Page:Turkey, the great powers, and the Bagdad Railway.djvu/314

 *dent Wilson made it plain that no peace was possible which did not destroy German military power in the Near East. Addressing the American Federation of Labor, at Buffalo, N. Y., he said:[22]

"Look at the map of Europe now. Germany, in thrusting upon us again and again the discussion of peace, talks about what? Talks about Belgium—talks about Alsace-Lorraine. Well, these are deeply interesting subjects to us and to them, but they are not talking about the heart of the matter. Take the map and look at it. Germany has absolute control of Austria-Hungary, practical control of the Balkan States, control of Turkey, control of Asia Minor. I saw a map the other day in which the whole thing was printed in appropriate black, and the black stretched all the way from Hamburg to Bagdad—the bulk of the German power inserted into the heart of the world. If she can keep that, she has kept all that her dreams contemplated when the war began. If she can keep that, her power can disturb the world as long as she keeps it, always provided the present influences that control the German Government continue to control it."

In the light of all the facts, this diagnosis of the situation is incomplete, to say the least. Had President Wilson been cognizant of the contemporaneous counter-activities of the Allied Powers, he might not have been prepared to offer so simple an explanation of a many-sided problem. For it was not German imperialism alone which menaced the peace of the Near East and of the world, but all imperialism.

Germany may have been determined to dominate the Ottoman Empire by military force. But from the Turkish point of view domination by Germany was hardly more objectionable than the dismemberment which was certain to be the result of an Allied victory.

Indeed, confident that they would eventually win the war, the Entente Powers had proceeded far in their plans