oumania's adhesion to the cause of the Allies is bound to
accelerate this movement. It would not be surprising if Greece were
any day now to follow the example of Roumania. Had Greece in 1914
stood by Venizelos and joined the Allies the chances are that
Roumania would at that time have adopted the same course. But the
opposition of King Constantine delayed that consummation, directly
in the case of Greece, and indirectly in the case of Roumania. Now
that the latter has cast in her lot with the Allies and the former
is likely at any tune to follow her example, I may be permitted to
quote the forecast which I made in the Preface to the Second Edition
of this volume under date of November 26, 1914:

"If this terrible conflagration, which is already devastating
Europe and convulsing all the continents and vexing all the
oceans of the globe, spreads to the Balkans, one may hazard the
guess that Greece, Montenegro, Servia, and Roumania will stand
together on the side of the Allies and that Bulgaria if she is
not carried away by marked Austro-German victories will remain
neutral."

J. G. S.

September 1, 1916.

[Map: map1.png
Caption: The Balkan Peninsula before the Wars of 1912-1913.]

I

TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES

The expulsion of the Turks from Europe was long ago written in the
book of fate. There was nothing uncertain about it except the date
and the agency of destiny.

THE TURKISH EMPIRE IN EUROPE

A little clan of oriental shepherds, the Turks had in two
generations gained possession of the whole of the northwest corner
of Asia Minor and established themselves on the eastern shore of the
Bosphorus. The great city of Brusa, whose groves to-day enshrine the
stately beauty of their mosques and sultans' tombs, capitulated to
Orkhan, the son of the first Sultan, in 1326; and Nicaea, the cradle
of the Greek church and temporary capital of the Greek Empire,
surrendered in 1330. On the other side of the Bosphorus Orkhan could
see the domes and palaces of Constantinople which, however, for
another century was to remain the seat of the Byzantine Empire.

The Turks crossed the Hellespont and, favored by an earthquake,
marched in 1358 over the fallen walls and fortifications into the
city of Gallipoli. In 1361 Adrianople succumbed to the attacks of
Orkhan's son, Murad I, whose sway was soon acknowledged in Thrace
and Macedonia, and who was destined to lead the victorious Ottoma