Page:Turkey, the great powers, and the Bagdad Railway.djvu/301

 which was to increase our national welfare and our power, the Russian Empire made every effort to destroy our attempts, either with war or with numerous machinations and intrigues. Russia, England, and France never for a moment ceased harboring ill-will against our Caliphate, to which millions of Mussulmans, suffering under the tyranny of foreign domination, are religiously and whole-*heartedly devoted. And it was always these powers that started every misfortune that came upon us. Therefore, in this mighty struggle which we are undertaking, we once and for all will put an end to the attacks made from one side against the Caliphate and from the other against the existence of our country."[4]

Turcophiles in Germany were enthusiastic over Ottoman participation in the Great War. The Turkish military contribution to a Teutonic victory might not be decisive, but neither would it be insignificant. And German coöperation in Ottoman military ventures would certainly strengthen German economic penetration in the Near East, even though Turkish arms might not drive Britain out of Egypt or Russia out of the Caucasus. "Over there in Turkey," wrote Dr. Ernest Jäckh, "stretch Anatolia and Mesopotamia—Anatolia, the 'land of sunrise,' Mesopotamia, an ancient paradise. Let these names be to us a symbol. May this world war bring to Germany and Turkey the sunrise and the paradise of a new era. May it confer upon a strengthened Turkey and a greater Germany the blessings of fruitful Turco-Teutonic co-*operation in peace after victorious Turco-Teutonic collaboration in war."[5]

Whatever may have been the European origins of the Great War, there was no disposition on the part of the