“The area of territory of the Turkish Empire which has been conquered and occupied amounts to 114,000 square miles. The sphere of operations has included Trans-Caucasia and Trans-Caspia, and detachments furnished by the force are being employed over territory extending from Deir-as-Zor on the Euphrates, 330 miles north-west of Baghdad, to Merv in Trans-Caspia, some 1450 miles north-east of Baghdad. “Actual captures since the beginning of the campaign amount to 45,500 prisoners and 250 guns, together with vast quantities of war material of all descriptions. “These results have been achieved in a country destitute of shade in summer, and impassable owing to floods in wet weather, and are a lasting record of the gallantry and endurance of the officers and men, both British and Indian, who have fought uncomplainingly in spite of heat, thirst, rain, and discomfort, for four years in Mesopotamia.” This no doubt is a true and in some respects a striking presentment of the case; but it is a modest one, and more might have been said without exaggeration. Mention has been made in earlier chapters of the scheme of world dominion conceived by the Germans, and of the part which Turkey was to play in it. Germany aimed not only at becoming the Paramount Power in Europe, but at the supreme control of the East. The two things were parts, and equally important parts, of the great conspiracy. They were, so to speak, the twin pillars upon which the whole vast superstructure of German dominion was to rest. For the Eastern part of the scheme Turkey was essential. Upon the geographical situation and the military power of Turkey, supported by German gold and German military science, supported also by the Sultan’s influence as the spiritual head of Islam, everything depended. Through their vassal Turkey, the Germans were to strike down their most formidable enemy--England, whose fleet stood between them and the dominion of the world. This is not mere surmise. Germany made little secret of her intentions, or of the means by which they were to be fulfilled. When Turkey proceeded to declare war against the Allies and to carry out her part in the German scheme, she was very soon able, after beating off an attack on the Dardanelles, to throw her whole weight into Asia. From the nature of things her military effort then resolved itself into an advance upon three fronts. On her left she struck at the Russians in the Caucasus, in the centre she struck at both Russians and English in Persia, and hoped to work through Persia upon Afghanistan and India. On her right she struck at England in Egypt. All these countries--the Caucasus, Persia, Afghanistan, the Indian Frontier, Egypt--were mainly or largely Mahomedan, and the Koran was to give weight to the blows of the Turkish sword.