_Germany's project of a railway from Berlin to Bagdad, now rivaled by a new one from Berlin to Bombay via Russia, was one of the chief causes of the war. It dates from 1888, when a syndicate of German and British capital organized the Anatolian Railway, to be built from Haidar Pacha, opposite Constantinople, to Angora--about 360 miles. The German members later bought out the British interests. Further concessions were obtained, but in 1898 a much more ambitious plan was brought forward by the visit of the German Emperor to Sultan Abdul Hamid, and in 1899 the general policy of a line across Asia Minor was announced. This line, however, as a glance at the map will show, did not get beyond Angora; Russia killed that phase of the project. The Bagdad Railway was then organized in 1903, and obtained from Turkey an unprecedented concession running southeastward to the Persian Gulf. Both England and France were offered a minor share in the enterprise, but refused. The Germans thus remained in full control, at the same time obtaining all the French capital they needed through Swiss banks._ The Bagdad Railway has been a nightmare resting heavily on all Europe for eighteen years--ever since the announcement in 1899 of the concession granted to the Anatolian Railway Company. No step ever taken by any European power anywhere has caused so much trouble, given rise to so many complications, and has been such a constant menace to the peace of the world. No European statesman to whom the destinies of his country have been committed has rested easily in the presence of this spectre of the twentieth century. In the last analysis the Bagdad Railway will be found to be the largest single contributing factor in bringing on the war, because through it more than through any other cause the mutual distrust among European powers has been nurtured until the entire atmosphere of international diplomacy became vitiated. The explanation of this remarkable phenomenon, transforming what appeared on the surface to be a magnificent commercial enterprise, with untold possibilities for usefulness, into a veritable curse, an excrescence on the body politic of Europe, is to be sought in the history of the highway through which the railway passes. The control of this highway is the key to the East--the Near and the Farther East as well. Such has been its rôle in the past--such is its significance today. * * *