Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-03-18
TELLS Of RISE AND FAIL
OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE
National Geographic Society Traces
Spread of Moslems Over
Southern Europe.
Also Outlines the Gradual Retreat
of Crescent Up to the Pres
emit War.

! the balance, her destruction threatened
by the alliance of two countries. whose
past rivalries preserved to her what
she has in Europe today" says state
ment just issued by the National Geo.
graphic Society, 'it is interesting to go
back and follow her down through the
centuries that mark the waxing and
the waning of the crescent in south
eastern Europe.
I'm 1890 the map of Europe was vast
ly different from what 1t Is today. Prac-
tically all of what is now Greece and
European Turkey was then the eastern
Roman empire. Constantinople was Its
capital. and it was in control of the
Dardanelles and the Bosporus as much
as Turkey has been recently. Russia
at that time did not approach nearer
than $50 miles of the Black sea.
Across in Asia. south of the eastern
half of the Black sea. was the sultanate
of Iconium, and east of the Mediterra-
mean and in eastern Africa were the
dominions of Saladin.
Turks Expand.
LAS the years went by the forces of
the crescent gradually extended them
selves through Asia Minor, and before
the passing of many generations they
were laundering at the gates of Europe
across the Bosporus and the Darda-
nelles. In vain did Emperor John VI
appeal to Europe to help stay the tide.
and in 1453 the cloud that had doomed
up across the horizon of the east for
several centuries descended upon Con-
stantinople and southeastern Europe.
with foothold in Europe, the
Turks realized that they could main
And European politics at that time, just
as in all the centuries that have sue
ceeded until now. prevented Christian
Europe from uniting against Moham-
medan Turkey.
But the several countries of Europe
were too busy with their own particu-
lar affairs and too jealous of one an
other to unite In checking the Ottoman
invasion. The result was that by the
middle of the sixteenth century Tur-
key included all of the Balkan penin-
sula. Greece. Moldavia. Transylvania.
Bosnia. Herzegovina and that part Of
and south half way between Buda-
pest and Vienna.
Power Begins to Wane.
"As the generations passed, however.
Turkish power in Europe began to
wane. In her stock-taking after the
treaties Of Utrecht and Rastadt, Tur-
key found her European dominions
shrunken considerably as compared
with what they were in the middle of
the sixteenth century. Hungary had
pushed back the invader several hun
dred miles to the east and south, and
Russia had crowded him out Of one of
his footholds on the Black sea- Where
FORMERLY IN he
tire region around the Black sea. Rus
STA had now driven him out of the land
of the Georgians and had gotten a
short stretch of the coast Of the Black
sea.
But Turkey was still left in posses
sion OF the mouth Of every river enter.
ing that sea, including the Don, the
I,nieper. the Dniester and the Danbue
| time had q sort Of recompense in Crete
and Cyprus.
In the century that followed many
things happened. By 1910 Russia had
lost control Of the Georgian coast of
the Black sea, but she secured in ex-
change the section of the coast occu-
pied by the mouths of the Don, the
Dnieper and the Dniester. In the next
five years there was still another story
to tell-Russia had forced her way
the Danube on the west. and almost
to its fartherest extremity on the east.
"And then came the century that
has passed since the remaking Of the
map of Europe. after Napoleon had
sent 1t to the scrap pile. Everything
went fairly well with the Turk until
the middle seventies, when Serbia and
Montenegro revolted against Turkish
rule. Russia, then in a secret alliance
with Austria for the division OF the
spoils, encouraged the revolt.
Turkey Is Divided.
After many negotiations between
the powers, Russia finally went to war
with Turkey, with the understanding
that II she won, Austria was to get
Herzegovina and Bosnia in return for
her acquiescence in the move. Russia
won and negotiated peace with Tur-
key, which was distasteful to Great
Britain. Germany and Austria. They
demanded that they be permitted to
STA. with her land route to CONSTANT
nople threatened by Austria, and her
Black sea route by the British navy.
acquiesced.
The result was the calling of the
congress of Berlin. That congress was
a great disappointment to Russia and
a greater blow to Turkey. 1t did not
give Russia what she thought she
ought to have, and yet 1t took away
from Turkey perhaps more than Rus
sia would have taken. 1t set up thu
Balkan states, Servia among them
and by so doing started that long chain
Of diplomatic negotiations and in
trigues that have been so disastrous ia