Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1915-10-12
THE ROAD TO
CONSTANT|NOPLE
BY w. II. Auburn

The long-deferred Austro-Ger1nan
drive toward Constantinople seems to
have begun. The Teutons' guns are
battering at the frontiers of Serbia.
The Balkans are again in turmoil. And
the war may be decided on that
stormy peninsula where it began.
On the face of things, it may look
as If Germany's purpose is merely to
break through the hostile and neutral
Gordon to the southeast and carry
aid to her hard-pressed allies on the
Gallipoli peninsula. The Turks are
nearly out of ammunition and in need
OF re-inforcements and moral stiffen-
ing. They have fought with incredible
bravery, but are nearly at the end of
their rope.
But If aiding the Turks were the
only issue involved, Germany might
keep her troops and guns to use on
her perilous western front. There is
a far bigger stake to fight for than
loyalty to weak ally. Germany is
fighting for herself, for her future en-
pire, and that empire of her dreams
stretches through the Balkans into
Asia. Her vaunted place in the sun"
Is beyond the Dardanelles, and Serbia
lies in the way.
That was Serbia's crime in the be-
ginning. The assassination of the Aus
trian prince was but a pretext. Ser
bia was guilty of the geographical Of
Tense of barring the road from Berlin
to Bagdad And now the Germanic al
lies are proceeding TO blast a road
through.
The campaign was apparently in
tended for the third phase of the war.
First Germany was to crush France
by a swift, bold stroke. Then she
was to turn and crush the Russian
armies. Meanwhile Austria was to
punish" the Serbians and hold the
Russians in checks on her own from
tier. Then it appears. Serbia, if still
resisting, was to be conquered by the
united power of Germany and Austria,
together with any other Balkan states
rash enough to oppose them.
Bulgaria, hostile to Serbia and
Greece and naturally friendly to Ger
many, would presumably make no
trouble. She could be brought into
the Germanic alliance, or defeated If
she proved recalcitrant Thus the
way would be opened to Constants
nopie, and the domain controlled by
tha raptroI Europaon nn,nor, mould
stretch all the way from the Baltic
Sea through southeastern Europe and
western Asia to the Persian Gulf.
Turkey would be nominally indie.
pendent, but really subject to the die.
tates OF Wilhelmstrasse. The rail-
road that Germany built a few years
ago in Asiatic Turkey, from nowhere
to Bagdad, would be linked with Ber-
lin and extended TO the frontiers of
India. Germany would be in position
to threaten both India and Egypt,
while the Turks would be indulged in
their ambition to reconquer northern
Africa from Italy and France. The
turbulent Balkans would be rendered
powerless of harm, with Serbia swal.
lowed up, Bulgaria allied to the Aus
tro-Germans and Greece frightened in.
to good ben, vior.
The callpaign has long been delay.
ed by the poor success of the Teu-
tons plans. The attack on France
was strategic failure, and is appar.
emily doomed TO remain so. It has
taken fourteen months for the Ger
mans to get as far In Russia as they
expected to get in fou,, and the Rus
sian army is not yet broken. The Aus
trians failed In their attempts to pun.
ish Serbia. But now the French and