DARDANELLES 



1702 



DARDANELLES 



nae) as oars. The body of this microscopic 

 animal is encased in a dainty, transparent, 

 hinged shell. The head is prolonged into a 

 snout and is provided with feelers and a single, 

 central, compound black eye. There are five 

 pairs of appendages, which move continually, 

 aiding the animal's breathing. Some water 

 fleas turn red in summer, and, swarming in 

 millions in ponds and marshes, impart their 

 color to the water. 



DARDANELLES, dahr danelz' , a strait con- 

 necting the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Mar- 

 mora, which in turn, at its eastern extremity, 

 is connected by the Bosporus (literally, ox- 

 ford) with the Black Sea. The two straits, 



}) TURKEY 

 n Europe 



Constantino 



TURKEY 



in Asia 



THE DARDANELLES 



The small black areas mark the extent of the 

 advance of the entente nations in the disastrous 

 Gallipoli campaign. 



together with the Sea of Marmora, form a 

 waterway leading from the land-locked Black 

 Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The European 

 nations have long recognized the fact that any 

 one nation which controlled both of the straits 

 and the Black Sea could build and assemble a 

 war fleet in the Black Sea which would be 

 practically safe from attack and yet have all 

 the maritime nations of Europe at its mercy. 

 The Dardanelles is a narrow channel, easily 

 defended, and is recognized as the keystone 

 which hitherto has held together the Turkish 

 Empire. Should it ever fall into the posses- 

 sion of another nation, the dominion of Turkey 

 in Europe must come to an end. The power 

 which holds the straits inevitably holds Con- 

 stantinople, and if ever the Turks withdraw 

 from Constantinople Turkey will become a 

 minor Asiatic power. The importance of the 

 Dardanelles has frequently been proved in 

 the history of Turkey, but never more clearly 

 than in 1915, during the War of the Nations. 

 For almost a year the allied armies and fleets 

 attempted to for,ce a passage to Constantinople, 

 only to retire at last, either because the cost 

 in men and money proved too terrible, or be- 



cause, as the Turks have claimed for years, 

 the Dardanelles was impregnable. The accom- 

 panying map shows the very slight foothold 

 gained by the allies, at tremendous cost. 



At its narrowest point the Dardanelles is only 

 one mile wide from the European to the 

 Asiatic shore. Its average width is three to 

 four miles, and it is about forty-seven miles 

 long. The channel has an average depth of less 

 than 200 feet. Except when the wind is blow- 

 ing eastward across the Aegean Sea, the Dar- 

 danelles has a strong outward current, but a 

 powerful undercurrent flows in the opposite 

 direction, and is constantly carrying a supply 

 of salty water through the Dardanelles, the Sea 

 of Marmora and the Bosporus into the Black 

 Sea. It is this undercurrent which keeps the 

 Black Sea from gradually becoming a fresh- 

 water body. 



In Myth and Story. To the ancient Greeks 

 the channel was known as the Hellespont, that 

 is, Sea of Helle, in honor of Helle, daughter 

 of Athamas, a king in Boeotia, and the goddess 

 Nephele, or Cloud. Athamas later married 

 Ino, a mortal, who planned to sacrifice Phryxus, 

 brother of Helle, to the gods. Nephele saved 

 her children by giving them the ram with 

 the golden fleece, but as they were crossing 

 the strait between Europe and Asia, Helle 

 fell from the ram and was drowned. The 

 fleece of this ram was afterwards sought by 

 Jason and the Argonauts (which see). 



Another famous legend is that of Hero and 

 Leander. Near Abydos, where the strait is 

 about 6,500 feet wide, Leander is said to have 

 swum across each night to see Hero, and in 

 modern times the poet Byron, in emulation, 

 accomplished the same feat in one hour and 

 ten minutes. See HERO. 



Just when the name Dardanelles began to 

 take the place of Hellespont is uncertain. The 

 word is derived from the ancient Greek city 

 of Dardanus, on the Asiatic side of the strait. 

 The city, according to legend, was built by a 

 hero of the same name, a son of Zeus and Elec- 

 tra. This hero became the founder of the race 

 of Dardani, and was the ancestor of Aeneas. 



In History. Almost from the dawn of his- 

 . tory, the Dardanelles has been of strategic 

 importance, and has constantly figured in wars 

 and in peaceful negotiations. Near Abydos, 

 later the scene of Leander's and Byron's ex- 

 ploits, Xerxes crossed into Europe with a great 

 army in 480 B.C., and here, too, Alexander 

 led his forces across a great bridge of boats in 

 334 B.C. Centuries later the strait, or more 



