Evening star., 1922-11-04
CHANAK AS STAGE
FOR WORLD EVENTS
Strategic Point on Asiatic
Side of DardaneIles
MoIder of History.

Translation often spoils romance.
Chanak. the strategic point on the
Asiatic side of the Dardanelles, which
after the fall of Smyrna as a sort
of threatened British Thermopylae.
means "pots"-scullery ware-accord-
ing to a bulletin dealing with the re-
gion issued by the National Geogra-
phic Society
But though 1t has a drum
name" continues the bulletin, CHA
, nak-or Tehanak- -Kalessi-and its
neighborhood have more than once
been the stage for acts which have
radically nodded the worlds history
and even the worlds literature Bare
| ly twenty miles to the south rose
| Troy, to furnish inspiration alike to
Homer and his myriad of readers.
i Within stones throw of Chanak.
xerxes in $50 B. c.. led his thousands
| of Persians across the Dardanelles on
! a bridge Of boats in the first formt-
| dable expedition OF Asiatics into Eu-
| rope which history records. At the
same spot a century and half later
Alexander led his smaller. but more
| highly trained army into Asia on his
triumphal conquest of the world
Where Turks Entered Europe.
| at was from chanak in 1853 that
the Turks crossed to their first foot
! hold in Europe-a crossing that gave
| Europe problem that has bred wars
| and massacres and broken treaties
for more than 500 years.
THE Sea of Marmora. into which
| the DardanelleS and the Bosporus
| widen. forms a barrier between Asia
and Europe. The roads between the
two continents lie across the two
straits at it's ends. Constantinople at
the narrowest point of the Rosporus,
is the front door: Chanak. where the
| tDardanelles Is most CONSTRUCTED, Is
the back door. 1t is natural enough.
perhaps, that almost all of the his
east should have been by the back
way. and that there again today Great
Britain should have made an i'm
Iportant stand.
Fortified Castles Numerous.
| Castle after castle. each fortified.
comes into view on both the Asiatic
and the European sides Of the Darda-
nelles as one steams from the Aegean
toward Constantinople. But the mar
irows opposite Chanak are reserved
for the castles of castles: the Castle
of Asia on the right. the Castle of
Europe on the left. The Chanak for
tifications were first constructed in
fell to the Turks. Ever since Chanak
has been a place of. Importance. In
recent decades it has been the point
of administration for all the Darda-
neIles defenses-the solar plexus of
the outer straits. German artillery
experts resided there during the world
| war and moderned the fortif1cations.
| "Chanak. too, has been the gateway
| to Constantinople for shipping There
each of the 1900 ships that passed
Through the Dardanelles in pre-war
idays was held until its papers were
| found to be satisfactory. and none
could pass after nightfall. Nearby
was anchored an important unit Of
| the Turkish feet.
Roles Seem Reversed.
"To the western observer steaming
Up tha,Dardanelles the roles Of Asia and
Euro$e seem reversed. All the scenic
beauty is on the Asiatic side, where
the steep sloops are clad with beauti-
! full forests The European side Is rug
ged and largely barren.
!; "Of the beauty spots on the Asiatic
shore few surpaas those about Cha
max, where the CONSTRUCTED stream
suddenly widens out to form at once
the Dardanelles' most striking cape
and bay. Barely five miles to the
| south are the ruins OF the ancient
city of Dardanus, which gives the
strait it's name. A few miles farther
Ito the southeast rises Mount Ida.
! where gods communed and from
where flowed the famous Scamander
| TO water the plains of Troy.