Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-10-24


announced that the British forces
fighting the Turks we're advancing
VIGOROUSLY On the way to Bardad.
The fortunate British army. according
10 these dispatches, is about TO capture
the City OF the Arabian Nights!
Does not that thrill the imagination
OF everyone who has felt The charm OF
those impossible old stories of magicians.
enchanted horses, distressed pr!ncesses
OF Sinbad the Sailor and the Roc's Egg"
OF ALADDIN and His Wonderful I.amp"
and OF Ali Baba and the 80 Thieves
Perhaps Tommy Atkins Will be wan
de!ins about the streets OF Bagdad soon
looking for an Aiaddins lamp in the
little old shops or going in 10 have his
hair cut III the barber shop where the
delightful Sultan Haiun.alRaschid used
TO call IN disguise 10 hear the gossip of
the city
The advance upon Bagdad is part of
the British campaign 10 invade Turkey
ln-Asia from he direction of The Persian
Sull The dispatches have already de-
scnoed the successful landing OF the
British army from India a, Basrah
where the united Tigris and Euphrates
rivers flow into the Persian Gulf.
The British forces have fought their
way successfully past the Garden of
Eden. the ruins OF Babylon Nineveh and
other famous sites OF Biblical history.
Scientists have pointed out he scene OF
one battle as the probable spot where
ADAM and Eve were driven by the Angel
with the flaming sword out OF the Garden
OF Eden
Now they have passed from Biblical
realms into the land of the Arabian
Nights. from the region of serious,
solemn subjects and stone temples in.o
mat OF fairy magic and romance
According 10 the last reports the
British were within seventy five OF one
hundred miles OF Bagdad, and it is said
tnat thelr outDoStS are now within sight
OF its tabled mosques and minarets.
Most Americans know that Bagdad is
q turkish possession, and they think of
1t loosely as Turkish city In reality
the Turks are just as much invaders
here as on the territory of the ancicn,
byzantine Empire at Constantinople
and In the rest Of their European ter
ritory. AT Bagdad The barbarous Turks
nave conquered and oppressed the civil
llzed Arabs who once made the city and
the surrounding territory a centre of art
and industry
Bagdad was founded bv the Caliph
Abou Giafar al Monsur about 762 a. d.
and named by him Mednet-es-Selam,
meaning City OF Salvation" It's present
name, Bagdad, is a popular one said to
mean Garden of Dat" famed Mussul.
man Dervish.
During five centuries it was the rich
and brilliant capital of the great Arabian
Empire. which at one time extended
from the heart Of Asia to Gibraltar in
Western Europe.
1t was in the days of the Caliph Harun.
alRaschid, whose name means Aaron
the Just" that this empire reached the
height of its power He lived from 7S6
10 SOs A. ID. All the lands from the In.
dus to Gibraltar obeyed his rule, and
Bagdad became a great centre of learn
ing and civilization. He made successful
expeditions into the Greek Byzantine
Empire, forcing the Emperor Neighbours,
to pay tribute, while he entertained
friendly relations with Charlemagne. he
greatest northern European monarch of
that day In fact, some Germans have
sought to justify the Kaiser's dealings
with the modern Turks by referring 10
Chariemagne's relations with Harun.al.
RaSchd. " "
The Arabs Of Harun-al-Raschids timo
were the most learned mathematicians
astronomers and scientists of their time
They were infinitely more advanced than
any OF the European nations of that dow
They taught the beginnings of all the