n the western front, the British
campaigns in Palestine and in Mesopotamia were in no small way
responsible for the final result. The fighting in this theater of the
war was against the Turkish allies of Germany. The Turks were
originally one of the Tartar tribes, dwelling in Asia, east of the
Caspian Sea. Many of these tribes passed over into Europe, where they
are now known as the Lapps, the Finns, the Bulgarians, and the Magyars
or Hungarians. More of these Tartar tribes migrated to Asia Minor and
adopted the Mohammedan religion. The Turks were one of these. They
served first as hired soldiers, but were finally united by their
leader, Seljuk, into a strong people called the Seljukian Turks. Their
power grew rapidly and soon they captured the city of Jerusalem. They
also invaded Europe and captured Constantinople, in 1453, where they
have ever since been a menace to civilization.

Less than a year after William II became Emperor of Germany, the
imperial yacht, the _Hohenzollern_, steamed through the Mediterranean
into the narrow Dardanelles and, saluted by forts on both shores,
passed on to Constantinople, the capital of the Moslem Kalif and the
Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II.

The head of the Catholic church is called the Pope; the head of the
Eastern church, the Patriarch; and the head of the Mohammedan, the
Kalif. Just as Catholics, no matter of what country they are citizens,
recognize the authority of the Pope in matters of religion, so
Mohammedans, with few exceptions, are guided in these matters by the
Kalif.

William II was accompanied by the Empress, his wife, and this was their
first ceremonial visit to any of the crowned heads of Europe. Why did
the German Kaiser select Abdul Hamid for this high honor?

The Germans were received with great joy. The entire city of
Constantinople was decorated with the gorgeous display that only an
eastern city makes. The visit was evidently greatly appreciated by the
Mohammedan Kalif and the Sultan of Turkey; and his people, at his
orders doubtless, made the Germans realize how proud they were at being
thus honored by the Kaiser.

What attraction brought these two strange monarchs together? And why
was the visit repeated nine years later in 1898? Did William II feel
in 1889 that Abdul Hamid was a man after his own heart, more nearly so
than any other ruler in Europe? And was he sure of it in 1898?

Certain it is, that while the greetings were cordial