Timely as this call was, it was evident, from the prophetic scriptures, that the conflict then opening could not be the Armageddon of the Apocalypse, for the prelude to that final clash of nations is an event yet in the future--the downfall of a nation whose part in the closing scenes is clearly described in the prophecy of the coming Armageddon. The end of the power which rules over the territory through which the river Euphrates flows, is the prelude to Armageddon. The prophecy says: "The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared." Rev. 16:12. Next follows the gathering of "the whole world" to "the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Verse 14. Through all modern times Turkey has been identified with the Euphrates. The region of Syria and Asia Minor, long held by Turkey, has been the historic meeting place of the East and the West. In the London _Fortnightly Review_, May, 1915, Mr. J.B. Firth wrote: "When, with the fall of Ottoman sovereignty at Constantinople, the Turk is driven out of Europe, there will arise once more the eternal question of the possession of Asia Minor. That land is the corridor between Europe and Asia, along which have passed most of the European conquerors--the Russians alone excepted--who have invaded Asia, and most of the Asiatic conquerors who have invaded Europe." The fall of the Turkish power in this Euphrates region will, in some manner, prepare the way for "the kings of the East" to come up to the final conflict. The Awakening of the East The same spirit that has been stirring up the West in preparation for the contest has been working in the East also. Year after year observers have pointed out the great changes taking place in Asia. September, 1909, the London _Contemporary Review_ said: "The whole of Asia is in the throes of rebirth. At last we may see these three--the yellow race, the Indian race, and the Arab-Persian Mohammedan race. And all that is making for the Armageddon." A writer in the May, 1913, issue of the London _Nineteenth Century and After_, reviewing the situation at the close of the Balkan War, said: "A new spirit is abroad in the East. It arose on the shores of the Pacific when Japan proved that the great powers of Europe are not invulnerable. North and south and west it has spread, rousing China out of centuries of slumber, stirring India into ominous questioning, reviving memories of past glory in Persia, breeding discontent in Egypt, and luring Turkey onto the rocks." With all the nations stirred up by the spirit agencies of the god of this world, the prophet next saw the armies of earth gathering to the last great battle. The prophecy continues: "And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Rev. 16:16.