ms to have had the idea of relieving the
pressure on Russia. The Turkish offensive in the Caucasus had come to
grief about the end of December but a resumption was momentarily
expected and feared. Hindenburg's victory at Tannenberg in East
Prussia had been a terrible blow to Russia and she had no troops to
spare for defense in the Caucasus.

Furthermore, Constantinople, besides being one of the objectives of
the war, was Russia's only warm sea gate into Europe. It must have
been apparent to the Russian military authorities that the existing
supplies of munition and guns of the czar's army would not suffice to
withstand a hard German-Austrian drive. In other words the condition
that resulted in the defeat of the Russian army in Galicia and Poland
in the summer of 1915 were foreseen. Russia called upon England and
France to force the Dardanelles. One can find it easy to condemn the
operation but few can be found who will deny that it was a glorious
failure. One that added luster to the glory of the British army, navy,
and many unmatched pages to the story of their bravery. And no less
credit and glory did it bring to the Turkish armies.

In addition to the question of war supplies there were other reasons
for opening the Dardanelles as soon as possible. Russia's ability to
finance a war of the magnitude of the one there being fought,
especially where large foreign purchases were made, depended very
largely upon the maintenance of foreign commerce. Russia was buying
from all the neutral world as well as from her Entente partners.
England, for instance, was not only making for her millions of
dollars' worth of war supplies, but she was, for the moment, financing
many of Russia's purchases abroad.

[Illustration: Gallipoli.]

In return for all this it was important that Russia should export as
freely as possible. Now one of her most valuable commodities and one
in high demand not only in England, but in other countries, was wheat.
Millions upon millions of bushels of Russian wheat were stored in her
great Black Sea ports waiting to be shipped through Constantinople
when the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles were commanded by Entente guns
and ships. Greece, under the leadership of Premier Venizelos was
hesitating on the brink of a plunge into the struggle as an ally of
the Entente and not only agreed to the use of Greek islands but
actually considered a proposal to send a Greek force of not less than
20,000 and possibly as m