tter day are pictured as preparing war, gathering
their forces for the great Armageddon, the battle of the day of God.

As a signal of the last great struggle, the fall, or "drying up," of the
power ruling the territory watered by the river Euphrates is foretold.
Rev. 16:12. The Euphrates in all modern history has been suggestive of
the dominions of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire. And Armageddon,
designated as the meeting place of armies in the last clash of nations,
is in Palestine, which, through all modern times, has been in possession
of the Turkish power.

The index finger of prophecy points, therefore, to this region of the
eastern Mediterranean as the pivotal point in the closing history of
nations; and with Turkey's fate is wrapped up the fate of all the
nations of the world.

All this adds deepest and most solemn import to the study of what is
known as the Eastern Question, a question that has been to the fore in
international politics much of the time throughout this generation. Wars
have been fought over it, cabinets have wrestled with it, and still it
holds its place in the first rank of living issues of today.

As every one knows, the Eastern Question involves the dominion or
supremacy in the Near East. This region was a pivotal point in the
struggles of the nations in ancient times--the meeting place of East and
West. Maspero, historian of ancient empires, says of it:

"Some countries seem destined from their origin to become the
battle fields of the contending nations.... The nations around
are eager for the possession of a country thus situated....
From remote antiquity Syria was in the condition just
described. By its position it formed a kind of meeting place,
where most of the military nations of the ancient world were
bound sooner or later to come violently into
collision."--_"Struggle of the Nations," chap. 1._

It is not strange, therefore, that one of the great outlines of historic
prophecy should deal with events centering around this pivotal region.
The prophecy of Daniel 11 does so, outlining the course of history from
ancient times to the final solution of the Eastern Question amid the
scenes of the end.

Rise and Fall of Ancient Empires

The prophetic outline of Daniel 11 begins with Persia, in the third year
of Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon. (See Dan. 10:1.) The angel of God
appeared to Daniel, and in the longest and most detailed single pr