10 
LAND 6? WATER 
October 17, 1918 
The Gallipoli Campaign 
By HENRY MORGENTHAU 
The Value to Turkey of Bulgarian Aid 
TT/'ITH a glance at the way in which a British statesman was responsible for the liberation of Bulgaria, 
rr Mr. Morgenthau relates in this part of his story the inner history of Bulgarian participation in 
the war, and shows that Ferdinand was desirous of selling his country to the highest bidder. 
THE failure of the Allied Fleet at the Dardanelles 
did not definitely settle the fate of Constanti- 
nople. Naturally the Turks and the Germans 
felt immensely reheved when the fleet sailed 
away. But they were by no means entirely- 
easy in their mind. The most direct road to the anrient 
capital still remained available to their enemies. ' ' 
In early Septemter, 1915, one of the most influential 
Germans in the city gave me a detailed explanation of the 
prevailing military situation. He summed up tlie whole 
matter in the single phrase : 
"We cannot hold the Dardanelles without the military 
support of Bulgaria." 
This meant, of course, that, unless Bulgaria adopted the 
cause of Turkey and the Central Empires, tlje Gallipoli 
expedition would succeed, Constantinople would fall, the 
Turkish Empire would collapse, Russia would be recreated 
;is an economic and military power, and the war, in a com- 
paratively brief period, would terminate in a victory for the 
Entente. Not improbably the real neutrality of Bulgaria 
would have had the same result. It is thus perhaps not too 
much to say that in September and October of 1915 the 
Bulgarian Government held the duration of the war in its^ 
hands. 
This fact is of such pre-eminent importance that I can 
hardly emphasise it too strongly. 1 suggest that my readers 
take down the map of a part of the world with which they 
are not very familiar — that of the Balkan States, as deter- 
mined bv the Treaty of Bucharest. All that remains of 
Etiropean Turkey is a small irregular area stretching perhaps 
one hundred miles west of Constantinople. The nation 
whose land is contiguous everywhere to Turkey is Bulgaria. 
The main railroad line to. Western Europe starts at Con- 
stantinople and runs through Bulgaria, by way of Adrianc'iple, 
Phillipopolis, and Sofia. At that time Bulgaria could create 
an army of 500,000 well-trained, completely organised troops. 
Should these once start marching towards Constantinople, 
there was practically nothing to bar their way. Turkey 
had a considerable army, it is true, but it was then finding 
plenty of employriient repelling the Allied forces at the 
Dardanelles and the Russians in the Caucasus. With 
Bulgaria hostile, Turkey could obtain neither troops nor 
munitions from Germany. Turkey would have been Com- 
pletely isolated, and, under the pounding of Bulgaria, would 
have disappeared as a military force, and as a European 
State, in one very brief campaign. 
I wish to direct particular attention to this railroad, for 
it was, after all, the main strategic prize for which Germany 
was contending. After leaving Sofia it crosses North- 
Eastern Serbia, the most important stations being at Nish 
and Belgrade. From the latter point it crosses the River 
Save and later the River Danube, and thence pursues its 
course to Budapest and Vienna, and thence to Berlin. 
Practically all the military operations that took place in the 
Balkans in 1915-16 had for their ultimate object the posses- 
sion of this road. Once holding this line Turkey and Ger- 
many would no longer be separated ; economicallv and 
militarily they would become a unit. The Dardanelles, as 
I have described, was the link that connected Russia with 
her Allies ; with this passage closed Russia's collapse rapidly 
followed. The' valley of the Morava and the Maritza, in 
which this railroad is laid, constituted for Turkey a kind of 
waterless Dardanelles. In her possession it gave her access 
to her Allies ; in the possession of her enemies, the Ottoman 
Empire would go to pieces. Only the accession of Bulgaria 
to the Teutonic cause could give the Turks and Germans 
this advantage. As soon as Bulgaria entered, that section 
of the railroad extending to the Serbian frontier would at 
once become available. If Bulgaria joined the Central 
Powers as an active participant, the conquest of Serbia 
would inevitably follow, and this would give the link extending 
from Nish to Belgrade to the Teutonic powers. Thus the 
Bulgarian alliance would make Constantinople a suburb of 
Berlin, place all the resources of the Krupps at the disposal 
of the Turkish Army, make inevitable the failure of the 
Allied attack on Gallipoli, and lay the foundation of that 
Oriental -Empire which had been for thirty years the main;: 
spring of German policy. 
It is thus apparent what my German friend meant, when, 
in early September he said that, "without Bulgaria we 
cannot hold the Dardanelles." Everybody sees this so 
clearly now that there is a prevalent belief that Germany 
had arranged this Bulgarian alliance before the outbreak of 
war. On this point I have no information. That the Bul- 
garian king and the Kaiser may have arranged this co-opera- 
tion in advance is not unlikely. But we must not make 
the mistake of believing that this settled the matter for the 
experiences of the last few years shows us that treaties are 
not always lived up to. Whether there was an under- 
standing or not, I know that the Turkish officials and the 
Germans by no means regarded it as settled that Bulgaria 
would take their side. 
The Bulgarian Exodus from Turkey 
I had my first personal contact with the Bulgarian negotia- 
tions in the latter part of May, when I was informed that 
M. Koloucheff, the Bulgarian Minister, had notified Robert 
College that the Bulgarian students could not remain in 
Constantinople until the end of the college year, but would 
have to return home- by June 5th. The College for Women 
had also received word that all the Bulgarian girls must 
return at the same time. Both tlitese American institutions 
had many Bulgarian students, in most cases splendid repre- 
sentatives of their country; it is through these colleges, 
indeed, that the distant United States and Bulgaria had 
established such friendly relations. J3ut they had never 
had such an experience before. ^ 
Everybody was discussing the meaning of this move. It 
seemed quite apparent. The chief topic of conversation at 
that time was Bulgaria. Would she enter the war ? If so, 
on which side would she cast her fortunes ? One day it 
was reported that she would join the Entente ; the next 
day that she had decided to ally herself with the Centra! 
Powers. The prevailing belief was that she was actively 
bargaining with both sides and looking for the highest terms. 
Should Bulgaria go with the Entente, however, it would be 
undesirable to have any Bulgarian subjects marooned in 
Turkey. As the boys and girls in the American colleges 
usually came from important Bulgarian families — one of 
them was the daughter of General Ivanoff, who led the 
Bulgarian armies in the Balkan Wars — the Bulgarian Govern- 
ment might naturally have a particular interest in their 
safetj^ 
The conclusion reached by most people was that Bulgaria 
had decided to take the side of the Entente. The news 
rapidh' spread throughout Constantinople. The Turks were 
particularly impregsed. Dr. Patrick, President of Con- 
stantinople College,' arranged a special hurried commence- 
ment for her Bulgarian students whicli I attended. It was 
a sad occasion, more like a funeral than the festivity that 
usually took place. J found the Bulgarian girls almost in 
a hysterical state ; they all believed that war was coming 
immediately, and that they were being bundled home merely 
to prevent them from falling into the clutches of the Turks. 
My sympathies were so aroused that we brought them down 
to the American Embassy, where we all spent a delightful 
evening. After dinner the girls dried their eyes and enter- 
tained us by singing many of their beautiful Bulgarian songs, 
and what had started as a mournful day thus had a happy 
ending. Next morning the girls all left for Bulgaria. 
A few weeks afterwards the Bulgarian Minister told me 
that the Government had summoned the students home 
merely for political effect. There was no immediate likeli- 
hood of war, he said. . But Bulgaria wished Germany and 
Turkey to understand that there was still a chance tliat 
she might join the Entente. Bulgaria, as all of us suspected, 
was apparently on .the auction block. The one fixed fact in 
i 
