Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-10-17
But This
lime 1t Is the
German
Christians
Who Threaten
to March to
the Relief of
the HafideI
Turks

IL German and Austrian governments
were planning to send an army of
1oo'ooo soldiers to rescue the Turks from
the attacks of the allies at the Darda
neiles and save Constan,nople.
This great army, the dispatches OF.
pla'ned. would follow the route through
the balkan Peninsula to Constantinople
and the East taken by the Crusaders, and
especially by the Germans in the Third
SiuSdoe hnucr the celebrated Emperor
frederick Barbarossa.
Thus We should have the extraordinary
spectacle OF great Christian nation
pouring forth 10 save the intidel Turks
ps the very route that their ancestors
LOOK eight hundred years ago to save the
.Sepnichre Of the Saviour and the hol,
places Of Christianity from the MosIen
infdels
ferhaps no such complete reversal of
history has ever been witnessed
Events which have happened since
those dispatches came make il proble-
maticai whether the Germans will under.
tahe or push the proposed expedition to
o"hNlantihorle. Nevertheless the plan
remains exceedingly interesting II has
oeeh discussed With great enthusiasm in
Germany and nndoubtcdly from, n purely
1h!lthry point II view, it presents many
attractions.
From the plains of Hungary. which ara
6.
TRAN domains, there lies one great broad
highway to Constantinople. winding
among mountains and goryes and through
the terribly wild and mountainous BaIkan
PENINSULA. 1t is entered from Hungary
Dy crossing the Danube River opposite
BELGRADE, the capital Of Serbia.
Then it passes from Serbia 10 Nish
the ancient NiSsa. by way Of the valley
OF the Morava River. thence eastward
between the Balkan and Rhodope Noun.
taihs TO Sofia in Bulgaria. then to Adri
anopic. which is Just within the present
Iu!hlsh commons, and from there to
Constantinople
Roughly speaking, II is about six hun.
dred miles long. In some respects 1t re.
sem0lcs our old overland trail" to the
Pacific
The first part of the route a very short
a few miles Of the Rumanian frontier,
Then it passes through Bulgaria TO
Turkey
With the allies held in check else.
where. and with Rumana and Bulgaria
neutral or helping the German side. the
germans could easily smash through
Serbia and march 10 Constantinople The
present allied force attacking the Darda
neles is holding on with difficulty to the
rocky Gallipoli Peninsula and unable to
reach the mainland that leads TO Con.
stantinople.
MN ]! d StTOHS herman army were
10 hold that mainland the allied effort
to force the Dardanelles and take Con.
stantinopie would become quite hopeless.
To-day railroad runs along the Cru.
sadcrS' Way. but the fact that it can also
De used by horsemen motors and wheeled
vehicles is almost as important to-day as
in medieval times.
II was along this way that thousands
OF Germans and other Europeans. aroused
by the preaching of that extraordinary
man, Peter the Hermit swept on their
way to Constantinople and the Holy Land
How Peter the
Herrcit Reused Europe.
Peter. while at Jerusalem. believed that
the Saviour appeared to him in a vision.
and commanded him TO rouse the people
TO rescue His Sepuchre from the Turks
The hermit then wandered over Europe
the people 10 frenzy by his al.
most miraculous elo1uence.
While Italian, French and English Cru.
saders often sailed from the Mediter-
ranean ports to Turkey. the Germans al
ways followed the great land trail that
led from the heart Of their country to the
East
Most extraordinary was "the Rabble
Crusade that formed part OF the First
Crusade begun in 1898.
The example and footsteps Of Peter
were closely pursued by another zcaot,
the monk Godescal Cor Gottschalk),
whose sermons had swept away fifteen
Of twenty thousand peasants from the vii.
lagos OF Germany says the great his.
forian Gibbon. Their rear was again
pressed by herd of two hundred thou
sand, the most stupid and savage refuse
of the people, who mingled with their
ievotion brutal license of rapine and
1rnnkenness. Some counts and gentle.
men, at the head Of three thousand morse,
attended the motions OF the multitude to
'artake In the spoil: but their genuine
eaders (may we credit such folly?) we're
| goose and goat. Who we're carried in
he front.
Between the frontiers of Austria and
he seat of the Byzantine monarchy the
were compelled to traverse an
1terval of six hundred miles-the wild