Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1912-12-04

that they planned the overthrow of
Austria and the establishment of
MOhammedan nation in that country
and on the Rhine, including most of
the present limits of Germany. The
first step to be taken in that great
enterprise was to capture Vienna. In
the year 1858 the grand vizier ap-
peared before that city with an army
of 100000 men and sat down before
it to take it by leisurely siege. They
bombarded the city and the city re-
piled with all the vigor possible, al
though Austrians despaired from the
first of successful resistance. Turk
ish sappers and miners were put to
work to undermine the Austrian forts
and the defenders did not know the
moment they would be blown up FL
nally a disease broke out among the
Austrian soldiers and the city became
vast hospital as well as a besieged
garrison. The commanding general
became so ill that he had to be car
ried on a litter to inspect the forts.
The emperor fled from the city to es-
cape capture when the expected sur
render occurred. France, jealous of
Austria, would not lend assistance
though at the risk of being the next
to be overrun by the Turks. But
there was a gallant and generous
monarch then in Europe, John So
| biesky, king of Poland. News travel
ed slowly then, but King John heard
| it in time to gather an army of sixty
thousand Poles and march from War
saw to Vienna to aid the beleaguered
city. The grand vizier was not a good
general and had no outposts to warn
him of the approach of an enemy as
he expected none, and the surprise
was great when the Poles fell upon
him. The Austrian garrison, encour-
aged by their rescuers, sailed out
and joined them, and the great Turk
ish army fled in terror and scarcely
stopped until it reached CONSTANT
nople.
This was the last effort the Turks
made to overrun Europe, and from
that time their power began to wane.
The Mohammedan countries of North
Africa did not develop a good civili-
cation, but rather refrigerated, and
one of them in particular, Algeria,
became nation of pirates. Our own
country in it's infancy bombarded it's
seaport cities and compelled the AL
gerians to promise immunity to
American ships. Finally, in 1880,
subjugation of Algeria in order to
put an end to the piracy and the en-
lslavement of Christian captives. The
Arab tribes kept up guerilla war
fare against the French for about 8 0
years and every foot of the ground
that the French won was by the
thrust of the bayonet. But she final
ly subjugated the country and made
! it French colony, the first territory
after Spain taken from the Moham-
medan. Now all North Africa has
been wrested from them. The next
territory they lost was Egypt. That
country, the cradle of civilization,
passed to the control of Great Brit
ain, not by war but by diplomacy and
4 bonds. In 1910 France obtained a
protectorate over Morocco as a set
Element of the Agedir affair which
! came very near sprecipitating aN,waI
between Germany on the one side
and France and Great Britain on the
other. And now, few weeks
ago, Tripoli passed to Italy after q
years war, Turkey being obliged tc
make peace with Italy in order tc
concentrate her strength against the
of all North African countries are
now in the hands of Christians.
The next serious conflict that Tur
key had with a Christian nation af
ter her attempted capture of Vienna
not taking into account this late wal
over Tripoli, was in 1858 when Rus
STA demanded better treatment FOL
the Christians of the Balkan states
they being members of the Greek
church, the church to which Russian.
owe allegiance. But by this time
christians had cooled off considerably
in their combative Christianity ant
were showing more love for money
commercial advantage and the bal
ance of power. In the war that FOL
lowed France, England and Sardinia
joined forces with Turkey against
Russia and the Crimean war was
fought. The allies were too power.
I full for Russia. and after three years
of fighting the war ended leaving
matters about as they were before II
commenced. 1t was in this war the
famous charge of the British Light
Brigade was made that was immor-
talized by Tennyson.
The next war between the Cross
! and the Crescent took place in 1877
after the Turks had massacred many
Christians in the Balkans and Rus
STA declared war and proceeded to
invade Turkey. The armies crossed
the Danube with great labor and pro-
ceeded southwark. The Turks under
Osman Pasha fastened northward to
meet them. Fortifications were hast
lily thrown up by the Turks at Plev-
ma and there they awaited the Rus
sian assault. The first assault was
made on July 20 and the Russians
were repulsed and routed. The sec
ond assault was made on July 80 and
again the Russians were repulsed
with a loss of 1900 men. On Sept.
IL they attacked again and lost 49,
900 men. All the power OF Russia
was then brought to bear and Plevna
surrendered in December. The Rus
slams marched on and were within
To- o.