tended over the whole of Cilicia and, before they had ceased,
involved the death of some 20,000 Armenians and a lesser
number of Moslems. Both the Government and the Sultan
Abdul Hamid have been charged with responsibility for the out-
break; but instigation to the deed, though not perhaps directly
from the Government, appears to have come from the Committee.
It well may be that these massacres were, in fact, an abrupt
and premature step in the policy of " Turkification," which
the Government had in view.
In its various forms, this policy gave rise to the chief inter- nal preoccupations of the Government during the years 1909-12. In 1909, as part of the same policy, a law was passed imposing compulsory military service on all Christian subjects of the empire for the first time. In the same years, stern military suppression accompanied by much bloodshed was applied in Albania and Macedonia; taxation and conscription were enforced, the national schools closed, and Turkish decreed as the official language. In Syria too, Turkish was made the official language, and Arabic forbidden in the schools.
A local quarrel in the Hawran was seized as a pretext in 1910 for dispatching thither some 30,000 men, with artillery, to crush the Druses. The operations, however, did not result entirely to the advantage of the Turks, who suffered at least one serious reverse, and a compromise followed under which the Druses accepted conscription for the Ottoman army.
South-western Arabia, where the Imam lahya of the lemen and the Idrisi of Asir rebelled at the end of 1910, was another region marked down for " Turkification." Military operations to this end were undertaken on a large scale during 1911; but again without definite success. Some 50,000 Turkish troops were employed, but, though able to relieve beleaguered Turkish garrisons, they could not penetrate the mountainous region forming the Arab stronghold and were unable to establish Turkish domination.
The Ottoman Government took these experiences to heart. They recognized that the " Turkification " of distant provinces containing no Turkish population was a task beyond their power, and the policy was therefore relaxed in certain districts. In the lemen, in fact, a measure of local independence was granted to the Imam lahya, though not to the Idrisi of Asir. " Turkification " was now reserved for Turkey in Europe and for the great compact territory of Asia Minor, the fastness of the Turkish race, by systematic and thorough processes, it being intended to make this wide area Turkish in population and spirit beyond question or doubt. For the time being, however, it seemed that the empire might hope for a period of comparative freedom from internal disturbance.
But external difficulties now arose. Italy had long shown designs on Tripoli, the remaining African province of the Otto- man Empire. During 1911 various matters had created friction between the two countries and caused the exchange of bitter articles in the press, but war had appeared unlikely. On Sept. 29 1911, however, the Italian Government presented an ultima- tum stating that, Turkish obstruction and hostility to Italian interests having become so great, the occupation of Tripoli had been decided upon. The ultimatum required Turkish acquies- cence to this course within twenty-four hours. The Turkish reply did not accept the occupation, and Italy declared war on Sept. 30. The Turkish garrison was small; it could not be rein- forced owing to Italian command of the sea; the Turkish defence in Tripoli therefore had to rely chiefly upon Arab forces locally raised. Italian troops landed on Oct. 12 and the bombardment and capture of towns along the coast began. No serious opera- tions were attempted far inland; and though severe fighting took place effective Italian occupation never extended far from the sea. Italian warships blockaded and bombarded Turkish ports on the Red Sea coast of Arabia and supplied arms and munitions to the Idrisi of Asir, to the great advantage of that ruler. Various Turkish islands in the Aegean Sea, including Rhodes, were occupied by Italian troops in the spring of 1912. A naval demonstration against the Dardanelles was also made. This affair prompted the Ottoman Government to close the Darda-
nelles and Bosporus against all shipping, a course which caused immense loss and inconvenience to neutral Powers and produced such vigorous protest, particularly from Russia, that the straits were reopened in May. The war, hopeless from the first, con- tinued for another six months, marked only by unavailing efforts in Tripoli by Enver Bey the well-known member of the Committee of Union and Progress at the head of Arab irregu- lars. But difficulties of finance, the impossibility of undertaking effective operations against Italy, and signs of impending trouble in the Balkans at length compelled the Ottoman Government to peace. Under the Treaty of Ouchy, signed on Oct. 18 1912, Tripoli, the last Ottoman territory in Africa, passed into Italian possession. Rhodes and other Turkish islands were retained by Italy for the time being.
Balkan unrest had shown itself in unusually ominous form as early as the beginning of May 1912. Following the general elections in April for the Ottoman Chamber, in which the Committee of Union and Progress had exhausted every method of corruption and violence to secure the return of their candidates, 30,000 Albanian clansmen, exasperated by " Turkification " and repression, mustered in organized rebellion. Their purpose was the overthrow of Committee Government, to which end they demanded new elections. The Government temporized and took inadequate military measures; meanwhile a rebellion grew, and Turkish and Christian hatred became more and more inflamed. At the close of July, the massacre of Christians at Kotchana deeply excited Balkan opinion. It was followed by a similar massacre of Christians at Berana, and events now moved rapidly toward war. The Turkish Government saw nothing for it but compliance with Albanian demands, at least in form; and on Aug. 6, to the rage of the Committee, their hardly won majority vanished in the dissolution of the Chamber by imperial decree. As a further concession to the insurgents, reforms on the widest scale were promised; but their application required time, even if the good faith of the Government could be trusted.
Matters had gone too far, however, for any Turkish concessions to avail. The Balkan States Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro regarded themselves as the dispossessed owners of Ottoman territory in Europe. They deemed that now, with organized rebellion afoot in the Turkish Balkans, was the opportunity to recover Macedonia and Thrace for division among themselves. They judged, further, that should their attempt by any chance miscarry, the Great Powers, more particularly Russia, protector of the Slav peoples, would not allow them to be crushed, or their present territories to be diminished. For the execution of their purpose, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Monte- negro had already formed an alliance. Bulgaria began her mobilization at the end of September, followed immediately by her allies; Turkey ordered mobilization on Oct. i; by Oct. 18 1912 the four Balkan States were at war with the Ottoman Empire.
When war broke out the Ottoman forces in Europe numbered less than 250,000 men, dispersed over Macedonia and Thrace; they were thus at great numerical disadvantage. The Anatolian troops, ever the bulk of Ottoman armed strength, had to be conveyed great distances by inadequate means of transportation. The full strength of the empire could not be exerted in Europe until months had elapsed; and the outcome of the war was decided in the first two weeks.
The war was fought in two chief theatres of operations the less important in Macedonia, against the Serbian, Greek and Montenegrin armies, assisted by two Bulgarian divisions; the more important in Eastern Thrace against the Bulgarians, later assisted by a considerable Serbian force.
In the Macedonian area the Turks were defeated by the Serbian army at Kumanova on Oct. 24-25, and lost Uskub in consequence. Another Serbian force, uniting with Montenegrins, had occupied northern Albania the end of October. The main Turkish army retreated on Monastir, where, on Nov. 14-18, it was again defeated by the Serbians, who outnumbered them in the proportion of 5 to 2.
The Greeks meanwhile, who crossed the frontier with six divisions on Oct. 18, had made Salonika their objective.
