Yemen, and from the Mediterranean to the Tigris. Its
coming was regarded as one of the most probable conse-
quences of the fall of Bagdad. To expel the Turk from
Islam by separating him from Mekka, to restore the Arab
to the place he once occupied, to confine the Turk to Asia
Minor by erecting a French protectorate in Syria, a Russian
province in Armenia and a British colony in Mesopotamia,
with an extension of Egyptian territory to Palestine, or by
the creation of an independent Holy Land — these had been
conceptions of the Entente Allies, their answer in fact to
the German success in capturing the Turk and the machin-
ery of Islam.

If Saloniki was the side door of the Central Powers,
Bagdad was its back door — and Bagdad had been broken
open. Its great distance from London was a handicap, but
an army could be provisioned and reinforced in Bagdad
from Egypt and India without meeting the full strength
of submarine menace that had so hampered Balkan operations.

194

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Belgium^ as providing a better route to the Atlantic, and
Serbia, a vestibule leading to the East, had been the chief
German war objectives. But failure before Paris and Calais
had dimmed Germany's hope of keeping Belgium, and she
turned for comfort to an Eastern empire that she believed
she had securely won, and that was worth winning. Once
a tunnel could be built under the Bosporus and the Bagdad
railway pushed to Bassora, a man would be able to go
from Hamburg without change of cars to a deep-water port
off the Persian Gulf, where a Hamburg steamship line had
actually been established before the war began. Thus trav-
elers would have passed a dozen fine cities, or the routes
that led to them, rich agricultural lands in Asia Minor,
a Mesopotamia needing only irrigation to be once more a
garden, and the gates to Persia and India. In the cold
winter days of 1916-17, lacking food and coal, isolated from
the world and sorrowing over dead, Germans had drawn com-
fort from their dreams of **a place in the sun" beyond
the Mediterranean. Those dreams had now had a rude
awakening. How the Turk was to get back Bagdad, or
even to avoid further reverses, was a problem Berlin sought
vainly to solve. Meantime the world took note that, for
the time being at least, Berlin's war-cry had been reversed
in Entente hands so that it read, not Berlin to Bagdad, but
'* Bagdad to Berlin."

The next objective of the British was ]\Iosul, some two
hundred miles farther up the Tigris. Here was the present
eastern terminal of the railway from Constantinople to Bag-
dad, the part leading beyond Mosul down to Bagdad not
having yet been built. Mosul was the center toward which
further advances were now being made from three direc-
tions: First was the British army under General Maude
advancing northward from Bagdad; secondly, the Russians
advancing from Persia westward from the direction of
Hamadan; and, third, other Russians, presumably under the
Grand Duke Nicholas, advancing southward from Lake Van
and Armenia. The distances were ^reat, but that a junction
could be made between these forces, and that they coul^
then move westward toward Constantinople, was not beyond
the bounds of probability. Such a movement, once under way,

195

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

would threaten Constantinople from the rear. All indica-
tions were that the Turks were no longer receiving such
assistance and overseeing from Germany as they had at
Gallipoli and the Straits.

General Maude's expedition was curiously parallel to
Kitchener's march to Khartum. For years the British ef-
forts to reconquer the Sudan had failed, and at least one
insuflficiently equipped Egyptian expeditionary force had
been destroyed. In one of the best and most economically
managed campaigns of its kind, Kitchener had reconquered
the Sudan and left the Mahdists no chance to **come back."
Maude's army was doing now what Kitchener did then, and
what the unlucky Townshend undertook to do in the first
advance on Bagdad. The occupation of Bagdad was ac-
cepted in Germany as **an undeniable success for the Brit-
ish, especially as they had also succeeded in driving the
Turks from the Sinai Peninsula." The event was to be re-
gretted, but it **had not the least influence on the decision
of the war, Mesopotamia being a secondary theater of op-
erations."

By March 14, British and Russian forces were nearing a
point north of Bagdad, where it seemed possible for them
eventually to' effect a junction. On both fronts the Turks
were hastily retiring. By March 18 the retreat of the Turks
had been turned to a rout. General Maude had dislodged
them from a strong position on the Tigris, and scattered
remnants of three divisions were in flight toward Samara,
over a distance of twenty miles. Coincident with this vic-
tory came news of Russian successes against the Turks on
both the Persian and Armenian fronts. The Russians had
come within ten miles of the Mesopotamian border at three
points west and northwest of Kermanshah. Three impor-
tant villages had fallen to them, and they had driven an
entire Turkish column, with two battalions of infantry, six
guns and three squadrons of cavalry, into the trackless
mountains west of Kanijaran. On the Armenian front the
Grand Duke's forces had captured "Van, an important town
on the eastern shores of Lake Van, and thus opened the way
for an advance southeastward toward the British and other
Russian armies.

196

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY '

The junction of British and Russian forces along the
Diala River, northeast of Bagdad, signalized what was per-
haps the most successful co-ordinated military operation the
Allies had shown si^ce the beginning of the war. When the
British delivered the final blow at Kut-el-Amara, the Rus-
sians were in the neighborhood of Hamadan, and imme-
diately took advantage of the Turkish defeat on the Tigris.
The Russian advance from Hamadan to Khanikin covered
nearly 250 miles in six weeks, a remarkable rate of progress
considering the nature of the country through which the
march lay. The territory won from the Turks by this ad-
vance and the parallel Russian movement further north in
the mountains south of Lake Urumia, represented a gain of
more than 25,000 square miles. The Anglo-Russian aline-
ment along the Diala River recalled something of the pre-
cision of the Mackensen-Hindenburg advance into Russia
two years before. The next step was to be a move upon
Mosul, some 200 miles north of Bagdad. With the Allies
established at that point the whole Turkish campaign in
Armenia would be affected, and an .Allied line would have
been established from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, cut-
ting off a vast Turkish area. By this junction the situation
of the Turkish forces was rendered doubly critical. For
weeks the move had been foreseen. It was brilliantly
executed in spite of great difficulties arising from the char-
acter of the country. Ever since Maude's army captured
Bagdad, the British had been steadily crowding the re-
treating Turks northward along the Tigris and Diala rivers,
while the Russians rapidly moved westward from Hamadan
and Kermanshah in Persia. Another Russian force threat-
ened the Turkish communications with their base at Mosul.
The breakdown of Turkey, hard prest as it was in Meso-
potamia and Armenia, promised to leave Bulgaria little
choice but to seek the best terms possible on her own
account.

Disasters for the Turks on two fronts were oflScially re-
ported on April 20. In Mesopotamia, seventy miles north
of Bagdad, Maude had routed the Eighteenth Ottoman
Army Corps and had taken more than 1,200 prisoners. In
Palestine, before Gaza, the forces of General Dobell, as-

197

IN The east, near east, and south

sisted by warships' operating from the coast two miles away,
had cleared the Turkish forward trenches on a front of six
and a half miles, and were advancing on the city. Maude's
victory was the result of a flanking movement, in which he
drove the Turks back from the Diala triangle after a bril-
liant night march across the desert from the right bank of
the Tigris. He had now crossed the Adhem, another tribu-
tary of the Tigris. Apparently there was little* to stop a
Russo-British march on Mosul. Before a dash of British
Indian troops the Turks had been utterly routed. General
Maude on April 24 surprized an Ottoman division on the
Shatt-el-Adhem and drove them ten miles further north,
with heavy losses in prisoners and transport. His victory
resulted in the capture of 687 prisoners and 17 guns, besides
much valuable booty. In two days of fighting before Iztabi-
lat, Maude took, besides the prisoners, a 5.9 gun, 14 Krupp
guns, 2 machine-guns, 1,240 rifles, hundreds of hand-
grenades, 200 rounds of artillery ammunition, 540,000 rounds
of rifle-ammunition, four limbers, 240 trucks, 16 engines,
and much other material. Constantinople declared that the
Turks ** withdrew according to plan.'' The Turks, on April
13, sustained another defeat, when the British v/on by out-
generaling them. They made a strategic retreat, drawing
the Turks after them, and followed this by a night march
which enabled them to fall on the Turks from the flank,
and put them to rout, inflicting upon them a loss of 200
killed and 700 wounded.

Samara, which fell in this flghting, had been for a brief
period of forty years a rival of Bagdad. The Samara of
to-day is almost swallowed up within the site of the ancient
and famous city of Old Samara, or Samarra. It is con-
nected with the right bank of the river by a bridge of boats.
The ruins of the older city stretch along the left bank for
a distance of nearly twenty miles. Among the crumbling
monuments of its departed glory are the chief mosque, the
Halviyeh minaret and two palaces built by the ninth century
califs. One of the royal residences was erected by Mota-
wakil at a cost of two million dinars ($4,500,000), the
money being extorted from minor officials of the realm who
had abused their power to amass great wealth. Samara is

198

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

now a town of perhaps 2,500 inhabitants, wifli a few khans
and shops on the opposite bank of the river. Eight califs
ruled from Samara between 836 and 876, and of these five
suffered violent deaths.

A battle in Mesopotamia on September 27, which re-
sulted in the capture by the British of the village of Ramadi,
was one of those illuminating ineideDts of the war which
had come unfrequently. It demonstrated that, in spite of
the development of trench-warfare, the old idea of strategy.

BRITISH RECLAIMING SWAMP-LAND IN MESOPOTAMIA

based on surprize made possible by great mobility, had not
been abandoned. In fact the entire Mesopotamian campaign
of the British had been, in its esaential elements, strategical
rather than tactical. This distinction was seen when the
Mesopotamian situation was compared with that which ex-
isted on the Western Front. In the latter case strategy,
as the term has always been understood, had no longer a
place; the very existence of permanent trenches was
anathema to the term. The success of the British, while
199

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

based on elements of skilful leadership, was due entirely to
the tactics employed — the unprecedented use of artillery in
overwhelming quantities. But in Mesopotamia it was a war
of movement. The mechanical superiority of one combatant
over the other was not marked. The advantage in numbers,
if on either side, rested with the Turks. And yet the year
1917 had been for the Turks an unending series of disasters.
The answer was found in the skill of the British leader, in
the excellence of General Maude's strategy.

The Turks had concentrated at the village of Ramadi a
large store of supplies, both food and military, preparatory
to moving down the Euphrates, following the south bank,
with the idea of cutting in behind the British who, after
the capture of Bagdad, had moved north up the Tigris to
Samara, an4 had at the same time spread out southward
as far as the northern bank of the Euphrates. By follow-
ing the south bank of the river eastward, the Turks, if
successful in their surprize-movement, would have been
thrown to the rear of the British forces, and so threatened
their lines of communication. As General Maude had a
complement of airplanes for observation purposes, he un-
doubtedly discovered that a concentration was being made
and guessed accurately its object. He moved forward, fol-
lowing directly up the southern bank, and his infantry
seized a group of low heights about four miles east of the
town. He then did exactly the same thing that Lee did at
Chancellorsville when he detached a heavy column, under
Jackson, from the main body and sent it forward over the
road to fall on Hooker's flank. The British column which
was detached left the river, maneuvered to the south of the
Turkish position and thereby reached its flank, at the same
time that a cavalry column, having greater mobility, reached
to the west of the Ramadi position and occupied the low
ridge which forms the eastern boundary of the little valley
of Amih. The Turks were then surrounded.

The British force moved in two columns on the night of
September 27, and at dawn attacked Mushaid Ridge, a low
line of dunes running north and south from the Euphrates
to the Habbaniyah Canal. By morning the dam of the
canal had fallen into their hands and was rendered passable

200

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

for all arms. As the Turks had evacuated the main crest
of the ridge, the right column was withdrawn and swinging
around to the west behind the left column became the left
wing of the force. The British front, three and a half
miles in breadth, now lay between the Habbaniyah Canal on
the right and the Azizyah Canal on the left at a point nine
miles from the Euphrates. Cavalry made a wide, sweeping
■ movement across the desert around the right Sank of the
Turks and were soon established astride the Aleppo Road
. on a regular line of hills ru7i-
ning to the river at right angles,
within five miles of Ramadie.
By this move the Turks were
cornered. They had no bridge
behind them, and were cut off
from all reinforcements or sup-
plies. Their only chance was
to make determined counter-
attacks and break through.
Meanwhile infantry was clos-
ing in. One column attacked
Ramadie Ridge on the right,
while the other worked around
to Aziziyah Ridge, on the
left.

General Maude had demon-
strated that this was not every-
where and necessarily a war Gen. Sib Btahlky Maudb
of trenches and of pounding.

The world had last heard of him early in the summer going
up the Tigris while the Turks were throwing guns into the
river in a mad rush to get away. Then the heat descended
on Mesopotamia, putting an end to fighting as effectually
as snows and rains did for four successive winters in
Prance. "When Maude found the Turks moving to cut his
communications he turned their trap into one for themselves.
There was not a particle of pounding in his method. He
suddenly seized a commanding ridge when the Turks were
not expecting it. By the time they were aroused their main
position was being attacked on the southeast, while cavalry
V. VIII— 14 201

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

assailed them from the west. By nightfall the Turks were
penned in, with the Euphrates on the north, British infan-
try and artillery on the east and south, and cavalry on the
west. The surrounding army attacked from all sides with
such fury that the Turks surrendered in thousands, includ-
ing their general and his staff. This was a victory of
strategy, dash, and determination, the old-fashioned kind of
fighting, but it was won in Maude's own way. His accom-
plishment had had no precedent on the side of the Allies.
Then suddenly the death of Maude at fifty-three was an-
nounced in official dispatches that reached London on
November 10. At the outset of the war he was a colonel on
the General Staff with a record achieved in the South-
African War. He had served on various British fronts in
the World War, and on August 28, 1916, was placed in
command of the Mesopotamian army.

The circumstances of Maude's death, as stated in the
House of Commons by Lloyd George several months after-
ward, in asking for a grant of £25,000 to Maude's widow,
were that he had been invited to a native ceremonial, after
his advance beyond Bagdad, in going to which he had
warned the men who accompanied him against drinking the
water, because of the existence of cholera in the country.
At this ceremony, however, a cup of water formed an
essential part of the proceedings and one was offered to
Maude, who, out of respect for the natives whose guest he
was, drank it. The cup contained the fatal cholera germ,
and Maude died soon afterward.

The British campaign in Mesopotamia by April, 1918, had
taken a rather surprizing turn. British forces advanced north-
ward from Bagdad and east of the Tigris to within striking
distance of Mosul. Several weeks before another expedition
had been reported on the Euphrates — after defeating a con-
siderable Turkish army — and apparently was advancing
toward Aleppo, the junction of the Syrian and Bagdad rail-
roads. It seemed then as if the English objectives were
to cut off Mosul, on the one hand, and the whole of Syria,
on the other, from communication with Constantinople by
one and the same blow. Nobody at the time had imagined
that the British had enough troops in Mesopotamia to strike

202

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

simultaneously at Aleppo and Mosul. But this was what
they were doing, and doing sueeessfully. In that event,
German-Turkish threats of a counter-effort either in Meso-
potamia or Syria seemed mere pretext. Twelve additional
fieid-guns were captured on April 29, when the total of
prisoners reached 1,800."

" Principal Sources : The "Military Eipert" of The Times, The Evening
Post, The fiun. New York ; The London rimes' "HlBtorj of the War," "Nel-
son's Hlstorj of the War" by John BDcban ; Tbe World, The Times, "Bul-
letlDs" of the National .Geographic Society, New York.

THE CONQUEST OP PALESTINE AND ALL OP SYRIA,
POLLOWED 6Y a TURKISH DfiBACLE

January, 1917— October 26, 1918

EARLY in the war Turkish forces had twice reached the
Suez Canal, and so threatened British control of the
shortest route to India, but it was not until January, 1917,
that all Turkish menace to the canal was removed, as the
result of a series of British vietorieis which cleared the
Turks out of the Sinai peninsula and carried a counter-
attack into Palestine. Purther south, the Red Sea coast of
Arabia had meanwhile been lost to the Turks and the in-
dependent Kingdom of Hedjaz had been set up. Since leav-
ing the Suez Canal one hundred miles of waterless desert
had been traversed by the British by January, 1917. In
the autumn of 1916 they had pushed a railway line from
Kantara across the desert. This was one of the memorable
achievements of the British campaign.

Warfare in this country had been much like warfare in
the old Sudan campaign of thirty years before, the con-
dition being that before each new move could be made, large
quantities of supplies had to be collected at an advanced
base. After an action was fought and the front cleared a
pause would ensue until a railway could be carried forward
and a new reserve of supplies accumulated. The task
proved harder in the Sinai Peninsula than it was in the
Sudan, because in the peninsula there was no river. After
the Katia basin had been left behind, water was almost non-
existent. Supplies of it had first to be brought by rail in
tank-trucks and then a pipe-line had to be laid. The work
entailed was arduous. Camel transports had to help to
bridge gaps between the rail-head and the front.

Lands here fought over already, or soon to furnish battle-
fields, had for twenty-six hundred years been a cockpit of

204

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

war. Sometimes a conqueror from the north like
Nebuchadnezzar, or from the south like Ali Bey, or Napoleon,
or Mehemet Ali, had met an enemy in Egypt or Syria, and
the decisive fight had occurred in Palestine. Ashkelon,
Gaza, Rafa, El Arish, are famous in all history as battle
names. Up and down that strip of seaward levels marched
the great armies of Egypt and Assyria, while Jews looked
fearfully on them from barren hills. In the Philistian .
plain Sennacherib smote Egyptian hosts in the days of King
Hezekiah, only to see his army melt away under the stroke
of the ** Angel of the Lord." At Rafa, Esarhaddon de-
feated Pharaoh, and added Egypt arid Ethiopia to his
kingdom. On the same plain Scythian hordes were bought *
off with blackmail by Psammetichus. At Armageddon,
Josiah was vanished by Pharaoh Necho, who in turn was
routed by Nebuchadnezzar. At Gaza the first Ptolemy
was beaten by the young Demetrius, and at Rafa a century
later, Ptolemy the Fourth shattered the Seleucid army.
Twenty years later came the siege of Gaza by Antiochus the
Third, and then the land had rested until 614 a.d., when the
last great Sassanid, Chosroes II, swept down on Egypt.
Leaping across five hundred years the eyes of the world
were again centered on Ashkelon, when Godfrey of
Bouillon,^^ the crusading King of Jerusalem, defeated the
Egyptians, and a century and a half later, after being for
long a Frankish stronghold, it fell to the Mameluke Sultan
after a battle at Gaza. In this gateway of ancient feuds
it had now fallen to Turkey's lot to cross swords fatally
with the British.

Palestine as a battle-ground might have been called the
Belgium of the ancient and medieval world. From the
dawn of history only two other regions could compare with
it as a theater for the clash of peoples and conquerors —
the lower Rhine and the plains of northern Italy. The
lower Rhine rivaled Palestine in its thick-strewn names of
great battlefields; northern Italy, in the names of great
commanders who fought in its territory. Among renowned
names in military history Palestine could claim all but

« Bouillon, the place from which Godfrey derived his title as a duke, Is now
a small town in the Belgian part of Luxemburg.

205

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Hannibal and C«esar and possibly Genghis Khan. All the
others — Rameses, Alexander the Great, Pompey, Abu Bekr,
Judas Maccabeus, Omar, Tamurlane and Napoleon — had
fou^t on its soil. The parallel with Flanders ran much
closer than with northern Italy, for Palestine, like Belgium,
had been less an object of desire in itself than as a bridge
between contending empires. What Belgium had been to
Germans, British, and French, Palestine had been to the
great monarchies of the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris. The
test of battle had usually taken place around Gaza, when
it was Egypt that stood on the defensive, or one hundred
miles further north, when the attack came from above. Be-
tween the heights of Gilboa and Tabor, near the shores of
Galilee and Mount Carmel, lies the plain of Esdraelon (or
Jezreel, or Armageddon), which is the Ramillies, the
Fleurus, the Waterloo, the Po Quadrilateral, the Sedan, of the
ancient world. Esdraelon had witnessed the victories of
Thotmes over Hittites, of Gideon over Midianites, of Philis-
tines over Saul and his sons, of a second Pharaoh oyer
Josiah, King of Judah, and of Napoleon's Marshal, Kleber,
over th^ Turks.

Soldiers in French and Flemish trenches had been in-
clined to look upon the Egyptian campaign as a realization
of the war of movement that soldiers in the great war had
longed for, but it was less the movement of cavalry riding
for an objective than the slow process of engineers daily
completing a small section of line in sun-baked sand.
Hundreds of miles of water-piping were laid, with filters
capable of supplying 1,500,000 gallons of water daily;
reservoirs were installed, tons of stone being transported
from distant quarries. In due course Kantara was trans-
formed from a small canal village into an important rail-
v/ay and water-terminus, with wharves, cranes, and a railway
ferrv. A desert, till then almost destitute of human habita-
tion, now showed successive marks of the British advance
to firmly entrenched positions protected by hundreds of
miles of barbed wire, standing camps where troops found
shelter in comfortable huts, tanks, and reservoirs, railway-
stations and sidings, aerodromes, signal-stations and wireless
installations. These activities subdued the desert and made

206

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

it habitable, with adequate lines of communication between
the advancing troops and their ever-receding bases.

When, from time to time, the British were ready to
strike, the Turks often were not there to meet them. On
the night of December 19, 1916, it was found that they had
evacuated positions they had elaborately fortified. On the
night of the 20th Australian and New Zealand mounted
troops, supported by camel corps, marched twenty miles,
and reached El Arish at sunrise only to find that the
Turkish garrison of 1,600 men had fallen back upon
Magdhaba. A frontier town, which for two years had been
in Turkish hands, was thus restored to Egypt. Mine-
sweeping operations were begun in the roadstead, and a
pier was built. By the 24th supply-ships from Port Said
began to unload stores in the harbor" which the British had
won as a necessary advance base for major operations. A
flying coiumn found the Turks at Magdhaba, twenty miles
to the south-southwest, in a strong position on both .banks
of the Wadi-el-Arish. Here followed a perfect little action
in which, by four o'clock, after a bayonet-charge by a
light-horse regiment, the place was won, the British casual-
ties being twelve oflScers and 134 others killed and wounded.
More than 1,200 prisoners were taken besides four mountain-
guns, one machine-gun and over a thousand rifles. On
January 9, Rafa had fallen. New Zealanders taking the
main redoubt. When the action lasting ten hours was over,
a relieving enemy column, from Shellal, was driven back,
the British casualties being 487, and the enemy losing 1,600,
besides unwounded prisoners, six machine-guns, four moun-
tain-guns and a quantity of transport. The two actions of
Magdhaba and Rafa showed the perfect cooperation of all
arms of the service in battles of the old type, where mobility
and tactical boldness carried the day. The result was the
clearing of the Sinai desert of all Turkish troops. Opera-
tions back in the interior, conducted by small flying-columns
of cavalry and camelry, kept pace with the greater move-
ment. The British were now beyond the desert, on the edge
of a habitable country, the next objective the Gaza-Beersheba
line which was the gateway to Syria.

From Beersheba, the terminus of the trunk line north-

207

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

ward through Syria, to Aleppo on the Bagdad line was four
hundred miles. From this trunk line ran four branch lines
to the Levantine coast — at Tripolis, Beirut, Haifa, and Jaffa.
From Damascus the road ran in a southeasterly direction to
Medina. With the British advance on the Tigris, combined
with this advance into Syria, the Asiatic Empire of the
Turk appeared as if it had never been quite so imperiled
as now. The British in moving on toward Jerusalem had be-
fore them besides Damascus, Aleppo, their ultimate objective,
for it was the gateway leading from the west to Bagdad. If
Aleppo could be taken, the main supply-line of the Turkish
armies in the Near East would be taken. But before reach-
ing either Damascus or Aleppo the British had to take
Jerusalem. High enthusiasm was aroused over this pros-
pect. The ancient capital of Palestine, the city of the Holy
Sepulcher, was last held by the English in the time of
Richard Coeur de Lion. The menace was directed first
against the railroad from the port of Jaffa. Thirty-five
miles east of Jerusalem ran the Damascus-Medina railroad,
which fed Palestine, and the southern part of which was
already in possession of the Arabs. "With Jaffa as a base, the
British would be able to assemble a force which, moving
north, could cut out the Damascus railway. British pos-
session of both Jerusalem and Jaffa promised to solve a
serious problem for American missionaries. For many
weeks the United States ships Des Moines and CcBsar had
been waiting at Alexandria for assurances permitting them
to take to Syrian ports food and supplies desperately needed
in the interior, but had been put off by Teutonic diplomacy.
The hope now lay in an expulsion of the Turks by British
arms.

Late in March the British defeated a Turkish army of
20,000 men, capturing 900, including a general and the entire
. divisional staff of the Fifty-third Turkish Division, and ad-
vanced fifteen miles along the coast, from Rafa to Wadi
Ghuzzeh, a river five miles south of Gaza — Oaza being
twenty miles north of the Egyptian-Syrian boundary. As
Gaza is almost directly west of Hebron, this brought the
British front to a straight line across nearly the entire
breadth of Palestine between the Mediterranean and the

208

II
!l
If

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Dead Sea. The army near Gaza undertook to construct a
railway to facilitate operations in the interior.

The British success seemed as decisive as their victory at
Kut-el-Amara on the Tigris, but doubtful if General Murray
could follow up as rapidly as Maude had done at Kut.
The latter had the Tigris and his gun-boats to harass the
retreating Turks, while in Palestine the British had to
follow a road along the coast, an ancient and historic high-
way now largely a desert road, unless a British fleet could
cooperate with the army. The coast-road here runs so close
to the Mediterranean as to lie under the fire of a moderate-
sized naval gun. The immediate objective of the British
was the Palestine ports as well as Jerusalem, rather than
a drive through the desert against the Damascus-Mekka
railway. The campaign as a whole coordinated itself with
the fighting in Mesopotamia and Armenia, uniform pressure
being exerted on Turkish armies from both directions.

The construction by the British of railways as inci-
dents in such advances revealed the elaborate preparation
necessary for victory even in such comparatively small
operations. As the British had been carrying a railway
into Palestine all the way from the Suez Canal, so Maude
had built a railway from Bassora to I^ut, and was engaged
in extendiQg it to Bagdad. In astfdijton, Maude had con-
structed virtually a new channel ier ij^j^ Tigris, and created
new harbor works at Bassora. Sefein lay some future
profit for the world out of the wreck and wastefulness of
war. Railways, harbors, roads, and bridges built for mili-
tary purposes, would remain to serve the interests of peace.
Just as Poland, whatever might be her destiny, would
profit by the roads which the Germans had built for their
advance on Warsaw, so Palestine, whomever it was to call
master, would have her railway into Egypt, and Meso-
potamia would have hers to the Persian Gulf.

Gaza — Samson's Gaza — lies forty-eight miles southwest of
Jerusalem. In the Book of Judges it is recorded how
Samson, escaping from Gaza, **took the doors of the gate
of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them,
bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them
up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.'' Thus,

209

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

once more the war in the East put an old and sacred city
again on the map, giving a military importance to historic
localities of which little more had been left in modern memo-
ries than a name and a tradition. . The Dardanelles expedition
had reanimated the plain of Troy. Mekka and Medina, the
old shrines of Moslem pilgrims, had become modern
strategic points. Bagdad, city of the Calif, came again into
chronicles of great deeds. The campaign of Xenophon's
''Ten Thousand,'' after twenty centuries, had acquired a
new parallel at Trebizond. A battle for mastery in Meso-
potamia and Asia Minor was fought in the ** Garden of
Eden.*' Much that happened read like chapters from
Rawlinson. While the Western Front had been a great
theater of war since the time of Caesar, it was the Par
Eastern Front — the Holy Land and the Tigris and
Euphrates — that revived the oldest of war's romances. That
the cradle of the human race should have become in our
century a great battle-ground, stirred romantic recollections
as no other of the war's campaigns could do.

The British, in the third week of March, surprized the
enemy on a foggy dawn when he could have known nothing
of danger unless a German airman soaring in the filmy
clouds on the previous evening had detected columns of dust
arising from the western fringe of the great plain of Gaza.
The fog delayed the opening and development of the attack
till 10 o'clock and time was the essense of the day's work,
as Turkish reinforcements were within fifteen miles. The
position was separated from the sea by two miles of golden
sand-hills with trenches that ran southwest and then bent
toward the east, the position consisting of two main hills,
one north of the other, with a sand-hill between. The
southern hill was a perfect labyrinth of deeply cut trenches
and redoubts, skilfully selected, but with no barbed-wire
framework to disclose a position of formidable strength.
There were seven Turkish infantry battalions, the artillery
mostly served by Austrian gunners. When the western skies
became aglow with an exceptionally beautiful sunset, the
vast plain was seen to be alive with troops. Long lines
trailed across the plain, lifting low clouds of dust. Equally
long serpentine lines of cavalry raised higher clouds, while

210

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

artillery ammunition columns laboriously made their own
paths. Slower and never ending supply-trains made other
paths. Camels, bearing troops and war-material, wound
their way over the plain long after the crescent moon had
ceased to cast its light across the country.

The country fought over was otherwise difficult, intersected
as it was by ravines and nullahs, big cracks in the ground,
and the precipitous banks of the Wadi Ghuzzeh, which had
to be crossed in an enveloping cavalry movement, its bed
soft and sandy, its banks often forty feet high. Anzac
mounted troops and British Yeomanry, with horse-artillery
batteries, got across in the dark, after having cut down its
banks and built ramps for guns. Oaza lay visible in the
background with its red-roofed and white-walled houses, en-
closed by lemon- and olive-groves. Towering above all was
the minaret of the mosque, formerly the Church of St.
John, founded by Knights Templars in the twelfth century,
and taken from them by Saladin. One could also see Ali
Muntar, the high mound up which Samson carried the
gates. The artillery operations provided an inspiring sight
when bursts of shrapnel smudged the cerulean blue and
high-explosive shells raised clouds of dust with vast quanti-
ties of earth from enemy entrenchments. Here in the fourth
week of April British forces defeated the Turks.,

Gaza was one of five great cities of the Philistines, having
risen to commercial importance from its situation at the
junction of trade-routes between ■ Egypt and Babylonia,
Elath and Arabia. The Philistines were a powerful warlike
people, their soldiers equipped with copper helmets, coats
of mail, javelins, and long lances, each man thus accoutered
being accompanied into battle by a shield-bearer. After the
Israelites conquered it, Gaza became a prey to Assyrians,
Babylonians, and Persians, and resisted the Greeks under
Alexander the Great for several months. More than two
centuries later it was destroyed by Alexander Jannaeus, a
Jewish king. Subsequently a new Gaza, some distance to
the south of the old city, was built and presented by the
Emperor Augustus to King Herod. Upon the latter 's death
it became a part of the Roman province of Syria. Crusaders
under Baldwin II tried to revive its former state, but with-

212

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

out success. Twenty years after their erection here of a mili-
tary stronghold Saladin plundered the town. Napoleon cap-
tured it in 1799. El Muntar ("the wateh tower") is
thought to be the eminence to which the strong man of
Israel "took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two
posts, and went away with them, bar and all." It was in
Gaza that the final tragic chapter in Samson's life was
enacted, "And Samson said: 'Let me die with the Philis-
tines,' " so runs the Biblical account. "And he bowed him-

A VIEW 01' HEBRON, IK PALESTINE, SOUTH OF JERUSALEM

self with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords,
and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead
which he slew at his death were more than they which he
slew in his life." Gaza is to-day a city of some 40,000
inhabitants.

Late in October, Beersheba was captured by the British
under General AUenby, who had succeeded to the command
and was to fill the world with his fame for great martial
deeds before the end of 1918. Beersheba, twenty-seven miles
southeast of Gaza, was of strategic importance, lying as it did

213

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

on the railway which, beginning near the Sinai frontier,
ran north about fifteen miles from the coast and forty miles
west of the Damascus-Medina line, to which it was parallel.
Beersheba means **the well of oath," a name due to a cove-
nant made there between Abraham and Abimelech. In the
Old Testament it is frequently used to describe an extent
of country, or the length of a journey, as **from Dan to
Beersheba/' Its capture was the first sign of activity that
had come out of Palestine in months. The British under
Murray had been checked after their advance had been going
forward. Under Allenby the place was now taken in a
brilliant night-charge in which the British surprized and
overwhelmed the Turks. Infantry and Australian horsemen
shared in the victory. Cavalry movements had to be carried
out at night, because of the great clouds of dust that they
raised, which in daylight would have disclosed their pres-
ence to the enemy. Infantry first tore down wire-entangle-
ments. Then, just as the moon rose over the Judean hills,
cavalry with fixt bayonets charged against strongly held
trenches, overwhelmed the Turks and galloped into the
town, infantry facing the northern, western, and south-
western defenses. The entrenchments were elaborate, skil-
fully chosen, and heavily protected by wire and guns.

What in the spring were fertile, rolling downs, had be-
come sun-parched deserts, the slightest movement raising
dust. Only a few trees and cactus-hedges between the sea
and the gaunt hills relieved the picture. In these surround-
ings Allenby effected a surprize which the Turks had con-
sidered impossible, the place being deemed by them impreg-
nable. Some of the horsemen had ridden thirty miles be-
fore they got into action. The taking of the Telelsaba foot-
hills, three miles east of the town, was a difficult operation
as the hills presented a redoubt of great strength and were
almost unapproachable because of steep banks running along
the river. In Beersheba everywhere was evidence that
the Turks had been taken by surprize. They had blown up
a railway engine and burned the engine-house. Warehouses
full of corn were, however, almost intact, altho attempts
had been made to fire them. Fifteen guns were captured
and prisoners to the number of 444 included 26 ofiicers.

214

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

By November 7 AUenby had advanced to within thirty-
three miles of Jerusalem. Pushing northward along one
of the caravan routes he had taken Khilwellfeh. Further
west Gaza fell before troops advancing up the Mediterranean
coast. The British had first attacked Turkish lines defend-
ing Gaza on November 1. They captured the first line de- •
fenses on a front of 5,000 yards and took 296 prisoners and
five machine-guns. Three counter-attacks were driven oflf
before the town fell. The British campaign at last was
developing into ultimate success. The plan was practically
the same as that of the previous year, wh'ch had met with
failure because of Murray's check at Gaza. Two columns were
now advancing simultaneously northward, one on the in-
land route by way of Beersheba, the other along the coast,
by way of Gaza. The coast enterprise had back of it the
railroad through the Sinai peninsula and a pipe-line that
carried an adequate water-supply, and in addition it had
the support of a British fleet. By November 9 the Turkish
army in Palestine was retreating to the north. British air-
planes were following up and bombing retiring Turks.
Ashkelon was taken, ships from the British and French
navies cooperating with British land forces. By November
16 AUenby 's forces were three miles south of Jaffa, on the
railroad that connects Jaffa with Jerusalem and about
twenty-two miles northwest of the Holy City. Two days
later Jaffa was taken, the Turks offering no opposition.

Altho the. British force in Mesopotamia, after the death of
Maude, had temporarily ceased its offensive, AUenby in
Palestine continued his forward course. Jerusalem was
practically surrounded by November 25 and its evacuation
by the Turks was expected to follow soon. German in-
fluence in Syria, directed by Falkenhayn and Sanders, and
Turkish influence throughout Asia Minor, was now in the
balance, and if Jerusalem fell, would receive a staggering
blow. The British in Mesopotamia and Palestine were
widely separated, and, to the casual observer had little in
common, but there was a close and distinct relation between
them. Turkish resistance, wherever the British operated,
was crumbling. Turks were showing complete inability to
offer sustained and effective resistan<5e. Should the British

215

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

take Jerusalem, with its advantages of terrain and rail-
communication with the sea, there was strong possibility of
their being able to move northward soon.

By December 10, Jerusalem was in the hands of the
British. It capitulated to Allenby's force of British, French,
and Italian troops, after it liad been entirely surrounded.
With its fall was swept away all that remained of the dream
of Germans and Turks of driving southward through Pales-
tine to capture the Suez Canal and invade Egypt. Since
the taking of Jaffa and the gradual closing in on Jerusalem,
the fall of the city had been anticipated. It was not lack
of Allied strength that prevented its capture earlier.
AUenby's desire was to carry out a plan of enveloping it
and forcing its capitulation, since a frontal attack would
have endangered numerous sacred places inside the city and
its environs. Its capture marked the end, with two brief
interludes, of more than 1,200 years of possession by Mo-
hammedans. The last Christian ruler of Jerusalem was the
German Emperor, Frederick II, whose short-lived domina-
tion lasted only from 1229 to 1244. Its fall was virtually
assured after the British took Jaffa.

When Bagdad fell one of the historic centers of Moslem
domination passed out of the hands of the receding Turks,
but Bagdad was only a political capital. Turkish hold on
it affronted no precious religious sense of the Moslem world.
But Christian and Jew alike had long been impatient at the
thought of alien and infidel occupation of the Holy Land —
the land of Gethsemane and the Mouift of Olives, the
heritage of the house of David. The Western nations had
shed their blood freely in the Middle Ages to recover its
Christian sanctuaries. They did recover them for a time
from the Saracens, but the crusading spirit died away and
the military diflSculties were found insuperable. Its fall in
1917 had little military significance. Indecisive from a
military point of view, its loss, with its garrison, was, how-
ever, an unmistakable sign of Turkish collapse. All the
world thus interpreted it. By Mohammedan, Christian, and
Jew alike the passing of Turkish control was accepted as
final and irrevocable.

Here in Jeriasalem one political readjustment due

216

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

to war was fully accomplished. The world was right in
assuming that, whatever else happened, Turkish rule in
Jerusalem was at an end. After seven centuries a new
crusade had been crowned with victory. Ottoman dominion
over the city had lasted all those centuries and now ended
without so much as a stone of the city being scratched or an
inch of soil destroyed. In none of her previous seventeen cap-
tures had Jerusalem escaped in war so absolutely unscathed.
It was to the glory of British arms that the most venerated
place of the Christian world came unharmed through the
ordeal of battle. No British gun was sighted within a con-
siderable distance of its walls, altho Turkish artillery fired
from positions close to the city, including the Mount of
Olives. Of British fire the inhabitants could make out noth-
ing except the distant rumble of guns as carried by the
wind. For a fortnight English, Irish, Welsh, Australians,
and New Zealanders had looked on Jerusalem from distant
hilltops.

The oflScial entry was a ceremony worthy of the occasion.
In the place from which the Savior's teaching of peace on
earth and good will toward men was spread throughout the
world, there was no pageantry of arms, no display of the
pomp and circumstance of an army victorious in war.
AUenby and his small staff, with less than 150 troops, became
the center of a quiet ceremonial in which martial law was
proclaimed and a meeting of city notables and heads of re-
ligious bodies was held. No thunderous salutes acclaimed
the victory ; no flags were hoisted ; no enemy flag was hauled
down ; no soldiers shouted in triumph — ^just a short military
procession took place in the Mount Zion quarter, 200 yards
from the walls, a purely military act with a minimum of
military display. No bells in the ancient belfries rang; no
Te Deums were sung; no preacher came forth to point a
moral to the multitude. It was not necessary for a parade
of troops to tell the people that a new system of government
had come in backed by military strength. The earlier fight-
ing on the hills and in deep-cut valleys near the Holy City
had been proof of that.

At high noon the commander-in-chief's oflScial entry
through a picturesque throng took place. From the out-

218

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

skirts of Jerusalem the Jaffa road was crowded with somber-
clad youths of aH nationalities, including Armenians and
Greeks, who stood side by side with Moslems drest in the
bright raiment of the East. Many Moslems joined in ex-
pressions of welcome. On flat roofs and balconies were
gathered many of the population, but in streets with their
cosmopolitan crowds, one saw the real demonstration.
Allenby entered on foot after having been first met by the
Mayor and Military Governor with a guard of honor outside
the Jaffa Gate. On the right of the gate were men from Eng-
lish, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh counties, with fifty men
afoot representing Australian and New Zealand horsemen,
who had been engaged in the Sinai Desert and Palestine
since the war broke out. Inside the walls were twenty
French and twenty Italian soldiers, detachments from
troops sent by Italy and France to take part in the Pales-
tine operations.

Close by the Jaffa Gate, the iron doors of which were rarely
opened, was seen the wide breach made in the walls in 1898
for the Kaiser's entry when he visited Jerusalem. Allenby
passed that breach by and entered by the ancient gate. In-
side the walls was a crowd more densely packed in narrow
streets than the crowd outside. Preceded by aides-de-camp,
Allenby had on his right the commander of the French, on »
his left the commander of the Italian detachment. At the
base of the Tower of David, which was standing when
Christ entered the city, the proclamation of military law
was read. Every person was declared free to pursue his
lawful business without interruption, and every sacred
building, pious foundation, or customary place of prayer,
whether Christian, Hebrew, or Moslem, was assured pro-
tection. The ceremony over, the procession returned to the
Jaffa Gate, and Allenby left Jerusalem. Thus ended the
simple and impressive ceremonial. In .Jerusalem were found
750 wounded Turks without medical stores and practically
without food.

The Roman Catholics at Westminster Cathedral in Lon-
don were the first Europeans to celebrate the great event.
The big bell, which had not been sounded since the beginning
of the war, was rung. Its deep note caused a sensation in

219

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the neighborhood. A large congregation assembled before
the altar of the Blessed Sacrament and, at the conclusion of
the service, **6od Save the King'' was sung in English, a
thing rarely done in Catholic churches. At St. Paul's
Cathedral a solemn Te Deum was sung. Robed in mag-
nificent capes of cloth of gold, Archdeacon Newbolt and
Canon Alexander passed 'in procession to the altar, where
tall candles were burning, while the choir sang the first verse
of the hymn, ** Praise to the Holiest." Two canons repre-
senting the Eastern church had come from Serbia, in capes
of a pattern strange to English eyes and glowing with the
splendor of color. The whole cathedral rang with the strains
of the national anthem. Manifestations of rejoicing were
made by the Jewish community in Whitechapel, where broad
pavements were studded with knots of people discussing the
glad tidings which had become the one topic of discussion
everywhere in London.

The erection of Palestine into an autonomous state under
British protection seemed a natural sequel to the brilliant
achievement of the troops under AUenby. Even to those
among Jews who had little sympathy with the aspirations
of their Zionist brethren for wresting the homeland of their
people from the age-long domination of the Turks, the
British victory brought a thrill of genuine emotion. But
the future of Palestine had other and larger meaning.
Christian, Jew, and Moslem, all sent pilgrims to Palestine,
all had religious representatives in the country. Security
of personal property, and freedom to enter and leave, were
matters of the first importance to all of them. "When at
length Palestine should be provided with a government and
people cooperating for its development, the world was surely
to see the dawn of a new day. All competent authorities
were unanimous in regard to the vast industrial and eco-
nomic possibilities of Palestine. Sir Richard Burton had
said long before that, when provided with railways and
tramways, the Holy Land would offer *'the happiest blend-
ing of the ancient and modern worlds." It would become
another Egypt, with the distinct advantage of a superior
climate, and far nobler races of men. He had prophesied
some fifty years ago that Syria and Palestine awaited the

220

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

hour when, as the home of a free and energetic people, it
would again **pour forth corn and oil, flow with milk and
honey, and bear, with proper culture, almost all the good
things that have been given to men."

Soon after Allenby entered Jerusalem he arranged to
have it administered by a remarkable group of Britons —
scholars who combined with academic learning an executive
ability which became everywhere apparent in the manage-
ment of the country. Almost every act of these men bore
the mark of fine understanding of the native population and
respect for their traditions. This attitude was seen in their
official, as well as their unofficial, acts. They did not refer
to Palestine as a conquered country, but made it known as
** occupied enemy territory." Altho the British were in
command, the British flag did not float over Palestine nor
did any other. When a few Americans were about to hold
their Fourth of July celebration, they were asked courteously
not to run up the Stars and Stripes, and so they celebrated
the Fourth without the flag. Allenby was not only a mili-
tary man, but a student deeply interested in the historic
background of the country. He spent one whole night with
an American visitor pouring over the Bible and a standard
historical work on the Holy Land, refreshing his mind as
to spots of greatest interest.^^

Dramatic possibilities lay in the British advance further
north, which began early in 1918, in double column, along
the coast toward Haifa and Beirut, and west of the Jordan
toward Damascus. One resource was at the disposal of
Allenby which his predecessors, all the way back to the
time of Thothmes, had not possest, and that was naval power.
With the establishment of a base at Jaffa, the difficult
problem of transport had been greatly ameliorated, since
British cruisers and gunboats could be employed to parallel
the land advance. A successful naval demonstration against
Haifa would threaten seriously the right flank of Turkish
forces in the Plain of Esdraelon, just as a powerful cavalry
movement east of the Jordan would menace their left flank.
With British success, the way would be open to Beirut and

"Statement by Dr. John H. Flnley on his return from his Red Cross
Mission to Palestine In November*, 1918.

221

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Damascus, with serious implications for the entire cam-
paign against Turkey in Asia Minor and the ultimate fate
of Germany's Berlin-to-Bagdad enterprise. By January 22,
because of the desertion of 160,000 Turkish troops between
Constantinople and Palestine, Falkenhayn, who was believed
then to be at Aleppo, abandoned his plan to reorganize the
Turkish army. He had been credited with having an army
of 300,000 men with which to take the offensive against the
British, but Turkish oflScers refused to support his plan be-
cause they knew their troops were tired of the war, and so,
in disgust, Falkenhayn, the eminent general who was for-
merly the Kaiser's Chief of Staff and who had lost the cam-
paign for Verdun, returned to Constantinople.

By a brilliant operation AUenby, late in February, drove
the Turks from mountain ridges east of Jerusalem, forced
them out of Jericho, cleared the valley of that section of the
Jordan, and compelled the Turks to burn their storehouses
and pier at Rujm-del-Bahl, north of the Dead Sea, an
important center of their grain-supply. Different phases of
the operations lasted three days. No one who had not stood
on the Mount of Olives and looked out on the rugged coun-
try that falls away to the Jordan and the Dead Sea could
realize the great effort here required to turn an enemy out
of trenches cut and blasted out of ridges and spurs of hills.
The whole country is one succession of hills and valleys
until it reaches marshy flats more than 1,000 feet below sea
level. But the Turks, with all conditions in their favor,
were completely defeated. At dawn the British attacked
four important positions running almost due north and
south on a line of about 2,000 yards, five miles east of
Jerusalem. El Muntar, a bleak hill southeast of Jerusalem,
lightly held by the Turks, was taken soon after 6 o'clock.
Ras-et-Tawill, a brown knob dominating a wide district, was
taken by a column which marched from Mukmas during the
night, overcoming resistance at Splash Hill on the way.
After a heavy bombardment the Turks were retreating from
Tawill in a northerly direction, and the hill was won. At
9 o'clock the center column got Ras-umm-Desis and won
Arak Sbrasim, north of the Jericho road, but on the high
ground running eastward the Turks put up a stout re-

222

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

sistanee, one London battalion having to assault three times
before bayoneting the enemy out of the trenches. The whole
line was captured by 3 o'clock.

Nine miles east of Jerusalem lay Talteddumm, the key
to Jericho. Winding up over its face was the Jerusalem-
Jericho road. On the hill was the well-known Good
Samaritan Inn, and standing out as a fine landmark of what
the Arabs called the Hill of Blood, was a Crusaders' Castle,
with little save the moat and vaults remaining of its past.

THE CITY OP BEIRUT IN SYRIA

London troops attacked this hill at daybreak. The pre-
liminary bonibardment was short but effective, after which
the Turks were seen to rush in retreat across a broad green
patch toward a defile. British infantry at this time were
ascending the spurs of the hill, and before they reached
the top the Turks had rallied and been brought back. When
the British reached the top there was a brief fight, after
which the Turks retreated, but they reformed and made one
counter-attack, which was repulsed, and the position gained
for the British by 8 o'clock. After that, they sniped at long

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

range and shelled places where they thought the British
were preparing to attack, but their fire was hopelessly out-
classed, and soon after 10 o'clock their first-line trenches
were carried. For a couple of hours there was fighting on
Ektief, the Turks having a number of machine-guns hidden
in rough ground, but they were routed, and, by afternoon,
the whole range was in possession of the British. When
darkness fell the British had won such commanding posi-
tions that the Turks moved off east and next morning the
British entered Jericho where not one Turk was left. On
March 6, fearing lest British troops would cross the Jordan,
the Turks destroyed the bridge over the river at Chovaniyeh,
east of Jericho. So far Allenby had confined his operations
to the west of the Jordan, without attempting to cross the
river and strike at the Hedjaz railway. His troops were
advancing on a fifteen- to eighteen-mile front astride of the
Jerusalem-Shechem road. On March 9 the dominating posi-
tion of Tel Asur, 3,318 feet above sea level, was occupied.
On March 20 the British army had reached a point about
twenty miles north of Jerusalem and ten south of Shechem.

Momentous events were now taking place on the Western
Front in the great German offensive of 1918, during which
Allenby, in April, continued his slow but sure progress in
a northeastward advance from Jerusalem, having two objects.
One was to cut the Hedjaz railway on the eastern boundary
and so isolate Turkish forces operating south at Medina.
This he accomplished by taking Amman, while Medina, the
last holy Mohammedan city in Ottoman hands, seemed about
to surrender. His secpnd object was, by advancing north-
ward along the Jordan, to threaten the flank of the Turkish
Syrian army facing him from Jerusalem to the sea. He had
already arrived at Es-Salt, thirty-five miles' northeast of
Jerusalem. By proceeding further north, he could, by a
flanking movement, force a retirement of the enemy beyond
the boundaries of Palestine. By such strategy he could
avoid the losses entailed by a frontal attack on strongly
entrenched Turkish positions.

Not until autumn did any further notable event occur in
Allenby 's program. Then something happened which
thrilled the whole Entente world. British forces, aided by

224

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Tbe Jeweled lamps c

deposited br pilgrims

French, Anzacs, and Arabs, and themselves reinforced by
troops from India, in the third week of September launched
an attack on the Turkish line on a fifty-mile front from the
Mediterranean to the Jordan, In smashing blows they broke
through and swung forward nineteen miles in the coastal
region and more than twelve miles inland. Three thousand
prisoners and great quantities of stores were captured after
18,000 Turkish troops had been almost surrounded. The

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Holy Land once more was aflame under the impetus of a
great stroke. In less than a day Allenby's forces, with those
under the flag of the King of the Hedjaz overran the Turkish
defensive system. The railway and highway junction points
were captured, strong forces of cavalry got well in advance
of attacking troops, threatening to carry out a turning
movement, while along the Mediterranean naval units cleared
the coast-roads of Turks by gunfire. The predicament of
the Turks was heightened by operations carried on by the
Hedjaz tribesmen east of the Jordan which prevented them
from taking refuge across the stream. The Turkish army
was virtually annihilated. Allenby's forces, sweeping across
Armageddon, soon advanced sixty miles, captured 25,000
prisoners and took 120 guns. Nazareth was occupied and
the gateway opened to Damascus and even to Aleppo, the
supply-base of the Turkish armies in Mesopotamia as well
as those in Palestine. AUenby had completely crusht the
main Turkish army; he had enveloped and destroyed it.

The event promised to free Syria as well as Palestine
from the Turk. It gave control of the whole Turkish rail-
way-system from southern Syria to a point not far south of
Damascus. Strange memories and poignant associations were
recalled by news that British cavalry, after galloping over
the actual field of Armageddon, had occupied Nazareth. One
more sacred place was in Allied hands. Armageddon over-
looked the great plain of Esdraelon, southwest of Nazareth.
It was one of the most famous battlefields of the world. It
was there that Barak defeated the Canaanites, and Gideon
the Midianites; there Saul was slain by the Philistines, and
there Napoleon, in 1799, defeated the Turks.

British troops had advanced more than sixty miles. Two
entire Turkish armies were wiped out. Twenty-five thousand
prisoners and 260 guns were taken on the two sides of the
Sea of Galilee. Forty thousand more had been trapt by
the British and could not escape annihilation or capture.
The British coup was probably the (quickest and most suc-
cessful of the war. The end of a hot summer had been the
signal for a renewal of military operations in Palestine just
as the beginning of spring had been on the plains of
Picardy. The prospect seemed clear for a rapid march upon

226

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

Damascus and from there to Aleppo, carrying with it the
collapse of Turkish resistance in Mesopotamia where the
road already opened to Mosul carried a threat against the
line which Turkish armies still held stretched out to the
Caucasus. All Asia Minor had been shaken. Kut-el-Amara
had been thrice avenged; first, when Maude's army took
Bagdad and drove the Turks far up the Tigris toward
Mosul; second, when the British entered Jerusalem; third,
when virtual destruction came to the Turkish army that
barred the Allied road to Damascus — the key to Syria—
now practically undefended. When Damascus fell all British
armies in Asiatic Turkey could be linked up with Aleppo,
their common as well as ultimate objective. The Turks
seemed now to have no forces in -Syria or in Mesopotamia
that were equal to -stopping any British drive. The Allies
had traveled a long way from Kut-el-Amara and Oallipoli.
The military power of the Turk was fast waning. Bulgaria
and Turkey alike were beginning to eat the bitter fruit of
a covetous alliance with Teutonic powers.

Arab forces from Hedjaz successfully raided Derat,
seventy miles north of the latitude of Jericho, and the

STREET SCENE IN DAMASCUS

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

junction of the Damascus-Hedjaz railway with a British
line tapping the fertile Houran district and the country of
Druses, from which the Turks had received grain. It was
the first time the modern world had heard of Arab forces
operating so far north. They were now in close touch with
the Druses, who had never been well disposed to Turks a?
whose hands they had suflPered much. Allenby's victory
promised to make it possible to cut the Hedjaz railway
permanently, which would enable the King of Hedjaz to
clear the remaining Turks out of his territory and give him
possession of Medina, the last of sacred cities remaining in
Turkish hands. On September 25 more than 40,000 prisoners
and 265 guns had been taken by the British. They were
extending their occupation about the Sea of Galilee — had
occupied Tiberias and Semakh and, east of the Jordan, the
strategic town of Amman on the Hedjaz railway. Here the
Fourth Turkish Army had been virtually surrounded. Its
annihilation completed the clearing up of Turkish forces in
Palestine and accounted in all for 70,000 men and 350 guns.
Syria, with a large anti-Turk population, was now open to
invasion.

For the first time since the World War began, we saw,
not a huge territory occupied which might count for little,
but an entire army in a given theater of operations de-
stroyed, which was the object of war, and what all military
commanders aim to achieve. The Turkish army in Palestine
had ceased to exist. If Aleppo could be taken, the Tui*ks
for all practical purposes would be shut up behind the
Taurus Mountains, with nothing of value left in Asia, every-
thing in the hands of Great Britain and her Allies. Turkey's
only hope was a peace with the Entente.

Damascus, the capital of Syria, was occupied by AUenby's
forces on October 1, and more than 7,000 Turks were taken
prisoners. This swift advance indicated a decided weaken-
ing of Turkish power in Syria. Damascus was a haven of
desert caravans, a manufacturing center — the starting point
of yearly pilgrimages to Mekka. Into Damascus, as into
Bagdad and Jerusalem, the British came as deliverers from
the Turks of its Christian, Jewish, and Arab population.
Every advance in Syria had improved the British military

228

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

situation. The port of Beirut was nearer Damascus than
was Haifa, and beyond Rayak the railroad was standard
gage. Approaching Aleppo from Horns, which apparently
would soon fall, AUenby was coming at right angles to the
advance of the British from Bagdad. There British armies
would meet, at the key of Asia Minor, which was Aleppo,
where with Falkenhayn and Sanders there would now be no
fighting, for both had wisely fled. Reports that the Turks
were on the point of surrender were made credible by their
easy yielding of Damascus.

Aleppo, on the Constantinople-Bagdad railroad, was only
180 miles north, Damascus, 160 miles from Jerusalem and

THE FORTRESS OP ALEPPO

90 miles from the point where Allenby's offensive was
launched on September 14, is the most beautiful and, after
Bagdad, the most historically romantic city in Asiatic
Turkey, situated in a fertile plain, at an altitude of 2,350
feet, its water-supply one of the marvels of Jewish engineer-
ing work, with many improvements made by Arabs, its
population 150,000. More than any other city under Turkish
rule, Damascus still posaest its ancient buildings. The five-
mile city wall, which, in 1148, Crusaders besieged in vain,
was still there with its seven gates. Through tbe city still
ran the "street called Straight," where St. Paul once took
np his abode. Conquered by David, it had afterward achieved
independence and attacked Israel. Conquered by Assyria,

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

it later became a colony of Greece and then of Rome. In
the seventh century came the Arabs, who made it a great
show city, a seat of learning and metal arts, the most
famous of which was the making of steel sword-blades that
still bear its name. From the sixteenth century it alter-
nately surrendered to Egyptian and Turkish conquerors,
and in 1841 was finally restored with Syria to Turkey.

As with Bulgaria's surrender, so with these British vic-
tories in Palestine and Syria, submarine activities in the
Mediterranean were further curtailed. With Bulgaria now out
of the war, not only were all Mgesn ports west of the old
Tchatalja line closed to U-boats, but a rapid advance of the
Allies through Serbia was assured, which meant that the
Albanian and Montenegrin coasts would also be sealed to
them, and the whole Adriatic more easily bottled up by
Italy. AUenby had gained possession of the Syrian sea-
coast from which German submarines had issued to sink
Entente vessels, among them a great British hospital ship
with hundreds of wounded on board. This submarine
menace to the eastern Mediterranean had, therefore, been
removed. At the same time, near the other end of the
great battle-front, the Belgian Channel-ports, still in Ger-
man hands, were threatened by the Belgians. Thus the
?7-boats were going the way of the Zeppelins.

Zion, now cleared of the last of its Turkish oppressors,
was the first of subject nations to reclaim its territory. The
feat of AUenby, while less in a military way than that of
D'Esperey on the Bulgarian front, yielded more prompt
results. The land of the children of Moses had reverted to
free use by its historic possessors a few days before the land
of the sons of Kara George passed to its heroic remnant.
The campaign in Palestine had been one of uninterrupted
success since AUenby took over the British command. Aus-
tralians, New Zealanders, Highlanders, Lowlanders, Indians,
and, last but not least, British Territorials, or county-regi-
ments, had vied with one another in advancing the Entente
power. It had been open warfare, with cavalry playing a
large part. Arab tribes, as allies of Great Britain, had had
no mean share in the triumph. The British had fought hard
for every mile of their advance, for if Turks were not

230

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

always well equipped they were well led by their German
generals. Turkish domination of the Arabian world had
come to an end, and with the political went the religious
authority. Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and the Arab
provinces were definitely separated from the Turkish Empire.

With the fall of Beirut, on October 7, the principal
Turkish base in Syria collapsed. Its capture was an opera-
tion distinct from the land-movement which brought about
the fall of Damascus. This stroke was ^nade by the French,
and would have effect on Constantinople, where it would
throw confusion into the ruling element which was seeking to
belittle the advance of Allenby's men. Syria had for many
years been a sphere of French influence. The territory
through which the Franco-British troops were advancing
had been conceded to France by treaties concluded between
the Entente nations. The landing of French troops was the
first realization of the -agreement. On the coast of Syria
French protection already existed. After the massacre of
Christians there in 1860, Napoleon III had occupied it for
some months, in order to shelter Syrians from Turkish fury.
Quite naturally the part of re-entering and succoring this
stricken land fell to French warships.

The route from Beirut to Damascus, a journey of fifty
miles through the Lebanon range, now lay in Allied hands,
which had required a new advanced base-line for a push
northward over the remaining 200 miles of coast to Alexan-
dretta and the Allies had good prospects of going on un-
checked. Lands south of Alexandretta would never again be
in Turkish hands. The end of the Turkish might upon those
shores was near. That Turkey, like Bulgaria, would have
to bow to the inevitable was daily becoming more nearly
certain. Syrians, whether Arabians, Jews, or Christians,
had from the outbreak of the war been pro- Ally in sympathy
and filled with a great hope that an Allied victory might
free them from the hated yoke of the Turk. In fact, before
Turkey formally entered the war, thousands of Lebanese had
sailed from Beirut to enlist in the French army. Syria
above all was pro-French. Syrians regarded France not
only as their rightful protector but as their helpful foster-
mother. Syria's railroads, her highways, and manufactures

231

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

were French; her principal commerce was with France; her
educational system was largely French; her people almost
universally spoke fluently the French tongue. The province
had often been called '*the France of the Levant." During
the war the Syrians had suffered cruelly; their men forced
into the army; their horses, cattle and crops requisitioned.
Deprived of food and of the means of producing food, they
fell easy victims to famine and disease. The country seemed
likely to be made into a semi-independent state under the
protection of France.

On October 16, British cavalry occupied Tripoli, forty-
five miles north of Beirut, and Homs, eighty-five miles
north of Damascus. At Homs they were within 100 miles
of Aleppo. On October 26 Aleppo was taken. Its capture
was mainly the work of British cavalry and armored cars.
Since September 19 the cavalry had made a march of
about 400 miles. They found the enemy much stronger than
reported — some 2,000 to 3,000 men with ten guns, who tried
to counter-attack, but were heavily repulsed. An armistice
was signed on October 31, when the British took 18 guns,
nearly 1,000 prisoners, and a large quantity of rolling stock.
Aleppo was six miles from the junction of the Damascus
and Constantinople-Bagdad railroads. Its capture was the
crowning event in AUenby's campaign. Men recalled the
last words spoken by Othello in the play, as he kills himself :

"In Aleppo once.
Where a malignant and a turbanned Turk,
Beat a Venetian and traduced the State,
I took by the throat the circumcized dog,
And smote him — thus."

The way was now open for an advance on Constantinople.
Altho 650 miles from Aleppo in an air-line, the two cities
were connected by the Berlin-Bagdad railway. It was be-
lieved that Allenby would seize, as a new base, Alexandretta,
on the Mediterranean, sixty miles northwest of Aleppo.
Alexandretta had a fine harbor and was connected with the
railway from Aleppo to Constantinople by a branch line.
On November 13 fifty British, French, and Italian battle-

232

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

ships, cruisers, and destroyers anchored in the Bosporus.
Newspapers and many people in Constantinople acclaimed
the squadrons as deliverers. On the outskirts of the city
headquarters were established with a British aerial force.
About a thousand Germans and Austrians, including Gen-
eral Liman von Sanders, German commander in the Turkish
army, who had fled before AUenby when he reached Damas-
cus, were believed to be still living in Constantinople or the
neighborhood, their exit across the Black Sea having been
cut off by the Roumanians and by disorders in Odessa. The

INDIAN CAVAI.BY PASSING THBOUOH DAUASCUS

occnpation was effected in a methodical way, with such lack
of military display as to seem out of harmony with the
famous city's history and traditions. Remembering Gibbon's
account of the spectacular entry of the Turk 460 years be-
fore, there was something startling in the simple landing of
the British commander from a motor-boat at the Galata
bridge ; in' the anchoring of a small fleet of Allied ships in
the Golden Horn, and in the gradual, almost imperceptible,
sifting of soldiers throughout diiferent quarters of the city.
V. viit— 16 233

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

The army of occupation made no exactions, it merely under-
took the task of cleaning-up the city and restoring order.
Here on a landing pier D'Esperey met AUenby — an historic
occurrence, already represented in photoplay, but destined to
be preserved on canvas and in mural decorations in after
times.

In the tumult of the war the opening of a broad-gage
railway which the British had built from Cairo to Jerusalem
had passed almost unnoticed, but it was one of the great
improvements which Allenby's army left behind it, in its
way one of the greatest events which, next to the opening of
the Suez Canal, the Near East had known in modern times.
It was possible now to enter a sleeping-car at Cairo any
evening at dinner time and to reach a little hillside station
below the Bethlehem road, which was the terminus of the
Jerusalem line, at 4 o'clock the next afternoon. In former
times the overland route from Ismalia to Jerusalem, via El
Arish and Gaza, took three weeks and was not only ex-
pensive but dangerous. Starting from Kantara, on the
Suez Canal, where the line connects with the road from
Cairo, it skirts the sea to Gaza, the gateway to Palestine.
South of Gaza it branches off, one line going to Jerusalem
via Beersheba, the other hugging the coast.

One could not contemplate this road and the diflSculties
which had beset its construction without acquiring a changed
vision of what army organization means. In the historic
wastes of the Sinai desert had been formed huge camps,
covering miles and laid out in perfect order, with fine roads,
thorough and complete sanitary arrangements, plentiful and
good food, and all other necessities for a huge army. All
this had been set up in a wilderness into which two years
before only the most intrepid traveler ever ventured. Now
an endless stream of motor-lorries, Red Cross vans, equip-
ment-vans, camels, soldiers, Arabs, Bedouins, Egyptians, and
motor-cycles had moved across* the land. Water, which two
years Jbef ore -was nowhere to be had, was now to be had every-
where. "Wet and dry canteens were so numerous that one
could buy almost anything anywhere in the desert. At night
a sky of stars, and a moon above fields of sand looked down
on the wonders which the British army had wrought in that

234

THE WAR AGAINST TURKEY

distant corner of the world. Under the Turk it had lam
dormant for centuries and would have continued to lie dor-
mant for centuries more."

"Principal Sources: Cable dlspatcbes fron W. T. MBBBe<^ Id Palestine
to The Timet, Tbe Evealng Sun, Kew York; Tbe Times (London | ; Tbe
Evening Post, the "Military Expert" o£ Tlie Time', W. L. Mcrteraon in The
TTibuae, The Sun, The Journal of Commerce, '-Bulletins" of the ^■atlonal
Geographic Society, Kew York,

E 5

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST
AND SOUTH

Part VI

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN

THE WAR

237

s^s

■ as

a of

BALKAN PROBLEMS OF THE PAST, AND THE JOINT
TEUTONIC-BULGARIAN CONQUEST OF SERBIA

AND MONTENEGRO

September, 1915 — January 25, 1916

THE Balkan country extends westward from the Black
Sea about four hundred and fifty miles, and south-
ward from the Carpathians to the ^gean about three hun-
dred. It is not much larger than the State of Montana,
but it has furnished the terrain for more than two thousand
years of conflict between Europe and Asia. In one form or
another the struggle has continued ever since Xerxes, five
centuries before Christ, marched across the Hellespont to
conquer Greece. Because its people have been on the world's
natural highway from Europe to Asia, death and destruction
have accompanied them from generation to generation. Long
before modern Europe emerged from the wreck of the
Roman Empire, some of the Balkan roads were already
great world thoroughfares, the greatest of them the Via
Egnatia, which ran from Durazzo on the Adriatic eastward
by Monastir and Saloniki to Constantinople. Others ran
from Belgrade, by Nish and Sofia, to the Bosporus; from
Skutari to Nish and the Danube; from Monastir by Sofia
to the Danube; from Saloniki by Uskub and Novi-Bazar to
Serajevo.

If their inhabitants had ever been united, the Balkans
might have played a great part in history. Includ-
ing Roumania and Bosnia, their area of 190,000 square
miles is not much less than the area of France, but the
population is only about half that of France. Considering
their defensive strength and favorable geographical situa-
tion between the Black, ^gean, and Adriatic Seas, the
united Balkans might have made one powerful and pros-
perous state. The reason why they had not done so was the
violent race rivalries that had existed there. While the

239

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

larger part of the population is Slav, there have been three
other vigorous race elements — Turks, Greeks, and Albanians.
Race divergencies within their own borders have often rent
these countries asunder.

The Roumanians have been infused with a belief that they
are a Roman race. Philologists have yet to decide whether
there are, or are not, any considerable remnants of the
Latin tongue in the present Roumanian tongue. As Rou-
mania has been a highway for contending races for fourteen
hundred years, it does not seem reasonable to suppose that
the people are now much less Slav than are people to the
north, south, east, and west of them. At the same time there
is doubtless in Roumania a mixture of many races. As to
Bulgaria its people believe the original Bulgars were
Asiatics who adopted the language of those whom they
vanquished in Europe and so became politically, tho not
racially, a Slavonic nation. Serbia is a far more typical
Slav country, tho within her borders are many Wallachians,
Bulgarians, and Albanians. Bosnians are also mostly Slavs.
The modern Greeks are a tolerably definite race, linked
through the centuries with the great Greek race, but within
their borders are many Bulgarians. Within the small Balkan
area left to Turkey in 1913, including the city of Constanti-
nople, are thousands of Greeks and some Bulgarians and
Armenians.

In addition to race differences there has been lack of re-
ligious unity in the Balkans. Roman fJatholics live in
Albania and Bosnia, and many Moslems remained there after
Balkan lands were taken from the Turks in 1912. Other-
wise the Balkan people are everywhere ministered to by the
Greek Church; but there are as many Greek churches as
there are Balkan countries. Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and
Roumania each has its own church organization, and none
of them is in organic relation to the greater Greek Church
of Russia. It is one of the curiosities of ecclesiasticism
that church services in Russia are held in the ancient Bul-
garian tongue — ^which is no longer understood even in Bul-
garia, the reason being that the earliest Christian mis-
sionaries among the Slavs first went into Bulgaria, and,
having converted the Bulgarian people, proceeded into

240

IN THE EAST, NEAE EAST, AND SOUTH

Russia, using a ritual that had been compounded in the
ancient Bulgarian tongue.

Language and religion, however, are not the only bases
of an intense subdivision of racial and political sentiment
in the Balkans. The whole region is more or less parceled
out among race factions, some of which comprise not more
than hamlets. Roumanians, Bulgarians, Serbians, and
Greeks have a deep race consciousness, but each State has
been threatened at times with a break-away by alien race-
units within its borders. If Greece were peopled only by
Greeks, Bulgaria only by Bulgarians, and Serbia only by
Serbians, Balkan problems would have been easier. It has
been the curse of the peninsula that so many alien groups
in time past pushed their way forward wherever they
found vacant land, or made vacant land by driving out
holders and forming villages of their own. The result was
the creation of certain ** race-islands in race-seas." So long
as the Turks were masters — and they were masters for about
five centuries — ^these ra<;e rivalries lay somewhat dormant.
Greeks and Bulgarians had their quarrels, and even their
little wars, but their Turkish masters punished them im-
partially. The real depth of Balkan race feeling was most
clearly revealed in 1913, when the question to be faced was
how the territory they had taken from the Turks should be
subdivided. While the successful Balkan war had seemed to
mark the last chapter of Turkish rule and all western
Euroi)e rejoiced, it became the first chapter of violent in-
ternal struggles. Every one of the four Balkan Powers,
now made independent, wanted more territory. Each was
eager to become the leading Balkan State.

The investigator who gets behind **blue books,'' '*red
books,'' '* white books," note-books, reports, and ultimatums,
finds that the break in the strain between the Triple Alliance
and the Triple Entente really came over the question
whether Serbia should be allowed to grow up as the nucleus
of a greater Balkan power and appropriate to herself the
Slavs of Croatia, Slavonia, and Bosnia, then subjects of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, the murder of the Archduke
being the match that touched off the bonfire. The ambition
of Serbia to revive the empire of Czar Dunchan, who ruled

242

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

in the Balkans before the Turks came, stood out clearly
enough in that crime at Serajevo, altho there was neither
proof nor likelihood that the Serbian Government had -any
hand in it. The accident served also to throw out into sharp
relief the rivalry between Austro-Hungary and Russian in-
fluence. If Serbia were not to be punished for Gavrio
Princip's crime, Austro-Hungarian prestige would be
weakened, while, if Serbia were punished, Russia would
cease to be the leading Power in the Balkans. 'The war,
therefore, in its beginning, was a manifestation of an un-
quenchable rivalry between two empires external to the
Balkans.

The reasons why Balkan peoples have not trusted each
other are mainly blood-reasons, complicated by artificial
national boundaries fixt arbitrarily by the Great Powers.
In the Balkans is found a conglomerate blood-caldron, the
product of a thousand or more years. Across that country
went the Crusaders to and from the Holy Land. Then
came the Turkish wave, which, subsiding, left a submerged
people and further race confusion. But the racial ego,
altho submerged, remained vital. It yearned all through
the years for self-expression. The Balkan peoples in gen-
eral have distrusted the Great Powers almost as much as
they have distrusted each other, for which the Great Powers
had themselves to thank. For nearly 500 years the Balkan
States had been a •buffer between Christian Europe and the
Turk, but after* the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the whole
peninsula terminating in Greece was submerged by the
Turkish inundation. Mohammedanism threatened, in fact,
to overwhelm all Christiandom, and was checked only after
reaching high-water mark at Vienna. Christian Europe at
Vienna saved itself, but it did not rescue from the Turk the
Balkan peoples who were abandoned to the Turk's misrule.
That was not the worst that followed. The Powers for
centuries made use of the Balkan peninsula as an inter-
mediate training ground. Unable or unwilling to put the
Turk back into Asia, they made treaties with him in order
to secure a thoroughfare to the Dardanelles. It was easier
to bargain for the thoroughfare than to take it by force.

Early in the nineteenth century the Turkish population

243

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

in the Balkan peninsula began to decline and the Christians
correspondingly increased. Except for the jealousies of the
Great Powers, Turkish rule in Europe would have gone on
dec£^ying still faster. For a long time its security was
actually fostered, in order that a state of equilibrium might
be maintained in* Europe. For all this the Balkan people
paid the« price, in religious, racial, and economic oppression.
In the course of eighty-odd years, however, the Balkan
States and Greece had slowly been shutting out the Turk.
By 1829 the Greeks had won their independence from Turkey
by fighting for it alone — in the war during which Byron lost
his life — and a year later Serbia achieved partial indepen-
dence. 'In 1?877, after frightful massacres in Bulgaria, Russia,
single-handed, moved against Turkey, and was successful;
but her hand in its hour of triumph was stayed by the other
Powers. The Treaty of San Stefano, forced by Russia on
Turkey after the war, created the Principality of Bulgaria
largely out of Turkey, but only to be torn up in the same
year and superseded by the Treaty of Berlin, which greatly
reduced the size of Bulgaria. The prospective strength of a
new Bulgarian state had seriously alarmed the Great Powers,
and especially Great Britain and Austria, and so Bulgaria
was made to suffer under the treaty negotiated at Berlin,
which gave full independence, not to Bulgaria but to Serbia,
Roumania, and Montenegro, Bismarck, acting as *'an honest
brother."

In March, 1878, Russia was fast approaching the very
walls of Constantinople, near which lay the small town of
San Stefano, where the treaty was signed by the Turks, and
Bulgaria was accorded boundaries which fulfilled her wildest
dreams, including, as they did, every detached fragment of
the Bulgarian race and something more. Her borders were
made to run from the Black Sea to the Albanian hills, from
the Danube to* the ^gean, and included the port of Kavala
on the -^gean, and most of Macedonia. By the Treaty of
Berlin, signed on July 13, Bulgaria got only the territory
between the Balkan range of mountains and the Danube,
the country south of the Balkans being erected into an
autonomous Turkish province called Eastern Roumelia. To
Serbia was given Nish, and to Greece Thessaly. Bessarabia

244

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

went to Russia, Roumania retained the Dobrudja, and Bosnia
and Herzegovina were put under Austrian admJDistration —
an arrangement that led directly to the World War. Turkey
was left with Macedonia, Albania, and Thrace, and remained
the Suzerain of Bulgaria, Eastern Roumelia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina. No authority was
given to Austria to annex Bosnia and Her-
zegovina, as she audaciously did thirty
years afterward, and thus prepared the
way for the murder of the Archduke in
June, 1914.

When, in 1912, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece,
and Montenegro, foregoing their separate
quarrels in a new hatred of the Turk,
formed the Balkan. League, the Great
Powers were aghast. It was now obvious
that the Balkan States would fight together
for what they wanted, and they did fight.
They accomplished more toward putting ■
the Turk back into Asia than the Great
Powers had done in hundreds of years.
But in their hour of triumph, the Balkan
allies fell out over a division of the spoils
and turned to fighting each other. This
necessarily weakened them and the Great
Powers interfered to limit their aspirations
and especially those of Serbia, between
which country and the Adriatic they
created the new State of Albania in order
to prevent Serbia from gaining her long
coveted "window on the sea." Serbia thus
remained, as she so long had been, land- the sbiibiam

locked. Austria was mainly responsible '^'"l^J^'*^"
for that, but she was supported by her
allies, Germany and Italy. Each Balkan State was like
Italy, in that it had an irredenta which could be reclaimed
only through the dismemberment of Austria-Hungary, or
that of Turkey, or that of one another. Each had long held
to a policy of neutrality in the expectation of gaining terri-
tory eventually without the risks and losses of intervention.

245

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

•

But, as time passed, each drew nearer and nearer to the
period when a choice had to be made between fighting for
national ideals and taking chances of being ignored in a
final settlement.

Bulgaria's action against Serbia in September, 1915, was
influenced, if not actually determined, by the success of
the great German drive against Russia. Nevertheless, if
Bulgaria could have secured from Greece and Serbia pledges
of the territorial concessions she had demanded in Mace-
donia, and from the Allied Powers a free hand in Thrace,
her hopes of aggrandizement would have been substantially
realized and she probably would not have allied herself with
the Teutonic Powers. Many observers thought Serbia might
well have yielded. Serbia had already invaded Albania,
with Skutari and the northern Albanian ports as her ob-
jectives. She showed she was in cooperation with the
Italian plans and that she expected to seek compensation
in Albania, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hence
she apparently was in a position where she could well have
yielded to Bulgaria such portions of her territory in Mace-
donia as were inhabited exclusively by Bulgars.^

Venizelos, the Premier of Greece, was known to be willing
to cast his country's lot with the Allies. He believed that
only in this course lay any chanee of extending Greek terri-
tory and freeing Greek populations from Turkish sovereignty.
The hindrance to Greek participation in the war lay, how-
ever, in the danger of Bulgarian aggression. Greece would
fight for her future when the time arrived — the more so
since all the forces of diplomacy which had detached Italy
from the Triple Alliance and alined her as a belligerent with
the Allies, were now focussed on the problem of unifying the
interests of the Balkan neutrals and seeking for them na-
tional ideals along the lines which Italy had elected to
follow.

One reason why Bulgaria betrayed an unwillingness to
pull chestnuts out of the fire, either for Russia or for Ger-
many, was given in concrete form by M. Tsankoff, of the
University of Sofia. According to his calculations the
Balkan struggles of 1912 and 1913 had cost Bulgaria $256,-

1 Albert Bushnell Hart In The Outlook.

246

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

000,000, apportioned among the following classes of ex-
penditures: War credits, $70,000,000; requisitions, $30,000,-
000; budget deficit, $10,000,000; materials of war of trans-
portation, $30,000,000; various debts, as to the railways,
$36,000,000; pension charges, $80,000,000. To this sum
should be added the immense damage wrought to the eco-
nomic structure of the nation by the loss of a large part of
its laboring population — 58,000 men between 20 and 45
years of age, of whom 6.7 per cent, were heads of families.
In addition there were about 11,000 war-cripples now in-
capable of labor, who with their families had to be supported
by the State. Professor Tsankoff, who made his estimate
in 1915 before Bulgaria defied Russia, said he believed a
loan of $100,000,000 was immediately needed, in order to
put the nation on its feet. Such figures showed what was
the immense burden which had already been shouldered by
four and a half million people who, in spite of it, were
now going to war again, and this time with Great Powers.

Every monarch in the Balkans was either a foreigner or,
if he had been bom in the country he ruled, was of Teu-
tonic descent or under Teutonic influence through marriage,
with the exception of the King of Serbia. It would be difB-
*cult to find a modern instance in which kings exercised
greater personal influence than the sovereigns of Greece,
Bulgaria, and Roumania in 1915. Everybody agreed that
M. Venizelos was the ablest statesman modern Greece had
produced, and yet a foreign prince on the Greek throne was
able virtually to depose M. Venizelos, to counteract his
policy, and to keep Greece neutral. The elections proved
conclusively that the vast majority of the Greek people
were on the side of Venizelos, but he and the Greek people
were helpless because their King, whose wife was a sister of
the German Emperor, refused to go to war with Germany.
Here was a striking instance of the hold that monarchial
institutions still had on a European people.

So also of Bulgaria, which had been called into political
existence so late as 1877 and as the act of Russia. Bulgaria,
in 1914, had seen Russia mobilizing to protect Serbia and yet
she would not raise a hand to aid her. After eleven months
of the war, with Russia still unable to carry out her policy

247

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

of annexing Poland and disabling Germany, the Bulgars not
only looked passively on but finally defied Eussia, the Czar
of Bulgaria being a Teutonic sovereign. On one side of
French descent, on the other of German, his sympathies were
all with the Central empires. For eleven months this king
was able to paralyze both Greece and Roumania, and set
them at defiance.

In Roumania the King was of the House of Hohenzollem
and feared that if he drew the sword he might be attacked
in the rear. A small Roumanian party argued that the true
policy for Roumania was, not to wring Transylvania from
Hungary, but to get back Bessarabia. The population of
Transylvania, however, was three or four times as large as
the Roumanian population of Bessarabia; and Bessarabia
was being rapidly assimilated by Russia, while Roumanian
Transylvania was still eager to rise against the Magyars.
Balkan States, therefore, for eleven, months in succession,
had been paralyzed by the Czar of Bulgaria, a foreign
prince, who not only refused to recognize the aspirations of
his own people, but prevented his neighbor-Kings from recog-
nizing the aspirations of theirs.

So it was that among the influences which shaped the
course of Bulgaria, the personal character and ambitions *
of King Ferdinand ranked first. He was described as a
man of considerable vanity and given to duplicity, but
possest of political astuteness. He had been lured to dis-
aster in the second Balkan war by a vision of being crowned
Emperor of Byzantium, and so had chafed afterward under
the consequences his own folly had brought upon his coun-
try. In craving for an opportunity for revenge on Serbia,
Roumania, and Greece, King Ferdinand and his people thus
had at least one dominant sentiment in common. The
Treaty of Bucharest of 1913 was imposed on the defeated
Bulgarians almost literally at the point of the bayonet, and as
a matter of fact, that treaty was a bad treaty. It was not
incorrectly described as providing for a series of grotesque
frontiers, traced on vindictive lines, in violation of the
principle of nationalities and in defiance of economic laws.
It condemned probably more than a million beings to con-

248

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

ditions of life which caused some of them to regret their
loss of the rule of the Turks.

But the very States of whose vindietiveness the treaty
was the fruit, had now shown a readiness to revise its terms.
All three offered concessions so nearly approximating the
Bulgarian demands as to open a way for mediation. It was
here that the diplomacy of the King of Bulgaria and his
subservient ministers came in and spoiled the last chance of
a restored and reinvigorated Baltan confederation. Many
observers believed that, if a Russian, Serbian or Monte-

AN AUSTRIAN FLEET IN THE BAY OP CATTARO -

negrin prince, instead of a Hohenzollem, had been reigning
at Sofia, Bulgaria would have resumed her place in the
Balkan alliance. In that case Turkey would never have
dared to declare war in 1914, for if she had done so, the
Dardanelles, with Balkan help, could have been forced, Con-
stantinople captured, and tens of thousands of valuable lives
woald have been spared.

"What Bulgaria sought in 1915 was an incorporation in
her kingdom of something more than a million of her race
who had been separated from their fatherland by the Treaty
of Bucharest. It became with her purely a question which

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

of the two conflicting alliances of Great Powers could and
would secure this incorporation. The action of Czar
Ferdinand and his advisers in attacking Greece and Serbia
in 1913 and so provoking the second Balkan war, had pre-
cipitated the ruin of Bulgarian hopes, and the consequences
were afterward borne by something like a million Bulgars,
innocent of complicity in the crime. A portion of Mace-
donia, which had always been recognized as Bulgar in race,
language, and population, now became subject to Greek and
Serbian masters. In the Serbo-Bulgar treaty which pre-
ceded the first Balkan war, Serbia had agreed to recognize
Bulgaria's claim to all of Macedonia, east and south of a
line drawn from Lake Ochrida to the point of contact of
Serbia, Bulgaria, and the Turkish vilayet of Kossovo. This,
had it been lived up to, would have given to Bulgaria
Monastir, Ochrida, Kuprili, Istip, and Prilep. At the close
6{ the war, Greece was prepared to surrender her claim
to that portion of Macedonia which lies east of the Struma
River, including Drama, Kavala, and Seres, but the Serbo-
Bulgar agreement was based on the presupposition that
Serbia would have Albania north of the Skumbi River.
When Austria vetoed this Albanian arrangement, Serbia
claimed as ''compensation" that portion of Macedonia which
her armies had conquered and which embraced Monastir,
Kuprili, Ochrida and Prilep. Bulgaria declined to accede
to this demand. She held that Serbia was bound by her
agreement with Bulgaria and naturally refused to give up
territory that was inhabited by a population which desired
to join Bulgaria.

The question was in debate when Bulgaria in 1913 struck at
Serbia and Greece. In this second Balkan war the Bulgarian
troops were driven out of Macedonia by combined Serb and
Greek armies. At the same time Turkey retook Adrianople,
while Roumania invaded Bulgaria from the north and seized
a wide district about Silistria and between the Danube and
the Black Sea. At Bucharest the victors divided the spoils.
Serbia kept all of Macedonia west of the mountains, includ-
ing Istip, Monastir, and Prilep; Greece took Kavala and
Drama and pushed her frontier east to the Kara-Su ; Turkey
retook all of Thrace, save a small district between the

250

'- ^iE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

Mgesm and the Rhodopians, west of the Maritza ; Roumania,
as her share, annexed the region between the Danube and
the Black Sea. By these processes there were taken from
Bulgaria 1,250,000 people, who inhabited regions that Bul-
garian troops had conquered, or districts which were Bul-
garian before the war. Moreover, Bulgaria had laid claim
to some 500,000 people in Macedonia in and about Monastir,
lands which she had forfeited to Serbia. So that, out of,
two wars, Bulgaria emerged with a gain of less than 500,000
in population, while at least 1,000,000 Bulgars were placed
under Greek, Roumanian, or Serbian rule.

What Bulgaria asked of Serbia in 1915 was to return to
her upward of 500,000 Bulgarian people and their lands in
Macedonia, a large majority of whom desired to become
Bulgarians. Serbia could well have done this, because the
enemies of Germany, if successful, would have been able
not only to restore the old situation, but with Austria out
of the reckoning, to permit Serbia to annex Albanian regions.
Italian consent, however, would have been necessary in re-
storing the conditions on which the Serbo-Bulgarian treaty
of 1912 was based. In addition the enemies of Germany
were prepared to promise to Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina,
and Dalmatia as far south as the mouth of the Barenta,
regions which, except for an Albanian district, were in-
habited largely by Serbs. Serbia would thus have gained
2,500,000 people and have lost to Bulgaria some 750,000.
Moreover, she would have been surrendering Bulgars for
Serbs.

Bulgaria opened to the Teutonic Powers the path which
some of the Crusaders had taken from Europe to the Holy
Land, that is, the road thji^t runs across a little neck of
Serbia that was all that separated Bulgaria from Hungary.
With this and a thoroughfare across Bulgaria, the Teutonic
Powers could have marched to the assistance of the Turks.
Thus the Allies in 1915, when Bulgaria deserted them,
suffered a serious diplomatic defeat and were facing a
difficult military problem. With Serbia crusht between
the Teutonic hammer and the Bulgarian anvil, with Allied
forces driven from Galliiwli, came the failure of a brilliant
hope, tho hardly more, since the Allies would remain about

251

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

where they were before they made their attempt against the
Dardanelles. That move had for its aim the winning of
the war by a dramatic coup. Beyond question the winning
of Constantinople would have meant the winning of the
Balkans as a unit for the Allies. If Constantinople had
fallen in the late spring or summer of 1915, when the Rus-
sian armies were hammering at the Carpathian gateway, if
at the same time Roumania had thrown her armies into
Transylvania, a much-talked-of separate peace by Austria
might have become a reality. But the Dardanelles venture
failed and then came loss in prestige and the discouraging
after effects in Allied homes.

The Allied move against the Dardanelles had been more
than a thrust against a vital spot in the Teutonic armor,
for it was intended at the same time to avert any possible
attack on Britain's vital interests outside of Europe. By
keeping the Turks busy at home the safety of Egypt could
be assured, and Egypt meant India. The campaign of
Gallipoli meant, not only the safeguarding of the Suez
Canal, but the prevention of any formidable display of
Turkish strength in Mesopotamia. It kept the war from
drawing too perilously close to India, with possible disaffec-
tion among Indian tribes. If the Allies had permanently
failed in the Balkans, it would have meant a renewal of
Britain's concern for her African and Asiatic possessions.

That was the purpose of the Teutonic invasion of Serbia
under Mackensen in 1915. Perhaps half a million men were
thrown into the scales against the Allies in the Balkans, a
number far larger than the Turkish army which the Allies had
had to deal with, and it meant the release also of a Turkish
army for a renewed offensive against the Suez Canal and
in the valleys of the Euphrates. Had the Balkan struggle
ended in complete Allied defeat the problem would have
become formidable, because what German leadership had
done for the Austrian armies and for the Turks in Europe,
it would then have attempted with the Balkan States.

To create a Greater Roumania, by annexing the Bukowina
and the Roumanian portion of Transylvania, was the natural
ambition of the Latins of the Danube delta. Their brethren
in the Bukowina and Transylvania had suffered under the

252

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

Hungarian yoke as much as the Italians of Trieste and the
Trentino had suffered under the Austrian yoke. In a mili-
tary sense, however, the Austro-German victories in Galicia,
in the spring of 1915, had made an invasion of Transylvania
far more diflScult to Roumania than it would have been when
the victorious Russians were threatening northern and east-
ern Hungary. But Italy's strength, when thrown into the
opposite scale, had counterbalanced, so far at least as Austria-
Hungary was concerned, the collapse of the Russian offensive
in the summer of 1915. Roumanians problem remained,
therefore, almost what it had been — to choose the right mo-
ment for the occupation of Transylvania, after securing her-
self from an attack in the rear by Bulgaria.

Roumania is composed of two principalities, Moldavia and
Wallachia, the first of which found freedom from the Turk
in the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1856. The two were united
in government almost from the start; and under the rule
of their second Prince, Charles of Hohenzollem, a vigorous
spirit of nationalism was instilled into all classes. After
the defeat of the Turks by their soldiers at Plevna, in 1877,
the little principality was recognized as a kingdom. The
Roumanian King of 1914, a nephew of Prince Charles, ruled
over a land of 53,489 square miles, or a little less in area
than Massajehusetts and New York combined. Within this
territory were 7,800,000 inhabitants, showing a density of
population slightly greater than that of Maryland.

A generation had passed since the Great Powers sat about
a table at the Berlin, Congress and willed that certain
things should be done. Their main purpose at that time was
to protect theii: own States from war, and to prevent their
rivals from gaining, through the Treaty of San Stefano,
disproportionate profits from the Russo-Turkish war. But in
the process the statesmen in Berlin turned back to the gentle
mercies of the Turk in Thrace and Macedonia two million
Bulgarians. Similarly the Serbs of Bosnia were transferred
to the actual, tho not the titular, sovereignty of Austria,
while the Greeks in Epirus, Macedonia, and the ^gean
Islands were left to dwell beneath the Turkish yoke.
To placate Russia, leave was given her to rob her Roumanian
ally of Bessarabia, which was inhabited by Roumanians,

253

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

while Roumania was quieted by a permit to seize the Bulgar
land, Dobnidja. For a generation afterward, each succeed-
ing spring saw men in revolt in Macedonia, women dis-
honored, children murdered. From the Danube to the
uiEgean islands some millions continued to live in pain and
die in misery in order that there might be peace and pros-
perity in London and Berlin.

To all suggestions from the Powers in 1915 Bulgaria
answered simply that she desired to have back her lost
provinces and her stolen children. Let Roumania as a pre-
lude to the liberation of Roumania, first free her Bulgarians.
Such was the Bulgar demand — that some 3,500 square miles
and some 500,000 souls be restored by Roumania. Of all
her losses, the one felt most keenly by Bulgaria was the
Macedonian loss. Here people spoke her dialect. In the
Treaty of San Stefano this region had been assigned to her.
In Bulgarian hearts the frontiers made by that rescinded
treaty were still a living fact. From Serbia, Bulgaria
merely asked that the old bargain be fulfilled ; until Monastir
and Istip were returned to her, she would yield to none of
Serbia's appeals for sympathy and aid.

The picture of Germany late in 1915 driven from the
sea by the British fleet, checked in the east after an aston-
ishing drive which had lost to Russia thousands of square
miles of territory and facing in the west a new offensive
in the Champagne and Artois which threatened to break
through Germany's hitherto impregnable line of defense,
now suddenly striking south, with an army estimated at
half a million, in an endeavor to win a way through hostile
territory to the relief of a small and almost exhausted ally,
startled anew the imaginations of men and compelled ad-
miration once more for her powers in colossal military ac-
tivity. Germany, in the alliance now concluded with Bul-
garia, was believed to aim at India and Egypt. To burst
through her **iron ring" and to seize an Oriental empire,
all by one great stroke, was a colossal scheme which seemed
too wonderful ever to come true. A people who had lost
access to the sea, who had not one warship, nor one merchant
vessel free to sail, was going forth to compass an ocean-
spaced empire by setting out on a military expedition of

254

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

hundreds of miles across mountains and through deserts.
Taken not seriously, but as a piece of imaginative audacity,
the German scheme probably had its value. As a distrac-
tion even, it might prove important, especially if it should
succeed in worrying the Anglo-French forces into a contest,
in a theater of the Germans' own choosing, and at a time
when the main Allied strength was devoted to a drive on
the Western Front.

The Austro-German attack on Serbia in October, 1915,
was more than a menace to the little Serbian nation, more
than an attempt to give relief to Turkey. It was an indi-
cation that Germany had not abandoned her expectation of
controlling the direct line of communication between Cen-
tral Europe and the Near East, and indirectly was a threat
against British sovereignty in the Mohammedan world. If
completely successful, it would have done much to destroy
such British prestige as was won at the outset of the war
by the suppression of Teutonic intrigue in Egypt and India,
and by the bold attack made at Gallipoli in 1915 on the
seat of the Califate itself at Constantinjople. Little Serbia
was caught between the upper and lower millstones of an
Austro-German advance on the north and a Bulgarian ad-
vance on the southeast. For the moment, her safety and
independence rested on the activity of perhaps a quarter
of a million of her own troops and the expeditionary force
of French and British coming by way of the Mgean Sea
and in camp at or near Saloniki, a Greek x)ort. The Bul-
garian and Austro-German armies had for their immediate
problem to overcome the entire Serbian forces before they
could unite.

The German drive thus revealed itself, not as a punitive
expedition against Serbia, nor as a relief expedition for the
Turkish forces fighting to hold Gallipoli, but as an effort to
gain, by force of arms, an advantage that years of diplo-
macy and peace had failed to secure. It was, according to
semi-official pronouncement, a stroke to secure a swift pas-
sage of the Balkan mountain-lands and eventually to com-
plete an unbroken German line from the North Sea to the
Bosporus, thence across Asia Minor to the Persian Gulf and
India, and finally to envelop the Suez Canal, Egypt, Tripoli,

•

255

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

and Algeria, all of which were the hard won North-African
possessions of Great Britain, France and Italy. If this
was the ultimate purpose, the enterprise was startlingly
bold and daring, for Germany could not count on any
movements by sea to aid it. It had to be a land operation
entirely, and must be accomplished in part literally on foot.

For the German press it was natural to speak of it as the
beginning of a German thrust at the British in Egypt and
India. In its distant implications it might hold such a
threat. But it was altogether too early to speak of a cam-
paign against Egypt as an actuality of the near future.
Before that could come about, a decision had to be reached
in the Balkans, and if precedent counted for anything, op-
erations in the Balkans would not be completed as a matter
of rush or dash, but would be a slow and grinding process,
with a possible deadlock, like that in Gallipoli, for months
afterward. Even should the tide turn definitely against the
Allies, the menace to Egypt would have to take the form
of a Turkish move against the Suez Canal under German
leadership. It was hardly to be supposed that German
troops would actually be thrown into Asia Minor in order
to perform a difficult march through the desert. But that
was the only way in which an attack could come, if it came
at all. The sea would continue to be held by the Allies.^*

A battle-front of 1,200 miles had been lengthened out by
something like another 600 miles. For the defense of this
new frontier, as of the old, the Germans became' responsible.
While they had gained a new ally in Bulgaria, this did not
alter the fact that they had added to their own vulnerabil-
ity. For the Allies the campaign became, by force of cir-
cumstances, strategical rather than political, and a naval
and military operation of the first significance. If they
were to allow the Germans to subjugate Serbia, seize Con-
stantinople, and obtain the hegemgny of the Balkan Penin-
sula, the Germans would succeed in doing in the South of
Europe what they had failed to do in the West and East.
Occupation of Constantinople by a German force would
have dealt a tremendous blow to British prestige in India,
and have been a standing menace to Egypt.

"The Tribune (New York).

256

'II

a as
llg

git

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

The invasion of Serbia was undertaken on a carefully-
considered plan arranged between the German and Bulga-
rian General Staffs. An Austro-German army, composed,
as was believed, of 300,000 men, with a reserve of 100,000,
crossed the Danube in two main groups, one under the Aus-
trian General Koevess, the other under the German General
Gallwitz, Field-marshal von Mackensen being in supreme com-
mand of both groups. The lower Morava Valley was the

dividing line between the two armies, which were to advance
in a southerly direction, and secure the line of the Western
Morava. On the west an Austrian army, which was not
thought to exceed two divisions, was to assemble at Vishe-
grad, across the Drina, and after detaching a force to
Koevess 'a right wing, was to move into the old sandjak of
Novi-Bazar and drive a wedge between Montenegro and the
Serbian army retreating south. On the east two Bulgarian
armies were to take part in the enveloping movement, the
first army (200,000 strong), under General BojadjefF, being
concentrated on the northern part of the Serbian frontier,
while the second (100,000 strong), under General Toucheff,
257

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

^ was assembled at Kustendil and Stnimnitza. The third
Bulgarian army, commanded by General Teodoroff, was to
watch the Roumanian frontier. Bojadjeff's share in the
plain was to march into the Timak Valley, seize Nish, and
drive the Serbians westward; while Toucheff was to take
Uskub, hem the Serbians in on the south, and prevent their
retreat down the valley of the Vardar.

After a month the Teutonic forces advanced about thirty
miles, and then waited for reinforcements, for once they
had cleared a way to the railroad, they would be obliged
to patrol every mile of it and Constantinople was still 400
miles away. The Allies naturally would attempt to ** break"
this line. Anglo-French forces landing at Saloniki could
strike at Nish, or even at Sofia. They might capture the
pass at Stnimnitza, whence a thrust to the northeast would
strike Bulgaria. Forces landed at Enos and Dedeagatch on
the -^gean might fight their way up the Maritza Valley
and deliver a body blow between Adrianople and Constanti-
nople. Russia, in addition, was to be reckoned with. The
first purpose of the Anglo-French troops was to protect the
Serbian communications with Saloniki, and the second to
hasten troops inland toward Nish to protect the Serbian
rear from attack from Bulgaria. Serbia, after a Bulgarian
declaration of war, occupied a position between the German
hammer and the Bulgarian anvil. She might for a time
hold back the Germans, but she could not ward off blows
from both Bulgaria and Germany.

About the middle of July it had been learned that Rou-
mania refused to allow weapons and ammunition to pass
through ber territory from Germany to Turkey ; to Berlin 's
demand she had sent an emphatic rejection. Here was a
premonitory symptom. The pinch of scant ammunition-
supplies obviously was being severely felt by the Turks at
Gallipoli, and found expression in such Franco-British gains
as were made after their severe early checks. Since the
direct line to Constantinople through Serbia was closed by
the war, German co-operation with Turkey had been estab-
lished through Roumania. Along the route which passed
from Vienna through Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, and
Adrianople, German oflScers had traveled to Constantinople

258

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

to train the Turks in scientific warfare and to lead their
armies in the field. Along that route also arms and am-
munition had been carried to the Turks until now when
Roumania, evidently under pressure of the Allies, closed her
railroad to shell- and powder-trains. With the only land
route to her Turkish ally thus cut off, Germany, since the
middle of June, had not been able to send Turkey any more
weapons. The Turks, thus suffering from a scarcity of am-
munition, were also faced with possible famine. Mean-
while, the Teutonic Allies were exerting every effort to keep
Roumania neutral. On July 7 they offered her, as the
price of her neutrality, the Bukowina, as far as Czemowitz
and better treatment of Roumanian peoples there and else-
where in the Dual Monarchy. The only restraining in-
fluence on Roumania was the Bulgarian menace. Bulgaria
was itching to avenge the coup of the Second Balkan War,
when the Bucharest Government, joined with Serbia and
Greece, brought about Bulgarian defeat, and took from her
territorial spoils of victory.

By the end of September, when the situation had grown
tense, slight relief was given by an announcement that Bul-
garia would merely mobilize her army and then assume a
stand of ** armed neutrality.'' The Bulgarian Premier, M.
Radoslavoff, confirmed a statement made in a semi-official
note issued at Sofia on September 23, that Bulgaria had been
forced to adopt armed neutrality because of the develop-
ment of political and military events in the war, but that
her mobilization was not directed against either Roumania
or Greece. **Our mobilization at present,'' said he, '*is
purely a defensive measure." Bulgaria had '*no aggressive
designs against Roumania and Greece, a fact which she
wished emphatically to point out." Had Bulgaria attacked
Serbia at that time, it was clear that she would have found
herself arrayed against the army of Greece and, in all
likelihood, that of Roumania, aided by a force of British and
French troops. Only two days later, two members of the
Bulgarian Cabinet resigned because Czar Ferdinand re-
fused to approve an immediate attack on Serbia. Russia
then, early in October, issued her ultimatum to Bulgaria
demanding a reply within 24 hours. Receiving none, she

259

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

sent warships to Varna, the Black Sea port of Bulgaria, and
British and French troops were ordered to Saloniki. Mean-
while, Bulgarian troops were massed along the Serbian
borders. Reports then came from the Central Powers that
men and metal had been collected preparatory to a blow
against Serbia as the first step in what the popular imagina-
tion accepted as a fact — German determination to smash
through Serbia and line up with Bulgaria, thus creating a
new battle-front from the Austrian border to Constantinople.

The most obvious fact in the Balkan negotiations was that
the Allies had suffered a crushing diplomatic defeat. Germany
had the advantage of being able to offer Bulgaria territorial
compensation which could be taken from enemies, while the
Allies had to rely on concessions obtained from friends.
Germany successfully induced her ally, Turkey, to surrender
territory to Bulgaria, while the Allies failed in a like en-
terprise. German diplomacy had found a fertile field in the
Balkans and cultivated it with skill. The Russian reverses
and the failure of the Allies in the Dardanelles, both hap-
pening at Bulgaria's very door, had influence with King
Ferdinand and his advisers. They produced upon their
minds that certainty of German victory which made the
Bulgarian Government declare in its official statement of
reasons for joining Germany and Austrie that ''Bulgaria
must fight on the victors' side,'' and that ** Bulgaria would
commit suicide if she did not fight on the side of the Central
Powers. ' '

In England Bulgaria's act was attributed solely to her
King. In Paris it was asserted that King Ferdinand was
so anxious to retrieve the territory he lost in 1913 that he
was ** blind to larger issues." On the side of the Allies,
Bulgarian intervention and the reopening of the Balkan
campaign was viewed with not a little misgiving, altho a ray
of hope was seen by most London papers in an eventual
participation of both Greece and Roumania on the side of
the Entente.

That Austria would accept as final her humiliation and
defeat by Serbia in December, 1914, was not expected. In
the same winter preparations had virtually been set on foot
for a second invasion. Perhaps 200,000 men were massed

260

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

at Serajevo, and there was talk of a combined Austro-
German force, but the plans were afterward abandoned for
the much greater offensive against the Russians in Galicia.
The Serbian army numbered at this time about 240,000 men
of all arms, with some 700 miles of frontier exposed to
attack from east and west. Exposed as she was on the
Austrian side, Serbia herself held that her danger from
Bulgaria was even greater and throughout the summer stood
on guard. By French airmen she was kept well informed
of all movements within striking distance of the frontier.
The summer had passed without any serious threats of im-
mediate danger.

The first actual invasion of Serbia by Bulgarian troops
seems to have taken place on October 11 at a point near
Kniashevatz, to the northeast of Nish. Later Bulgarian
troops crossed the frontier near Leskovatz, about an equal
distance to the southeast of the temporary Serbian capital.
The situation in which Serbia found herself was the worst
that her fears could have pictured. She faced enemies
on all sides except the south and the extreme southwest.
On the north and west the Austro-German forces may not
at this period have exceeded 150,000 men, but they had an
overwhelming weight of guns. On the east Bulgaria's army
probably exceeded 300,000. In all, Serbia's foes in the
field may have amounted to 600,000; against which she had
only 240,000 men, inferior in all details of equipment and
hopelessly outclassed in artillery. Greece, as her ally, had
failed, while the others — Great Britain, France, Russia and
Italy — moving slowly, were too far away to render any
effective help. The tale of the next two months is one of
pure national tragedy.

For some weeks an Austro-German army of invasion had
been assembling north of the Danube. Mackensen's ob-
jective was both strategically and tactically simple, the
motive being to win a way to Constantinople. Two routes
were possible — the Danube and the Ottoman railway. But
before the Ottoman railway could be used there had to be a
considerable amount of campaigning done; the great bridge
over the Save which had been blown up by the Serbians
a year before, had to be repaired and bridges and embank-

262

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

ments restored between Belgrade and the Bulgarian frontier.
To cross the river, however, was an easy task. The other
route would be much slower to win, as it involved the
capture of Belgrade and ridges to the south of it, and an
advance to the southwest which would clear the Morava
Valley up to Niah and the tributary Nishava Valley as far
as the Bulgarian frontier. To secure both routes, the
German plan of campaign was one of converging attacks.
On the 7th both the Save and the Danube were crossed, the
latter at Belgrade. An immense weight of artillery -fire
made the city untenable, and on the 8tb the Serbians began
to evacuate it. During the day fierce fighting continued at

SERBIAN PEA8ANT3 FLEEINO BEFORE THE TEUTONIC INVADEB8

quays and in the lower part of the town, but by evening
the Citadel and the royal palace were taken. There was a
desperate guerrilla struggle in some of the streets. It was
not till the morning of the 9th that Koevess had the
whole place in his hands. Next day Bulgaria entered the
war, having waited till assured of Mackensen's ability to
force the line of the rivers.

In the bombardment of Belgrade the guns included
9-ineh and 12-inch howitzers. In the course of 24 hours
probably more than 40,000 shells of all sorts were thrown
into the area of the Belgrade defenses. Meanwhile aero-
planes were kept flying low over the city and dropping

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

bombs. To this terrific assault the city was unable to reply
effectively. The only Allied guns which were in position to
offer active resistance were Russian guns in the fortress.
The destruction was almost complete. The city was on fire
at many points, and the whole river front was pulverized.
During the night of the 6th the Teutonic force began
landing operations, using flotillas of flat-bottomed boats
which had been prepared at Jakevo, on the Save, and be-
hind Semlin. The landing was made in two places — on the
west of Tziganlia Island, which was connected with the Ser-
bian shore by a bridge; and at the Danube quays on the
front of the city itself. By daybreak between 4,000 and
5,000 men had made good their footing at these two points.
The eastern portion of Tziganlia Island was still held by a
small force of Serbian infantry; but in the course of that
day, the survivors were compelled to evacuate.

The crossing of the Drina offered as much trouble to
troops as the Vistula and Dneister had given in the early
summer because of the mountains along the banks, which
gave fine positions for hidden artillery and machine-guns.
The stream itself is in some places rapid, yet silent. Every
sound was re-echoed at night from these mountains. When
the Teutonic engineers got to work on pontoon bridges, the
launching of timber and boats drew fire. Crossings were
effected only after the Serbian guns had been overpowered
by superior artillery.

During the first operations, about a thousand Teutons
succeeded in reaching the opposite bank across the pontoon-
bridges, amid a shower of shrapnel and machine-gun fire.
While the bridges were being constructed and finished, a
sanguinary hand-to-hand battle was fought. Bridges were
destroyed half a dozen times before the first man could
reach the other bank. At night under searchlights the
grimness of the scene made men shudder. An Austrian
officer estimated the losses of the Austro-Hungarians on the
Drina sector on the night of the actual crossing as over four
thousand in killed and wounded. When he himself was
passing over a bridge it was blown up and three hundred*
men were thrown into the river, mostly wounded. The
officer was rescued only after he had hung on to debris

264

THE TRAGIC BUT EASY CONQDEST OF SERBIA
After Austro-German forces under Mackeasen had effi-ctcd a crossing of
tbf Dannbe at Belgrade and e1se»li(rt their progreBS across the country
iras rapid, assisted as It was by Bulgarian attacks on Serbia s right flank.

quer the one weak little statF The fall of Hontcaegro was effected no leas
rapidly, and then the greater part of Alhsola was overrun The reader will
note In Albania the two towns Berat and Elbasan both of which were re-
covered early In 1018 by a franco Italian force and thus became the first
steps In the decisive campalRn won Id Serbia later In the soason by the
Eutente forces under General Franclnet D Fsperez.

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

for several hours. During the time he was in the water,
the same bridge was repaired and blown up four times,
hundreds of men being thrown into the water each time.
When the invading troops finally got across the river, the
Serbians attacked them with great vigor, at first piAning
them to the river banks and preventing them from debouch-
ing from bridge-heads. In the bombardment huge shells
threw up debris to the height of five-story houses. Every
square yard of the city was systematically searched by
machine-gun fire. When crowds of refugees streamed out,
German airmen dropt bombs on them. Attack after attack
was driven back before the Germans gained a footing.
Then their most formidable task began, for they had to win
the capital, street by street. As George Renwick^** said,
they *'had to pay a price for every paving-stone." Prison-
ers told him it was appalling work. Every street-corner
seemed a citadel. Before the Germans were masters of
Belgrade the city had become */a mass of smouldering ruins,
strewn in the grimmest horror with a coverijig of the dead."
Once in possession, the Germans opened, fir^ on the Serbian
positions behind it. Lines of trenches wer6 ffekrched one by
one. Facing Belgrade and Semendria, the- river bank was
often a long-continuing line of flame. The capture of a
hill was frightfully expensive. Every hill had to be covered
with dead before it could be won. After 12 days' onslaught.
General Mackensen succeeded in obtaining little more than a
foothill on the southern side of the river. On the Drina
front he found his task equally heavy. Time after time the
attacking forces were driven back. After ten days of se-
vere fighting, he concentrated his forces on positions beyond
Belgrade and Semendria, the object evidently being to drive
south from the former place to Kraguyevats, while the Se-
mendria army was to ascend the Morava Valley — ^the historic
highway to Central Europe, by which the Turks in the
seventeenth century invaded Hungary in their progress to
the gates of Vienna. A second crossing of the Danube was
made at Semendria, where the attack began a day later than
the one on Belgrade, the bombardment being equally fierce
and overwhelming. It was estimated that the Germans and

*»> Correspondent of The Daily Chronicle (London).
V. VIII— 18 265

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Austrians had in action against Semendria no fewer than
200 guns of all calibers. There was practically nothing
with which to reply to this tremendous fire. After two days
the Teutons crossed the river in force and occupied the
town, altho not until after desperate fighting had occurred
with Serbian infantry.

On October 18, after showering 10,000 shells on the Ser-
bian position, the Teutons took Malakresna, but a strong
force of Serbian infantry, concealed in the forest, attacked
and drove them out. On the 19th the Teutons took Rawla,
south of Belgrade. The heights of Avala were also captured
after heavy fighting from October 18 to October 19. Mean-
while, in the Morava Valley, progress was equally difficult.
On October 19 the Teutonic advance lines were no farther
south than a line extending from north of the Lubejevo
bridge eastward to slightly north of Passarowitz.

Mr. Renwick motored north from Palanka to the neigh-
borhood of Azanya, when a most imposing spectacle was pre-
sented in that angle of the Danube and Morava. Far in
front were **the purple-blue'' mountains of Hungary, their
dark sides lit up with the constant lurid flare of Germany's
heavy artillery. Six miles away could be seen the Danube.
General Mackensen's machinery had then been battering
away for two weeks. From a little hill called Ossoie Mr.
Renwick could plainly see the positions of the Teutonic
cavalry. During the morning two heights nearer at hand,
on both of which the Serbians were in position, had been
subjected to ** perhaps one of the most appalling deluges
of shells of all sizes that the war has yet seen." The hill
and its neighbor were ** simply blown out of existence."
From fair green hills they were altered to ** shapeless
masses of iron-shard, on which nothing could live."

The Serbians were described as being **as gay as a holi-
day." They had so hampered the Teutonic advance that
it seemed as if General Mackensen would need months to
carry out his scheme. And in these months succor from the
Allies, coming from the south, might wreck him. Macken-
sen 's army probably did not consist of more than 150,000
men, but was provided with artillery which would be con-
sidered ample were his army composed of a million. Into

266

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

Belgrade alone 50,000 shells were poured. Mr, Renwiek
thought the German army a "scratch force gathered to-
gether from all quarters." He spoke with prisoners who
had come from the Flanders, French, Italian, and Russian
fronts, from garrisons in Germany and from throughout the
conquered territory. Many were young men .of 18, who
had left their homes only & few months before. It was an
army fighting without reserves.

The Bulgarian attacks were delivered at eight different
points. On October 21 the army of General von Koevess,
from Belgrade, -had forced its way as far as Leskovatz and

>GE ACROSS THE MOKAVA IN SERBIA

Stepoyavevatz, about thirty miles south and southwest of
Belgrade, and was threatening Sopot, slightly to the east of
those places. Keeping pace with Koevess on his left, was
General von Gallwitz, from Semendria, who had occupied
Selevatz and was pushing up the valley near Ranovatz,
On the east fighting was in progress along the whole length
of the Bulgarian frontier. Commencing from the north,
the Bulgarians had occupied Negotin and Zaitchar, and des-
perate combats were going on near both Pirot and Kniashe-
vatz. The Bulgarians were close to Kumanovo. Pushing up
the valley of the Bregalnitsa, a Bulgarian column reached
267

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the railway at Veles, and occupied half of the town on the
eastern bank of the river.

Forlorn was Serbia's plight, with an enemy outnumbering
her armies by three to one, and with ten times the weight
of guns. Not only was the fate of the country sealed, but
the whole Serbian army, as well as the Government, with the
King, the Crown Prince and all the foreign missions, were
in imminent danger of being surrounded and compelled to
let themselves fall into the enemy's hands. The sole ray of
light was the fact that the Allies were landing troops at
Salouiki, and that small French and British columns had
come up along the railway across the frontier. In any
encounters the Serbs alone would be outnumbered by as
many as five to one. This was the ease in a valiant eleven
days' battle which raged before Uskup. For the greater
part of that struggle the contending Serbian and Bulgarian
armies were at a distance of only two hundred yards from
one another. Hand-to-hand encounters were frequent with
heavy losses on both sides.

The Morava Valley, along which the allied German and
Austro-Hungarian troops pushed forward from a junction
with the Bulgarians, forms the core of old Serbia. The
greatest part of Serbia's trade flows through this valley.
Here, also, is much of the small kingdom's richest agricul-
tural land. Through this narrow strip, the mountainous
Balkan country has maintained- contact with the West. The
valley forms one of those famed thoroughfares along which
armies have poured through all history. Many powerful
conquerors in past ages have traversed the very course now
to be taken by Teutonic soldiers. When Roman Constanti-
nople was in its zenith, its generals, with armies in the
Morava Valley, held back Slav incursions. Crusaders
marched this way to cross into Asia Minor, On their way
exuberant Franks and Teutons often kept people guessiBg

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

mercial expansion in the rich tho stagnarit areas of Asia
Minor and Mesopotamia. The Morava is not only Serbia's
largest river, but one of the most important streams in the
Balkans. The line of the Orient Express, coming from
Paris, Munich, and Vienna, parallels this river.

After the Bulgarians took Uskup, 5,000 of the 20,000
men in garrison made a last stand in the hills midway be-
tween Uskup and Kaschanith. The Bulgarians, having out-
flanked them from the Tetovo plain, forced them to take
up a position at the entrance to the Kaschanik defile. Louis
Edgar Brown ^, who saw this battle, described how the
Serbian artillery began the fray. Thousands upon thou-
sand of shrapnel and high-explosive shells were thrown to
the enemy. Bulgarian prisoners said shells fell on first
and second line trenches and barricades continuously, with
a roar of ''a siren on an ocean liner." Everything was
drowned by the continuous exploding of Serbian shells.

The Serbians calmly dug themselves out of the mud, and,
with fixt bayonets, prepared to sell their lives dearly. The
first attack struck the Bulgarians in the dusk of evening.
The Serbians drove on like huge waves, accepting only hand
encounters, and not pausing to aim the fire of their rifles.
They seemed to be obsessed with a determination to get their
bayonets into the Bulgarians, ** laughing at their foes as
they lay mortally wounded on the ground." Detached
groups, at hundred paces along the battle-front, ** stabbed,
clubbed, bit and choked savagely." The battle became a
melee such as only Bulgarians and Serbians as traditional
enemies were capable of fighting. Their ruling passions
were hatred and revenge. When the battle ended the Ser-
bians had lost the road to Uskup. Realizing that their
retreat was cut off, they ** fought like cornered wolves."
While the Serbian nation knew its cause was lost, the army
was determined to die resisting to the last shell and last
man. The Bulgars entered Uskup on the evening of Octo-
ber 23. Next morning the battle was resumed on the
western side of the town. There, too, in face of superior
forces, the Serbs put up a splendid fight.

•Correspondent of The Daily "News (Chicago), whose account In part Is
summarized here.

269

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

The loss of Uskup was a misfortune of the first magni-
tude. It cut oflf all communications between the Vardar and
Morava valleys; it blocked the routes to Prilep and Monas-
tir in the south and access to Kossovo and Novi-Bazar in
the north. The outlook for Serbia was black indeed, strug-
gling as she was against three powerful enemies — Germany,
Austria, and Bulgaria — and she made a last despairing ap-
peal to the Allies for aid. Throughout the land a mass of
fugitives of every age and condition fled distractedly by the
few routes left open to the southwest. Nish became a be-
leaguered city. Food was scarce, and vehicles could hardly
be obtainejd for love or money. By the 26th, disaster had
followed disaster.

On October 14, after fighting for a week, Gallwitz had
stormed the fortifications of Passarowitz, and, deploying
his army on a forty-mile front, began to advance slowly up
the right bank of the Morava, having reached the Vodonj-
Misljenova line on the 18th, these two points being respec-
tively six and nine miles from the Danube. Koevess, who
was moving up the left bank of the Morava, having cap-
tured Belgrade on the 14th, stormed the strong Serbian
positions on Mount Avala about eight miles south of the
town, and then pushed forward in a southerly direction,
his right detained for some days till he captured the forti-
fied town of Obrenovatz.^ Nish was Mackensen's objective.
When he^ reached it, the Orient railway through Bulgaria
would be* at his disposal. How to block his way was the
problem the Allies had to solve.

The Rhodope Mountains, stretching the whole length of
the ^gean Coast from the Struma to the Maritza, offered
an impenetrable barrier to an army attempting to reach
the railway from the south until it reached Dedeagatch,
where the railway from Saloniki turns up the Maritza val-
ley and joins the Orient line at Kuleli Burgas. Dedeagatch
was therefore a point of strategical importance. It could
be reached both by sea and land from Saloniki. From
Nish to Constantinople, allowing for the winding route of
the Orient railway, the distance, is more than 400 miles,
so that, unless Germany was assured of the neutrality of

•The Cologne Gazette.

270

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

Greece and Roumania, Maekensen's advancing army might
be in a precarious position. German prisoners taken by
Serbians admitted that on various battlefields they had ex-
perienced nothing so extraordinary as the stubborn way in
which men on the Morava slowed down the German ad-
vance. Nothing, in the opinion of the Serbians, could drive
them out of their positions, save, perhaps, the heaviest
howitzers. In one encounter with the Bulgarians 5,000*
Serbs held a pass against 20,000. For some time the
Teutonic invaders, it was expected, would fight only rear-
guards, the Serbians, doing as they had done on previous
occasions, falling back until they reached positions where
they could hold their ground. The attack for a time met
with real resistance. The Serbians gave ground foot by
foot, and after the fall of Nish Maekensen's drive slack-
ened. But he had what he set out to get — the Danube
route and the Ottoman railway, and the campaign was left
in Bulgarian hands, wh^re it became a campaign of long-
cherished and bitter revenge.

A blockade of the Bulgarian coast in the Mgesn Sea
by Entente Allied warships was put into effect on October 16.
This strip of Bulgarian coast runs from Saritchahan, in
Greece, to Enos, in European Turkey, a distance of about
eighty miles, and consists of territory obtained from Tur-
key as a result of the Balkan wars. The chief seaports
are Dedeagatch, Porto Lagos, Maronia and Mecri. Running
parallel with the short line, at a distance back of from
five to ten miles, is the Saloniki-Constantinople railroad.
Late in October occurred a bombardment of this coast by
British, French and Russian ships, mostly monitors, destroy-
ers and cruisers, under direction of Vice-Admiral de Robeck.
The first shots were fired at the barracks in Dedeagatch,
which were full of soldiers, who ran in hundreds out of the
building to and fro, seeking shelter. Heavy guns shelled
the barracks, while destroyers trained their guns on fleeing
soldiers and inflicted heavy punishment. Every building
of military importance came under fire and was razed to
the ground. "While the bombardment was proceeding, a
train sped along at top speed, and the destroyers subjected
it to heavy shelling. The railway line was torn up, the

271

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

station completely wrecked and loaded railway-trucks along
the line caught fire.

The Allied forces from Saloniki now began operations
against the Bulgarians. An advance guard of French
troops crossed the Greek frontier into Macedonia on October
21. The first encounter took place on the 23d at Robrovo,
an important tactical point on the road from the town of
Strumitza to the Strumitza station, which it was necessary
to occupy in order to safeguard the railway. The French
then pushed on to Krivolak, where the Bulgarians, who held
an entrenched position at Istip, unsuccessfully attacked them
on the 30th. On November 2 a further advance up the
railway was made to Gradsko, at the confluence of the
Cerna and Vardar rivers. The whole of the Vardar Valley
from Gradsko to the Greek frontier was in French pos-
session, the French being able to advance north of the
Cerna. The Serbians were helped by the weather, which
was cold and wintery. Then rains set in and impeded the
movements of enemy troops and guns, which, at the best,
had to move slowly over what answered for roads. For
two weeks the Serbians offered stubborn resistance to Austro-
Germans in the north, and for more than a week fought the
Bulgarians along their eastern frontier, where lines were
broken at places and towns captured. In the meantime, ad-
ditional French and British forces were landed at Saloniki.

Throughout November the situation in Macedonia was de-
pendent on results of the campaign in Serbia. Altho the
Bulgarian General Teodoroff was firmly established at
Uskup until the First Bulgarian army was free to reinforce
him, he was not strong enough to do more than hold up
the French in the Cerna-Vardar salient, and at the same
time prevent the Serbian army of the north from breaking
through into Macedonia. What he did, was to occupy
Tetovo and Katchanik, and by so doing sever communication
between Serbia and IMacedon'a except by a circuitous route
through Albania. But he did more than this. He kept a
sufficient force at Istip and Strumitza to prevent a further
advance of the Allies northward, and placed nearly a whole
division in and about Mount Archangel, a formidable ridge
some four or five miles west of the Cerna, in order to

272

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

check any attempt of the French to advance westward with
the purpose of linking up w.th the Serbian troops that
were holding the Babuna Pass.

These dispositions were successful. The French crossed
the Cema on November 5, driving in Bulgarian outposts
before their advance, but before they got far on their way
were pulled up in front of the enemy's main position on
]\Iount Archangel, and were unable to get nearer than
within ten miles of the Babuna Pass. No reserves were
immediately available, and Colonel Vassitch's small Serbian
army, being unable to wait, because in danger of being en-
veloped, fell back toward Monastir, abandoning the Babuna
Pass. Then the Bulgarians turned on the French, and
counter-attacked with great violence, but with no real gain
to show for the loss of 4,000 men. The French retained and
reinforced all their positions up to November 27, when
Sarrail, perceiving that the Bulgarians were being rein-
forced from the north, and that there was no further hope
of saving the Serbian army, began to retire from a position
which had been rendered precarious by the Serbian retreat.

The Austro-German offensive had become more pronounced
as the Serbian resistance weakened. General Koevess con-
tinued his advance south of the Western Morava toward the
Sanjak, and occupied Novi-Bazar, while two days later his
right wing entered Prijpolye. The Serbian Government,
which after the fall of Nish had gone to Mitrovitza, left that
town for Prisrend, and General Koevess occupied it, whne
the right wing of General Gallwitz's army, forestalling the
Bulgarians, who had a temporary setback west of Leskovatz,
occupied Prishtina. The enemy's rapid advances decided the
Serbian Government to leave Prisrend and establish itself at
Skutari, the ancient capital of Stephen Dunshan, where
Prince Alexander arrived with M. Passitch and the foreign
ministers, after a rough cross-country journey through Al-
bania. With the fall of Mitrovitza and Prishtina the his-
toric plain of Kossovo, where Sultan Amurath overwhelmed
the Serbian army under the Tsar Lazar in 1389, was again
delivered into an enemy's hand, and the Serbians forced to
seek shelter in the mountains of Albania and Montenegro.

Mackensen now left Generals Koevess and Bojadjeff to

273

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

continue the pursuit of the Serbians into Albania, while he
drew off General Gallwitz's army for operations elsewhere.
On November 29 the Bulgarians captured Prisrend, where
they claimed to have taken between 16,000 and 17,000
prisoners, 50 field-guns, and a quantity of war-material.
KoQvess with his Austro-Hungarian troops meanwhile con-
tinued his advance across the Lim River, but not without
encountering a tough resistance from the Montenegrin army,
which was bravely keeping the field under command of the
old King Nicholas. The Montenegrin frontier was crossed
on December 1, and Plevlie, the former headquarters of
the Austrian army when in occupation of the Sanjak, was
occupied, on the 2d. Farther south the Bulgarians, follow-
ing up the retreating Serbians, occupied Dibra on December
4, and Djakova on the 7th. The German troops of Koevess's
army reached Ipek on the same day. Pursuit came to an
end as the Serbian troops, dispersed and broken up into
small detachments, found their way as best they could along
mountain-tracks converging on Skutari.

By December 2 the long struggle for Monastir had ended.
The Serbians evacuated the town and their positions in
front of it, and the enemy took possession. The force which
occupied it included Austrians and Germans. Automobiles
containing Austro-German and Bulgarian officers, entered
first, followed by detachments of German, Bulgarian and
AjUstrian cavalry officers. The officers proceeded to the
Government buildings, where they hoisted the national flags
of the Central Powers and their allies. The Bulgarian in-
habitants displayed their joy by firing guns and pistols.
Public and private buildings displayed flags of the con-
querors. The hated Star and Crescent flag of Turkey was
now seen once more in Monastir side by side with that of
Germany.

Monastir was one of the most prized acquisitions made by
the Serbians in the war of 1912. By means of schools,
propaganda, Serbian committees, and Serbian priests, the
people had long been prepared for an ultimate union with
the Serbian kingdom. The Serbians pursued the same tac-
tics here that the Bulgarians and Greeks had pursued for
years in endeavors to win the upper hand in the Turkish

274

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

province of Macedonia. Monastir was to Serbian ambitions
what the port of Saloniki was to Greeks and Bulgarians.
It was the second city of Turkish Macedonia, and did a
thriving business even under Turkish rule, when it was a
base of military defense and offense of the same rank as
Adrianople, Here were the headquarters of a Turkish army
corps. Roads from the port of Saloniki, on the ^gean,
from the port of Durazzo, on the Adriatic Sea, from Nish,
the ancient capital of Serbia, and from the important
fortresses of Adrianople, meet and cross here. The Serbians
strengthened its defensive works after their occupation.

SERBIAN BATTERY IN THE FIELD

General Sarrail, who had come from the Western Front,
and now commanded a considerable body of Allied troops
based on Saloniki, had for his problem in the Balkans
to bring back the French left and center till a continuous
frontal line could be formed with British troops who occu-
pied the right flank. Quick to appreciate the position, the
Bulgarian commander determined to prevent Sarrail from
effecting his object. Concentrating the bulk of his troops
on the right and left of the Strumitza-Dorian road, he
sought to drive a wedge between British and French troops,
275

IX THE EAST. XEAB EAST, AXD SOUTH

throw the iormer haek on tb*- Gret-k fr-»iiT3«-, and intereept
the Preneh line of retreat down the Vardar Vailey. The
pJan was well eoneeived, but fail^ owimr to the stand made
br the Tenth British Diviaoo. On Dr^rrznWr 5 the Freneh,
who had withdrawn from Krirolak tw<i days earlier, reached
the Demir-Kapa defile, and were cc»miiiu:ng tbeir i>etreat on
the 6th when, after a heavy b<*mbardmeDi. a Bulgarian at-
tack was lanccbed on the Brit:>h position, and pushed home
with ^reat determination. Under eorer of a mist^ small
parties of the Bul^rians gH>t into British tnmehes, but
were immediately driven out. Undaunted by failure, the
Bulgarians next day renewed the attaek. and by wei^t of
superior numbers pushed the British out of their first posi-
tion, and eompeUed them under cover of darkness to with-
draw to a second line of trencher On the Sth the attack
was again rmewed. but this time the British troops held
their ground till it was necessary to retire to a third
position in order to conform with the French movements.
The British casualties were 1.5«X\ The Bulgarian losses
must have been correspondingly heavy.

The joint Teutonic-Bulgarian conquest of Serb:a was thus
accomplished after a two months'* campaign, in which the
Serbian Army of not more than 250aX>0 men had to fight
against odds of probably three to one. The result was a
foregone conclusion as soon as it was clear that little aid
could be expected from the Allied Powers. The Serbians
fought with heroic courage, to which the Germans paid tes-
timony, but there is a limit to what heroism can accomplish
against superior force. The Serbian Army was completely
broken up and lost the bulk of its guns and equipment, but
its fighting spirit remained. There was reason to believe
that, after recuperation and refirtine, it would be able to
resume the ofl'ensive in the spring in conjunction with the
army of the Allies, which was concentrating at Saloniki.

Heavy fighting continued well into December, when in the
neighborhood of Lake Doiran, the British and French were
simultaneously attacked: but because of re*nforcements they
were able to repel the onsets. 3^[ore than 8,000 dead and
wounded were said to have been left on the field by the
Bulgarians during two assaults on the British lines. At the

276

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

8econ<} assault, the fire of artillery, rifles and nQitrailleuses
was opened on advancing masses. The Bulgarians faced
the murderous hail at a run for 300 yards. Those who
survived could not approach nearer and so broke into flight,
which became a helter-skelter rout. The Bulgars started
frenzied and simultaneous attacks on both banks of the
Vardar, and strove to drive a wedge between Dublyani and
Predevo. The French had no fewer than 200 cannon vomit-
ing fire on a restricted three-mile front, and the battlefield
was strewn with corpses. But on December 12 the last
yard of Serbian territory passed into the occupation of the

Teutonic allies and the Bulgarians. Within a few miles of
Greek territory, the Bulgars, led by German officers, made
attempts to annihilate the Anglo-French rear-guard, which
escaped, retiring down the Vardar in order to occupy the
first series of defensive positions already prepared.

No mere outline can give any idea of the dreadful nature
of the Serbian retreat. It must be remembered that it was
not the mere retirement of an army. It was probably
unique in that not one active army, but all the armed forces
of the nation were withdrawing from the country. And

277

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

with those armies went the King and members of the royal
family, the Government and all its civil personnel; the
foreign legations and the doctors, nurses, and staffs of the
hospitals of the Allied peoples. Most pathetic of all was
the great mass of peasant refugees, villagers, peasants and
people of the towns who fled in sheer terror. Rather than
face the Austro-German occupation, the entire Serbian pop-
ulation, save a few who were held back by some unbreakable
tie, gathered together what little household goods they could
and took flight. A great proportion were physically unfit
to face the difficulties of the road. Almost none had food to
last through the journey. It was not only armies which
retired, it was almost a nation which fled. Swelling the
number of those who had to be fed upon the road were
some 20,000 Austrian prisoners who had been captured the
year before. The road which the multitude had to travel,
for a great part of the way, lay through and over rugged
mountains, often by paths dangerous at any time; and
these mountains were peopled by a population of hereditary
enemies, largely brigands, who fell on small parties and
robbed and murdered whenever they dared. The crowning
burden was the fact that the weather was most bitter, heavy
snow falling for many days with the temperature in the
mountains for the most part intensely cold. It seems as if
no detail that could add to the horror of the march was
omitted. Terrible scenes were witnessed on the road to
Prisrend. Deep snow lay everywhere. There was practi-
cally no supply-column or commissariat. The men sustained
life largely on the carcases of cattle and horses that fell on
the road.

At Prisrend 150,000 refugees, among whom the destitu-
tion and suffering were terrible, were massed. From here
the only path of escape lay over the forbidden mountains of
Albania, to Skutari, over 100 miles away. All motor-cars,
carriages, guns and stores had to be destroyed or thrown
into the waters of the Ibar, for to get them over the moun-
tains was impossible. Here Marshal Putinik, very ill, as he
had been since midsummer, arrived in a motor-car and had
to be carried in a chair. Here King Peter left his ox-wagon,
and with two officers as companions, went on foot, with tin

278

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

escort of twelve men. The Crown Prince also went on
foot, with an escort of twelve of the Royal Guard. All
arrived finally at their destination, but suffering and broken,
the Crown Prince lying for some time seriously ill at
Alessio.

Part of the Serbian troops, instead of taking the road by
Prisrend, struck west from Prishtina to Ipek in Montenegro,
and so reached Skutari. These succeeded in taking with
them some batteries of field- and mountain-guns. Over the
Albanian Mountains it was not possible to take larger guns.
The road was in parts of a precipitous and dangerous char-
acter. In the snow, there was ever a likelihood of detached
parties missing the route, which was often marked by the
corpses of those who had fallen. Immense numbers of peo-
ple, both soldiers and civilians, died from sheer exhaustion,
from weakness and hunger, lying down at the roadside to
die. Where a road was steep, or where a small stream had
to be forced, the road might be marked by accumulations
of the dead. Not a few people and great numbers of trans-
port-animals lost their lives by falling out of narrow paths
down mountain-sides. Many died from frostbite and dysen-
tery, and not a few, .both Serbian soldiers and civilians, fell
victims to Albanian inhabitants of the mountains.

This flight of the Serbians from their country was one
of the tragic episodes of history. For many who took part
in the exodus, the retreat lasted over two months. For
those who started from the center of the country, as from
Kragujevatz or Krushevatz, the time taken was from six to
eight weeks. The journey was made in all cases under con-
ditions of great hardship, from lack of food, from the
physical difficulties of the latter part of the road, and from
the bitter weather. The Serbian Army, by the time it
reached the Adriatic, had lost about 120,000 men, or one-
half its original strength. The mortality among the civilian
population will never be known, but it was very great.
Hardly any country in any age has seen so terrible a

calamity.

Skutari was the sixth capital Serbia had had during two
months. After Nish came Kraljevo, Raska, Mitrovitza,
Prisrend, and then Skutari. In their flight to Skutari, men

280

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

composing the Serbian Government rode little mountain-
ponies, but often had to abandon their mounts and go on foot.
So dangerous were mountain-roads that horses often slipt
and fell into abysses. Sometimes a man had to go on all
fours; others, to avoid vertigo, had to be guided. Roads in
places were worn through the snow a yard deep. Through
such a country the army could not bring guns and convoys.
OflScers and soldiers wept as they demolished guns, pieces
of steel which they called their ''French friends," and
which had been made at Creusot. After suffering from
cold, hunger, and fatigue, many soldiers now barefoot,
reached Skutari. Altogether there arrived by various
routes 6,000 women and children. The tragedy of the sit-
uation was that the army had had almost nothing to eat
for four days. Small quantities of flour were kept and
baked for women and children. Skutari, altho a temporary
haven of refuge at which the Serbians gained rest after
their exhaustion, was by no means a place" of permanent
safety. It was necessary to get everybody, soldier and
civilian alike, first to the coast, and then to some place
across the water beyond the reach of danger.

On January 11 the Austrians had captured Mount Lovtchen
in Montenegro, and then they occupied Antivari, which gave
them command of Skutari Lake, and on the 19th Dulcigno.
On January 18 the Queen and royal family of Montenegro
embarked at Medua for Brindisi, and on January 20 the
King followed. Later he went to France. By this time all
members of foreign missions and the hospital staffs had got
away. Serbia's armies had to march by land yet one more stage
southward to Durazzo. At Durazzo the work of transferring
them to a place of safety, chiefly to Corfu, and of there
nursing them back to health and flghting strength, was
taken over by the French, under General Mondesir, who had
been sent out for the purpose.

The war in January invaded the peaceful seclusion of
]\rount Athos, where Bulgarian monks, from the monastery
of Zographu, endeavored to oust their Serbian brethren
from the neighboring monastery of Chilandari. The attack
failed, owing to the strength of the Serbian defenses. The
Bulgarians then set flre to a portion of the Serbian struc-

V. VIII— 19 281

IN THE EAST, NEAK EAST, AND SOUTH

ture. All the monasteries on this Holy Mountain were for-
tified in the early Middle Ages, in order to resist the at-
tacks of prates. Athos, or the Holy Mountain, is well
known as the third and most easterly spur of the Chaleidiee
peninsula, which is bounded by the gulfs of Saloniki and
Orfano, and thus came within the Allied sphere in the
^gean. On lofty heights overlooking land and sea are sit-
uated three monasteries. They constitute a curious monastic
survival and date in actual origin from the eleventh cen-
tury. The most recent phase in their evolution, the advent
of Russian monks during the last century, exerted a more
profound influence on them than any other single event.
Of the two rival monasteries, the Serbian is the more
ancient, dating from 1197. Its treasure-chest contains val-
uable specimens of Serbian ecclesiastical art. The Bulgarian
monastery of Zographu (named in honor of St. George **the
Painter") has a church that was built early in the sixteenth
century.

In co-operation with the Serbians during the winter,
British troops seized the island of Corfu of the Ionian
group, about 60 miles south of Valona. Here the German
Kaiser had a beautiful villa. Every x>ower and alliance of
powers, which has sought mastery of Adriatic waters, from
the Delian League of the fifth century b.c., to the En-
tente Allies in the twentieth century a.d., has warred
for possession of Corfu. Corfu lies like a watch-tower
before the narrowing entrance of the Straits of Otranto. To
the north is a rugged finger of Albanian mountain-land
that reaches out into a strait, and, bending back, forms the
splendid naval harbor of Valona. To the northwest the
long Italian heel cuts out into the sea. There is great
fertility and much picturesque beauty at Corfu. It was
originally settled in 734 b.c. by colonists from Corinth.
The colony grew rapidly in wealth, maritime power, and
independence. In a dispute with its mother-city, it allied
itself with Athens, and thus became one of the causes of
the Peloponnesian War, that world-war of classic times
which had for historian one of its soldiers — Thucydides.

The occupation of the Greek island of Cephalonia by
French and British forces later in the vrinter was made for

282

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

strategic purposes. The event marked another cycle in the
strange history of a little island in the Ionian Sea about
100 miles south of Corfu. With an area about three times
as great as that of Martha's Vineyard, Cephalonia is the
largest of the seven Ionian islands. From the year of its
surrender to the Romans, 189 b.c., its history has been
marked by a succession of changes in ownership. After the
Roman Emperor Hadrian made a gift of it to Athens,
Cephalonia and the six other islands of the group became
"free and autonomous," but during the ascendency of the
Byzantine Empire were subject to its power. Cyclopean
and Hellenic walls still stand on the sites of ancient cities.

THE IIABBOR OF COBFI)

Early in the New Year, Montenegro had met with an attack
similar to that which had crumpled up so completely her
friend and neighbor, Serbia. The Austrian onslaught,
which had been a long time in preparation, was prosecuted
with violence, and menaced several important positions close
to and on the Adriatic coast. The great Montenegrin strong-
hold. Mount Lovtchen, behind but overlooking Cattaro, had
been easily taken. The Austrians here delivered furious at-
tacks, supported by a hurricane of uninterrupted fire from
warships and forts off or near Cattaro. The capture of the
mountain was not only a severe blow to Montenegro, but
to Italian prestige in the Adriatic, Mount Lovtchen domi-
nates the Austrian naval port of Cattaro, and Cattaro con-

2S3

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

trols the Dalmatian coast. To reduce Cattaro and its guar-
dian forts at Vermatz, and to force the Austrian fleet
hiding in the Bocche di Cattaro out into the open sea, had
been an objective of the Allies since the war began. From
behind the mountain islands which obstruct the waters of
Cattaro had issued the submarines, which successively sank
the French battleship Leon Gamhetta and the Italian ar-
mored cruisers Amalfi and Giuseppe Garibaldi.

The Bocche di Cattaro is famous for wild scenery, but
no other part compares with Cattaro itself, surrounded as
it is by mountains which soar aloft as superbly as those
of any Norwegian fjord. The mountains* which comprise
Montenegro, dull and cold, gaunt and bare, rise majestically
from the smiling blue waters of the bay to a smiling blue
sky above. To the right of the town is Lovtchen, or Monte
Cella, as it is also called, hanging threateningly over the
city **like a frowning demoij awaiting an opportune mo-
ment to pounce upon and devour the frightened little town
crouching at its feet." A new road, constructed by the
Austrians, and a splendid feat of modern engineering, has
replaced a perilously steep and rough foot-path that was
in use for centuries by peasants in their long journeys
over the mountains. This ** Ladder of Cattaro,'* as it is
called, mounts tjie steep side of the Lovtchen, seeming to
lurch from side to side like a drunken man, onward and
onward, passing the castle and zigzagging its weary way
over a wilderness of rock.

Small as was Montenegro, with fewer people than Rhode
Island, on slightly more than the area of Connecticut, it
had been twice greatly enlarged under King Nicholas, who
won Nikshidsh and a window on the sea in 1877 and in
subsequent fighting, and had again profited from the Balkan
Wars. Its heroic little people, who, alone among all Balkan
people, have never yielded to the Turk, now retired before
a mightier foe. In losing Lovtchen, Montenegro lost its west-
ern bastion, and Austria gained a height which had threat-
ened its best naval base in Dalmatia. There was world-wide
sympathy for the Montenegrins. Their political course had
been singularly free from causes of war, at least during
the long reign of Nicholas. Under him their development,

284

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

tho stiU primitive, had been rapid. "Wonder grew why-
Italy, whose Queen was a Montenegrin Princess, and which
must have had a million armed men in reserve, did not
take some effectual step to aid the gallant little land — not
to mention to defend its own power and prestige in the
Adriatic.
By the middle of the month, the capture of Cettinje, the

1 HEVIEWING

capital, was announced. Its fall, after the fall of Mount
Lovtehen, had been regarded as a matter of only a short
time. Cettinje is only six miles from that stronghold.
With Cettinje in the hands of the Austrians, the Montene-
grins were hemmed in on almost every side, and, unlike
the Serbians, had little opportunity to retreat beyond the
borders of their own country. It was doubtful whether
they would be able to escape into northern Albania, but,
had they done so, they would have been opposed by hostile
tribes in that region. Cettinje is a small town. Its popu-

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

lation twenty years ago was less than 3,000. It is situated
in a narrow valley, at an elevation of 2,000 feet.

Fighting between Austria and Montenegro was resumed
late in January, King Nicholas having rejected the terms
Austria offered. The Montenegrin Government was then
installed at Skutari, but Skutari, which is in northern
Albania, was taken by Austro-Hungarian troops late in
January, after a desperate battle of two days, in which the
Montenegrins made their last resistance on the Tarabosch
Mountains. Finding they could look for no aid from
Italy, they gave up the fight. This opened the road for
the Austrians to descend along the shore of the Adriatic,
to penetrate into Albania, march upon Durazzo and organize
a campaign against Valona. The Serbs, so far as they were
able, fled to the coast and were transported thence to Corfu,
Tunis and Saloniki, while King Peter took refuge in France.
There was left only a small Italian force at Valona and a
few Serbs to meet the oncoming Austrian storm, which was
now directed against Valona. In five hundred odd years of
existence Montenegro had never before acknowledged herself
beaten, altho her mountains had on several occasions been
overrun by invading forces, her towns burned, and her
fields laid waste. The entrance of this miniature moun-
tain State, with its area of only 5,606 square miles, its pop-
ulation of a little over half a million, its army of 50,000,
and its aged monarch into the war was purely sympathetic
and ideal — to defend their brethren, the Serbians.

The Germans and Austrians thought they saw in their
victory proof of their final success, but the Allies saw no
warrant for subjective conclusions. On Franco-Belgian
fields the war would still have to be decided. Only a few
thousand Allied troops had been engaged in the Balkans,
and even if the Allies had to quit the Balkans, and defend
Egypt or Suez, the actual military effect would not have
been overwhelming. Maps and reports showed great German
successes, but neither maps nor reports showed the work of
the British fleet, or indicated the extent to which Germany
was isolated and beleaguered. A sortie like tl^e Serbian
expedition had expanded the area of occupied territories,
but had not broken the lines that enveloped Germany.

286

CATTARO. ON THE GULF OF THE SAME NAME

Cettaro 11?8 a«ar tbe base or Moaot I^vtcben and Is encircled b; a medieval

wall. Above It, where crosses are seen, are forts dating (rom the time of

the Venetian occupation

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Economically, Germany had been practically eliminated from
the outside world, her world commerce gone, and she had
to finance not merely her own armies, but those of Austria,
Turkey and Bulgaria. Germany had won a campaign and
probably accompli^ed all she set out to accomplish, save
only to obtain peace. Peace, however, was not to be ob-
tained as a consequence of a minor campait^n in a remote
field. The essential object of the war had thus far eluded
her pursuit. East and west the decision she sought to reach
swiftly had not been reached. Her fleet still lay in hiding
in the North Sea; the ocean was stript of her commerce;
her colonies were lost. Her real enemies, Great Britain,
France and Italy, were still unbeaten, despite all she had
been able to do. In Serbia, the boasted might of militant
Germany, aided by Austria and Bulgaria, had merely beaten
an exhausted small State. More than conquests in Belgium
and Serbia were needed to save the reputation of militant
Germany.'

• PriLrlpal Sources : The Cologne Gazette; The Timet, The Daily Chronicle,
The IStandard, The Momlna Po»t, Lontlon ; The Daily Neu-a (Chicago), The
Tempe (Paris), The London Tfrnes' "History of the War"; The Timeg, Albert
Bushnell Hart Id The Outlook, The SBn,_^The Evening Po»t, The Literary
Digest, New York; The DaUy Neica (London), The Watt Street Journal
(Kew York), The Economist (London). "Bulletins" at the National Geo-
graphic Society (New York), Aseaciated Press eorrenpondence. The Forl-
nighlly Review (London), The World (New York), Alice Lee Mogue'a ■■De-
lightful TDalmatla" (Punk & WagnalU Company). Tbe rribune (N'eir York).

KING PETEK MOUNTING A HOR8E'-*"RING HIS RETHEAT

WITH THE ALLIES AT
INVADES GREECE, BUT 1
ERED AND CO^STAN

May 29, 1916— Ji

WHEN the Anglo-French A
donia, and retreated to
Greece, an unprecedented situat
stood that, as a result of meet:
Councils and General Staffs of
been decided that Saloniki shoi
of operations in the Balkans. No
been possible, in view of the dec
they would stand by the Serbia
their lost territory. As Serbii
Saloniki was the natural base fo:
virons the city lent itself to all
entrenched camp. On the south i
through a practically land-locked
batteries and mines, and by vai
by the admiralty as a protection
There was deep water close to
west at a distance of twelve mil
river Vardar, unfordable at all
marshy banks extending for some
the stream, and contributing to
river placed in the way of an at
Saloniki resembles other ports
nean in being a picture of bear
sty of squalor near at hand. Sa
the gulf, who looked at it throi
soldiers who were quartered in I
who stumbled through us muddj

289

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

wondered why a sailor aboard ship, with a comfortable ward-
room to live in, should ever want to go ashore. It is a slat'
ternly, Levantine town, in a beautiful medieval setting,
comely in the mass, but unpleasant in detail. This ancient
city has witnessed notable events and suffered many vicissi-
tudes in the two and twenty centuries that have passed since
a brother-in-law of Alexander the Great restored it and
named it after his wife, Thessaloniki. Under its earlier
name of Therma, which was
derived from its hot springs, it
witnessed the march of Xerxes
into Greece, and was occupied
by Athenians in the Pelopon-
nesian War. Near its walls is
Philippi, where the fate of the
known world was decided after
the assassination of Julius
Cffisar. In commemoration of
that event, a Roman arch still
stands near the Vardar gate,
but it had "been greatly injured
by the Turks in 1867 in repair-
ing their defenses. This arch
was probably reared in honor
of the victory of Octavius and
GBNEEAL BABBA.L Anthouy over Cassius and

Brutus. Saloniki had flourished
afterward under successive Roman emperors.

With the coming of way to her door, Saloniki became a
picturesque Babel. Her harbor gulf was filled with many
ships of many flags and her streets became gay with uni-
forms. The long reach of the gulf revealed a continuous
procession of ships going and coming, and from their stand-
ards trailed the most unexpected flags, Roumanian, Belgian,
Dutch, Russian, Egyptian, all engaged in some way in
indicating the foreign troops concentrated here on the door-
step of the Balkans. Huge trans- Atlantic liners, French
and British, laden with soldiers, glided into the harbor,
whose entrance was guarded by a common tug metamor-
phosed into a warship by use of armor and a mounted gun or

THE BALKANS AND GB

two. This warship flew the F
Each entering vessel was hailed
requested to give an account o
mitted to pass through the ga
net stretched across the narrowi
floats. Within the harbor, whose
submarines by this net, the seen
Out in the roadstead lay French
one Italian man-o*-war. To def
a tiny Greek destroyer hugged
giants.

If the harbor was a conglome:
of every class of ship, it was as
the quays. No Port Said or Mar
a babel, or saw such a kaleidoscoj
French **poilus" in their sky-bu<
chasseurs with tam-o'-shanters
French Colonial troops — Turcos
khaki bloomers and short gaiters
pompons on their round caps; Fi
tails in their helmets; French of
French sailors and, commonest
French Territorials. Now and tl
to make room for a column of C
straggling lines of Greek infantr
way. Afoot, bands of British **T
down crowded streets. British ofl
the sidewalks from side to side
vendors into the street. Frenc
saluted French. But the British
Cosmopolitan as are the inhabitac
they were more so now than evei
tion was by refugees from Serbi
Among the permanent inhabitan
dominate.

The city always had too many
narrow quarters, but suddenly the
soldiers with officers, and many ^
British soldiers and sailors; IIC
sailors; and no one knew how m

291

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

diers and refugees. It was found impossible for four men
to sleep on the floor space needed for one, or for four men
to sit in one chair in a restaurant, or for four men to stand
in a spot on the street where there was hardly room for one.
Even more impossible was it for motor-trucks to occupy the
space designed for a donkey. The clamor of the streets
became indescribable. R.chard Harding Davis ^, who visited
Saloniki in 1915, stayed where half a dozen other American
correspondents had taken quarters, formerly an Austrian club,
sleeping on a sofa two feet too short for him. In this hotel,
and especially its corridors, English, French, Serbians,
Greeks, men, women, and children — ^wounded and well — all
slept together. Meals became a continuous performance.
The dining-room was so crowded that one set of customers
ordered as another paid their bills. In order to clear the
table, a waiter with a napkin swept everything on the
floor. Sixpenny worth of tobacco cost $2, and Scotch whis-
key rose from four francs to fifteen.

The Allies, in their entrenched camps at Saloniki, were
now to become a menace on the flank of the German line
of communication with Constantinople. They were in pos-
session of ground suitable for an offensive in the spring of
1916. All through the autumn and winter there had been
seen in Saloniki that indescribable, seething crowd, at once
exotic and yet familiar, dominated by the pink and white
British ** Tommy,'' doubly fair in that southern land with
his cleanly shaven cheeks and mud-bespattered uniform. A
variety of uniforms told of the presence of French, Greeks,
and Serbs, the last-named arriving in not inconsiderable
numbers, from remnants of Serbia's little army after its
flight. It was essentially a military crowd, and yet the
civilian was not wanting — Christian, Jew, and Turk, drest in
every fashion, from the smart morning-coat to the long
fur-lined dressing-gown and turban — every class and every
nationality. Never had such wealth poured into Saloniki.
Hotel proprietors, shopkeepers, owners of cafes, bars and
** movie" shows revelled in a golden harvest.

Among foot-passengers rolled wheeled traffic, presenting
strange anomalies and infinite variety. With a regularity

B Correspondent of Tbe Tribune (New York).

292

THE BALKANS AND GH

that was almost wearisome, elect
tervals of perhaps half a minutCj
bells. Between street-cars, roun
them, were motor-lorries, strani
victorias, bullock-wagons. Red C
drays drawn by Clydesdale ho
England and laden with goods,
boxes, carts full of meat, and ca:
of pack mules, little pack poni«
tels, and often the families of p
motor-cars full of officers of ge;
orderly disorder, this varied tr
bumping and squeezing, now ba<
let some great mechanical mons
in what looked like an eternal
on again without apparent diflScul
with restraint and good humor, ai
the stamp of eflSciency and contrc
In the first days of 1916, Russ
campaign southward toward the
the Pripet to the Roumanian fr(
least three hundred miles, Brusiloi
confidence, began delivering blc
German armies. Heights on the I
Bukowina capital, were soon take
This drive made from Bessarab
regarded as one of the most ambit
that had been devised since be^
promised much as an attempt to
whole Teutonic line across the Ba
was that Russia and the other All
sides should meet in the Balkans
tery of the peninsula. If they si
subdued. The work of the Russia
to making a gap between the Ge
and the Austrian forces in the s<
counter-attacks in the region of K
vent this. An outstanding succes
time promised to have far-reach
This offensive in its early phases 1

293

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

large contingents of German troops from the Macedonian
theater of war, and by this means gained time for the Allies
to complete the construction of their entrenched camp at
Saloniki and to land reinforcements of men and material.

By the end of June it was known that a successful move-
ment of the Serbian Army from Corfu to Saloniki had been
effected. Over 100,000 men had been taken through seas in-
fested with submarines without a mishap or the loss of one
man. There had been a steady flow of troops into Saloniki
regularly, methodically, and unceasingly for four weeks.
The transports were French. The achievement, however,
would not have been possible without British warships. Un-
ceasing patrolling by the British had made the seaways
clear and safe. Over a hundred thousand Serbians were
now encamped on the plains and in the valleys near
Saloniki, tall, thickset fellows showing no traces of the hard-
ships and sufferings of their retreat and exposure through
Albania. Four months' recuperation in Corfu had sloughed
away all marks of sickness, toil and .privation. Few had
heard anything from their families for over six months.
At the Serbian camp, all the talent of the regiment was
employed to entertain guests. Some of the songs were
stirring, even tho the words could not be understood. What
everybody most enjoyed was the dance, the famous hora of
the Balkans, very simple as far as the steps went. Good-
fellowship prevailed between oflScers and men as they joined
hands in a huge semicircle which to rhythm and measure
slowly revolved on the green. Seeing these men it was
difficult to realize that each of them had been more than
once wounded and that the commanding officer had been
wounded nine times; that they had been fighting almost
continuously for four years; that they had been through
scenes and experiences that might excusably have shattered
the nerves and broken the bodies of the strongest.

Saloniki had seen many strange sights since Alexander's
time, but never such as now. The armies of twelve nations
had been brought to that region, to fight over neutral ter-
ritory which belonged to none of them, and to which none
of them laid any claim. Here Bulgars and Serbs were con-
testing for ground which four years before they had jointly

294

THE BALKANS AND GR

conquered from the Turks and
sians and British were on one si
on the other. The line-up of th;
as follows: Allied Powers — Free
Russians, Montenegrins, Albanian
— Bulgars, Austrians, Hungariani
were among the belligerents
neutral, they had been doing as
Greek garrisons on the Struma hi
their government to surrender tl
and instead had put up a resisti
journalists of the heroism of their

Early in November, 1915, a Zepi
niki while the French and English ^
was of large dimensions. After
began real operations by droppir
into the sea. Warships opened firi
shots the ships were obliged to c€
the population, now filling the
missed the next target, but blew
wounded a small boy. A bomb s<
with fats, oils, benzine and sugar
like a torch, and the population b
Zeppelin continued to rain down
demolished the mosque of Yussof
injuring eleven Greek refugees fi
sheltered in it. Another crashe
house and instantly killed five per
blazing warehouse lit up the who
against which stood out the wh
fleeing under canvas. Fast aerc
the Zeppelin, while British, Fr<
sailors operated a fireboat at a ^
of water on the fire. The bombs
weighed about 100 pounds, and
estimated at 2,000 feet. The tota
raid was eighteen killed and tl
material damage was estimated ;

Early in February Saloniki agai
of a Zeppelin raid. Persons lying

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

that differed from the familiar whirr of the aeroplane.
Between then and 3 o'clock 25 large bombs fell with ter-
rific crashes in the harbor and on the town. People with
windows facing south distinctly saw the airship. From the
roofs of some house might be seen the crowded dwellings
of the town which rise amphitheater-like on a hill, flickering
one after another into light, as the streets filled quickly.
Greek firemen worked hard with hand-pumps. Blue-jackets,
hurriedly landed from the ships, came along at the double,
carrying hose. Several wounded Greeks were in the streets.
Seven others were killed near the docks and ten in the town.
A man and his wife were killed in bed. In all, two Greek
soldiers were killed and 28 persons wounded.

Between two and three o'clock on the morning of May 5,
the people of Saloniki witnessed a fight against, and the
destruction of, a third raiding Zeppelin. The giant airship
afterward lay in shallow water near the mouth of the river
Vardar. Shortly after 1 o'clock that night the c'ty had
been plunged into darkness, a warning having been received
that a Zeppelin had crossed the lines and was flying toward
the city. About 2.15 the hum of engines was clearly heard
by those whom the turning out of the lights had put on
the alert. With the night cloudless and flying at a great
altitude, the Zeppelin steered a course straight across the
city. When over the gulf, searchlights caught in their
glare the silvery form of the raider remaining clearly visible
for fully a quarter of an hour. Anti-aircraft guns opened
flre, a hurricane of shells bursting round the airship, some
very close to it, while it remained practically stationary for
some time. At 2.30 a shell appeared to onlookers to have
struck and passed clean through it, while another seemed
to have burst in its center. Then two blazing shells fell
from near the tail of the airship. These were incendiary
shells dropt by an aeroplane which had gone up when the
first alarm was given, and was waiting for the raider. The
Zeppelin seemed at once to be out of control; it turned to
the left, as if to return, and then veered to the right, with
a dip in front. Another shower of shells burst round it,
and a minute afterward searchlights lost its position. For
nearly half an hour people waited for the Zeppelin's re-

296

THE BALKANS AND GB

appearance, and then at 3 o'clo<
aceompanied by a dull roar, lit
This signalled the end of the rai
searchlights lost it, the aircraft,
the sea, and then blew up. A f
sent out a flashlight message am
fleet the destruction of the Zepp

THE WATERFRONT

Id tbe foreground Is a GermsD aeroplane

scouts during

cheering from all the warships ir i
lay in the shallow waters of a mj
empties itself into the sea. The i
men. After lying in this shallow
Zeppelin exploded or was set on
exploded bombs were found in

Twelve men of the Zeppelin
French as they eame out of thi I

* Dispatcb from fleorge Renwlok In Tb
V. VIII— 20 2fl7

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

They said the Zeppelin had come from Temesvar in Hun-
gary, a very long journey, over mountain ranges. Directly
they got over Saloniki, they found the searchlights that
picked them up were of such unusual power that they were
dazzled and unable to pick up their bearings.' At the same
time shells began to burst all around them. They were
hit several times, one balloonet being burst, and one of the
four motors hit and stopt. It was probably a shell from an
anti-aircraft 12-pounder on the fore-bridge of a British
battleship lying in the gulf that actually brought the Zep-
pelin down. A shell was clearly seen to strike her. From
that moment she drifted gradually down to the marshes,
the fall taking over a quarter of an hour. The prisoners
were lodged in a building that was formerly the German
school at Saloniki. The gaunt skeleton as it lay there
reared itself up 50 feet above the marsh, and became a con-
spicuous landmark for vessels entering the Gulf. All around
the framework were semicircular brackets in which the
bombs were carried. Men found one that weighed 150
pounds still in position. This Zeppelin seems to have been
nearly 600 feet long. The propellers were polished walnut-
wood, built in layers, and edged with copper. From a
letter found on one of the Zeppelin's crew, the fact was
established that this was the same Zeppelin that had bom-
barded Saloniki in February. Confronted with this evi-
dence, the prisoners admitted the fact.

In the spring of 1916 it had been repeatedly rumored
that Allied troops at Saloniki were preparing to invade the
Balkans as soon as the season should permit. French and
British troops stationed there during the winter, and sup-
posed to number from two to three hundred thousand men,
had been reinforced in April by Serbians. The opposing
lines were held by some three hundred thousand Bulgars,
and such Austrian and German troops as still remained
on the Balkan Front, but it was reported that some of the
Bulgarian soldiers were with the Austrians in Italy and
the Germans in France. Meanwhile the Bulgarian army, under
German management, was following the German plan of an
anticipatory offensive. Just as the world was expecting in
the spring an Anglo-French drive on the Western Front,

298

THE BALKANS AND G]

and the Germans forestalled
February, so again while the Bi
were preparing for the invaaic
got ahead of them by invading
Allied dispatches at first re]
merely the raids of Bulgarian
evident that it was a weU-cons:
strategy, that quite disconcert*
By advancing toward the sea

FRENCH TROOPS DI8EMBA1

the Bulgars secured positions oi
roads ran out from Saloniki. T)i
the Vardar River was to be us
into Serbia. The two others ran i
east, and both were now in I
western road had been undertaki
necting Saloniki with the Adria
to the disturbed state of Albania
Monastir, which was just over

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

The Bulgars, who had taken Monastir late in 1915, now
advanced down the railroad nearly half way to Saloniki.
Serbian troops, which had been stationed along the border
opposite Monastir, were compelled to evacuate Fiorina and
fall back. Since then the Serbs had made furious attempts
to regain their lost positions, but without success. If the
Bulgars could now hold this ground it would cut off the
Italians who were at the Albanian port of Valona from co-
operation with the Italians at Saloniki.

On the east the position occupied by the Bulgars was
stronger. They entered Greece on May 29 through the Rupel
defile by which the Struma makes its way through the
Belashitza range to the sea. This gave them possession of
Demirhissar and other Greek forts along the Struma, down
which they advanced to the sea. The Greek garrisons were
under instructions from their government to surrender their
forts on the approach of the Bulgars ; but in some cases
they refused to yield. The demobilization of the Greek
army which the Allies had forced by means of the blockade,
had made it impossible for the Greeks to offer any sub-
stantial resistance, however much they hated to see the
Bulgars regaining territory which they had taken from them
in the Second Balkan War. This move secured for the
Bulgars command of the railroad running east from Sa-
loniki to Constantinople, and offered them an opportunity to
attack the Allies on their right flank if they should advance
north into Serbia. By May 29 the Bulgarian forces were
making their way southwestward toward the ^iEgean seaport
of Kavalla, which lies northeast of Saloniki. Along the
Struma Eiver the Greeks had evacuated forts Rupel, Brago-
tin, Spatovo and Kaneov.

With Bulgarian soldiers on her soil, the neutrality of
the Greeks ceased to be farce-comedy and became a tragedy.
Neutrality, as Greece had practised it, for many months,
had become an elastic condition. In turn French and Brit-
ish troops had occupied the Saloniki district, and Serbian
armies, reorganized on Corfu and other Greek islands, now
occupied it. This Allied occupation, however, was an en-
tirely friendly one, justified in a measure by an informal
invitation received from the former (Venizelos) Greek Gov-

300

THE BALKANS AND GI

eminent. King Constantine ha<
Allied forces on Greek soil, bu
people, he had not ventured to
ineffectual diplomatic protests,
have confined himself to simil
German and Austro-Hungarian i
Constantine was, however, pro-(
pie were neither violently anti
but, when it came to a violati<
Bulgars, the inveterate enemies
of the Greeks in the -^gean litt
tion of the Greek Government's
ity pould mollify the national p
pride.

Greece had acquired Saloniki
as far as Kavalla and Drama s
The Bulgars had afterwards i
Teutonic powers in order to re
Every Greek knew this. Univerj
garians made it impossible for
Government to maintain any
quiescence in Bulgaria's seizure
that were held by Greek troops
trality policy, therefore, became
had thrown away the great chanc
willing to take in the early spr:
of Greece were tied up with the
she were actually a participator
for good and all an opportunity
ments that would follow the w
She had a statesman who had s(
but she had a king who could n
Constantine, the over-canny, inst
inative and heroic.

By June 21, under heavy p
Powers, Greece accepted withou
presented in a joint note from
Russia. Greece was now withoi
Skouloudis had announced to th<
resignation of himself and his j

301

IN THE EAST, NEAE EAST, AND SOUTH

for the present to obtain successors. The action of the
Entente Powers came on one of the hottest days Greece
had known in many years. The palace at Athens was
darkened, the King at Chateau Latoy, shops closed, and the
Ministries deserted. People were unaware of what had oc-
curred that day until well on toward evening, when news-
papers and hand-bills distributed broadcast made known the
text of the Entente demands. King Constantine then re-
turned hastily to Athens and all the troops in the city were
ordered under arms and the Deputies summoned to the
Chamber, where Premier Skouloudis announced that he had
resigned. Talk of non-compliance with the demands of the
Allies awakened no serious resistance. These demands as
accepted unconditionally were as follows: (1) Complete
general demobilization. (2) Removal of the Chief of Police
at Athens. (3) Popular pro-Entente sentiment not to be
supprest. (4) Deportation of agents spreading German pro-
paganda.

An Allied fleet was ordered to cruise before the Pireeus, the
port of Athens, the fleet eventually to be supported by a
landing party, Pirwus, the second largest city of Greece,
is five miles southwest of Athens and 200 miles below
Saloniki, the base of the Allied forces in Greece. This
Allied action linked itself up closely with military events
on the Russian front. The unfriendly attitude of the
Skouloudis Ministry had been at all times a source of vexa-

FBENCH SOLDIERS IN SALONIEI

THE BALKANS AND C

tion, and might have become a
tion had reached a point wl
Satoniki was feasible. Shoul
Greek army not be carried o
possibility would exist of an t
a northward move was made
General Sarrail. Benevolent n
insisted upon as their right. 1
no desire to force Greece into
Greece could no longer bear t
that her army imposed upon 1
The nations that had given Gr
nineteenth century, and had «
guns — France, Russia, and G
ease in Insisting that the will
citizens should not be thwart&
who had bound Greece to Teu
the Allies controlled the sea, )
the Austrian defeats in Gali
Venizelos. In this treatment of (
was nothing really parallel to ti
Germany, but the Germans insi
the ends sought to be attained i
and the neutrality of Greece as
coerced, the parallel otherwise
Belgium had not merely been v

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

murdered. What the Allied Powers did to Greece was to
restore her neutrality; as, indeed, it was their treaty right
to do. That to do this happened to favor their interests —
to insist on the fulfilment of a moral obligation did not
lessen the force of that obligation.

By the Treaty of London of 1831 the neutrality of Bel-
gium as an independent kingdom had been guaranteed by
Austria, Prussia, Great Britain and Russia, but in 1914
Germany had declined to be bound by a *' scrap of paper'*
and so invaded Belgium, in order more quickly to reach an
enemy on the other side— only for that, and not because she
had any quarrel with the Belgians. She was sorry for them
at first and spoke of making amends. Belgium, said Ger-
man apologists afterward, had really grown unneutral at
heart, and therefore she invited her fate. By the protocol
of London, in 1830, and again by the Treaty of London in
1863, the independence and neutrality of Greece had been
guaranteed by Great Britain, France, and Russia. They
had since been for nearly a century the guarantors of her
national liberty and her protectors. To them as a matter
of fact she had owed her existence. Nations are notoriously
ingrates, but this fact of history did emphasize the nature
of a relationship giving the Allied Powers alright, and im-
posing upon them a duty, to preserve the neutrality of their
ward. As measures to this end they made their demands.
The coercion of Greek neutrality by the Allied Powers con-
sisted, therefore/ in delivering the Government of Greece
into the hands of the Greek people. While Belgium neutral-
ity had been violated and prostrated by German arms,
Greece was rescued from a government that was willing to
deliver its people into German hands.

While the Allied drive was not officially launched until
August 20, fighting along the 150'mile Saloniki front had
been reported as early as the first of the month. General
Sarrail, who had defended Verdun in the opening of the
western campaign, but who was removed by Joffre because
of differences of opinion, had been sent to the Near East in
command of the Allies. Why did the Allies, under Sarrail,
so long postpone their thrust? The answer was found in
political as well as military considerations. The longer the

304

THE BALKANS AND G

Allies waited at SKlooiki wh:
Central Powers on all the oti
fewer Germans and Austrians
way to the Danube, and the mo
decisive success, and the less
liking for remaining with their

By the end of August it was
the verge of joining the All;
abandon her neutrality. Greee
by revolt. Stirred to action
Macedonia and the failure of th
it, adherents of the Allied cam
their own hands, and seized t)
at Saloniki, Vodena, and Fort
of these rebels many more Ore
revolt spread to other sections
were determined that the Gov)
neutrality and join the Allies.
the restoration to power of ""
party seemed likely. King Con
of the situation. At the same
twenty-three warships and sevei
Pirieus.

On September 4 Great Britain
trol of the Greek posts and tel£
less system, that German age:

BRITISH TROOPS N

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

should immediately leave Greece not to return until the
conclusion of hostilities, and that necessary measures be
taken against "such Greek subjects as rendered themselves
guilty of complicity in corruption and espionage." The
^aimis government agreed to all these demands, and Greek
intervention seemed to rest almost entirely with the Allies.
In ease Greek forces should be considered of value in the
Balkan battles, the Hellenic nation, apparently, would take
up arms with the Allies. But there were many among the
Allied commands who held that benevolent neutrality, and
free scope for Allied forces operating in the Balkans, were
all that the Allies needed from Grece. Premier Zairais now
assumed unobtrusively what amounted virtually to dic-
tatorial powers. lie was to all appearances in a position
to swing the whole country as he wished, unembarrassed by
any dissenting popular opinion.

To Greece, one year before, when the German thrust
through Serbia was about to begin, the Allies had offered
Smyrna, the coast of Magna Griecia, which once had been
Greek, the Greek islands in the .^gean held by Italy, and
the British island of Cyprus. More than two million Greeks,
a commanding position in the ^gean, a future in Asia
Minor, were the prizes thus offered. But the Hellenic
monarch, convinced that German victory was inevitable, took
the reins of government from Venizelos, who had half

THE BALKANS AND G

achieved the work of the reun
missed cabinets, defied majorit:
bound Greece to support her
evitable, by this act, the succ€
Serbia. No man ever gambled
but when all his calculations w<
entered Kavala and Drama ; wh
in Saloniki, and when Roum;
enemies of the Central Power
*'the Bulgar-Killer,'* had app
abdication seemed bound event
from his own people.

On September 25 Venizelos fl
in an open boat and was picl
merchant-steamship on its way
was to go to Saloniki to head i
accompanied by Rear-Admiral
chief of the Greek navy, severa
many other supporters. In Cret
in complete control. Venizelos
the personal loyalty of the islai
erally admitted. Practically ev
joined the revolutionary mover
naval officers left the Piraeus, an
under control of the revolutioni
for Crete or Saloniki.

The revolt in Crete occurred :
of the announcement of the isl
as made by the Greek Premier c
that time the Cretans had been
of revolt against the Turkish
for the great part of the ninel
of the twentieth centuries. Cr(
tically equal claimants for the dii
island in size in the Mediterra
somewhat in excess of 3,300 sc
passed in size only by Sicily, Sa
Corsica has sustained a compara
world history, if one excepts the
place of and sometime refuge of

307

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

a stellar part for more than 4,000 years. Crete was a
civilized land long before Greece and Rome were founded.

This uprising in Greece was a most unusual revolutionary
movement. It was not a movement to dethrone a royal house,
or even a king, or to substitute one form of government for
another, but a rebellion the object of which was to compel
the King to obey the will of the people, and to leave him
on the throne to carry out that will after he had been
coerced into doing it. It followed the course of other revo-
lutions in purposing to form a provisional government, but
this provisional government was to have the single object
of defending Greece from invasion and protecting her in-
terests by bringing her into the war. It was a revolution
**to induce the King to come forth as King and follow the
path of duty in the protection of his subjects." So de-
clared Venizelos, who added: **As soon as he takes this
course, we all of us shall be only too glad and ready at once
to follow his flag as loyal citizens led by him against our
country's foe.*' Thus they made war on their King in
order that he might obey the will of his people and that
they might be able to obey him.

On September 27 the air seemed cleared by the announce-
ment that the Greek Ministry had decided to join the
Allies. An actual agreement for military cooperation with'
the Entente, it was said, had been reached by King Con-
stantine. With Greece in the war, there were now to be
sixteen belligerents, including the little Republic of San
Marino— four on the side of the Central Powers, and twelve
on the side of the Quadruple Entente. From appearances
it seemed that King Constan tine's hand had been forced
and that he had as his alternative abdication or war. But
it was to be remembered that no revolutionary party, not
even that in Crete, which Venizelos had taken in hand, had
demanded abdication, while the King had repeatedly stated
that the continued neutrality of his country depended on
events.

Greek military resources were quite suflScient to turn the
scale in the Balkans hopelessly aga^'nst the Teuton-Turkish-
Bulgarian alliance, and so the military situation in Bul-
garia became at once precarious. A successful defensive

308

THE BALKANS AND C

might be maintained through t
the spring of 1917, when On
developed, was uncertain, Th
side of the Allies, first of Re
would definitely have reversec
established in the Balkans in 1
garia joined the Kaiser's eai
columns overran Serbia, Monti
once encountering any serious

With a population of a litt
about the same as that of Buj
Greece could bring to the sid
strength of 200,000 men. Th
larger if eastern Macedonia ha
Bulgarians and but for the L
region, including about 400 oflBc
of Greece actually meant ten m
against the Bulgarian flanks,
now stood about 700,000 men
350,000 Bulgars, 200,000 Turks,
— as a maximum; while on the
200,000 Russo-Roumanians in
Greeks, and the Saloniki army
high as 600,000, and might be
would make the Allies as 9 to 7
capable of greater efforts and in
Russia.

A clearer way of estimating
to judge what the result woul
as 100,000 fresh troops against
Monastir, which was hard'prest
as a unit it meant the addition
conquest of Serbia and the cutti
man corridor leading by rail to
resented not the only increase c
expected to receive. • With tha
side would come a iiew sense c
Saloniki, lack of which had ban
of its operations. Espionage at
be greatly reduced and faciliti

309

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

marine warfare in the eastern Mediterranean would disap-
pear, so far as the resources of Greek harbors and islands
were concerned.

With the occupation of Athens and the Piraeus by French
marines on October 17, a tense situation arose in Athens.
Great crowds ^f Royalists paraded the streets and cordons
of Greek troops and marines were thrown about the rail-
way-stations, city hall and other points occupied by Entente
forces in order to prevent clashes between them and the
Royalists. An unofficial dispatch said Admiral du Fournet
was hissed by throngs of men in the streets of Athens and
that a detachment of French sailors was driven back by
a hostile crowd. About a thousand marines landed and oc-
cupied the railway-station at the Piraeus and several build-
ings in Athens. Immediately this became known the streets
swarmed with Greeks frantically cheering King Constantine
and chanting the Greek national anthem. Great crowds
marched, thousands gathering in the neighborhood of the
post-office square. The War Minister, General Dracos,
ordered troops and marines to guard every approach to the
square, in order to prevent any clash between Greek civilians
and the French, who occupied that section, establishing a
complete cordon about the French and taking all precautions
to avoid any incident or accident capable of starting strife.

Modern Greece had come into being through the action
of Great Britain, France, and Russia, whose fleets, in the
battle of Navarino ninety years before the World War,
broke the Turkish power, and these three had now recog-
nized the independent government which Venizelos had set
up in Crete. By all diplomatic and international pre-
cedent, the situation was impossible. Probably if the re-
moval of Constantine from power could at that time have
been effected with little trouble, the Allies would not have
hesitated to effect it, for they would have had the sanction
of half the nation behind them, and, more than that, the
plea of self-defense. King Constantine 's firmness in hold-
ing out against the Allies was attributed to the exact knowl-
edge he had of the preparations made for the great Teuton
stroke in Transylvania. That he knew what was going on
at Saloniki went without saying. It was to prevent such

310

AN ALLIED CAMP

A BRITISH FIELD-BAKl

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

information from getting to the Germans that the Allies
interfered in the internal . administration of the country.
The entry of the French into Athens occurred in the third
week of October. It was part of a course which the Allies
took in an effort to deTeutonize Greece without antagonizing
the population of the country. The difficult thing with the
Allies was not to act more vigorously than their best ad-
vantage required. It was now somewhat more than a year
since official Greece, in the person of King Constantine, had
repudiated the ** scrap of paper" that bound her to take the
field in Serbia's defense in case of an attack by Bulgaria.

The mission of the Sarrail force at Saloniki had a two-
fold purpose: to oppose the Bulgars on the north and to
repress any final espousal of the Teuton cause by Con-
stantine on the south. The Entente strongly suspected
Athens. It was only on the disbandment of a large part of
the Greek army that Sarrail could venture to start any
operations at all toward Monastir. The wonder was that
the Entente had refrained for a year from marching hot-
foot to Athens, seizing the hostile and unrepresentative
ruler and setting up Venizelos as President.

Of progressive steps the entry of the French into Athens
was the most significant. It snuffed out the discredited
King's authority in his own capital, as it had been snuffed
out already in a large part of his dominions. He was
gradually being edged off the map and out of the honorable
regard of Greece, with violence to no one. The process was
slow; but it was more merciful than was Germany's assault
on Belgium and it was more definitive. The trouble in
Greece was chiefly at Athens and the Piraeus and seemed
entirely due to King Constantine as a brother-in-law to the
Kaiser. It was natural that the excitable populace of
Athens, wrought upon by friends of Germany, should re-
sent the seizing of naval vessels of their country and the
landing of, troops on their soil, without the consent of the
only government they had. But the Allies not only had
the right under the protocol of 1830 and the Treaty of Lon-
don of 1863, but they had of necessity to proceed against
Bulgaria.

It was not merely the British who were engaged in quiet-

312

THE BALKANS AND C

ing the Greeks, but the Frenc
in Athens. The Allies had g(
tion of the Greek Premier V^
not then opposed by King C<
to join the Allies, but Consta
gated Constitutional Governm^
eral election, despite the influei
a victory for Venizelos. Ther
the Constitution, drove Venizeh
ruled Greece without regard tc
when more than half of GreeC
A separate government havin|
and large sections of Greece ha
Constan tine's policy had wreck
produced civil war. If the All
would have cost him his throne j
handicapped by lack of resoui
take advantage of the Roumania
he had to protect his rear agai]
Larissa of April 24, 1897, who
to serve German ends and to ei
tion of field-marshal in the Ge
him by his brother-in-law in
achievements in the second Balki
whom he had now permitted t(

The surprize and sensation of
week of August was the landi
troops at Saloniki to join in 1
army now moving north from i
ways which led to Monastir an(
River toward the line between
five nations represented — Grea
Italy and Russia, and it wj
Greece, had clashed with Bulgai
battle-line, where they were i
threatening Kavala on the -^gea
Italians or Russians had been '.
port said the Russians would
They were put into service side
who rejoiced at the political ai

V. VIII— 21 313

IN THE EAST, NEAK EAST, AND SOUTH

nificance of this comradeship. As to the Italians, one result
seemed almost certain. If they fought Austrians on Balkan
soil, they would be fighting Germans also, so that at last
Italy would be at war with Germany. Italy's force at
Valona, on the Adriatic, while at some distance from the
main Allied line, might eventually move on Montenegro.
Whether the Balkan advance was really aimed at Nish,
which is on the -direct rail-line running north into Serbia,
or at cutting the line between Nish and Sofia, and thus
severing Teutonic communication between Turkey and Bul-
garia, was uncertain; but if the latter was the immediate
purpose and it succeeded, express trains from Antwerp to
Constantinople would cease.

The army under Sarrail was in composition the most ex-
traordinary ever united under a single general. The only
precedent was the international expedition to China under
Marshal von Waldersee; but the difference between that
force and the one under Sarrail was that the former had
no homogeneity. Every section regarded the others with
distrust to such an extent that von Waldersee never gave an
order without first assuring himself privately that it met
with the approval of the commanders of the various units,
whereas the army of Saloniki had blind confidence in its
commander. In the complicated problems that faced Sarrail
the first of the difficulties was the international character of
his force — ^British, French, Italian, Russians, Serbians, and
Albanians. Such a force had to be distributed in sections,
each holding a certain part of the line. They could not be
mixed without reviving Babel and the confusion of tongues.
The debarking of an army of hundreds of thousands of
men, hundreds of miles from their base, had been a long
and difiicult matter. It meant the accumulation of hundreds
of thousands of tons of food, munitions, and war-stores of
every kind. No advance was possible until its base had
been prepared for all emergencies.

By August 19 the Allied forces were attacking along a
front of 115 miles, and had regained five villages. From
Fiorina, where a Bulgarian counter-thrust had been halted,
to the sector north of the Gulf of Orfani, well east of
Saloniki, a battle was in progress. From August 1 the

314

THE BALKANS AND (
Allies had been feeling the li
active night and day, airmer
enemy. To military observers
an Allied drive to win back S<
of success. The Teutonic A:
Bulgars had taken Fiorina, soi
had begun an advance east of
east of the Saioniki railway,
stemmed. The Serbs then b.
Sarrail's forces widened their a
the Saioniki road. The generi
irregular line upward of 150 ra

FRENCH SOLDIERS IN A V

ing the united operations of th
donnier commanding the French
Sarrail in taking Doiran late i
strategic point. Its loss in tht
the retirement to Saioniki. It 11
Vardar and the Struma, on
Saioniki to Sofia, the Bulgarii
opened the way far a plan of car
garia. Success for this movemei
store the Serbians to their lands
Roumania and Greece, which be
been waiting for a decisive vii

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Allied success might also isolate Bulgaria and bring from
her a separate peace. By August 15 the Italians, in co-
operation with the French and British, had started opera-
tions in Albania, a little north of Valona, where they had
an army of about 100,000 men, forming the extreme left of
the Allied line across nortl^ern Greece and southern Albania.
There was nothing to indicate thus far that a general
oflfensive had begun, but it was apparent that the entire
Allied force in the Balkans was trying-out the Teutonic
positions.

Such was the inconsequential fighting of the summer on
this front. It had been political mainly. There was no
real offensive and no sign of one. Sarrail's army remained
much of the time passive. While the Russians held Ger-
mans in the north and drove Austrians before them in the
south, Sarrail was motionless. When Joffre and Haig began
the Franco-British offensive on the Somme there was no sign
from Sarrail. When Cadoma captured Goritza and so
pdded his share to the hammering of Austria, Sarrail still
did not move. When news came that Russian and Italian
forces had been added to French and British at Saloniki,
an advance was expected, but none came. When some fight-
ing was reported, this was announced as not being the real
Saloniki drive; on the contrary the Bulgarians were making
an incursion into Greece. Roumania entered the war and
invaded Transylvania, whereupon the Bulgarians and their
Teutonic Allies sought to disconcert them by an advance
into southeastern Roumania. It was to prevent the disloca-
tion of this Roumanian plan that French and British went
to the rescue, with an assault on Bulgaria from the south,
its object being the protection of Roumania while she was
proceeding with her attack on Transylvania.

This torpor of Sarrail, a torpor imposed upon him by
Joffre, was a mystery of the war. It was a political torpor
only, just as the Bulgarian attack on Greece, misinterpreted
at first as the beginning of a drive, was a political attack.
The Franco-British army at Saloniki was held inactive while
political negotiations were going on. The Bulgarian attack
on Greece, apparently a foolhardy thing, was made because
the Bulgarians knew the Saloniki army would not, or could

316

THE BALKANS AND (

not, stop them. They kne\^
counting on its continuance
Allies then stirred, but only (
enough to bring on a great hi
on September 11, the British
Struma River, engaged the
villages in Macedonia were tal
time assailed the Teuton line
Majadag, in the Lake Doiran
the Bulgars for thirty-six houn
miles, and extending to a dep
The British, pushing further
stronger hold on the east bank
two more villages. In this att;
until the Struma line was firml
of the first results of the pus
the Bulgars before Kavala. I
after capturing Bulgarian in
Veterenik at the point of the I
and northeast of Lake Ostrovo
height. Meanwhile Bulgars an.
tected by the withdrawal of
Struma, advanced to the Mgesi
Kavala.

On September 15 the Serbian

ing, overwhelmed Bulgar positic

ing twenty-five guns and a larg

French captured positions half

the Vardar, while the British ^

center of the Allied front, had t

Makukovo from a mixed Bulgar ;

French, and Russians continue

cesses until the Bulgar retreat

into a route. They tried to mak

of the Cerna, but failed. Florii

of an encircling movement by ]

which crusht the Bulgar 's flanl

confusion toward Monastir. FIc

of Monastir and the main railroi

ning from Saloniki around Osti

317

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

marks practically the beginning of a wide plain stretching
out toward the north, paralleling the valley of the Cerna
River. The railroad to Monastir divided this plain almost
exactly in half. The western border of the plain is a wall
of mountains, rising rapidly and penetrated at several
points by streams which flow through narrow valleys into
a lake. Fiorina itself lies at the foothills of these mountains,
while the Fiorina station is in the middle plain.

For many days the fighting centered around the height of
Kaimakchalan, the highest peak of the Starkov Grob range
of hills. This peak had great strategical significance. It
is the highest point in the whole region south of Monastir,
and completely dominated the great Fiorina plain in which
the Serbs and Bulgarians were facing each othej. When
this height fell into the hands of the Serbians the entire
Bulgarian line was outflanked from a dominating height
and was therefore forced to retire. This retirement was
continued for over five miles on a front of nearly twenty
and carried the Serbian trenches forward as far as Kenali,
just ten miles south of Monastir, on the Saloniki-Monastir
railroad. The bend or loop of the Cerna River had been
crossed and was now well to the rear of the Serbs; their
right had moved forward as far as Petalino, while the left
was but seven or eight miles south of Monastir. This cam-
paign in the south was just beginning to take form in Octo-
ber. There was reason to think that, from a military stand-
point, it would prove most interesting. It was a long way
off, the country but little known, the names strange. But
there was a wide field for strategical plans such as would
not be possible in the west; a wider possibility, therefore,
for the display of military genius.

The Serbians on October 5 were only eight miles from
Monastir, the British had established themselves firmly on
the east bank of the Struma, and the French were preparing
for a blow along the Vardar. North of Fiorina Allied
troops were nearing the border directly south of Monastir,
while further east they had begun to cross the Cerna. A
desperate battle was expected, for the Bulgars had a strong
line four miles to the south. A battle around Yenikeui on
the Struma front resulted in a British victory, the whole

318

THE BALKANS AND C

village passing into their haa
against Monastir crossed the
which lay about six miles nortl
Monastir. British troops next
gars. The town of Nevolen W8
a brief artillery-attack. Fren
toward Monastir, fighting bein(
Medzili-Kenali-Gradesnika line.
the city fell into Allied ham

Englishman to arrive after its

"Down the streets, with their blai
came French cavalry, the first to e
hung with wreaths of flowers, for
timidly from behind barred windo'
offeriDg posies and garlands to the
they constantly came marching in.

■ Correspandent of Tbe Times ILODdoi

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Germans marched out at the northern end of Monastir, and were
seen by French scouts pouring along the Prilep road. Thus Mon-
astir became Serbian again, for altho the French and Eussian troops
had the privilege of arriving first, they were anxious to admit that
it was chiefly the tireless advance of the Serbians among the moun-
tains that forced the Bulgars and Germans to evacuate 'Monastir."

The capture of Monastir was the most dramatic achieve-
ment to the credit of the Allies since Brusiloff's advance in
June and his capture of Lutsk. But Monastir had greater
significance in that its fall was brought about, not by an
unexpected blow and the smashing of an entrenched front,
but by a mixture of straight fighting and the kind of flank-
ing work of which the German leaders had so far been the
most successful practitioners. It was a source of encourage-
jnent for the Allies that the rushing forward of German
reinforcements, which had almost invari3,bly been the signal
for a bracing up of wavering lines, was not effective at
Monastir. To lose Monastir, and with it Ochrida and the
region west of the Vardar, was to lose the chief prize of
the war for which Bulgaria had been fighting. With the loss
went a heavy casualty list, for the main burden of resisting
the Entente forces in Macedonia was carried by the Bulgars.
The Bulgars had to retreat north over the Babuna Pass,
making their first stand at Prilep, on the heights between
the Monastir plain and the Vardar valley.

The progress made by the Allies in Macedonia after a
month had been at least respectable. On the left wing the
Serbs, Russians, and French had made headway in the
direction of Monastir. On the right the British had
definitely broken the line of the Struma. Yet, compared
with the swift progress of the Roumanian invasion of
Transylvania, and the still quicker recoil, Sarrail's pace
had not been altogether impressive. The numbers engaged
on either side were not large. Allied reports spoke of Bul-
gars '* reinforced by a battalion," or ** reinforced by a regi-
ment,*' making strong counter-attacks against victorious
Serbs. Here, the addition of a thousand men, or of even
three thousand, played the same role that entire divisions
and army corps played in the west. On both sides the

320

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

flanks, or at least one flank, were thinly held, while heavy-
forces were massed along the center.

The long expected fall of King Constantine took place on
June 10, 1917. His abdication, made in response to the de-
mands of Great Britain, France, and Russia, was accom-
panied by the waiving of the claims of the Crown Prince in
favor of Constantine 's second son. Prince Alexander, who
was regarded as likely to deal with the political situation
more independently. Venizelos represented the true senti-
ment of Greece; now the Provisional Government and the
armed forces Venizelos headed would have an opportunity
to take their proper places in Greek aifairs. The abdication
was finally brought about through M. Jonnart, a French
senator, who had held posts in several French Cabinets and
had gone to Athens as the representative of France, Great
Britain, and Russia, and had previously visited Saloniki. It
had been substantially proved that the King was in close
touch with Berlin by wireless, and that the German sub-
marines were using Greek islands as bases of submarine
operations against Entente shipping, with the approval, if
not the secret connivance of the King. After the abdication,
the former King and Queen, with Prince George, embarked
on a British warship for Switzerland by way of Italy.
Prince Alexander, the new King, was only twenty-four years
of age.

Constantine had held on too long. He might have made
favorable terms with the Allies by quitting a year or a year
and a half before. He might have insured Greece sub-
stantial recognition in the settlements which were to follow
the war, but he had no thought for Greece's future. He
chose to serve Germany, not Greece, and was willing to sac-
rifice all that Greece was, or could hope to be, to an in-
dulgence of his pro-Teuton sympathies. No king ever rode
more recklessly for a fall. Greece had had e rebirth of
energy and prosperity under Venizelos whom Constantine
plotted against. His fate awakened no sympathy except
among those whose tool he had chosen to be. But Greece's
plight — due to her ineffective protest against his ruinous
policies — excited pity. She was already partially dismem-
bered and no one could tell how far the process of dismem-

322

THE BALKANS AND GI

berment might go. Venizelos d
Allies, but apparently the gold
establishment of a Greek republ

Constantine arrived at Lugani
20. Officers and delegates of
him at the frontier and welc<
Switzerland. He had landed in
a village facing Messina on th(
starting-point of the railway t(
of German personages waited
Lugano, including Prince and I
Miihlberg, German Minister to
Minister to Berne was also pre
suite drove directly to a hotel
served for him, but was coldb
After dinner he attended an (
being recognized he was hissed
rear door to avoid further hostil
ception in front of a Bestaurant
ping a glass of beer. A mob {
through the streets to a hotel
windows had to be shut down
riotous crowd that quickly swell
ultimately rescued from this hot<
the military.

Nine months after Venizelos hj
self at the head of a revolutiom
returned to head the government
both cases was the same, to obtai
constitutional government. His
separation of Greece into two i
her state during most of his abse
a difficult task before him — the
tinguished and patriotic career-
its three years of ruinous, treac
direct it to the destiny that his
By June 29 the Greek Governmc
of war existed and broke off dip
many, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria

The return of Venizelos to th

323

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

most enthusiastic welcome, showing how he still maintained
his hold on the great mass of the Greek people. Only in
Athens and itB immediate vicinity was there any reason to
question his strength. Here Constantine and his pro-German
followers had sought by every possible intrigue to d scredit
him and to weaken his power. In a speech to the Crown
after taking the oath of offipe at the palace on June 23, he
said that Greece's place was beside democracy. The nation
was struggling for freedom against two Central Powers with
whom Greece's hereditary enemies were allied.'

• Principal Sonrceg : The Forlniijhtlv RriieK (London) ; The Erening Post,
The Inacpenietil, New I'ork ; S. Wnrd Trlre In The Timet (London). Ano-
rlatod Press alapatches. "XelBon's Illatorr at tbe War" by JoUn Bncban,
■■Bullet 1:;h'' o( the National Ueographlc Soflety (New Tork), The DoUji
Chronicle (Loodon) ; The Tribune, The Etening «iin, the "Military Eipert"
ot The Timet, New York.

.1 CORNER or TlIK I'.AKTllli.VUN" BY MOONLI(J!lT
T:ie nnlknna Relief Commission of the Red Cross for a. time had Ita
headquarters in Atheas. This picture was made by one ot its attaphea

Ill

MACKENSEN AND PALKl
GARIAN AND TURKISH ]

THE ROUMi

August 30, 1916— Ja

OWING to the conformation
fact that Austria-Hungary t
her enemies, Roumania had perh
defend, in proportion to her size
all the belligerent powers. She
two extensive fronts, the Transyh
west and the Bulgarian on the s
ever, was vulnerable along its ei
is separated from Roumania by
barrier which could be crossed
passes. Through these Roumani?
part of her army in a vigorous
Hungarians and their allies to e
southern frontier, at the same tii
tected by the course of the Danr
extremity, where a part of the tei
lies on the other side of the Da
Black Sea, and thus is open to in^
vulnerable it was selected by tl
place to attack, not only because
victory in this region might cut
from access to the Black Sea.

The importance of Roumanians
was both military and political,
tory for the Allies and atoned f(
Balkan diplomacy. Austria-Hung
gary, were now in what seemed 1
state. Austria had to fight ei
Italy's recent capture of Gorizii
Austrian offensive from the Tren

325

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

forces would have to be used to hold that part of the
Austrian line. Austro-German armies which had swept
through Serbia were now facing an impending advance from
the Allies in Greece. On the Roumanian border the ap-
pearance of a third battle-line in these circumstances was
of no little importance, while farther north the Russian
attack in Galicia and the Russian attack near Lemberg still
met no force which could check them. The situation of
Turkey was hardly less desperate. A recent serious blow
to Turkey had been the reoccupation of Bitlis, in Asia, by
Russian troops, and the recapture of Mush. The fact that
a new body of troops of perhaps half a million men had
entered the field on the side of the Allies seemed bound to
have some effect on the situation for the time being. That
Greece, after long hesitation and uncertainty was actually
to declare war, was probable, the more so because of Bul-
garia's recent invasion of her territory. Berlin took the
new situation seriously but without outward confidence. It
was reported that Germany had already made plans to afford
substantial military assistance to Austria and Bulgaria.
Meanwhile had come the removal by the Kaiser of the
former chief of staff of the German army, Falkenhayn, and
the appointment in his place of Hindenburg.

Within three days of Roumanians declaration, her troops
had crossed the Transylvania Alps in a wide encircling
movement and captured Brasso, or Kronstadt, Transylvania's
leading commercial and industrial center. At the same time
a large Russian force, concentrated at the junction of the
Pruth and Danube, had moved through Roumania in a drive
against Bulgaria. Contrary to all previous Teutonic
strategy, the Austrian forces, instead of seizing the offensive,
fell back before the Roumanians in Transylvania to a second
line of defense. Roumania 's advance was rapid and suc-
cessful. Apparently she had all but got through some of the
Carpathian passes before war was actually declared, had
quickly seized Kronstadt, almost as quickly taken Her-
mannstadt, and later occupied the important town of Orsova,
not far from the **Iron Gates.'' She seemed at once to be
firmly established in Transylvania. What this meant was
evident from a glance at the map. Transylvania was a nut

326

KING PEBDINAND

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

between two halves of a nutcracker made by the northern
boundary of western Roumania, on Transylvania's south,
and the western boundary of northern Roumania, on Tran-
sylvania's east. One-half of the Roumanian nutcracker
almost joined the Russian advance in Galicia, so that Russia
and Roumania had every opportunity to act in concert.
Russia was free to send troops south through eastern Rou-
mania and Bulgaria in an advance on Constantinople — free,
that is, except for the resistance which might be offered by
Bulgaria and her allies.

About August 21 the Teuton leaders first knew that Rou-
mania would declare for the Entente. Operations under
Hindenburg on the northerly Russian front were at once
given up, and a body of 50,000 troops sent by train to
Shumla, in eastern Bulgaria. Six days later — on August
27 — Roumania declared war on Austria-Hungary and im-
mediately struck north into Transylvania. A council of the
three Kaisers, German, Austrian, and Bulgarian, followed
in Berlin, in which Ferdinand of Bulgaria apparently
exacted German support at the cost of Austria, as the price
of his continued allegiance. Following that conference, Hin-
denburg was put in supreme charge of the forces of the
Central Empires. By September 9 the Roumanians had
taken Olah Toplitza and five other towns in northern Tran-
sylvania. This represented an advance of nearly thirty
miles into the country. Hundreds of thousands of Germans
and Magyars fled westward before the invasion. While
more than half the people were Roumanian by race, there
were a million Magyars and Germans in the regions into
which the Roumanian armies were overflowing. When the
first refugees reached Budapest, they brought with them
every evidence of such misery and suffering as the world had
seen in Belgium two years before, save for such deeds as
made Louvain memorable. Belgians now read of long pro-
cessions of Hungarian peasants, with their families loaded
on ox-carts, fleeing through mountains, into which winter
was coming, leaving behind them homes and all but the
smallest fraction of other possessions, and going into an
exile that might be permanent. Roumania occupied some-
thing like the same area in Hungary that Germany occupied

32<S

TBB CONQUEST OP
That tbe hopes eDtertalunl Id Entente cli
the war sbonld have come to naught, maj
this map. provided one remembers wbat i
Russia gradually ceasing to remain b iDlltti
be reifkoued on. Etoumanlan armies at tbi
Carpathlaaa. throngb tbe Vulcan. Red Toi
easily taken Transylvanlan territory, Inc
Hermanstadt and Kronstadt, besides tbe D.
Iron Gates. Alone on ter western front,
Ocrman military forces led by Falkenbayn.
help as RdssIb could give ber. she had to
Bulgarians and Turks. With Maokensen
moving north, and with Falkcnhayn's fore
Carpathian foothills, tbe cod of Rouma
shadowed long before the cnoltBl sas aban
the end of IfllS overrun. While she was al
tbe Freuch Gpieml Berthelot. to make a :
Pruth. to wblch abe had been forced Id
Powers back Into the Vrancea. Honntalns
a collapsed as an ally, and Ro
peace Imposed upon ber bj

THE BALKANS AND* GI

in France, and Russia in Buko^
as much territory as Germany
the Roumanian and Russian am

Transylvania is high land, ,bi
with plains scattered about. 1
rises toward a mountain-barrier
mania in a comparatively gentle
southeastern and southern Car]
mountains break into huge and
tremendous natural fortress. '
frontier is formed by the esusU
cut by the Strol or Kirlibaba Paj
the frontier of Bukowina joins
the eastern Carpathians go soul
the point where the Predeal or 1
way for the railway from Kroni
on the southwestern side of the
vanian Alps form almost the '
frontier of Roumania. They mer;
tains, which go to the bank of tl
the heights on the Serbian sic
famous gorge of the 'Iron Gates
land of Transylvania has a mear
1,600 feet above sea-level. A fer
in length and fifty in breadth li
the country.

The mountains on the frontiei
points to great heights. Thus Ne
Tiirm Pass, reaches 8.345 feet ; Bus
Pass. 8.239 feet; Pietrosu and
7.544 and 7,352 feet. TransylvJ
nations'' — the Hungarians, Szek
Hungarians are descendants of
The Szeklers are closely akin to
descendants of German emigrant
and the Lower Rhine in the tweli
Hungarian plains, desolated by c(
ing peoples. These races, howev
bered by the Roumanians, who ai
try but had long been excluded

V. VIII— 22 329

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

equality. In 1868 Transylvania was deprived of the last
remnant of her autonomy and formally embodied in the
Kingdom of Hungary. Political control by the Magyars had
since been steadily strengthened, in spite of all protests
sent to Budapest from Transylvania, Hungarian became the
chief language and the official one. In 1872 a Hungarian
university was set up at Kolozsvar.

The Bulgarians were between two millstones. French,
British, Italian, Russian and Serb troops were operating
from Saloniki, Russian and Roumanian troops in the
Dobrudja and along the Danube. Hitherto the whole Bul-
garian army had been able to cover Saloniki; but now it
would have to be divided, unless Germany, Austria, and
Turkey could furnish troops to defend northern Bulgaria.
The new situation had demanded a new Austro-German
army at the moment when the invasion of Transylvania
suddenly produced another demand. Fresh troops were
wanted also to defend Lemberg against the advancing
Brusiloflf, not to mention the heavy claims made on German
reserves to replace losses in the Anglo-French offensive on
the Somme. At the same time the Italian operations about
Gorizia were calling for greater Austrian forces.

There was no question as to what the Germans had to do.
Bulgaria was vital to them. If Bulgaria had been conquered
by the Allies, the road to the Near East would have been
cut. If Bulgaria were threatened with conquest, there was
little question as to what she would do, for there was a
strong Russophile party in Bulgaria. Thus Berlin had de-
mands for reinforcements from Vienna to save Lemberg,
from Budapest to save Transylvania, from Sofia to save
Bulgaria, and from Turkey to save Constantinople. Should
Bulgaria desert the Teutons or be conquered, the collapse of
Austro-German influence in the Balkans and Near East
would be instant and the fall of Constantinople could not
be long delayed. Incidentally the liberation of Serbia would
be prompt and the gap in the circle of fire and steel about
the Central Powers, opened by Mackensen a year before,
would be closed. The war had seen few more dramatic
moments and few more interesting campaigns than that
which was opening in the Balkans.

330

TPE BALKANS AND G]

But when Roumania entered
suflficient troops to defend her
tacked in the south, the Transy!
by the Teutons, while, if she c
passes, and temporarily, or eve
opportunity of striking south,
be in danger. Russia, with
power, was, however, on her r
with great numbers of troops c
Roumania to say the word wh
and lend her aid. The point o:
where the Pruth falls into t
political condition here which i
tain control over the situation
sylvania and naturally she did
other nation to be in possession
time came to discuss peace. Ri
and, for the same reason, did m
ticipate in a movement which
the Turkish capital. Accordin
herself the task of invading a
with all its mineral wealth, wl
the problem, first, of assisting t
the unprotected stretch of her
time ripe and a suflBcient cone
Bulgaria and cut a way througt
on these plans, the Roumanians 1
ward against Kronstadt and He
fought a delaying action, retrea
applied. Kronstadt and Hermai
manian left the town of Orsovo '
Further to the north, near Buk"
effected its junction with the Ri
The Roumanian line of attack s(

By the second week of Septe
tion took on a portentous aspect
following the action of Italy agj
mania against Austria, had decl
a Teuton-Bulgar force, supporter
northeast frontier of Bulgaria i

331

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH.

manian province of the Dobrudja. Two days later this
force, commanded by Mackensen, engaged a Russian army,
then landing at the Roumanian Black Sea port of Constanza,
and, driving the Russians before them, entered the city of
Bobric, winners in the race for position. While the right
wing of the invasion was thus employed, the left, moving
down the south bank of the Danube, fell upon Tutrakan, a
city which constituted a bridgehead, or sally-port, at the
uppermost point of Roumanian territory south of the
Danube, and the natural point of departure for any future
Roumanian offensive against eastern Bulgaria. Tho strongly
fortified, Tutrakan was taken in less time than was the
famous Belgian fortress of Liege, in August, 1914. Seven
of its forts fell before September 6, and then the town itself
fell. Three days later the Teuton onrush took the greater,
but less well defended, city of Silistria.

The immediate purpose of the Teutonic blow was to pro-
tect Bulgaria from an expected offensive by the Rou-
manians and Russians. Holding Tutrakan, the Roumanians
would have been in sufficient force within a fortnight to
move in boats up the Danube toward central Bulgaria.
From Tutrakan east to the Black Sea coast, by water, is
nearly 100 miles; from Silistria the distance by land is only
seventy. If the Teutons had prest on, they would have
reached a point where the neck of the Dobrudja between the
Danube and the Black Sea narrows to barely thirty-five
miles. Even by stopping short of this point, they could
have reached a place where the neck is only fifty or sixty
miles wide, and where 150,000 soldiers well entrenched
might hold off the chief danger from Roumanians to Bul-
garia. The c&pture of Dobric by a Russian force, super-
vening upon the headlong Teuton rush toward Silistria,
offered a serious menace to the Teutonic right flank and at
the same time to the Bulgarian port of Varna, immediately
south.

Mackensen 's thrust into the Dobrudja was well conceived.
It was the best reply Germany could have made to the
Roumanian declaration of war. While the bulk of the Rou-
manian army was marching into Transylvania, the Dobrudja
was weakly held in expectation of the arrival of a Russian

332

THE BALKANS AND d

army to invade Bulgaria. The
Belgrade to Cernavoda, where \
tected by batteries on both bi
communication between the Rus
Mackensen determined to seize
by so doing, isolate the Dobrud
Roumanians from cooperating,
commander's sudden and rapid
did the best they could to chec
division of the Russian army ar
way by which troops could qui<
Danube delta to the southern f:
large percentage of the Czar's f
the Dobrud j a embarked from
of Constanza, going thence by i
in peace times by passenger-sh
owned steamship-lines. Some 1
lies Constantinople, through
eventually to send vast store
Russia and Roumania.

Until hostilities began in 191^
point for an extensive passenge
Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, and
and the Near East. Here exp
de-luxe trains from the west,
nople over-night. Millions of <
harbor and docks of Constanzf
Roumanian possession by the
The principal improvements
wide, clean streets, numero
churches, Constanza occupies '
Tomsi, or Tomes, the metrop
^lany broken columns and fra
the importance and wealth of
the fourth century Constantin
to Constanza, in honor of hi
noteworthy event in its histoi
Emperor Augustus as the pla
poet, Publius Ovidius Naso,
The poet's offense was the p\j

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

which enjoys the questionable distinction of being perhaps
the most immoral work ever written by a man of genius.
Ovid was ordered to leave Rome and took up his residence
at Tomi, where he remained for the last eight years of his
life, bitterly complaining of his fate in a series of letters,
afterward compiled as the five books of Tr'stia.

The Dobrudja is now largely a fertile plain, but it was
a low-lying, treeless, largely fen-and-swamp province, when
ceded to Roumania in 1878 in exchange for her thickly
populated province of Bessarabia, which had been a part
of her domain since it was taken from Russia after the
Crimean War. In thirty-eight years the Dobrudja had
taken rapid strides, thanks to improvements in drainage and
agriculture and to the prosperity of several Black Sea ports
in the province. At the conclusion of the second Balkan
War, in 1913, Roumania demanded and obtained as her
share of the spoils from Bulgaria an enlargement of this
formerly despised area. Including territory thus newly
acquired, the Dobrudja now embraced nearly 9,500 square
miles, with a population of 500,000, made up of many
elements — ^Bulgars, Roumanians, Gypsies, and Jews. It pro-
duces important cereals, tobacco, sugar-beets, vines, and
mulberries. Bounded on the north and west by the Danube,
on the east by the Black Sea, and on the south by Bulgaria,
it is of great strategic importance, a fact recognized by the
Romans, who defended it on the south by Trajan's wall, a
double rampart extending from the Black Sea, at a point
near Constanza, to the banks of the Danube. The Rou-
manian-Bulgarian frontier was some sixty miles southwest
of this ancient fortification.

The earliest history of the Dobrudja region begins when
it was the home of the Dacians, of whom Herodotus speaks
as **the bravest and most honorable of all the Thracian
tribe." Along the coast from Constanza, northward, runs
a belt of lagoons, the remainder of the coast steep and high.
Its most striking feature is the delta of the Danube, which
occupies an immense triangular plain completely covered
with reeds, and dotted with lakes, connected by small canals,
acting as reservoirs for the three main arms of the Danube,
the Kilia, Sulina, and St. George arms. Owing to strong

334

THE BALKANS AND Q

currents and deposits of silt
largest, is almost useless for
true of the St. George arm. '
Danube Commission the Sulina
easy and secure navigation.
Danube remained practically i
extraordinary life, where plan
had to develop a new type ac
change of floods and dry seaa
'* Jungle Book.*' It a paradij
can find no permanent footing

On the railway line that ru
stanza, the Danube is crossed b;
between Fateshti and Cernavoc
an iron structure 1,000 yards
arm, with viaducts eight miles
running over marshy lands, an
mile long, over the main Dam
most important port is Constar
value because it forms, with Mi
a safe landing can be made, an
termines the control of a powei
of Trajan." Constanza lies at
from the Danube to the Black
winter.

Once more the war in this r
into scenes associated with the
In Asia the war had invade(
Garden of Eden, and made it
the shores of rivers that are su
early paradise, and it had r(
Sinai, and Mount Lebanon.
Ionian, Egyptian, Parthian, a
visited by it, including place
rise of Judaism, ZoroastrianisB
danism. Men were reminded
the Tigris that in that same
feated Trajan. In the Dobru"
wall as a battle-line between
the north, and Germans an

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Eighteen hundred years before, in the year 101 a.d., Trajan
had led his legions hither to conquer the Dacians, whose
country comprised all those provinces of Moldavia,
Wallacbia, and Transylvania, which the Roumanians had
long desired to reunite under one sovereign. Dacia's
warrior-king, Decebalus, defended his land so well that
Trajan had to start a second campaign four years after the
first. Not until then was Dacia forced to acknowledge
Roman rule.

On September 16 a telegram in Berlin received by the
Empress from the Kaiser announced that the Bulgar-
Turkish-German troops in the Dobrudja, under Mackensen,
had ** gained a decisive victory over the Russo-Roumanian
forces.*' The Russian and Roumanian forces had retreated
to a Hue running from the Danube at Rosova through
Copadinu to the Black Sea at Tuzla, and there intended to
make a stand to protect Constanza and the railway running
west to Bucharest. Russian troops from the north had re-
inforced the line. Some military observers vainly believed
that Mackensen 's drive would be permanently halted, for
on an effective resistance hung the fate of Roumanians most
accessible route for operations against Bulgaria. Along the
Danube the Roumanians developed a vigorous artillery
offensive, German positions being swept by shell-fire. Signs
were not long wanting that the Bulgarian offensive was
weakening.

Its regiments that had been hurriedly dispatched to the
Danube front at the opening of hostilities were below full
war-strength and had further been depleted by heavy fight-
ing. By September 21 it was announced from London that
the battle of the Dobrudja had been won by the Roumanians.
After five days of furious fighting Mackensen 's troops were
in retreat before King Ferdinand's forces, as reinforced by
the Russians. The Teuton-Bulgarian army had made a des-
perate effort to break through the Roumanian line guarding
the Danube crossing, but this was hurled back by troops
turning to the offensive. Mackensen 's stroke had been a
heavy blow, and for a time it had seemed as if Cemavoda
would be threatened, but reinforcements from Bessarabia
strengthened the Roumanian line, which was now able to

336

A ROUMANIAN WHITE BULL ADOP1

IN THE EAST, NEAE EAST, AND SOUTH

mass its forces for a counter-blow. A violent battle fol-
lowed, until fortune turned to the Allies, who, pressing their
advantage, put the Teutons to flight. "With reference to
these operations, Berlin admitted that the ''fighting in
Dobrudja had come to a standstill." But next day
Mackensen struck back. Directing a counter-drive against
the flank, he turned it back, encircled it, and then dashed in
on the rear, until the opposing forces fell back in disorder.
Confidence prevailed among the Roumanians, however, that
their main line would hold. The successful operation by
Mackensen was only a temporary success, due to some rash
move on the part of an over-confident Roumanian com-
mander. Mackensen *s army was known to be in serious
plight by inability to obtain supplies, while rain had ruined
roads and cut communications, and his army found itself
without food and munitions. Convoys of food coming down
the Danube from Rustchuk had been sunk by Roumanian
artillery. •

As with the Russian campaigns in Asia, so with this, the
ultimate object of Russian operations with the Roumanians
was Constantinople, which is only 175 miles south of the
southern border of the Dobrudja. Should Constantinople
fall into Russian hands, or should the Russians advance to
a point where that city was in any way threatened, this
would have meant the collapse of the entire Teutonic de-
fense of the Saloniki position. Turkey, meanwhile, would
have been completely cut off from her allies and forced
to capitulate. Bulgaria would have been so seriously
threatened that she would in all probability have had to sue
for a separate peace and the Central Powers would have
been forced to retire within the borders which enclosed
them before Turkey entered the war. Constfl,ntinople thus
was the prize for which the Russians fought. In order to
achieve her ambition, Russia had undertaken one of the
greatest military tasks in modern history — ^her campaign in
Asiatic Turkey against the back door of the Turkish capital.
Altho generally successful in Asia, she still had before her
hundreds of miles of the most difficult military country
imaginable, a country full of mountains, with few roads,
and almost entirely without railroad communications. Dis-

338

THE BALKANS AND G

tances in Europe were so muc
campaign against Constantino]
attractive as compared with a
from the Caucasus. Constanzj

Russia controlled the Black S
trolled the Atlantic Ocean, ar
the work of transportation of b
most without restraints. She
stanza, a port near the cente
minimum of land travel. Th«
stanza and retention of control
est importance. In early t!me
pire weakened, the Russians w
by this very route. In moden
route had been continued from
years. Four invasions of th
Russia in the 19th century — in
and now again Russia was figh
stantinople. This tfme Great '.
stood in her way, was helping 1

Mackensen's forces continue(
to gain the offensive and rem
Constanza-Cernavoda railroad-1
were launched against the rigl
northeast of Silistria. Buchart
attacks were repulsed, while t
Dobrudja seemed in little dang

THE PREDEAL PASS FROM I

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

flanks were protected and the Allied armies were in strong
force, with unexcelled means of communication and supply.
Apparently the Mackensen menace — for the time at least —
had been checked. The most interesting sector in the whole
European battle-line was now the Dobrudja. Dramatic
action and suspense it did not lack, for this one repulse
of the Teuto-Bulgars was followed within twelve hours by a
defeat of the Russo-Roumanians and their retreat in dis-
order.

What stood out from various reports was the appar-
ent fact that Mackensen 's great march around the Rou-
manian flank had been brought to a temporary standstill
only, but that the situation was settling down to the famil-
ior deadlock of trenches. Mackensen 's enterprise had been
held up, but he had not set out to win a victory in a particu-
lar sector. His was rather the great counter-stroke for
which observers had been waiting ever since the beginning
of the Allied forward march under Brusiloff, Cadoma,
Foch, and Haig. The Mackensen phalanx was expected to
repeat its work of May, 1915, its aim being to smash a hole
in the Allied line, as wide as the gap which the German
guns had laid open before Krakow and the Carpathians.
Through another gap it expected to throw an army, in the
rear of the Roumanians on the one hand and of the Russians
:n Bukowina on the other, precisely as the Mackensen phalanx
did in the rear of the Russians in Poland and the Carpathians.
Just as the Russians in northern Poland fell back before
Hindenburg, because of what Mackensen did to them in
Galicia, so Brusiloff was now to be forced away from Kovel
and Lemberg by a shattering blow near the Danube.

At the beginning, the Mackensen steam-roller seemed in
as good condition as ever. The sudden capture of the
Turtukai fortress, with nearly 25,000 prisoners, was a char-
acteristic opening smash. It was as large a haul of captives
as was announced in the first day's report of the battle
in Galicia in May, 1915, and that first day's record was the
initial instalment in an account that mounted up in four
months to a million prisoners. Would the event be repeated
in the Dobrudja? For a week the thing seemed possible.
Turtukai fell on September 7, and on September 15 Berlin

340

THE BALKANS AND i

announced a ** decisive victory
while Sofia spoke of the **dc
forces. The tide* of battle mi(
in the Dobrudja, but the ii
conflict apparently had been !
tions seemed now only a detail

On October 2, the Roumani
upper reaches of the Danube
of Rustchuk and Turtukai, wl
northeastward, leaves Bulgar
Roumanian proper from the D<
mania made their way to the
Just how many men were thr<
disclosed, but the strategic vali
was twofold. Ninety miles e
Varna, Bulgaria's chief seapor
ficient men could have been ser
along the Dobrudja-Bulgarian
alone would that seaport be in
constitute a serious menace 1
Teutonic, Bulgarian and Turk
the Roumanians to the north,
nouncement of the crossing of
from Bucharest that a fresh a
in the Dobrudja had resulted
and right flank of the Central
of the great battle in the Ball
In this movement the Roumai
operated by thrusting forward
front and pressing its lines ba
right flank along the Danube.

On October 3 Bulgarian for
army that had crossed the Da
place east of Rustchuk. On Oc
15,000 Roumanians was annoui
off by troops from the garrison
By October 5, the Roumanian i
according to Berlin, as the re
ment put in operation by M
flanked him by crossing the Da

341

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Boumania. The Russo-Roumanian attack on Mackensen's
line across the Dobrudja, however, continued to make prog-
ress in the center and on the left, where 1,000 men and
seven guns were captured, the Roumanians pushing a suc-
cessful offensive and taking 2,000 prisoners. In tlie face of
violent attacks by the Teutonic Allies, the Roumanians and
their Russian allies fell back on October 22. The towns of
Toprai Sari, fourteen miles , southwest of Constanza and
Cobadin, seventeen miles southeast of Rachova, were taken.
On October 23, the Roumanian port of Constanza was cap-
tured. Troops of the Central Powers crossed the railway-
line between Constanza and the Danube, at a point to the
east of Murfatlar, Constanza being one of the principal
objectives of Mackensen. As it had been notably useful in
offering a seaport and railway entrance for Russian troops
and ammunition sent to the aid of Roumania, its capture
cut off the most convenient water-route for Roumanian re-
plenishments, especially munitions, of which the Roumanians
had been reported badly in need.

Tlie right wing of the combined Bulgarian, Teutonic, and
Turkish force marched ahead after taking Constanza, and in
a powerful push advanced about twelve miles beyond that
place. The capture of Medjide became only a question of
a few hours. The Teutonic allies now stood before the
strong Danube bridge-head of Cernavoda, which served as
a cover for the hasty retreat of the defeated Russians and
Roumanians. The railroad-line from Constanza to Cerna-
voda, now in the hands of the Teuton'c allies, constituted,
with valuable material in locomotives and railroad-cars
taken with it, a base for strategic operations. This material
had been abandoned by the Russians and Roumanians. The
defeated army was separated into two parts. Those who did
not remain in the battlefield, or were not taken prisoners,
saved themselves by flight across the Cernavoda bridge, or
to the northward in the Dobrudja. The Roumanians blew
up the bridge which, after the capture of Cernavoda, was
dominated by Mackensen 's guns. This bridge is the largest
in Europe. Completed in 1896 and the longest railroad-
bridge in the world, it cost some $35,000,000.

Strong German forces, under command of Falkenhayn,

342

THE BALKANS AND G

had now won a three-day battl
sylvania, driving sectors of the
in the mountains by the end
report of the battle from Bucl
saying the Roumanians were a
mannstadt and had retreated wi
called **a bold mountain marcl
ceeded in getting in the rear ol
Rothen Thurm or Red Tow<
Hermannstadt, and thus had
retreat. The fighting in the m
Roumanians cut their way thrc
communications. More than 3,C
the Germans. Thirteen guns ai
supplies were captured. The
suffered a severe defeat.

In his report to the Kaiser d'
September 26, Falkenhayn c
erusht'' the Roumanian army,
exaggerated view of his victory,
adversary, compelling the Bou
fronts at the same time, was ii
except that of Falkenhayn agre(
ians found themselves caught in
way out with courage and wit]
army was not annihilated, but b
north and south of the Red *]
Roumania by numerous mounti
pass, breaking up into detachni
recovering homogeneity behind
prisoners fell into Falkenhayn 'i
large number for an army of
suffering defeat in the circumsta
cipal loss was in material, 13 gu
200 transports and 10 locomoti^
enemy. After making their wa
dispersed units rallied at Tzaini
Red Tower pass.

Against Roumania, the Teut
ancient rule of concentrating

343

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

point. Altho not the rule by which an adversary can
necessarily be overwhelmed, it was that to which the warring
forces of the Central Empires were now reduced. This was
not the principle upon which the Kaiser had acted when
he began the war, and all but ended it, with the great blow
through Belgium against Paris. He then sought to over-
whelm all by crushing the strongest part. The policy now
adopted against Roumania was a repetition of that used
against Serbia in 1915. Roumania was the weakest member
of the Entente Alliance — weaker than Serbia — ^because she
had the fewest forces in proportion to her front, and was
the least provided with facilities for replenishing her muni-
tions. But Roumania excelled Serbia in numbers, in ability
to import supplies and, above all, in proximity to Russia.
Serbia had been totally cut off from reinforcement until
the Bulgar attack gave the French an excuse for landing a
hastily improvised force at Saloniki, while Roumania was
accessible to Russian supporting troops, which could be
poured in by land, by the Black Sea, or by the Danube
waterway. About Hermannstadt the Teutons, having con-
centrated a superior force, carried out a skilful enveloping
movement, and were able to expel the Roumanians with
serious loss from an important part of their earlier con-
quests. In placing these Transylvanian forces under com-
mand of Falkenhayn, the Teutons showed that no petty
operation was intended. The diflSculties of advancing in a
well-defended country with a mountain range in the rear cast
some do.ubts, however, on Falkenhayn 's ability to accom-
plish much before Roumanian and Russian co-operation had
made secure this front.

Neither Mackensen nor Falkenhayn, the two projectors of
the great Galician offensive of May, 1915, of which the
Dunajec battle was the beginning, appeared to be strong
enough to deliver a smashing blow. The gains they scored
seemed more local than strategic, the power of the German
stroke not in evidence, and the strain on German resources
enormous. Austria was plainly failing. Everywhere in the
bulletins it was the same story; where the Germans were,
the Teutons won or held their own; where the Austrians
alone were, they lost. In such conditions, Germany ap-

344

THE BALKANS AND O

parently might well have bee
had.

The meager results of hei
ingly with the priee she was
the west, where she stood on 1
ginning of July, the British ha
tion of this number might be
Balkans and Mesopotamia, bal
on the Somme alone the Brit

A BOULBVABD IS

300,000. By adding the loaaes
get the half million casualties ^
Allies on the Somme, which wa
the Germans paid for their vei
Allies, however, had got more
Crown Prince did, and they co
price in men that Germany eoi
follow that the Anglo-French ai
paying at the same rate, for the
as they got beyond the. stronge
v. VIII— as 345

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Turning against the Roumanians, after advancing steadily
in Eastern Transylvania, Austro-Hungarian and German
troops by October 7 had distinctly defeated them. North
of Fcgaras, at the juncture of the Homorod and Altrimers
near Reps, they were in retreat, pursued by Teutonic troops.
This successful repulse was in the hands of Falkenhayn,
who the week before had routed the Roumanians around
Hermannstadt and driven them back to their own frontier.
While the Roumanians were yielding before these blows, it
was different in the Dobrudja, where, with Russian help,
they appeared to be meeting with some success against
Mackensen, and in Transylvania they took the offensive,
south of Petroseny and Hermannstadt. Berlin then an-
nounced that ** south of Hatszag the frontier height of
Sigelu was wrested from the Roumanians," which threat-
ened Roumania with invasion from a second point on her
northwestern frontier, through the Vulcan pass. The Rou-
manian army, after being routed at Hermannstadt, was
striking back desperately near Caineni, fifty miles northeast
of the Vulcan pass, in order to regain Red Tower pass,
through which Falkenhayn 's invading army threatened to
pour.

Transylvania and Macedonia continued well into October
to be centers of great interest. According to Berlin, the
Roumanians in Transylvania were retreating along the
whole line. The Teutonic Allies had recaptured Toerzburg,
fifteen miles southwest of Kronstadt, and within seven miles
of the Roumanian border. In the Danube, north of Sistova,
they had occupied an island, taking six guns and making
prisoners of Roumanian troops. The recapture from the
Roumanians of Kronstadt was regarded in Vienna as due
largely to the generalship and strategy of Falkenhayn, ably
supported by Austro-Hungarian generals. Falkenhayn had
been able to execute what was regarded as one of the most
brilliant open field maneuvers of the war. So alarming
indeed had become the situation for Roumania, that on
October 13 her king appealed to the Allies to save his
country from the fate of Serbia and Belgium.

Germany had apparently seized upon Roumania as the
scene for another victory over a small nation; first it had

346

THE BALKANS AND G

triumphed over Belgium, then

to overcome Boumania. Victo

sible. There did not seem to

to take the offensive in any ol

had passed into the hands of

m Transylvania seemed largel

Mackensen to come up to expel

his move there had been a

Cernavoda had been taken, not

invasion of Roumania from th

the Teutons could well have i

manians to get as far as they i -

fact, the further they penetr

would have liked it, for the h; i

them to get back. And the ^ i

begun to invade Roumania fi :

the railroads in the rear of tl ■

have been threatened, and lines i

for the Roumanians would have >

the retreat came, the Roumania] i

tween the Teutonic forces in the •

which had crossed the Danube. 1 i
planation of the sudden shift in
October 16 had driven the R i
few miles of their border and i
had not crossed the border at i
was no indication yet that I i
invaded. It was clear that the
fered severe defeats. Their ij i
been flung back and an Aust
point of entering Wallachia, a ;
had already penetrated the Dc
First of all, there was gene
manians had made an error ii
Transylvania before Bulgaria
considerations at home, the de i
the Transylvanian prize, had h I
den rush into undefended Aust I
results were immediately fatal,
manian army, save for a divis

347

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Silistria, had been sent across the Transylvanian Alps.
Whether the army of Mackensen in the Dobrudja aimed
for Bucharest, or the bridge, it had become necessary for
the Roumanians to recall armies they intended for Transyl-
vania, and so, after a few prosperous days, the invasion of
Transylvania had come to an abrupt halt. It collapsed much
as the French rush into Alsace-Lorraine collapsed in the
first days of the war.

Ever since the beginning of the Russian drive in Galicia,
the Germans had apparently been gathering up an army
for a counter-attack from the Pripet Marshes to the Rou-
manian boundary. Germany was about ready to begin op-
erations when the Roumanian declaration of war so changed
the whole eastern situation that the new German force had
to be turned against the Roumanians. Accordingly, the
Roumanians suffered a punishment that originally was pre-
pared for the Russians, an unhappy result for the Rouman-
ians, but one which left the Russians in possession of all
their summer's conquests, and enabled them to prepare for
a counter-attack, if one should be directed against them,
after Reumania had been sufficiently beaten. In other
words, Roumania took from Russia's shoulders the whole
Falkenhayn army and was well beaten in her effort. The
net result of her intervention had thus far been to be com-
pelled to meet the armies of Mackensen and Falkenhayn,
which, had 6he stayed out of the war, would have been used
against the Entente Allies in GalicisL and Macedonia.

But the fact remained that, six weeks after the Roumanian
declaration of war, virtually all the territory taken by the
first drive of her armies into Transylvania had been wrested
from her by Teuton forces under Falkenhayn, while power-
ful armies of Bulgars, Teutons, and Turks, commanded
by Mackensen, held many square miles of the Dobrudja dis-
trict, and menaced the vitally important railroad-bridge
across the Danube at Cernavoda. Meanwhile her losses in
men, according to German estimates, amounted to not less
than 100,000. Until October 14 pressure of Austro-Germxip.
forces was steadily compelling the Roumanian troops to fall
back upon or toward their own frontier, altho the Rouman-
ians were offering stubborn resistance. King Ferdinand

348

THE BALKANS AND (

personally took supreme com]
were expected to arrive soon,
General Berthelot, a well-kn(
going to Bucharest.

Near Orsova, in one more bi

Roumanians gave battle, and

counter-attacks gained some ac

the retirement of Roumanian

tains, on the northwest front,

infantry of the Teutonic all

Successes were also obtained

Oitzu and Jiul valleys, where

On both sides of the Szurduk

ued on the offensive, but Berl

pelled. Apparently the Roui

for the time being at least, in

Teutonic Allies along their bor

was the claim made by eithe:

successes, while Bucharest asse

Ferdinand at various points

Roumanian Army, green in ^

with having as good stuff as ai

ning to show that it had. A

checked Mackensen, and now,

stopt Falkenhayn. Not only t

tarily panic-stricken Roumania

of assistance from the Russi

check. The Russians would n(

to come to Roumanians aid, if

of a deadly thrust in the re

Sarrail 's army motionless for mc

was Greece.

The first attack against Ro
Kronstadt was delivered in the
8 the Teutons reached the tov
10th the frontier ridge. By
tended tentacles of Falkenhayn
miles in Transylvania, were t:
mountain passes. His extreme
the southwest, where the advj

349

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Kraft's Bavarian Alpine Corps stood several miles into
Roumania beyond Red Tower pass, south of Hermannstadt.
His left wing, sixty miles northward of Kronstadt, threat-
ened to cut off from Russian support the Roumanian North-
ern Army, then retreating beyond the Palanka passes, and
thereby to endanger the Russian flank. Falkenhayn was
advancing in three columns through Torzburg and Predeal
passes, which led directly toward Bucharest, distant about
eighty miles. The third column, forming the left wing of
his center, was operating through the Altschan pass. The
right column, which formed the right wing of the center,
had gone about twenty miles southwest of Sinala. In the
Predeal pass the center column had taken the northern sum-
mit of the heights of the pass, and possession of the pass
up to the edge of the town of Predeal, which was under
heavy fire.

The Germans and Hungarians had overcome many im-
posing obstacles in their rapid advance since the battle
of Hermannstadt and Red Tower pass. No campaign in
this war had demanded such tremendous physical endurance
on the part of German troops. On the Somme it was with
them largely a question of strong, steady nerves, but in
these eastern mountains it was a matter of physical strength,
an endurance of a degree that only relatively young and elite
troops, such as Falkenhayn had, could furnish. At times
Falkenhayn called on his troops for the well-nigh impos-
sible. But good weather facilitated his whirlwind operations,
and he made a spurt everywhere in order to get to the east-
ern and southern slopes of the mountains before heavy
snows should render mountain-operations more difficult.*
Already weather reports showed that the long winter snow
was beginning to fall. In the Carpathians by the third week
of October four feet of snow had fallen in some places.

By October 28, the Roumanians had won some success on
the Moldavian frontier, where the Teuton invaders were en-
deavoring to force their way through the mountains, and
appeared at the time to have put a definite check to these
attempts. At the most northerly point of the Roumanian
frontier, in the region of Dorna Watre, the Austro-German

"Karl IT. von Wiegand in The World (New York).

350

THE BALKANS AND G

forces had succeeded in drivii
on the banks of Bystritsa, but
clearly with the defenders. T
success in the Trotus Valley, i
from the neighborhood of whi
fleeing in disorder. In the C
in a successful attack, captured
siderable war-material. For a
pressure in Transylvania appea
ian military officials estimated
Germans in Transyl^iania as 80
sians in the first week of Nov€
to be rolling the Teutons back,
toward the Red Tower pass, a:
in the Juil valley. They we
about fifty miles south of the ]

The ultimate success of the G
the impressive events of the w\
might be large or small, and
comparison with their moral
military but the moral resul
and weighed heavily against
plishments during the previoi
whole Balkan play had turned
not been able to make use of ^
their hands when Roumania
Falkenhayn's successful thruj
mania, and Mackensen's in the
Germans had no cmaining st]
hayn's army was a strategic
flung at what was the criti
Austrian lines, and it brough

Pressing his attack in the
October, assailed with the f
entire Russo-Roumanian front
ing hard to a prepared line
on the Danube, to Casapjeui (
protected by swamp-land anc
from forty to sixty miles nor
railroad. About this time <

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

French aeroplanes arrived in Roumania for reconnaissance
work, and four English aeroplanes from Imbros, an island
of the Grecian Archipelago, making a flight of 312 miles
in five hours. The Roumanians, having reformed their lines,
were offering resistance on a line about fifty-five miles
north of the railway, and Mackensen on November 2 halted
his advance, apparently because of a shortage of men, in
order to protect his line along the Danube, and to send
several regiments to the Transylvania front to aid Palken-
hayn. The withdrawal of these troops checked his offensive
operations. Practically everywhere along the Ti'ansylvania
front, excepting south of Red Tower pass, the Roumanians
seemed to be holding their own. Southwest of Predeal and
southeast of Red Tower pass, they made an advance.

The transfer by Russia of General Sakharoff to the
Dobrudja was foUewed by a temporary rolling back of the
line that had been thrown across the province by Mackensen.
An official announcement from Bucharest said the Teutonic
invaders had been driven not only from Orsova on the
Danube, where the army was aided by a gunboat flotilla,
but from Topal, twelve miles south of that town, and only
thirteen miles north of the Cernavoda-Constanza railroad.
The Teutons had been forced back to the narrowest diameter
of the province, but they were expected to make a strong
stand. Sakharoff 's advance was described as brusque, just
as that of his opponent had been. In one day Mackensen
yielded more than twelve miles. Developments on this front
depended on whether Mackensen had weakened his forces
on behalf of Falkenhayn on the Transylvania Front, or
whether Sakharoff 's reinforcements would throw the balance
in favor of the Roumanians. Russians and Roumanians con-
tinued for several days vigorously on the offensive. Keeping
up operations north of the Cernovoda-Constanza railway,
they pushed back Mackensen 's men to a front running
through Tropal, Inancesne, and Karanasuf.

Germany, suffering from inferiority of numbers, was ap-
parently giving way before stronger opponents. The move-
ments, however, were to a certain extent shrouded in mys-
tery, so that it was difficult to follow the situation closely.
But the outstanding feature was that Mackensen, whose

352

THE BALKANS AND GI

spectacular advance had been h i
the elimination of Roumania f re i
back with the same speed wit:
During eight days he retreated I
of over four miles a day. What 1
Somehow the Roumanian and R ;
acquired sudden strength. The
and Cernavoda, the key of all
in imminent danger of recaptui
advanced to within a few mile-
gave no indication that he was a:

On the Dobrudja front the s
confused and uncertain. Rouni
a line east and west through Toji
bombarding both of Mackensen'n
Russians, operating from warsl:
apparently destroyed Constanza i
Germans considerable annoyance
ing their line. Roumanians at
they received. The Germans w
and securing few advantages,
manian offensive in the Carpathii
it protected the main railroad fr<:
over which Russian reinforceme:
for it was of the utmost import;
road be kept open. If it could
Army would practically be isolal
mercy of the Germans, who woi
to eliminate Roumania complete!

The invasion of Roumania (
make headway along the west
or Wallachian, front. Falkenh,!
was directed along three main 1
and the valley of the Prahova, t
and along the valley of the Al
pass along the valley of the Jiul
lanes that the Teutons prest fi
presumption being that these w
Bucharest and the Russian front
reached by reinforcements from

353

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

which might be coming in from Russia. The river Alt
bisects southern Roumania in almost a straight line from
north to south, and it was in the region lying to the west
of the river that the Teuton offensive was expected to de-
velop most rapidly.

The forces of the Central Powers were endeavoring to
make a drive on Bucharest, the Roumanian capital, from
three directions. To the west, the troops of Palkenhayn had
reached the Alt river; to the north, the Germans and
Austro-Hungarians were pressing southward from the Pre-
deal and Torzburg passes, and somewhere along the Danube,
either to the south or southwest, the forces of Mackensen
were crossing the river. By November 25 "Western Wal-
lachia, with the entire line of the Alt River, apparently
was entirely in the hands of the Teutonic allies. In all
directions the invaders were making progress with Bucha-
rest their main objective, and they were daily coming
nearer. When news reached Bucharest that the German-
Bulgarian troops had successfully crossed the Danube at
Zimnitza, it was decided to transfer the Roumanian diplo-
matic corps to Jassy, where a large number of refugees
from the capital and from Western Wallachia had already
congregated. After October 14, when the advance of the
Germans to Predeal caused a sudden and lively scare,
especially in diplomatic quarters, Bucharest had remained
fairly tranquil, and the subsequent successes of the Rou-
manian troops in the Jiul valley had created a feeling of
confidence and even of elation. Seven weeks went by, the
latter portion of this period being marked by a recurrence
of aeroplane attack, to which the population of the city
had become more or less accustomed, altho the number of
victims had increased to about a thousand killed, wounded,
or injured. Public tranquillity, however, remained undis-
turbed. When on November 24 the authorities received
news that the enemy had crossed the Danube, had estab-
lished himself at Zimnitza, and was advancing on Rosiori,
some six hours' journey by rail from the capital, no inti-
mation of these tidings was conveyed to the population. As
a consequence the train conveying the diplomatic corps, and
a certain number of invited and uninvited persons, took its

354

THE BALKANS AND G

departure in comparative qu'et
densely crowded with refugees

The departure of the diplom
of November 25. When it wa
ing day a state of panic ensue<
arrival of several military office
for the removal of their familic
and violent scenes occurred at
of which were guarded by c(
prices were paid for country
those who despaired of reachir
refugees set out on foot, carr;
their household goods; many ^
abandon their burdens, so that
north became strewn with obj<
thrown away. One fugitive
which he paid fifty dollars. I
train composed of 60 carriage
fitted with air-brakes — a sud
brakeless part of the train *M
several persons were killed or

The occupation of Qiurgevo 1
to within 37 miles of Buchai
capture of Curtea de Arges, 8
ital, cleared the Topoiog sect
the invaders a railroad leadir
Pitesci, the junction of the li:
to Bucharest. On December
were almost within shelling d
which protected Bucharest,
aided by Russian troops, were
western approaches to Bucha:
vance continued to press forw
ital from the northwest. Exa
the declaration of war by R
were in control of virtually or
ritory — from the Transylvania]
ital to the Danube south of
Dobrudja.

By December 4, all hope of

35i

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

entirely abandoned, and the Roumanian troops were with-
drawing toward the east through the whole width of East-
ern Wallaehia. There had never been any intention of
holding Bucharest itself as a fortress. It is true the city
was surrounded by an impressive girdle of detached works
composed of eighteen large forts and an equal number of
smaller forts and batteries, situated at distances from the
center varying between three and seven miles and sepa-
rated by intervals not exceeding three. The principal line
of resistance, therefore, amounted to a length of about 50
miles, and it was calculated that at least 120,000 men would
be required to hold the fortress. The most important of
these defenses had been organized as far back as 1886, and
were now completely obsolete. Even the experiences of the
Austrians with Przemysl, where they had an immense su-
periority of artillery over the besieging Russian forces, could
hardly have encouraged the Roumanians to try to hold
Bucharest.

The evacuation of Bucharest began on the day when news
arrived that the enemy had crossed the Danube at Sistovo.
This news fell like a thunderbolt on the capital, and the
authorities received an order to evacuate it as soon as pos-
sible. **The first few days which followed," wrote an eye-
witness, '^will remain deeply engraved in the memory of the
inhabitants. The cry, *the Germans are coming!' filled the
population with terror, and everybody tried to escape."
The word ** overcrowded" only inadequately described the
state of railway trains. Prices as high as four hundred
dollars were offered for carriages to Ploeshti, distant only
about 30 miles from Bucharest. By royal decree the meet-
ing of the Roumanian Parliament was postponed and Par-
liament ordered to reassemble at Jassy. On December 1,
when the last members of the Cabinet left Bucharest, the
thunder of the invaders' guns could be distinctly heard, but
the panic had then given place to a feeling of depression
and resignation. To maintain order troops patrolled the
streets, but this was not necessary, for life in the gay and
busy city had become paralyzed. On December 4, a terrific
report awoke the capital. The arsenal had been blown up
by the authorities. "With the destruction of this the last

356

THE BALKANS AND GI :

hopes of the Bucharest populati :
further doubt regarding the f utu :
On December 5, Mackensen g :
of truce into Bucharest, calling
Germans entered on the same dj
taking up headquarters in the '.\
on which they entered the capital
the night which followed was :'.
the smoke rising from burning
district of Ploeshti. One of [
world was being destroyed in or:
from getting oil. Simultaneously
came news of the capture of the
of Ploeshti, north of the capr
placed in the hands of the invad
west and gave them the head (
ward to Jassy, the new capital i
Powers were now in possession
Entente Allied States, the otheii
and Cettinje. Beyond Bucharei
forward for weeks afterwards. I:
was this prolongation of the en
Roumanians were both taken by
on or near Mizil, on the Ploeshti •
any impression. Even reinforce;
sent to stiffen the rear-guard,
German pace. The weather, altli
lachian lowlands, opposed no eife
system, with its combination of p
ing leadership, had reached its
tion, exerted as it was agains
power. More than 1,000 person
by German aircraft prior to
city. In a single day 300 persoi
and airplanes. A group of air]
altitude and spent several hours
workmen and work-women in fit
planes which were pursuing a tw
had a race to see which could hi

357

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

going at a good pace, but the airplanes quickly overtook it.
Driver, passenger, and horses, were all killed.

The capture of Bucharest led to no decisive military re-
sults, but the moral, political, and commercial consequences
of its fall could not be ignored. Bucharest was to Roumania
what Paris was to Prance, the whole life of the country be-
ing centered in the capital, where were many rich men
who would now have to pay the same heavy contributions
which had been extorted ^ from the merchants of Brussels.
When Mackensen entered the city he did so without firing
a shot, its forts having all been dismantled since the fate
of the Meuse fortress had proven Brialmont's work power-
less against modern artillery.

It was suggested that the campaign in Roumania was
only of subsidiary importance and, whichever way it went,
whether for or against the Allies, could have no effect on
the ultimate result of the war, which would be decided on
the Western Front and on no other. It was hard to recon-
cile this opinion with the frantic appeals which had been
made to Roumania a few months before to abandon neutral-
ity and throw in her lot with the Allies. Those who had
seen for themselves the cereal and mineral wealth of the
country, relatively small as its territory was, knew what an
accession of economic strength its conquest might bring to
the Central Powers. Just when the Allied blockade was
getting tighter and its pinch harder, some stores of corn
and oil, which had been waiting over many months for
export, fell into the hands of the German commander. As
the Germans now held 50,000 square miles of the richest
land in Europe, it was felt to be no exaggeration to say
that the German conquest of Roumania had put back the
hands of the war-clock. The whole Balkan Peninsula, from
the Adriatic to the Black Sea, north of the front held by
General Sarrail, was practically German territory. Even if
Mackensen went further than the Sereth the Teuton front
would have been shortened by 200 miles. The valley of the
Danube, up which lies the easiest route into Hungary, was
in secure possession of the Central Powers. The dividing
zone between the Russians on the Sereth and the Allies in
Macedonia, had been widened by more than 150 miles. A

358

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

through line of railway had been opened between Germans
and Turks. Submarines could now be sent in pieces to
Constanza and launched on the Black Sea to prey on Rus-
sian commerce.

The Germans had still to undertake to crush Russia and
eliminate the Czar's empire from the ranks of her enemies.
The chief effort of the Allies was to break the German lines
in the West and cut German communication with Constan-
tinople in the Balkans, as the prelude to a new attack upon
Constantinople. No sane observer could expect immediate
peace, or peace within twelve months. In any consideration
of peace, the German victory would increase the German
demands, and the least that Germany now demanded was
the right to settle the fate of Russian Poland, to control
Serbia, and to dominate Asia Minor. The Roumanian army
seemed as a whole to be still intact. It had suffered severe
losses. Probably 75,000 men in all had been taken prison-
ers, but the others had made good their retreat, and were
still a force with which sooner or later, Germany would
have to deal. Roumania still existed, in many ways a
danger and a menace to the German cause. This menace,
in spite of the fall of Bucharest, could not be considered
entirely removed until the Roumanian army had ceased Jto
exist and all of Roumania — Moldavia, as well as Wallachia —
had been completely conquered and occupied.

Roumania closed for the Germans the period of adven-
ture which had opened with the attack on Liege, and for
the Allies the period which began with the invasion of
Gallipoli. To end the war quickly, and by way of Paris,
was the Kaiser's purpose; it had failed within a month at
the Marne. To end the war by way of Constantinople was
the Allied purpose; this after nearly two years had now
failed at Bucharest. To get at Paris the Kaiser had dared
the crime of Belgium and brought down on himself the
judgment of the world. To get at Constantinople the Allies
had plunged into the quagmire of Balkan hatreds and am-
bitions. All that was now over. The Balkan possibilities
were exhausted. Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Roumania
h^d disposed of themselves or been disposed of. Only
Greece remained, and it. waa.Jio longer possible to conceive

360

THE BALKANS

that developments in
aspect in southern Ei
stantinople, or of an i
The great Allied prol
army at Saloniki. 'V
against the enormous
could bring to bear.

In two ways the A
defeat of their Balkar
to divided councils, a$
sives, which had undc
war both at London i
to be in future an i
devoted to Mediterra:
stored to the feeding
munitioning of Russia
whose annual yield of
behind them an app
end. All doubts aboi
Kaiser seemed now n
Governments needed
diplomacy. They coi
mind to the grim bus

The temporary res
which followed in th(
to the qualities of resi
to the strenuous worl
Berthelot. The Roum
much from the sad es
not really familiar wi
accompanied by some
Roumania late in 19!
disaster, but his servi
the army. During th
their Roumanian com
and raising their depi
reorganized, working
the Allies, who reallzi
manian disaster had

••The Tribune (New Yorl
V. VIII— 24

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

started to send out through Russia great quantities of mu-
nitions, guns of all calibers, trench-mortars and everything
necessary for a modem army. The Air Service, which was
practically non-existent at the outbreak of the war, was
now in the hands of experienced French airmen, and had
a fair number of French and British aeroplanes. Thus re-
organized and prepared, the Roumanian army was ready
by the beginning of July, 1917, to take the field again, and
attempt to avenge the reverses suffered in 1916.

Roumanians suddenly crossed the Sereth on July 24, and,
advancing astride the Susitza and Putna rivers, fell sjid-
denly upon General Qerok's Austrian outposts, and drove
them back on their supports to the slopes of the Vrancea
mountains. A running fight went on till the 28th, resulting
in the Teutons being pushed back toward the passes, the
Roumanians following close on their heels to the village of
Soveja and to Mont Casinlui. On their way back to the
frontier the Austrians lost 4,500 prisoners, with 90 guns
and a large quantity of war-material, which in their flight
they were unable either to carry away or destroy. When
Mackensen heard of the Roumanian movement he acted with
his usual vigor. Leaving a containing force facing Galatz,
he sent the bulk of his troops up the right bank of the
lower Sereth to Focsani, and called up his reserves from
Bucharest. Reinforcements were at the same time sent to
Gerok. On August 6 he stormed the positions occupied by
the Russian troops who were protecting the left flank of the
Roumanian Second Army north of Focsani, and captured
1,300 prisoners with thirteen guns. This threat to their
left flank caused the Roumanians to withdraw their center
and left wing from the hills, to cover the approaches to the
loop line between Marasesti and Tecuci, which connected the
Sereth valley railway with the line running along the
Berlandu to Jassy. On the 7th the Roumanian line ex-
tended on a semi-circular front from the west of Ocna in
the Trotus valley through Soveja and thence between the
Putna and Susita rivers to Sereth.

By this time Russian troops had been brought up in con-
siderable force, and were supporting the Roumanians on
both flanks and a stubbornly contested battle took place,

362

TPIE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

Mackensen endeavoring to throw the Roumanians behind the
Sereth, while their object was to hold the loop-line and
prevent the German commander from advancing up the
river. While Mackensen attacked the Roumanians from
the south on both sides of the Focsani-Adjulu railway,
Gerok directed an enveloping movement against Ocna from
the west with troops advancing down the numerous valleys
between the Trotus and Casin rivers. On August 9 Macken-
sen forced a passage over the Susitza river and succeeded
in holding the position against a Roumanian counter-attack
on the following day. The battle extended to the Trotus
valley, where the Austrians pushed the Roumanians back
from the Casinlui heights and forced them to retire to a
position west of the line Ocna-Gorozesti. On August 11 the
battle was continued with the same intensity, the Rouman-
ians withdrawing in the evening to the villages of Marasesti
and Focsani on the left bank of the Sereth, while in the
Trotus valley the Austrians gained ground west of the Ocna-
Gorozesti position, the Roumanian right wing falling back
on Ocna. On the 12th Russian and Roumanian counter-
attacks resulted in the capture of 1,100 prisoners, but the
Germans succeeded in occupying Panciu, the western ter-
minus of the loop-line, for the possession of which there had
been such prolonged fighting.

The battle continued along the whole line of the 13th and
14th with indecisive results, but on the latter day German
troops captured the Baltavetu bridge-head, where the loop-
line crosses the Sereth, and also stormed the village of
Stracani, northwest of Panciu. On this day the Roumanian
troops on the upper Susitza had to fall back from Soveja,
which the enemy occupied, but on th? 15th there was a
rally, and after fighting a successful battle on the 16th the
right wing of the Second Army retook the lost positions
in the Susitza valley, and held them against a series of
obstinate counter-attacks. On the same day Mackensen 's
further progress north of the loop-line in the Sereth valley
met with a sharp check from the Russo-Roumanian forces
concentrated at this point. Mackensen 's object in invading
Moldavia was doubtless to get possession of the harvest
in that rich province. A letter dated August 8, found on

363

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

the corpse of a Prussian oflBcer, contained the following:
**We are going to deliver a decisive blow here very soon.
If we cross the Sereth, which I hope will not be difficult,
Jassy and the whole of Moldavia will be ours. If we succeed,
I believe we are going to be sent to Flanders, where things
seem to be hot again.''

The last Teutonic effort was made on the night of the
19th, when, after intense artillery-fire of all calibers, two
German divisions and an Austrian brigade attacked the
Roumanian positions northeast of Pancui. In the presence
of their King, who, accompanied by Prince Carol, shared
the risks of battle with his soldiers, the Roumanians fought
with dash and bravery. The Germans were more desperate
than ever, but when the last Roumanian reserves were
brought forward and counter-attacked they fled in disorder.
German soldiers, surprized by so violent an attack, threw
away rifles and surrendered. Next day 600 Germans and
Austrians were paraded before the King. On August 21 the
battlefield was still covered with unburied corpses, piled
up six deep, and a mile away the stench was unbearable.
This German check on that front was the most serious they
had had in the Near East. After a fortnight's fighting, with
terrific losses, they had been stopt by a numerically in-
ferior force. On the other hand the strategical advantage
was with the Roumanians, who held the whole left bank of
the Sereth, the very abrupt slopes of which dominated the
right bank, which was partially in German hands.^^

Only minor engagements took place afterward. The Ger-
mans had shifted their efforts to the north, where they had
to deal with demoralized Russian troops, while the Rou-
manians could not continue an offensive alone, their losses
having been too heavy, and there being no hope of further
help from the Russian army. Strong local attacks made
by the enemy from August 20 onward were intended to
keep the Roumanian troops engaged on the whole front, and
in the meantime to keep the initiative with the Austro-
German troops, but from that date ,on the Austrians' began
to withdraw troops to the Italian front. On September 9
the Roumanians captured a few important positions, but

*o London Times' correspondent.

364

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

the enemy, reinforced before the Roumanians could organize
the captured ground, compelled them to abandon the
temporary gain. This was the last ^effort made by the
Roumanian army. The Russian revolution had rendered
any further aid from the Northern ally unlikely.

From the second half of September the main effort of
the Germans had been to demoralize the Roumanian sol-
diers in the same way as they had demoralized the Russians.
A systematic propaganda was organized. Pamphlets, letters
from relatives, proclamations from high clergy were spread
among Roumanian peasant-soldiers, in order to break their
faith in their chiefs and in their allies. The dissolution of
the Russian armies that ensued was fatal to Roumania. At
the end of December hardly 60,000 men were left in the
trenches. A front which had been held by some 500,000
Russians and 250,000 Roumanians had to be held now by
Roumanians alone, whose numbers had been considerably
diminished through heavy losses in the July and August
actions.

Such was the situation of the Roumanian army at
the end of 1917, or only a few months before the con-
clusion of the so-called Roumanian ** peace." When the
Russian armistice was signed, Roumania was compelled by
the joint threats of Germany and the Soviets to adhere to
it. From that day Russian troops began to leave the
trenches wholesale, and by the end of January only such
Siberian forces and other troops remained as found it more
convenient to spend their time in Roumania than to return
to their own territory. Roumania, which suddenly drifted
into a state of war with the Bolshevist Government of
Russia, found herself completely cut off from the rest of
the Allies. Of her desperate situation the Germans were
not slow to take advantage. They determined to seize the
immensely rich oil-fields of Roumania, and to secure for an
unlimited period Roumanian corn for Germany at a price
fixt by German authorities. Having secured these ad-
vantages, Germany caused eight Roumanian divisions to be
demobilized under German Staff officers.

On February 23, 1918, Herr von Kiihlmann and Count
Czernin arrived at Bucharest, and, after presenting their

365

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

peace terms to General Avereseu, went to Jassy to see King
Ferdinand. On March 2 the King held a Crown Council
when it was decided to accept the terms offered and enter
into negotiations in regard to details. On March 5 the
preliminary treaty was signed at Buftea. Roumania ceded
the Dobrudja up to the Danube to Bulgaria, and agreed to
a rectification of her Transylvanian frontier, which included
the territorial cession of the oil-fields of Campina to Hun-
gary. She also agreed to allow a right of way for Austro-
German troops through Moldavia to Odessa. The question
of Bessarabia was not dealt with in the treaty, but accord-
ing to reports the local government of the province favored
incorporation with Austria-Hungary rather than with Rou-
mania. This meant that Roumania would be cut off from
access to the sea, the port of Constanza, which she had
constructed at great expense, passing into Bulgarian hands.

Peace between Roumania and the Central Powers was
finally brought about on May 6 by the signing of a formal
treaty at Bucharest. Isolated from her Allies by the de-
fection of Russia, nothing was left for Roumania but to
accept from her relentless enemies the hard price they im-
posed. The treaty was signed in the same room of the
castle where the entry of Roumania into the war had been
decided. Men with a leaning toward pacifism had exprest
a belief in the sincerity of Germany's prof est desire for a
just peace in the East, and ventured predictions that her
lust for territory and greed for conquest were mere hostile
estimates. They insisted that there yet remained in the
empire a human element among the people and in legis-
lative bodies. But to any one desirous of knowing what a
German military peace meant, there was now an oppor-
tunity of learning from a careful reading of the treaty
with Roumania which pointed straight to the impoverish-
ment of the country by the appropriation of all its resources,
to the seizing of some of its most valuable territory, the
control of its army, and the reduction of the country to a
state of vassalage to the Berlin Government.

Roumania was entirely cut off from the Black Sea and
the port of Constanza lost, and the Austro-Hungarian
border pushed down into the Wallachian and Moldavian

366

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAE

plains. The Dual Monarchy secured control of all the
mountain passes and strategic positions, much valuable
mineral land and part of the petroleum fields. Possession
was taken of all the oil-producing wells in the interior. The
signatures of King Ferdinand and Queen Elizabeth were
secured under threats that if they did not immediately
accept the treaty they would be deposed and a new dynasty
headed by a Prussian lordling substituted. Roumania, as a
forced convert to the Alliance, was to become one of the
chief connecting-links between Central Europe and Nearer
Asia. In the darkest hours of their country's misfortune,
Roumanian, patriots were never weary of repeating their
proud boast that Roumania had entered the war of her own
free will, and that, notwithstanding losses in human life
amounting to some 800,000 souls, and the crushing material
losses involved by this enforced treaty, she had been true
to her destiny in entering the war on the side of the
Allies.ii

** Principal Sources : The Fortnightly Review (London) ; The Evening ^un.
The Outlook, the "Military Expert" of The Times, New York; The Times
(London), The Sun (New York), The Herald (Boston) ; The Evening Post,
The Times, "Bulletins'* of the National Geographic Society, New York ; The
London Times* "History of the War," The World (New York).

367

ALLIED SUCCESSES IN ALBANIA AND MACEDONIA

AND BULGARIA'S SURRENDER— D'ESPEREZ

IN COMMAND OF THE ALLIES

May, 1917— September, 1918

SINCE the abdication of King Constantine there had been
in the spring of 1917 an occasional sign of military
activity on the Saloniki front, but nothing of a major
character. For example, in May British troops had struck
out in blows that seemed almost like a spring offensive.
Nearly three miles of trenches in the Bulgarian first-line
system between Lake Doiran and the Vardar valley had been
cut, the Bulgar left wiug on the Struma front broken, and two
positions captured. But after these operations the Saloniki
front quieted down and so remained for weeks and months.
It was known that the Greek army would be increased from
three to ten divisions (approximately 200,000 men), the re-
cruiting and complete equipment to be completed within
four months. The army was then far below 200,000 men,
but there was sufficient man-power, including the dis-
organized regulars, eventually to put a force of that size
fully trained in the field. Activity on the front did not
flare up again until the next year when, early in June, the
Greeks made a successful attack on the Bulgarians at Sirka
de Legan. These were the first Greek attempts on the Mace-
donian front since the autumn of 1916, when an Allied
offensive culminated in the fall of Monastir. The Greeks
in June captured first and second lines and improved the
Allied position on a difiicult sector and several Bulgarian
counter-attacks were frustrated.

Then early in July the eyes of the whole Allied world
were suddenly turned away from the absorbing battle-front
in France, where Ludendorff was preparing in the Marne
salient for his last and fatal great offensive, to Albania,

368

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

where Frencli and Italians were haying marlied success
against the Austrians. The movement had possibilities
which seemed interesting, since the Austro-Bulgar line, lead-
ing from the Adriatic eastward past Lake Oehrida, might
be outflanked and an offensive launched along the Saloniki
front with a view to drawing Austrian, and possibly Ger-
man, troops from Italy and France. The Franco-Italians in a
few days advanced fifteen miles
in Albania and thoroughly
defeated A u a t r o- Hungarian
f or c e s . The battle - front
stretched sixty miles or more
from the Adriatic eastward to
the Devoli River. The town of
Fieri was taken and the Aus-
trians retired hurriedly in dis-
order. Berat, an important in-
terior town, was threatened and
by July 10 had fallen. The
Austrians recovered it after-
ward, but it was taken again
early in October.

Leading an Albanian con-
tingent was Essad Pasha, who
had figured for many years
as the Warwick of Albanian
politics. After the Balkan
Wars it was he who went to
Germany at the head of
delegation which offered the
crown of Albania to the unhappy Prince William of Wied.
He remained the power behind the throne during the first
months of that Prince's short-lived opera-bouffe tenure of
a throne. Before the end came for the Wied prince, an
Austrian coterie about the King conspired to eject Essad,
and had him arrested, but finally allowed him to seek exile
in Italy, where, when the Great War began, he became the
recognized head of an anti-Teuton, pro-Italian faction
among Albanians. When William afterward fled in panic
from Durazzo, intimidated by a miniature revolution staged

r. 23 years old, sncceeded
er, CoDBtaatlne, vbose
second son be was. He had re-
celTed a part of his education Id
Bngland

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

in the hills a little way back from the coast, Essad went
back to Albania and became virtual dictator. He cultivated
friendly relations with Serbia and, in the late autumn of
1915, helped the defeated Serbian armies to escape through
his country to the Adriatic. Subsequently the Austrians re-
covered some of their supremacy in Albania, with Durazzo
as their sea-base. Essad Pasha was a strong man among
Albanians, not because he had the support of the whole
country, but because he represented the Mohammedans, who
were the most numerous religious body.

The Allied forces in 1918 had an advantage in Albania
which they did not have on the Saloniki front, since they
had Italy's base on the Adriatic at Valona, while the Aus-
trians, except for Durazzo, had to depend on difficult com-
munications through nearly roadless northern mountains.
Could Durazzo be taken and an evacuation of southern
Albania by the Austrians be secured, the Bulgarian right
wing above Monastir would be left in the air. The position
of the Austrians in this part of the Balkans had become
precarious after April when the southern Slavs entered
into the Pact of Rome, by which was reached an amicable
political understanding with Italy that involved the creation
of a united South Slav State after the war.

Italian forces, aided on land by French and. Albanians,
and from the sea by British naval units, now began to
sweep northward across practically the entire width of
Albania. Forces of Albanians under Essad rendered
valuable assistance and soon grew to such importance that
for a few days Albania held the center of the European war-
stage. The Skumbi valley was the strategic objective of
operations. Here ran an ancient route of travel from the
Adriatic to Saloniki, the only practicable east and west high-
way across the Albanian mountains, a road the Romans had
built, striking southeast from Durazzo, and still retaining
its Roman name of Via Egnatia. In possession of the
Allies this road opened a way to the Serbian boundary and
thence around the head of Lake Ochrida to the flank of the
Bulgarian positions north of Monastir. For a year the
Allied army at Saloniki had .been discharging a political
rather than a military mission. With help from the re-

370

111

IN THE BAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

mobilized Greek army it had been defending Greece and at
the same time keeping alive hopes of a partial redemption
of Serbia. Military operations by 200,000 fresh Greek
troops had seemed likely to follow in the near future, now
that the right flank of the Bulgarian army was seriously
threatened.

The great Roman road in Albania was still in a fair state
of preservation in a land of steep mountains and rugged
valleys. The Austrians were here fighting with their backs
to the wall, for only bridle-paths lead from this road to the
north. Secure in possession of the road the Italians could
hold Elbasan, the most important town of interior Albania,
and could command Durazzo, the Albanian capital and the
Austrian army headquarters. The Via Egnatia over which
Roman legions had marched to Thrace, Macedonia, and
Thessalonica — the road of Julius Csesar in his pursuit of
Pompey to the field of Pharsalia and of Narses and
Belisarius in the time of Justinian — thus once more became
a strategic highway. The operation developed into one of
the most hopeful phases of the war situation. It was in
complete accord with the theory of military experts that
the way to shorten the war was to make a flank or rear
attack upon Germany. It also fell in with Andre Chera-
dame's insistent idea, in books and magazine articles, of
stimulating to revolt the hostile elements of the population
within the boundaries of the Central Powers. It was cer-
tain to put heart into Slavic disaffection in Austria and
Hungary and into the Roumanians. Austria's defeat in
Albania became by July 12 as proportionately overwhelming
an Austrian reverse as the Piave rout had been in northern
Italy in June. In a three days' advance of from twenty
to twenty-five miles, the Italians and their Allies swept for-
ward irresistibly, occupied the whole southern bank of the
Semeni River, and entirely enveloped the city of Berat.
Activity was developing along the whole Balkan front with
indications that the fighting might spread over the 300-mile
line from the Adriatic eastward. The right wing of the
Austrians, retreating on a 60-mile front, was falling back so
rapidly that the retirement in some places bordered on a

372

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE "WAR

rout. Quantities of material fell into the hands of the

Italians and Albanians.

The operations which led to the capture of Berat was a

successful surprize attack. The Italiana thrust forward at

night, taking the Austrians com-
pletely unawares. Near Fiere, at

dawn, cavalrymen captured an

Austrian airdrome, including

pilots, observers, mechanics and

machines. Horsemen swooped down

just as airmen and their helpers

were getting ready for a day's

work. A returning bomber, not

realizing that the place had

changed hands during his absence,

was about to alight when con-
fronted by a squadron of Italian

horsemen who charged toward his

machine. Turning on his motor,

he attempted to rise again, firing

his machine-gun meanwhile at the

horsemen. The Italians answered

with a burst of lire from carbines,

one bullet striking him in the

mouth when he was about fifty feet

in the air. After this happened

the machine crashed to the ground.

On July 15 this small force worked

its way around several enemy

batteries. As soon as the attack

reached the town, the Austrian

officers, in panic, loaded their bag-
gage hurriedly onto the narrow gage railway-train which
V8S pufS^g away at its best when a handful of cavalrymen
riding ^^ _ speed overtook and forced it to stop. All the
Austriq^ j^cerB, together with their baggage and much war
materjqj <? taken prisoners. The first honors in the vie-

'"T j|,t ; ^ ^gldeA Berat to the Allies were due to cavalry-
"^^ VhjV^ ^f twenty hours on one day and fourteen on
^"^^ y ^^pe^° without rest or food.^'

EssAD Pasha

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

A startling contrast was here offered between the big
elder brother of the Slav, who lay prone aud helpless in
the far north under the heel of the Teuton, and the erst-
while weaker, younger brother who, thrown prostrate in
1915, was now standing erect and defiant before the mailed
fist of the Central Powers, "When paralysis suddenly over-
took the Muscovite there had come a time which called for
union and strength behind Slovenes, Croats, Serbs and
Montenegrins — Slavs whose dominions in Central Europe
had been split in two for hundreds of years by a Magyar
wedge. Germans and Magyars alike had weighed heavily
on Slav borders, and yet the Southern Slavs all by them-
selves had occupied a territory, and had a population so
large, that they were absolutely capable of holding their
own against outside aggression if only they could have been
consolidated into a national whole and been wisely led. But
it had been far beyond their powers to form a union which
would hold together that great territory. Could they have
secured a confederation that joined all Slav lands between
Serbia's northwestern borders and the Isonzo River, in
Bosnia, Dalmafia, Croatia, Slavonia, and the smaller
provinces occupied by Slovene populations, it would have re-
sulted, not merely in a dismemberment of Austria, but in
the creation of a Slav commonwealth which in itself would

WINTER SCENE IN ALBANIA

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

have been as powerful as Austria was and which, com-
bined with the northern Slavs, the Czechs, and Slovaks,
could have reduced Austria to the position of a German
dependency.

What had seemed an insuperable barrier had been re-
moved early in 1918 by the Pact of Rome. There were
delegates to represent Poles, Roumanians, Czecho-Slovaks
and Jugo-Slavs, while men of eminence were there to speak
on behalf of Italy, France, Great Britain, and America.
The resolutions adopted declared that, in the presence of a
common danger, the difficulties which formerly had pre-
vented an agreement between Italy and the Southern Slavs
existed no longer, and that united and harmonious action
henceforth would be firmly taken. The significance of the
event was greatly enhanced when it was remembered that
the agreement was entered into after Russia, under German
intrigue and military force, had ceased to be a State or na-
tion; and when Roumania, brought to her knees, had been
stript of all she possest ; when treason and hunger had broken
the nerve of Italian detachments, so that the fruits of cam-
paigns had been lost in a few days until the Italian army
had fallen back in October before the Austro-German assault
at Caporetto at a time when it was almost within sight of
Trieste.

At this critical time the Southern Slavs held out the right
hand of fellowship to the still undaunted sons of Italy, and
in this league believed it had found a means of breaking the
Austro-Hungarian yoke. Italy had become the ambassador
of Europe to the Slav world and the Slavs had resolved to
break their fetters by showing that Pan-Germanism could be
dealt a mortal blow from the inside and at its very center.
Events in Albania were now moving with a rapidity
which presaged a complete transformation of the situation
in the Balkans. Every success heartened the Southern
Slavs and brought nearer to the Bulgarians the unwelcome
necessity of abandoning the Morava valley which they had
resolved to keep at any price. When Berat fell and a
new line — Durazzo, Elbasan, Monastir — ^was fairly estab-
lished, the Slav confederation with its close relationship
with Italy began to take visible form. Few then thought

1 375

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH .

that a year later these Southern Slavs and the Italians would
be in bitter conflict over Piume.

British troops at this time started an operation westward
of Saloniki to aid the drive undertaken in Albania. West
of Doiran they delivered a blow, while in Albania Italians,
with French aid, continued to give the Austrians no rest,,
pressing them back daily and capturing strategic positions
and villages. They took Narta and Gramashi which brought
their eastern flank appreciably nearer Lake Ochrida. The
strengthening of the Allied line meant not only a peril to
the Austrians on all their fronts and to the Bulgar line in
Macedonia, but the occupation of Albania, which was the
western key to the Balkans, with the possible restoration of
Serbia and Montenegro, and control of the Adriatic. The
Albanians, one of the oldest races in Europe, have as
dominant traits devotion to their mountain-land, their tra-
ditions, and their customs. They are born fighters and the
law of the blood-feud, carrying a dispute through genera-
tions, had made their lives a continuous struggle for ex-
istence. There were no old men in those mountains ; all had
died fighting long before they were fifty. They never suc-
ceeded in ruling themselves after the time of their national
hero, Scanderberg, largely because of irreconcileable differ-
ences in religion among Roman Catholics, Orthodox Greeks,
and Mohammedans.

Italians and French were rapidly straightening out the
Allied line from the sea to Monastir, with Greeks taking
part in the fighting. Eventually the Entente forces, now
under command of General Franchet d'Esperey, who had
made a reputation on the Western Front, beginning in the
battle of the Mame, and had now succeeded Sarrail, might
begin a march up the Vardar valley, the most practical road
into Serbia, but it would prove a difficult road because ex-
posed on the east to attack by Bulgarians. Late in July
Austrian preparations for an offensive in Albania were
shattered by another drive, in which munition depots, stores
of food, and war-materials were destroyed or captured and
the Franco-Italian lines straightened at certain points over
a front of twenty miles.

After some weeks of inactivity the reconstituted Serbian

376

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

army, cooperating early in September willi the French
forces, stormed three strongly fortified Bulgarian positions
and occupied Vetrenik, Dobropolje, and Sokal, the most im-
portant part of the Macedonian front. Further east, on
the Doiran-Vardar front, the first- and second-line positions
were taken over a ten-mile section. This operation was the
prelude to an important offensive, in which British and Greek
troops were to take part. In a highly mountainous country
a Franco-Serbian army advanced nine miles into Bulgarian
lines, altho for two years and a half Bulgarian, German and

DDBAZZO, ON THE ALBANIAN COAST

Austrian troops had occupied the region and fortified it in
a. modern way.

Th; Near East as well as Foch's Western Front thus
furnished sensational news. Its significance lay in the sign
it gave of Allied confidence in its man-power. Since the
Allies Bofg. , ^ unity of command, it was assumed that
Focb h^,^ 'I gufiiciently assured of his position on the
main fr-Q. /<?' ggtern Europe to indulge in distant and sub-
sidlary f, ( jp -/ijjS- German man-power being at a stage
where jf, ^ij ^a^*jj j4tisfrian troops to help out in the West,

■^f i ^^ 377

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

Bulgaria and Austria could not expect Germany to give
them any help in the Balkans. On this front the weather
in summer was usually too warm to fight and in winter too
cold, autumn being the favorite season for operations.
Serbia had been overrun in the fall, and Monastir retaken
in the fall. A campaign now might show results worth
while, for Bulgaria was disheartened and on bad terms with
Turkey and few Germans and Austrians were left on this
front.

The Entente had maintained a large army in Saloniki for
nearly three years, unable to help Serbia or Montenegro or
cooperate with the Roumanians. It was able only to hold
Greece in line and reconquer a little strip of Serbian Mace-
donia about Monastir, but now that Greece was ready in a
military way^ and the German and Austrian contingents
had been largely withdrawn from the Balkans, the Allied
investment in the Saloniki enterprise promised to show re-
turns, for Bulgaria was compelled to defend Macedonia
single-handed. Bulgarians and Turks had been quarreling
over the disposition of spoils acquired through the Bre^t-
Litovsk and Bucharest treaties and had become unfriendly
allies, and Bulgaria faced a critical situation. Her front op-
posite Saloniki and Monastir had been so over-extended and
was so undermanned that she might be compelled to retire
north over the mountains, and possibly be driven out of
southern Serbia altogether. In her extremity she would
certainly call back any soldiers she had sent to the Italian
and French fronts.

Two Allied offensives against the Bulgarians — one Franco-
Serbian, the other Greek — ^had opened with striking suc-
cesses, each on a front of about fifteen miles. The Franco-
Serbians advanced more than five miles east of Monastir and
took more than 3,000 prisoners. They were working down
the valley of the Cerna, which flows northeast and empties
into the Vardar south of Veles. An advance in this direc-
tion threatened Prilep, an important southern Serbian town
forty miles north of Monastir. The Greeks were pushing
up the east side of the Vardar, between the river and Lake
Doiran. The Saloniki-Uskub railroad follows the Vardar
valley, and control of that valley meant control of southern

378

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE "WAR

Serbia. A Jugo-Slav division was fighting with the French
and Serbians.

The Vienna peace overtures of September 17 — an unmis-
takable sign of Teutonic defeat as appeared later — had
scarcely been published when the Serbians swept over the
mountainous region east of Monastir and occupied heights
dominating the strongest position in that portion of the
Macedonian line. The points gained offered advantages such
as the Allies had not had since the beginning of the war.
Serbians, whose spirit had not yet been crusht by Austrian

oppression or by Bulgarian barbarity, thus had taken the
first notable steps in a long-delayed restoration of their
homes. The primary objective was to clear the Vardar
valley and capture Prilep, the great enemy supply-base
north of Monastir.

The Franco-Serbs, by September 20, were making an ad-
vance from J^^^onsstir to the Vardar, a distance of seventy
miles, the, ^iilgars evacuating all front-line positions. The
prisonejv ^^jnbered upward of 10,000, of whom the Serbs
captur^^ if, besi^^g sixty heavy guns. The Anglo-Greek
attack ' P fff Lai^ jyaira<si was thirty-eight miles distant
^""^ t^fi^ 0^°^ of tttes Franco-Serbian forces. Serbian
'^^'^L P*? tojfe. the Vardar with little opposition.

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

The Bulgars' chief concern was to escape capture. The east
bank of the Cerna had to be held for more than ten miles.
Over a country where mountains rise above 5,000 feet com-
munications had been established altho maintained with great
difficulty, and the defeat of the Bulgars began to assume the
proportions of real disaster. Could d'Esperey's armies
push up the Cerna a little further, they would compel an
evacuation of all southern Serbia, and if they could reach
the confluence of the Cerna and Vardar, would turn the
formidable Vardar position at Demirkapu, and force Bul-
gars to abandon the whole region north of Lake Dorian.
The Vardar was a corridor leading into middle Serbia.
With the Bulgarian line shattered to a depth of twenty
miles, and the army thoroughly beaten, Bulgaria's military
establishment was getting to be more or less of a shell. It
looked now as if a turn in the tide had really come in the
Balkans, which for four years had been the scene of tragic
Allied efforts and a grave of Allied hopes.

What had counted here, as in western Europe, was man-
power exploiting the method of surprize. The Austrian
defeat on the Piave and the German reverses in France
had drawn upon Teuton resources in the Balkans and Foch
had taken advantage of the weakening of enemy lines. In a
new field the world again saw the inexorable pressure that
was closing upon Germany from all sides. The drive rapidly
developed into an operation of the first importance, the
Allies advancing on a front of eighty miles. So sudden a
success, after years of defeat, inspired the Serbian nation
with new hope of redeeming their homes, and stirred anew
the war spirit of the Greeks. It was not too much to hope
that Bulgaria would now be conquered, that Turkey would
be cut off from her Teutonic allies, and that a new Balkan
front would be established from the Adriatic to the Black
Sea, threatening Austria-Hungary once more with invasion.

Until the Teutonic hold on Serbia could be unloosed. Cen-
tral Europe, made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bul-
garia, and Turkey, had to be recognized as an entity on
the war-map, for it meant the preservation of economic and
military lines of communication between Berlin, Vienna,
Budapest, Sofia, and Constantinople. Possession of Serbia

380

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE "WAR

enabled Berlin to keep under restraint the Polea, Czechs,
Jugo-Slavs and Roumanians, and, without changing names
or frontiers, to make Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria her
vassal states. No matter how long the war might last, the
honor of Great Britain was pledged that Serbia should
emerge from the conflict independent and completely re-
stored. Nor was the matter merely one of honor; the safety
of civilization was involved. As Belgium, in the west, had
blocked Germany's way in 1917, so Serbia if recovered

THK FRANCO-ITALIAN OPERATIONS IN ALBANIA

After the Allies bad miide their wa; loto this country against tbe Aus-

triaos, taklns Blbasan and Berat and tlireateQliig Duraizo, tbe Entente

army Irom Salonlkl, advancing beyond Monastir, OTembeimed tbe But-

gartaos and forced an armUtlce

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

would become a check to the Central Powers in the east.
Teutonic deeds of which Serbia had been the victim and
the theater were no less atrocious than those from which
Belgium suffered. The demand for reparation was as
imperative in the one case as in the other.

On a front of more than ninety miles the Allied armies
had broken through a mountain zone called impregnable,
and were moving swiftly forward on the plains, where ran
the vital railroad-system of southern Serbia. Italians were
advancing on Prilep, north of Monastir. The Bulgarian
army in this region, by September 23, had been cut off
from communication l|it|) the Bulgarian army in the Doiran
section. In the center, Serbian, French, and Greek forces
had crossed the Drenska mountain and cut the German-
built railroad from Prilep to Gradsko, where it joins the
main line from Saloniki to Uskub; Allied cavalry were
three miles from the Bulgarian frontier. Imperiled by the
advance in the northwest, the Bulgarians evacuated their
line from the Doiran to the Vardar. Bulgars and Teutons
were in full flight toward the north. The Serbians alone
had captured between 9,000 and 10,000 prisoners and 120
guns.

Germany's allies, Bulgaria and Turkey, were going down
in defeat together. Turks in Palestine were falling before
Allenby's brilliant stroke north of Jerusalem, and Ferdinand
was losing his dividends on the Macedonian territory be-
longing to Serbia — the great prize he had lost at the end of
the Balkan Wars, but which the Germans had delivered back
into his hands. Turkey had expected to gain Egypt, the
Crimea, and Persia, but had secured so far only three petty
districts in Transcaucasia and meanwhile had lost Arabia,
Mesopotamia, and Palestine, and was about to lose all Syria.
The Bulgars, who were being chased out of Macedonia,
might soon have to defend Sofia itself. The Bulgar defeat
was already almost as crushing as the Turkish in Palestine.

General d'Esperey's reorganized armies had smashed the
whole Bulgarian front, had dislocated the Bulgarian right and
left wings as Foch's blow in 1917 dislocated Moltke's center
at La Fere Champenoise. Astride the Vardar at Gradsko,
French and Serbians cut the Saloniki-Uskub railroad, and

382

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

the branch road to Prilep, forcing the Bulgarian First Army
on the Monastir sector into a disorderly retreat north, pur-
sued by Italians, holding the line above Monastir. The
Second Bulgarian Army about Lake Doiran had also to
retreat, and the difficulties in the way of their reunion
were eneromous, with the wedge between them broad and
deep. The Allies now held the sole northern artery into
Serbia, which was the valley of the Vardar, and eouid drive
up to Uekub through the mountains. On September 25
Allied cavalry, sweeping ahead of infantry ou their east
wing, reached Bulgarian soil and continued a sweeping ad-
vance against the beaten foe. New forces were thrown

FRENCH OFFICERS TRAINING GREEKS TO USE THE "15"

across the Vardar and Cema rivers in pursuit. Prilep was
captured by French cavalry.

The drive gave promise of far-r caching consequences.
Greeo-British and Franco-Greek forces had effected a junc-
tion, fjj former had reached Smokvitsa, ten miles north
of Lalfg r>oiran. Strumitza, which had been called the
OJbralf^ K Bulgaria, was seriously menaced. The capture
ofPFif^f> ^^^ only opened up Serbia by removing conditions
iri/eii \ Pf c^ed amies on this front, but placed Veles and
Uskii-^ ^^^'%ediate peril. Uskub was the natural point of

Ix\ THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

•

departure for an invasion of Bulgaria, and particularly for
operations against Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. Serbian
operations in the center were driving a wedge between the
eastern and western Bulgarian armies, whose retreat was
becoming disorderly, many of the troops deserting. So far
12,000 prisoners and 140 guns had been taken. On all sec-
tions from Lake Doiran to the Adriatic pressure was in-
creasing. The Serbs had driven a wedge deep into the
Bulgar line, the depth of which was about forty miles.
It was spreading out at the apex east and west and
gradually forcing a retirement on the entire front.

Bulgaria now accepted Baron Burian's abortive invitation
from Austria for a peace conference with the Entente, say-
ing she had sought neither conquests nor the establishment
of hegemony over her neighbors. Bulgaria, however, as a
matter of well-known fact, had joined the Central Powers
for the express purpose of making ** conquests.'' She had
determined at all costs to get possession of Serbian Mace-
donia, as pledged to her at the beginning of the Balkan
War, in the terms of the Bulgar-Serb-Greek alliance against
Turkey, but she had lost all moral claim to it when she
refused to revise those terms in accordance with the judg-
ment of the Conference of London and treacherously at-
tacked the Serbians and Greeks. Then, in 1915, as the
price of her declaration of war, Germany had promised
her Macedonia and had since delivered the goods to her.

One Bulgarian army had been nearly destroyed as a fight-
ing force, and the Germanized Bulgarian High Command
would be hard put either to extricate its remainder or re-
place it as an obstacle to a further Allied advance to Nish,
the junction point of the Saloniki railroad with the main
trunk line from Belgrade, to Sofia and Constantinople. Once
Nish was reached Sofia would be in peril. This Belgrade-
Sofia-Constantinople trunk-line had been Germany's sole
connection with Turkey until Roumania was conquered,
when the Germans acquired other lines to Constantinople
through Bucharest and down the Black Sea coast. The loss
of the Vardar valley line, however, would throw western
Bulgaria open to invasion, and might start a Jugo-Slav
uprising in Austria-Hungary.

384

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

Bulgarians were retreating on a front estimated at 130
miles. A Greco-British invasion of Bulgaria seemed likely.
A great movement had begun which would force a general
retirement over the whole front of more than 300 miles
from the Adriatic to the ^gean. The capture of Uskub,
now imminent, would open the way to all northern Serbia
and enable the Allies to advance eastward, flanking the
powerful Strumitza position, which was the chief bulwark
of Bulgaria against invasion from the west or south, and
probably compelling its evacuation, leaving Sofia open to
attack. The distance from Uskub to Sofia was about 100
miles and the road was not difficult. America received some
credit for the victories in Palestine and Macedonia, sAtho
no American troops were participating in those operations,
because, without the American troops pouring ,into France
at the rate of 10,000 a day, Entente forces could not have
been supplied for the Balkans.

The Bulgarian army, estimated at one time at 300,000
men, was now retreating in confusion, leaving behind stores
of material, and some thousands of prisoners. The downfall
of Bulgaria would mean a separate peace and, should Bul-
garia drop out, Turkey's strategic position would be ruined.
AUenby's haul of prisoners had exceeded 45,000, and the
number of guns he captured was over 265. Both victories
in the Near East were the direct result of Foch's successes
in the West. As an aggressive factor in the war Bulgaria
had practically been snuffed out, and on September 25 King
Ferdinand asked Mackensen, then in Bucharest, to take com-
mand of his armies, block the advance of the Allies into
Old Serbia, and preserve Bulgaria from invasion. But
Mackensen had something still to do in Roumania and two
days later word came that Bulgaria had asked for an
armistice of forty-eight hours with a view to making peace.
Bulgaria's plea uncovered a state of panic in Sofia. She
was in sore straits, and might be willing to capitulate.
D'Esperey's army was nearing Uskub, and spreading east
toward the Bulgarian border. Serbian troops had reached
close to the Bulgarian line. Strumitza, the Bulgarian base
above the Lake Doiran region, had been captured. Panic-
stricken Sofia profest a willingness, if Teuton aid did not

385

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

come, to break with Germany and Austria-Hungary and
summarily get out of the war. Peace with Bulgaria could
not come until she had restored her stolen goods, and so
D'Esperey would grant no armistice that had not surrender
for its object — ^military surrender, which meant the stacking
of Bulgarian arms. Panic ensued in Berlin and panic
ensued also in the German High Command, which informed
the German Government that the war was lost and an
armistice must be sought.

One of the extraordinary campaigns of the war, and one
of the most extraordinary in history, was this Allied drive
in Macedonia. The battle of the Cerna-Vardar had begun
on September 14, and twelve days later the Bulgars had
sued for peace. Tradition promised to enshrine Franchet
D'Esperey as the thunderbolt of Macedonia. Prussia's Six
Weeks' War of 1866 had been thrown into the shade. A
war of weary deadlock, which at one time seemed destined
to wear itself out in dreary exhaustion, had been hastened
to its end by a lightning-stroke. That it should be the
Serbs, the most sorely tried of all the Allies, her men at
one time without a foot of national soil to stand on, driven
upon a pitiful winter pilgrimage through trackless wastes
and across the sea, now returning indomitably to the fight —
that it should have been this small remnant of a people, the
original target of Teuton ambition and hatred in July, 1914,
who stBUck the blow that shook the Kaiser-power to its foun-
dations was dramatic enough to suit any chronicler of great
deeds.

What hurt the Bulgarians most was the fact that, in
losing Prilep, their army became completely split, so that
forces operating in the west, toward Albania, were cut
away from army groups to the east, except for a roundabout
road to Uskub, and this was a poor substitute for what the
Bulgarians lost. The break spread panic everywhere, and
the retreat became a disorderly flight. The entire military
force opposed to the Allies entered a state of complete and
unqualified collapse. Echoes of Poch's hammer-strokes in
the west — ^victories in the Marne and Montdidier salients,
the beginning of the break through on the Hindenburg line
near St. Quentin — ^had become clearly audible in Sofia,

386

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

where the German war game w«s seen to have ended. For
Bulgarians it iecame a question of moving quickly in order
to secure the best terms possible. Bulgaria now infbrmed the
world that, in her opinion, Germany had lost the war.

With Bulgaria hereafter neutral or on the side of the
Allies, with Serbia recovered and direct communication be-

SOLDIERS OP THE GBEEK ROYAL GUARD

tween Berlin and Constantinople cut off, with Allenby in
Syria and Marshall in Mesopotamia swooping down upon
remnants of Turkish armies, there was no longer any reason
for Turkey to beep up a pretense of fighting. As for Austria,
it was certain that her Government, defeated at the front
and appalled at domestic dissensions, would jump at any
kind of excuse for getting out of the war. The great crisis,

3S7

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

and possibly the end of the war, was rising before our eyes.
The iron ring that Germany burst out of when she mur-
dered Serbia and hacked a corridor through the Balkan
peninsula to Constantinople, had once more been closed. The
keystone of the pan-German bridge into Asia was in ruins.
Berlin to Bagdad, Berlin to Bokhara, Berlin to Cairo, even
Berlin to the Bosporus, had become vanished dreams.

Whether Turkey yielded at once, or fought on hopelessly
a few months more, Constantinople's fate was sealed. Allied
navies would now enter the Black Sea. The more immediate
effects would be a complete restoration of Serbia, an evacua-
tion by the Austrians of Albania and Montenegro and a
shifting of the Saloniki front to the Danube. Roumania,
meanwhile, was to escape from German tyranny and reassert
the claims which drew her into the war, while Mackensen,
her conqueror, in a few weeks was to fret his soul in a Hun-
garian jail. The Jugo-Slavs of Bosnia, Herzegovina and
other Austrian provinces, might now revolt and set up that
new southern Slav state which Italy had formally recog-
nized. In that event Austria-Hungary would have to recall
her armies from northern Italy. Germany's had been a
war of conquest, pure and simple, and it flourished so long
as Germany was able to retain the offensive, but when it be-
came defensive, as it had been since July 18, all the vitality
had gone out of it. The Bulgarians had been smart enough
to see that and simply rushed into the international court
of bankruptcy ahead of other Central Powers. Bulgaria
agreed to turn her railways over to the Allies, but German
and Austrian troops still controlled vital links in the line.
D'Esperey and his armies had to push northward from
Uskub and seize Nish, a point vital to Teutonic-Turkish
communications. Next was necessary an advance from Nish
down the Morava valley to Belgrade. By October 4 the
Austro-Hungarian forces in Albania were retiring before
advancing Italians and blowing up their depots. Berat
had been captured and Vienna admitted her armies had been

recalled.

Italian, American, and British warships on October 3
destroyed the Austrian naval base at Durazzo and the war-
ships anchored there. The attack took place at noon, when

388

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE WAR

Italian and British cruisers, protected by Italian and Allied
torpedo-boats and American submarines, made tlieir way
through mine-fields and, avoiding attacks by submarines,
got into the harbor. No losses or damage, except a slight
injury to a British cruiser, were suffered by the Allied
squadron. For the first time in history, American ships
had fought in the Adriatic, As Darazzo was founded by
inhabitants of Corfu over 2,000 years before the discovery
of America, antiquity and yesterday had eome face to face.
There were twelve American submarine chasers in the
engagement. After the engagement they escorted the British
cruiser, which was hit by a torpedo, safely to the base from

GKBEK TROOPS ON THE MARCH

which the expedition started. An enemy hospital ship was
also taken in charge. During the bombardment, and when
the i)ig ships were approaching .the harbor, the chasers
circled swiftly around them. Heretofore the chasers had
been patrolling the Adriatic, dropping depth-bombs, and
firing on enemy submarines. The lower Adriatic and the
railway which parallels it were now in Allied control. Else-
where jjj fl block of wild mountain-country more than twice
as larg. ^g New Jersey, there were no railways except
*^'*Otp miles at Antivari and one or two spurs of tem-
por&j.^ ■" ^ts extending a short distance inland from the

^ *it y'^ ^^'^aace toward the Danube was as much a

l/'^ 389

IN THE EAST, NEAR EAST, AND SOUTH

detail in the campaign against the Qermans as Sherman's
march to the sea was a major circumstance in the destruc-
tion of the Confederacy. Allenby and d'Esperey were
playing the part of Sherman and Thomas, while Entente
armies in the West played the role of the Army of the
Potomac.
King Ferdinand of Bulgaria followed the surrender by

GENERALS DESPEREY AND ALLENBX IJI CONSTAKTINOPLK

Their fli^ mepttos alter the armistloe witb Tarkey. The two are sbattng

haiide, Allenby being the one nearlng a abort cokt

abdication in favor of his son, who reigned for a few weeks
and then retired before a revolutionary uprising. Ferdi-
nand's career had been one of brutality and low cunning,
his ambitions as boundless and full of greed as his abilities
were limited. He cherished a grandiose scheme of restoring
the ancient Eastern Empire and of controlling from Con-
stantinople a powerful Balkan nation, in which Greece,

THE BALKANS AND GREECE IN THE "WAR

Serbia, and Roomania would be satellites o£ the Bulgarian
auii. In pursuit of this ambition, he betrayed friend and
foe alike, and sacrificed the true interests of his kingdom.
Had he consented, after the victory over Turkey in 1912,
to a just division of the conquered territory with other
Balkan States, his country would have been spared the mis-
fortune which afterward befell it. His treacherous attacks
upon the Greeks and Serbians not only failed, but brought
down upon him the Roumanians and the Turks. Bulgaria
was defeated and her frontiers limited on all aides. Greater
was his folly in bringing his country into the World War
on the side of Germany."

■» Principal Soorces : The 8»n, William L. McPhecson in Tile Tribune, Tha
journal 0/ Commerce, Tbe Bvmtng Sun, The Evenina Post, The Timea, The
Triimne, New York.

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Full text of "The Literary digest history of the world war, compiled from original and contemporary sources: American, British, French, German, and others"

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