The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1914-12-15
OLD AND NEW EMPIRES.

well be called the cockpit of the an
cient world. Here races and con-
querors and empires and civilization
fought for the worlds premiership
Persia, Macedonia, Syria, Rome,
Byzantium, Parthia, and more mod
ernly, Turkey. Alexander carried
the arms of Macedonia thither, and
long afterward Lucullus warred
against Mithridates-who, by the
way. though little known to readers
of history as written for Occidental
students, was one of the greatest
rulers and soldiers of all time-while
Pompey subdued large part of the
region. Here rose Nineveh and
Babylon; Nineveh, so ancient that
Xenophon and the Greek Ten Thou
sand marched by its ruins and Keno
phon did not even refer to them in
his writings; Babylon, so far in the
mists Of the past that historians now
believe they can trace its history
back to 10000 years B. c., and there
is a highly respectable body of schol-
arly opinion that Chinese civilization
was itself derived direct from Baby
lonia.
Asia Minor is a peninsula project
ing westward from the Asian con-
tinent, with the Black Sea on its
north and the Mediterranean on its
south. In area it is about two-thirds
the size of the United States east of
the Mississippi. Its lure for the
men of world-imperisI vision has
lasted through all the ages. Thither
went the crusaders Of the Middle
Ages to fight the Saracens; and to
this quarter of the world went Ma
poleon, covered with the laurels of
his Italian campaign, hoping to con-
quer a road to India. A century af-
ter Napoleon came William ii of
Germany, visioning the same mirage
of Oriental empire. He would hew
way for Pan-Germanism through
Bahama to Constantinople, cross to
Asia Minor, and set his face to the
same east that had fascinated the
imaginations of Greece, and Rome,
and revolutionary France. 1t was
his plan to make strictly modern in
vasion; and SO he sent the financiers,
the merchants, the commercial
argosies of his empire as advance
guards; he cultivated the friendship
of the Turk; he secured concessions
for the building of the Bagdad rail
road, which was to connect the Medi-
terranean with the Persian Gulf
through the heart of Asia Minor, and
point the finger of the newest world
ruler at Britain's choicest possession,
India.
Perhaps this sidelong glimpse to-
ward the very seat of history and
home of empires is bit far-fetched;
but an incident of very recent days
in the Great War may be pleaded in
excuse. A few days ago it was an
nounced that the city of Kurna, some
distance inland from the Persian
Gulf and not far from the confluence
of the historic Tigris and Euphrates,
had been seized by British expedi-
ton. Kurna has been ? military
center maintained by Turkey to
guard its hold on the Mesopotamian
plain. Once the richest region of the
world, Mesopotamia has in the last
thousand years been little better
than a desert; the fertile fields of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS day have degener-
ated into swamps and marshes and
waste. Kurna is the key to south |
ern Mesopotamia. Holding it, Brit |
ain will dominate the great valley, |
and be able to push her frontier in
land, forcing back the Turk toward |
the west. Moreover, this establish |
ment will give her power TO nullify |
the political Importance of the Bag
dad railway. For decade the Brit
ish people have watched with con-
Germ this iron highway of Germany,
growing out toward the east, carry
ing German influence and authority
through Asia Minor and the regions /
beyond. 1t was inevitable that, once
war came, Britain would seek to
smash German power in this quarter
of the world; and the taking of
Kurna represents the beginning of
that operation.
Turkey is the ally of Germany;
if Germany loses, it will
be safe to assume that Babylonia
will begin to be absorbed into the
British empire, as Wilhelm has de-
signed that it should gradually be
swallowed into the German. That
means looping off a highly priced
portion of the domain of the Turk
in Asia. as he has recently lost a
large slice in Europe, and as he may
confidently be expected to lose Con-