trian frontiers as to be unable to meet an attack in her
rear. Turkey thereupon concentrated her main armies at Erzerum and
invaded Caucasia. The Russians beat them back and entered Armenia, where
the inhabitants assisted them. The same cause which led to the
retirement from Poland--shortage of ammunition--compelled the Russians
also to withdraw from Armenia.

[Sidenote: Britain's reverse at Gallipoli.]

Contemporary with these events, Britain met with a severe reverse on the
Gallipoli peninsula, which likewise injured her prestige in the East.

[Sidenote: An Anglo-Russian campaign from Kurna to the Black Sea.]

It became a matter of first importance with both Britain and Russia that
they should not only reinstate their prestige in the East in striking
fashion, but that they should end once and for all time German intrigue
and Turkish weakness in the East. These considerations were contributing
factors in bringing about a joint war council and an Allied Grand Staff.
The latter immediately took hold of the military situation in Asiatic
Turkey, and the isolated operations of Britain and Russia in these parts
now changed into a great Anglo-Russian campaign stretching from the
junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to the Black Sea.

The drama unfolding before us promises to be one of the most sensational
in the great world war. The end of the Ottoman Empire appears in sight.
Its heirs and successors may be the other great Moslem powers--Britain,
Russia, France, and Italy. The last two have yet to be heard from on the
western shores of Asia Minor.

[Sidenote: The possible future.]

The future may see the British in possession of Turkey's first capital,
Mosul; the French in possession of their second capital, Konia; the
Russians in possession of their third and last capital, Constantinople,
and the Italians occupying Smyrna. Each of these powers is a Mohammedan
empire in itself; and the greatest Moslem country in the world is the
British Empire.

[Sidenote: Britain may be stronger than ever in the East.]

The Moslems in India not only approve of the idea of removing the
Sheik-Ul-Islam, head of the Mohammedan creed, from Constantinople to
Delhi or Cairo, under British protection, but the head of their church
in India volunteered as a private soldier to fight in France, and is now
with the Anglo-Indian army in Mesopotamia. It would seem as if Britain
and Russia, at the end of this war, would find themselves stron