Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/59

LEFT TURKEY 41 still more turbulent in 1909, and there were serious disturbances in Arabia and Macedonia. A counter-revolution started which, however, was promptly sup- pressed. Parliament now voted to de- pose Abdul- Hamid and placed him prac- tically in captivity near Saloniki. His brother, Mohammed V., was made Sul- tan in his place. Measures were now taken on a large scale to Ottomanize the Turkish empire. The Bulgarians, Greeks, and Serbians in Macedonia bitterly resented this, and Greece, Bul- garia, and Serbia befan to draw more closely together with the object of protecting their nationals in Macedonia. In 1911 Italy seized Tripoli and Cjrrenaica. This was followed by a war between Turkey and Italy. Peace was not concluded until 1912, when Italy gained a large territory, includ- ing Tripoli and Cyrenaica. During the summer of 1912, the Balkan states formed the Balkan League, which resulted in the Balkan War. See Balkan "Wars. The outcome of this struggle was the loss of all Turkish possessions in Europe, except Constan- tinople, Adrianople, and a small ad- jacent territory. German influence had become strong in Turkey during these events. The Turkish army was armed and drilled by Germans, and the German Govern- ment secured the ^eater share of new concessions, including the Bagdad rail- road. Germany's sympathy was shown toward Turkey during the Balkan War. It was no occasion for surprise, then, when Turkey chose to side with Ger- many and Austria against the Allied Powers in the World War. The Turkish Government, indeed, in the first days of the war, declared its neutrality, but mobilization of her mili- tary forces at once began. The com- mander-in-chief of the Turkish armies was Enver Pasha, who had been edu- cated in Germany and whose ideals were those of his German associates. The German general, Liman von Sanders, had brought about the reorganization of the Turkish army on a modern basis. On the declaration of war between Ger- many and Russia, Turkey at once closed the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to all shipping, planting mines at the entrances. This effectively bottled up the Russian fleets in the Black Sea. On Oct. 30, 1914, Russia declared war against Turkey, and the Sultan at once declared war against Russia, France and England. On Nov. 17, Great Britain formally declared a pro- tectorate over Egypt. The Sultan en- deavored to foment a "Holy War" TURKEY against the Allies, but this met with little response outside of the Turkish empire. The first military operations of im- portance took place in the Caucasus where a Turkish army advanced into Persia. This force was defeated by Russians on Jan. 30, 1915. There were other Russian successes in Persia and in the Caucasus. The main opera- tions, however, were carried on in Trans- caucasia, where, on Dec. 26, 1914, a great Turkish army was decisively beaten by Russian forces, and for some months Turkey was unable to carry on further operations in this field. The campaign was, however, conducted for the purpose of capturing the Suez Canal, in January, 1916. This was frustrated by prompt British resistance which drove back the Turkish forces, leaving the British in possession of the canal. Other operations early in the war oc- curred in the Persian Gulf. The British disembarked a force near Basra, which the Turks evacuated on their approach. Here the British prepared a base camp for an attack upon Bagdad, about 300 miles distant. 50 miles above Basra, the Turkish army had been mobilized. The British attacked this point and finally succeeded in defeating the Turk- ish army, which surrendered. The British then intrenched themselves, having cut off Turkey from any advance on India, The most spectacular operations in which Turkey was engaged during the first period of the war was the effort on the part of the French and British to force a passage of the Dardanelles. Great preparations having been made, the main attack upon the Gallipoli forts was begun on Feb. 19, 1915. It is probable that Turkey had concentrated half a million men on the peninsula. The British, after a severe bombardment of the forts, landed marines, but these were attacked by superior forces of Turks and were compelled to re-embark. These attacks continued for months fol- lowing, but with little success. The Allies, during the progress of the bom- bardment, lost several of their best bat- tleships. In the meantime the Allies were pre- paring an expeditionary force in Egypt which was later transferred to the island of Lemnos, which had been occu- pied by the Allies. On April 23, 1915, the first of these forces disembarked on the Gallipoli peninsula under cover of the guns of the warships. The Turkish troops, who were under the command of the German General von Sanders, opened a furious fire on the landing parties of the Allies, but the latter, seal-