additional and important purposes in view. In support of the pob'cy, and to emphasize the religious character of Ottoman war aims, a Jihad or Holy War was proclaimed by "the Sultan as Caliph of Islam.
Turkish entry into the war on the side of Germany profoundly affected the course of the war. Coupled with similar action on the part of Bulgaria it isolated Russia and Rumania from the Western Powers, and was a potent influence in producing the collapse of the Russian Empire. It compelled the Allies to gigantic military efforts far from their own territory and bases, as the only means of countering the advantages Germany gained from Turkish and Bulgarian support. It prevented food supplies from southern Russia reaching the peoples of western Europe who needed them. It came within a narrow margin of setting the Mahommedan world ablaze against Great Britain and France on which Germany had counted a catastrophe averted by the accident that the Sherif of Mecca opposed the Jihad and divided Islam. Participation in the war involved the Ottoman Empire in hostilities on every front of her territory; it was the penalty of her action and her geographical situation.
During the spring and summer of 1915 a British and French Expeditionary Force attacked the Dardanelles. It was recognized that in Constantinople lay the heart of the whole Eastern theatre, and that if the Straits were forced and the Ottoman capital occupied, the war in Europe itself would be greatly shortened. The campaign failed directly to achieve its purpose, but never- theless, the Turkish regular army, irreplaceable in so far as it had been brought to a high state of efficiency by German re- organization and training, was destroyed during the operations. Foiled at the Dardanelles the Allies next attempted to attain their ends by a much greater expedition to Salonika. Its aim was to sever German communications with Constantinople by knock- ing Bulgaria out of the war. The Salonika area became at last the third chief zone of Allied military effort, but no great success attended the expedition until near the close of 1918. In these operations no Turkish troops took part, but in 1916 Turkish divisions had to fight in the great invasion of Rumania.
With the empire at war and the Committee in power, the Turkish Government resolved to execute their cherished scheme for the complete " Turkification " of Asia Minor. Under Talaat Bey, the Minister of the Interior, the process was begun in ruthless fashion during the spring of 1915. Greek elements of the population were deported in tens of thousands from coastal regions where they had become unduly numerous, and taken into the interior; and many were killed. But " Turkification " was aimed chiefly against the Armenians, who were to be extermi- nated. During 191 5-6 organized massacres and deportations were carried out systematically, to the extent of almost uprooting the Armenian race from Asia Minor. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered; hundreds of thousands set marching for Syria and Mesopotamia perished on the way by hardship, disease, starvation; those who escaped became fugitives; from first to last at least three-quarters of a million Armenians perished in Asia Minor in a population of less than two millions. Only in the Turkish provinces bordering on Trans-Caucasia did massacre and deportation fail. In these districts the Armenian inhabitants were able to escape into Russian territory or were saved by the advance of Russian armies.
In this Turko-Russian frontier the Turkish Higher Command had expected to do the greater part of their campaigning. It was one of the empire's historical fronts; beyond it lay the traditional Russian enemy; on the hither side was the Ottoman fortress of Erzerum, the greatest place of arms in Asia Minor. In this mountainous region, between the Black Sea and the Persian frontier, the war was carried on with fluctuating fortune. Erzerum was captured by the Russians on Feb. 16 1916; and the Russian armies advanced westward till they held 30,000 sq. m. of Ottoman territory. On the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917 the Turks were able to recover ground; and under the Treaty of Brest Litovsk between Germany and Russia, signed on March 3 1918, Turkey's claims to the provinces she had lost to Russia in 1878 were recognized. Turkish troops occupied these
provinces of Ardahanand Kars during 1918, and penetrated still farther into Trans-Caucasia. ,
In Mesopotamia from 1915 onward the Ottoman Empire had been faced by serious British military operations, here, too, with various changes of fortune. But eventually the British captured Bagdad and overran Mesopotamia from the Persian Gulf to the borders of Syria. At the end of 1914 a Turkish army from Syria made an attempt to reach the Suez Canal and cut British sea communications with the East. A battle was fought on the Canal banks, and some Turkish detachments succeeded in launching pontoons on the Canal itself. But the attack failed; subsequent attempts were defeated far from the waterway, and at the end of 1917 the British had reached southern Palestine, and the Turkish army was on the defensive, with other matters than the Canal to engage its attention.
Much had been hoped for from Arabia by Turko-German leaders, both as giving opportunities for offensive operations against the British line of communications passing along the Red Sea, and as the seat of a great spiritual influence in Islam to be exerted against the Allied Powers. In Arabia were the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, governed by the Sherif of Mecca, a dignitary and ruler of great influence in the Mahom- medan world. He had already declined to support the Jihad. In June 1916 he rose in rebellion against the " Young Turk " or " Committee Government " of Turkey, and obtained British support. From this time onward, Arabia, instead of being a possible source of strength to the Ottoman Empire, became the theatre of hostile operations which presently extended northward to southern Palestine and endangered the left flank of the Turkish army threatening Egypt. By the end of 1917 the British under Lord AUenby had reached and occupied Jerusalem. And in the brilliant campaign during the autumn of 1918 they destroyed or captured nearly the whole Turko-German army in Syria, and only stayed their advance N. of Aleppo. This campaign ended all Ottoman resistance. The Armistice of Mudros, signed on Oct. 30 1918, terminated hostilities between the Allied Powers and Turkey, gave the Allies control of Constantinople and the Straits, and ensured the evacuation of Trans-Caucasia by Turkish troops. It marked, too, the end of "Young Turk" Government in Constantinople, for the leading members of the Committee of Union and Progress fled the country. The Armistice between the Allies and Germany, signed on Nov. 11 following, confirmed the final triumph of the Allied Powers in all the various theatres of war.
The remaining history of the Ottoman Empire up to Dec. 1921 has chiefly to do with the deliberations of the Allied Conference in determining the conditions of peace. The treaty embodying the terms of the Allied Powers was eventually signed at Sevres by the Ottoman delegates on Aug. 10 1920. The territorial provisions of the Treaty reduced the empire to a nation little larger than Spain. Eastern Thrace and a considerable territory around Smyrna were assigned to Greece. Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Turkish Arabia were likewise forfeited; and the southern frontier of Turkey became a line running roughly E. and W. from the Persian frontier to the head of the Gulf of Alexandretta. The Dardanelles, Bosporus, the Sea of Marmora, and the adjoining coastal areas, both in Europe and Asia, were demilitarized, and, to the extent necessary to ensure the freedom of the Straits, were placed under the control of an International Commission. Constantinople, however, remained the Turkish capital. The frontiers of an Armenian state, so far as the state should include Turkish territory, were referred to the delimitation of President Wilson, whose decision the Treaty bound the Turks to accept. The line he subsequently laid down gave some 30,000 sq. m. of eastern Asia Minor to Armenia, including the Black Sea port of Trebizond.
Turkish history after the Treaty of Sevres was signed belongs to Nationalist Turkey, the State established by Turkish Nationalists, with its capital at Angora, to resist the execution of the Treaty. (See TURKEY, NATIONALIST.) (W. J. C.*)
OWEN, EDMUND (1847-1915), English surgeon, was born at Hinchingfield, Essex, April 7 1847. He received his medical
