oint of caravan routes.]

Near the crossing of the Taurus and Amanus mountains lies the city of
Aleppo, the starting-point for the overland caravan routes to Bagdad and
India, and also to Damascus, Mecca, and Egypt. Just as surely as pioneer
travelers always chose the easiest route, so the railways of to-day
follow in their footsteps. The physical features of nature constrained
both modern as well as ancient armies to travel the same way. Hence a
railway map of the Balkans and of Asiatic Turkey is a first
consideration in appreciating the strategical bearings of the
Anglo-Russian campaign in Turkey-in-Asia, or the alleged rival
Germanic-Turkish schemes for the invasion of Egypt, Persia, and India.
Of no less importance is a knowledge of the available sea routes and
inland rivers.

[Sidenote: Bulgaria and Turkey depend on aid from Germany.]

The ability of Bulgaria and Turkey to carry on the war depends on aid
from Germany in men, munitions, and money. These allies are the weakest
members of the Central Group, and may be the first to give in if
circumstances are adverse to their adventure.

[Sidenote: The importance of the Balkan railway.]

Their sole communication with the Central Powers is by the Balkan
railway from the Danube to Constantinople by way of Sofia. If this line
is severed, then these nations are out of the game. The Allies have all
winter been organizing the defenses of Salonica as a _pied-a-terre_ for
such an attack. Should Rumania join the Allies in the spring, then a
further attack may be expected from the north, in which Russian troops
would join. Turkey is now too preoccupied with her own troubles to be
able to assist Bulgaria.

[Sidenote: Asia Minor's only important line.]

[Sidenote: Railway planned from Aleppo to Bagdad.]

In Asia Minor the only railway of importance is the trunk line from
Scutari, on the Bosphorus, to the Taurus Tunnel, in course of completion
near Adana. One branch runs west to Smyrna, and another east to Angora.
Beyond the Taurus Tunnel is another in course of completion through the
Amanus Mountains. Every person and everything destined for the Bagdad
front or for the invasion of Egypt has to be transported over these
mountains. So also have rails for the completion of the Aleppo-to-Bagdad
railway. These tunnels are expected to be finished this year--when it
will be too late. From Aleppo the Syrian railway runs south through
Damascus to Medina and Mecca in Arabia. Branc