The Dominion. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1916. THE HIGHWAY TO THE EAST

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2877, 15 September 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1916. THE HIGHWAY TO THE EAST

Rumania's entry into the war and other rpcent happenings in the Balkans are likely to finally shatter Germany's long cherished hope of creating a rich colonial empiro in Asia Minor. If her road to, Constantinople is blocked,, the realisation of this great ambition will bo doomed to failure. This imminent clanger plainly is causing the Kaiser and his associates great _ anxiety, and it is believed that ho is at present endeavouring to impress upon his Allies the urgent need of doing their utmost to prevent the Bussians from crossing Bulgaria and blocking the road to Constantinople. When. Bulgaria decided to throw in her lot with the Central Powers, and when Serbia was conquered, the Germans felt that their Mesopocamian ambitions wore on the eve of being realised. Germany's plans had ,a double object. She wanted Mesopotamia, which was at one time ono of the great granaries of the world, and she also desired to strike a blow at Britain's Indian Empire and her influence in the East. _ For years Germany has been, striving to in-r creaso her influence in Asia Minor by intrigue and diplomacy, and sho succeeded in acquiring some valuable railway and trading concessions. The control of tho highway through Constantinople to the East is an essential preliminary to the Germanisation of Asiatic Turkey and the formation of a Gorman pathway from Antwerp to Bagdad. The compulsory permanent abandonment of this hugo scheme of aggrandisement would bo the. most severe blow to German prido and power sho has yet sustained in this war. Moreover, it would have a most disheartening effect with-the people. This Eastern Empire is one of the prizes promised to tho German people as a result of the war. A recent writer on this subject has pointed out that the Germans have been encouraged to believe that as soon as tho Allies "shall have recognised defeat and left Germany at the head of an immense Zollverpin stretching from Antwerp to the Persian Gulf, no power on earth, and no British blockade, will ever be able 'to repeat the policy of starving Germany out." When a German train—the Balkan express —first ran through from Antwerp to l/onstantinoplo a few months ago, tho Germans proudly boasted that it would run for ever. But recent developments are shaking their confi-' dence, and they now see that their Eastern enterprises are in jeopardy, *fhe position is undoubtedly critical, and the. first field conference of the Central Powers will liot find it an easy matter to parry the'blow which tho Allies are now delivering in tho Balkans.

The extension of German dominion through tho Balkans to Bagdad and thence to the Persian Gulf should not be regarded'as a minor part of the German plan. It was one of the main reasons why Germany brought about this war. In a paper read at a meeting of tho Royal Colonial Institute in February last, Mn. J. L. Garvin states that without the Balkans there could bo no German ascendancy either in Europe, as a whole or in the Near East. The Germans have long realised that tho fight for tho Balkans had not only to be fought out, but that the fight should, if possible, bo 1 made and forced beforo Eussia had fully recovered from tho effects of her disastrous war with Japan.

The Touto from Berlin to Bagdad had plainly become tho main line, or axis, of German npibitions, and tho attempt to gain that liiie, onco and for over, had to lio made at all costs. Through tho Balkans, through Serbia, Bulgaria, aud Turkish Thrace, ran tho centre of that line, with a side branch to Salonika as important ns any of tho trunk sections. In the Balkans tho whole scheme of the Knisor's world-policy had to bo lost or won. The Near East had becomo tho pivot of the whole pan-German doctrine, and thero might bo won the struggle, not only against Russia, but against Britain.

If Britain had kept , out of the war the triumph of Germany from tho English Channel to the Persian Gulf would have been almost a certainty, and then Germany would havo been ready for that trial of strength with tho British Empire which so many of tho lenders of German thought have for years past declared to bo inevitable. It is, of course, of tho most vital importance both to Britain and Russia that Germany's hopes, of founding a colonial cmuiic, with Bagdad as its

capital, should be shattered, and it now looks as-if .the shattering has already commenced. Me. Garvin concludc,d his paper with, the statement that if other ways of defeating the Central Powers should prove still to be blocked for a time, the mastery of the 'Near fiast and the thrust through the Balkans must open up tho line to victory. Commenting on this point, Colonel Sir John S. Young declared that we are already on the road to victory there. This was in February last, and the outlook for the Allies in the Balkans has greatly improved since then. "Look where tho Russians aro in Asia Minor and in Persia,":ho said. They were thon nearing Erzcriim and KermaTishali, both of which places have since been captured. And Erzerum is only about 250 miies from the Bagdad railway, and Kermanshah is under 200 miles from Bagdad itself. In tho Balkans tho situation is equally satisfactory from tho p<)int of view of tho Allies. The Kaiser knows that he has to faco a tremendously difficult problem. Tho Austrians are unable to help him; Bulgaria is in a desperate plight; and Turkey has already reached the limit of her fighting power: How then can ho avert tho clanger ho so greatly fears?'