The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1918-12-17
XXI
Bulgaria On the Auction Block.

Bulgaria On the Auction Block.
The failure Of the allied fleet at the
DRrdanelles did not definitely settle the
fate OF Co~nstantiuople. Naturally the
Turks and the Germans felt immensely
relieved when the fleet sailed away. But
they were by no means entirely easy
In their mind, The most direct road
TO the ancient capital still remained
available to their enemies,
In early September, 1915, n OF the
most influential Germans In the city
gave me a detailed explanation Of the
prevailing military situation. lie
summed up the whole matter in the
single phrase:
we can not hold the Dardanelles
without the military support of Bul-
garia."
This meant, Of course. that unless
Bulgaria align herself with Turkey and
the central empires, the Gallipolt eX-
petition would succeed, Co"nstantinople
would fall, the Turkish empire would
n collapse, Russia would be r"e-estahlished
as an economic and military power, and
the war, in a comparatively brief per
iod, would terminate In II victory for
the Entente. Not i%mprobably the real
Aneutrality OF Bulgaria wouId have had
the same result. II Is thus perhaps
not too much to say tnat, In Septem-
Der and October OF 1915, the Bulgarian
government held the duration Of the
war in its hands.
This fact Is OF such pre-eminent inn
portance that ! can hardly emphasize It
too strongly. | suggest hat my read
ers take down the map of a part of
the world with which they are not very
faTniliat-that Of the Balkan states, III
determined by the treaty of Bucharest.
All that remains of European Turkey Is
n small irregular area stretching about
100 miles west of tunstantinople. The
nation whose and Is contiguous to Eu-
A AVann,, FI',,V1Hn,y. IA, n,,lyuHt, MI, ,,,,,,
railroad line TO Western Europe starts
at ~Constantinople and runs through
Bulgaria, by way Of AdrIanople, Philli
popolis, and Sofia At that time Bul.
garia could create an army OF 900, O0I
well trained. completely organized
troops. Should these once start march
= ing toward C~onstantinop,e, there wa
practically nothing to bar their way
Turkey had a considerable army 1t l.
true, but it was then finding pleut,
OF employment repelling the allied force
at the nardanclles and the Russian
In the Caucasus with Bulgaria hos
tile, Turkey could obtain neither troop
nor munitions from Germany. Turkc,
would have been completely Isolated
and. under the pounding Of Bulgaria
you'd have ~dtsappeareC as a militar
force, and as a European state, In on
very brief campaign.
| wish to direct particular attentio
to this railroad, for II was, after at
the main strategic prize Tor which Ger
many was contending After leavin
Sofia 1t crosses northeastern Serbia
the most important stations hcipr "A
Nish and Belgrade, From the latte
point 1t crosses the river Save and late
the river Danube, and thence pursue
its course to Budapest and Vienna an
thence to Berlin, Practically all IN
military operations that took place /
the Balkans in l9l5-lu had for the
A ultimate AhiAGt fha fNnguau,t,,, - -
road, nee holding this line Turke
and Germany would no longer he sepa
rated; economically and militarily the
would be a unit The ~Dardanelles, a
| have described, was the link that COT
nected Russia with her allies. with tn
massage closed Russia'S collapse rapid
followed. The valley of the Morava an
he Martha, in which this railroad
laid, constituted for TURKEY a kind
waterless DRrdanelles. in her posse,
sion 1t gave her access 10 her allie
in the possession Of her enemies n
Ottoman empire would 60 to piece
Only the accession OF Bulgaria To n
Teutonic cause could give the Turl
and Germans this advantage. As SOC
as Bulgaria entered, that section
the railroad extending 10 the Serbif
frontier would at once become Ryailahl
II Bulgaria Joined the central powe
as an active participant. the conouc
Of Serbia would inevitably follow a,
this would give the link extending fro
Nish to Belgrade to the Teutouic 20,
ers. Thus the Bulgarian alliance wou
sake Constantinople a suburb of Be
lin, place all the resources Of ii
Krupps at the disposal Of the Turk
army, make inevitable the failure
the allied attack on Gallipoi, and 1
the foundation Of that Oriental or
pire which had been FOR 30 years I
handspring Of German policy.
II is thus apparent what my Germ
friend meant when, in early Septemb
he said that, without Bulgaria
can not hold the Dardanelles." Ever
body sees this so clearly now that tn,
is a prevalent belief that Germany
arranged this Bulgarian alliance be(,
the outbreak Of the war. On this pc
nave no information. That the B
garian king and the kaiser may HI
arranged this corporation In adval
is not unlikely. But we must not ID
the mistake OF believing thai this $
tied the matter, for the experience
the last few years shows us that treat