The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-03-22
cONSTAMT|k0PlE HELD
BY TURKS 462 YEARS
Gained Foothold In Europe I'm 1883
When City She Defends Was
Taken.

Washington, ID. c.. March 21.--
While the fate of Turkey hangs In
the balance. her destruction threaten
ed by the alliance of two countries
whose past rivalries preserved to her
what she has In Europe today" says
"a statement Just issued by the Ma
t'onal Georgia hghic Societ!."it is In
teresting to go back and follow her
down through the centuries that mark
the waxing and the waning of the
Crescent in Southeastern Europe.
in 1870 the map Of Europe was
vastly different from what IL Is to-
day Practically all of what is now
Greece and European Turkey was then
the Eastern Roman Empire. Constan-
iinople was its capital. and 1t was In
control of the Dardanelles and the
Rosphorus as much as Turkey has
been recently. Russia at that time
did not approach nearer than l50
miles of the Black Sea
Across in Asia south OF the east
sTn half Of the Black Sea. was the
Sultanate of 1conium. and east OF the
Mediterranean and In eastern Africa
were the dominions OF Saiadan.
'As the years went by the forces
Of the Crescent gradually extended
themselves through Asia Minor. and
| before the passing of many genera
lions there were laundering at the
gates of Europe across the Bosphorus
and the Dagdanelles. In vain did En-
peror John Vi appeal to Europe to
help stay the tide. and In l453 the
c,oud that had doomed up across the
horizon of the East for several CEN
turtles. descended upon Constantinople
land Southeastern Europe.
with foothoid IN Europe. the
Turks realized that they could main
tain II only by a process of expansion.
And European politics at that time
just as in al. the centuries that have
succeeded until now. prevented Chris
tan Europe from uniting against Mo-
hammedan Turkey.
But the several countries of Eu-
"ope were TOO busy with their own par
ticular affairs and too jealous Of one
another to unite in checking the OF.
toman invasion. The result was thai
Icy the middle of the sixteenth sen
fury Turkey included all of the Balkan
peninsula. Greece. Moldavia. Transyi.
vania, Bosnia Herzegovina and that
part of Hungary east of a line drawn
north and south half way between
Budapest and Vienna.
las the generations passed, how.
ever Turkish power In Europe begar
to wane. In her stock taking after
the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt
Turkey found her European dominion:
shrunken considerably as compared
with what they were in the middle oil
! 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 the Turk con
IA.v ~ ~
Black Sea, Russia had now driver
him out of the land of the Georgians
and had gotten a short stretch o,
the coast OF the Black Sea.
But Turkey was still left In posses.
sion of the mouth of every river en-.
tering that sea, including the Don. the
Dnieper. the Dniester and the Danube
She had lost Greece. but at the same
time had IA sort of recompense in Crete
and Cyprus.
I'm the century that followed many
things happened. BY 1910 Russia had
lost control of the Georgian coast oil
the Black Sea. but she secured in ex.
change the section Of the coast oc-
cupied by the mouths OF the Don, the
Dnieper and the Drilester. In the
next five years there was still another
story to tell-Russia had forced heI
way around the Black Sea to the
mouth of the Danube on the west and
almost to It's fartherest extremity
on the east
and then cern the century that
nas passed since the remaking of the
map Of Europe alter Napoleon had
sent 1t to the scrap-pile. Everything
went fairly Well with the Turk until
the middle seventies. When Servia
and Montenegro revolted against Turk
ish rule Russia. then In secret al
lance with Austria for the division
of the spells. encouraged the revolt
after many negotiations between
the powers, Russia finally went to
war with Turkey, with the under
standing that IL she won. Austria was
to get Herzegovina and Bosnia in re-
turn for her acquiescence in the move.
Russia won and negotiated peace
with Turkey which was distasteful to
Great Britain, Germany and Austria.
They demanded that they be permit
ted to have voice in the matter and
Russia, with her land route to Con-
stantinople threatened by Austria, and
her Back Sea route by the British
navy, acQuiesced.
THE result was the calling of the
Congress OF Berlin. And that Con-
eress was great disappointment to
Russia and greater blow to Turkey.
1t did not give Russia what 90 she
thought she ought TO have. and yet
II took away from Turkey perhaps
more than Russia would have taken.
II set up the Balkan States. Hervia
among them. And BY 20 doint started
that long chain o. diplomatic neGe&t-
setons and AntyiG0aa flhAk kaye 80 ~
a9lfouq r. 81 ~ 11