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THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
THE RESURRECTED 
 NATIONS 
 
 SHORT HISTORIES OF THE PEOPLES FREED BY 
 
 THE GREAT WAR AND STATEMENTS OF 
 
 THEIR NATIONAL CLAIMS 
 
 BY 
 
 ISAAC DON LEVINE 
 
 Author of "The Russian Revolution" 
 WITH MAPS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 

 ^V 
 
 A 
 
 Copyright, 1919, hy 
 Frederick A. Stokes Compant 
 
 AU rights reserved, including that of translaiion 
 into foreign languages 
 
 MAR 31 1919 
 
 ©Cf.A512859 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 The collapse of the Eussian, Turkish, Austro- 
 Hungarian and German empires set free a large 
 number of oppressed nationalities. This book 
 aims to present, from a strictly impartial view- 
 point, the cases of those of the liberated races and 
 peoples of the fallen four empires which have 
 awakened to the call of nationalism and now de- 
 mand the early attention of the world's public 
 opinion. Each of the eighteen chapters of the 
 book deals with a particular national problem. 
 
 The purpose of the writer has been to give to 
 the average reader an unbiased, clear, authorita- 
 tive summary of the history and present status of 
 the nationalities discussed. Is it necessary to re- 
 fer to the patent fact that both the United States 
 and Europe are flooded by an actual torrent of 
 conflicting, confusing, misleading statements by 
 the advocates of the antagonistic nationalities 
 clamoring for the public's support? To recite to 
 the bewildered reader the sober truth, while sym- 
 pathetic toward the cause of oppressed national- 
 ism, is what I endeavored to do in these pages. 
 
 In order to avoid misunderstanding, I wish to 
 state here that this book is entirely new and does 
 
vi PEEFACEJ 
 
 not contain any of the seven articles on the new 
 nations which I wrote for The New York Tribune 
 in 1917. Also, this work is not a discussion of 
 the problem of nationality and is not an effort on 
 the part of the author to solve the various national 
 questions. It is not a controversial treatise, but 
 a popular history. If the information it contains 
 will contribute to the clarification in the public's 
 mind of the fundamental facts regarding the 
 emancipated nationalities of Europe and the Near 
 East, its object will have been attained. 
 
 Isaac Don Levine 
 
 New York Qty 
 March, 1919 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Part I 
 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS IN EUROPE 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Czecho-Slovakia 3 
 
 II. Jugoslavia . 33 
 
 III. Albania . 66 
 
 IV. Ukraine 83 
 
 V. Poland 105 
 
 VI. Lithuania 132 
 
 VII. Lettonia 146 
 
 VIII. Esthonia 163 
 
 IX. Finland 172 
 
 Part II 
 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS IN ASIA 
 
 I. Arabia 193 
 
 II. Palestine 211 
 
 III. Syria . 227 
 
 IV. Mesopotamia . 238 
 
 V. Assyria 245 
 
 YI. Kurdistan 254 
 
 vii 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 VII. Armenia 263 
 
 VIII. Georgia 292 
 
 IX. Azerbaijan 303 
 
 ETHNOGRAPHIC MAPS 
 
 I. Czecho-Slovaki a, Jugoslavia AND Albania 31 
 11. Ukraine and Poland 103 
 
 III. Lithuania, Lettonia, Esthonia and Fin- 
 
 land 161 
 
 IV. Arabia, Palestine, Syria, and Mesopo- 
 
 ^■^^, TAMIA 225 
 
 V. Assyria, Kurdistan, Armenia, Georgia, 
 
 AND Azerbaijan 261 
 
Pabt I 
 
 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 IN EUROPE 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 
 
 Of all the romantic national resurrections of 
 the Great War the romance of the birth of Czecho- 
 slovakia is the most wonderful. Perhaps never 
 before in the history of nations was the regener- 
 ation of a people accompanied by such glory as 
 that which attended the rise of the Czecho-Slovaks 
 from the mediaeval darkness that was Austria- 
 Hungary. In 1914 they were one of the least 
 known of the world's oppressed nationalities; the 
 Poles, the Finns, the Jews had attracted much 
 more attention than the little heroic nation that 
 preserved its identity in spite of centuries of 
 grinding between the German and Magyar mill- 
 stones. Hereafter none of the newly risen nations 
 will overshadow the Czecho-Slovaks. 
 
 Czecho-Slovakia's existence as a sovereign na- 
 tion has already been determined by the deeds of 
 its own sons. Some of the liberated nationalities 
 look to the great powers helpless, in quest of jus- 
 tice. Others may become ' ' spheres of influence ' ' of 
 certain powerful states. But the Czecho-Slovaks 
 have won their independence in the course of the 
 
 3 
 
4 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 war by force of arms, and have secured it by con- 
 tributing materially to the collapse of the Central 
 Powers. Czecho-Slovakia is, therefore, a full- 
 fledged member of the European family of nations. 
 
 The Czecho-Slovaks were the pioneers of the 
 Slavs in Europe, forming a bulwark against the 
 German onslaughts toward the east. It has been 
 said that the Czecho-Slovaks made possible the 
 rise and development of Poland, and it was the 
 latter, together with Lithuania, that stopped the 
 Teutonic movement in the direction of Russia, 
 preventing the formation between the Dnieper and 
 the Rhine of a huge German empire. 
 
 The Czecho-Slovaks penetrated into the very 
 heart of Europe, establishing themselves in the 
 geographical center of the continent. The Czechs 
 and the Slovaks are one and the same race, but 
 were early divided by their conquerors. The first, 
 inhabiting Bohemia, Moravia and some sections 
 of Silesia, were incorporated with Austria. The 
 second, living in so-called Slovakia, were subju- 
 gated by the Magj^ars and became part of Hun- 
 gary. United, the land of the Czecho-Slovaks is 
 bounded on the north by Germany and Poland; 
 on the west by Germany ; on the south by Austria 
 and Hungary, and on the east by Ukraine. Geo- 
 graphically, then, the Czecho-Slovaks formed the 
 very backbone of the disrupted Dual Monarchy. 
 Numerically, they were far from being a negli- 
 gible quantity, as there are about seven and a 
 
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 5 
 
 half million Czechs and three million Slovaks. 
 Economically, Bohemia was the most developed 
 and productive part of Austria, yielding five times 
 as much coal as the rest of the State, twice as 
 many agricultural products, and bearing sixty- 
 three per cent, of Austria's taxation. 
 
 The history of the Czechs goes back almost to 
 the beginning of the Christian era. Nearly two 
 thousand years ago their forefathers waged bit- 
 ter warfare against the Teutons. They established 
 their supremacy after several centuries of 
 struggle, and already in the seventh century Bo- 
 hemia emerges as a consolidated nation. Chris- 
 tianity was introduced into Moravia in the ninth 
 century by two Greek missionaries, and was fol- 
 lowed by an expansion of the country resulting 
 in the creation of a great state comprising Bo- 
 hemia proper, Moravia, Slovakia, part of Silesia 
 and Galicia. Then came the Magyars. In 907 
 they overran Slovakia and Moravia, establishing 
 themselves permanently in the former province. 
 A war ensued which afforded an opportunity to 
 Boleslaw the Brave, of Poland, to place his brother 
 on the Bohemian throne. The latter, in order to 
 keep himself in power, invoked German aid and 
 protection, opening a thousand-year struggle be- 
 tween the Czechs and Germans. 
 
 In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Ger- 
 man rulers sought to secure for themselves the 
 Bohemian crown, provoking internal dissension 
 
6 THE RESUERECTED NATIONS 
 
 favoring their designs. However, early in the 
 thirteenth centuiy a purely Czech dynasty was 
 set up in Bohemia, which soon became, under 
 Ottakar II, a powerful state, extending as far \ 
 south as the Adriatic. This ruler became involved 
 in a war with Rome at a time when internal 
 strife pervaded his empire and lost all his newly 
 won possessions, dying in battle against the Habs- 
 burg Emperor Rudolph, in 1278. Twenty-eight 
 years later his grandson was assassinated, ending 
 the native dynasty. The German rulers of the 
 Roman Empire claimed the Bohemian throne, and 
 John of Luxemburg, son of Emperor Henry, was, 
 after some unhappy choices, elected by the Czechs 
 to be their king. He was a friend of France, estab- 
 lishing close relations between the French and 
 the Czechs. King John was succeeded by his son, 
 Charles, who raised the prestige and power of 
 Bohemia to great heights. He was the chosen 
 head of the Roman Empire, but made Prague his 
 capital and founded a great university there. 
 Civilization made tremendous progress in Bo- 
 hemia during his reign, and Charles is still re- 
 garded by the Czechs as the greatest ruler in the 
 history of their country. He devoted all his ener- 
 gies to the task of upbuilding and uplifting 
 Bohemia, dying in the midst of his labors in 1378. 
 It was during the reign of his successor that the 
 epoch-making movement for church reform, which 
 had taken root iU Bohemia, assumed definite shape 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 7 
 
 under the leadership of John Huss, the first cham- 
 pion of freedom of thought in Europe in the 
 Middle Ages, preceding Luther by a century. The 
 Hussite cause was more than a fight against the 
 corruption of the Roman Church; it was also a 
 Czech national movement. Nearly the entire 
 nation followed Huss and adopted his doctrines. 
 He was tried at Constance by a religious council, 
 declared a heretic, and burned at the stake on July 
 6, 1415. Among the articles of accusation at the 
 trial was one stating that Huss had instigated 
 among his countrymen national hatred against the 
 Germans. To this he replied: "I have affirmed 
 and yet affirm that Bohemians should by right 
 have the chief place in the offices of the Kingdom 
 of Bohemia, even as they that are French-born in 
 the Kingdom of France, and the Germans in their 
 own countries, where the Bohemian might have 
 the faculty to rule his people and the Germans 
 bear rule over the Germans." The martyrdom 
 of Huss was of inestimable value to the Czech 
 national movement. 
 
 ' ' The murderers of John Huss were able to bum 
 his quivering body and scatter its ashes in the 
 River Rhine," writes Professor Charles D. Hazen. 
 ''Bat they could not extinguish the glory and the 
 power of his life and teaching. As has so often 
 happened in this world, those who sat in the seats 
 of the mighty proved unnecessarily purblind. 
 The vivid human spirit is a spark that is not 
 
8 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 easily snuffed out but very easily sets the world 
 in conflagration. It was so in the instance of John 
 Huss, wliose fate inflamed the entire Czech nation 
 to avenge his death. The famous Hussite Wars, 
 wars of religion, also racial wars, revealed the 
 Czechs to themselves and to all Europe, and 
 stamped indelible glory upon the Bohemian flag 
 and created a legend, a legend true and authentic, 
 which has set Czech blood tingling ever since with 
 the ecstasy of national pride, of national devotion. 
 
 **It is no wonder that this people is hopelessly 
 wedded to the ideas of liberty and independence. 
 The spirit of the nation was adequately and 
 superbly expressed once and for all in the person 
 of John Huss. Happy, indeed, is that people 
 which has constantly in the forefront of its con- 
 sciousness so unblemished a character, so dis- 
 tinguished an intellect, so noble a life. For his 
 devotion to the two supreme principles of individ- 
 ual and national freedom John Huss paid with his 
 life. He never once deflected from his principles, 
 he never flinched before the hideous fate which 
 the brutality of his age devised for him. No 
 nation in the world possesses a more dazzling 
 oriflamme than Bohemia possesses in the career 
 of John Huss." 
 
 The death of Huss was the signal for a long 
 and bloody struggle. The Czech nobles met and 
 passed a resolution of protest against the execu- 
 tion of Huss, whom they characterized as ''a good, 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 9 
 
 just and Catholic man who had for many years 
 been favorably known in the kingdom by his life, 
 conduct and fame, and who had been convicted of 
 no offense," adding that his accusers were ''liars, 
 vile traitors and calumniators of Bohemia and 
 Moravia, the worst of all heretics, full of all evil, 
 sons of the devil." This protest was despatched 
 to the council at Constance and was taken as a 
 declaration of war by the Roman Church. In the 
 battles that followed the German settlers of Bo- 
 hemia supported the Roman Church. However, 
 the Czechs, led by the blind Zizka, a popular hero, 
 fought valiantly, repeatedly defeating the enemy 
 forces, and ended with invasion of Hungary and 
 the German states. The Roman Church was com- 
 pelled to make concessions and recognize the 
 Hussites. 
 
 With the passing of the external danger there 
 developed in Bohemia a long quarrel over the 
 status of the monarchy, whether it was elective 
 or hereditary. The country was divided into two 
 parties. King Matthias, of Hungary, took ad- 
 vantage of the internal strife and invaded Mo- 
 ravia. Supported by the Catholics, he was pro- 
 claimed King of Bohemia, in opposition to George 
 of Podebrad, the leader of the national, Hussite, 
 elements. There were thus two kings ruling over 
 the Czechs. With the death of George, Matthias 
 of Hungary appeared to have obtained control 
 over Bohemia,, but the Hussites proceeded to 
 
10 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 elect Prince Wladislaw of Poland as their king. 
 There ensued a protracted struggle between the 
 two rulers, which ended in 1490, when Wladislaw 
 was chosen, upon the death of Matthias, to the 
 Hungarian throne. During the reign of Wladislaw 
 serfdom was introduced into Bohemia, and the 
 nobles were granted privileges which they had 
 never possessed. Wladislaw died in 1516, and his 
 son Louis, King of Hungary, and successor to the 
 Bohemian throne, perished in 1526 in a campaign 
 against the Turks. 
 
 That was a fateful year in the history of the 
 Czech people, marking the establishment of Habs- 
 burg rule over Bohemia, a rule which was to last 
 nearly four centuries, carrying with it oppression, 
 persecution and desolation. A diet representing 
 the nobles, clergy and townsmen gave to Archduke 
 Ferdinand of Austria, of the Habsburgs, the Bo- 
 hemian crown on October 23, 1526. Ferdinand 
 was an ambitious ruler and succeeded, in spite of 
 some opposition, in promulgating a charter stat- 
 ing that he had been elected King of Bohemia be- 
 cause of the hereditary claims of his wife, Anna. 
 Then came the great Protestant movement in Ger- 
 many which was related to the Hussite cause. 
 The German Protestants, hard pressed by Rome, 
 whose emperor was a brother of Ferdinand, ap- 
 pealed to the Czechs for support. On the other 
 hand, the Roman ruler appealed to his brother 
 for aid to suppress the Protestauts. Ferdinand 
 
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 11 
 
 made an attempt to raise an army, but it refused 
 to follow him into Germany. The Czechs had a 
 number of grievances against Ferdinand and rose 
 against him, meeting in a national assembly to 
 demand the re-establishment of the electiveness 
 of the monarchy, religious liberty, and other 
 rights. An army was raised by the assembly for 
 the purpose of lending support to the German 
 Protestants, but it was too late as the Protestants 
 in Germany had been crushed. Ferdinand then 
 forced the Czechs to renounce their sympathy for 
 the reformers of Germany. He returned to his 
 country and occupied Prague with an army of 
 foreign mercenaries, punished the leaders of the 
 revolt, and persecuted the Czechs in various ways. 
 He established the Jesuits in Bohemia, and they 
 proved a very oppressive factor in Bohemian 
 national life. He also succeeded in making the 
 Bohemian throne hereditary for the Habsburgs, 
 which definitely placed Bohemia under Austrian 
 rule. 
 
 For a century the Hussites were hard pressed 
 by the Habsburg rulers and their Jesuits. The 
 Czechs and the Hussites now became identical. 
 The Habsburgs and the Catholics were one and 
 the same, on the other hand. The struggle that 
 went on from generation to generation in Bo- 
 hemia was therefore a religious-political move- 
 ment. The Czechs continued to demand religious 
 liberty. The Catholics, supported by the Habs- 
 
12 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 burgs, did not relax their persecution of the Hus- 
 sites. With the accession to the throne, in June, 
 1617, of Ferdinand, Duke of Styria, who was a 
 fanatical opponent of the Protestants, a crisis in 
 the Bohemian situation was not long delayed. Due 
 to the aggression of the Catholics, a revolt was 
 precipitated in May, 1618, which was in fact the 
 beginning of the Thirty Years' War. The rebel- 
 lion was a movement on the part of the Czechs 
 to get rid of the Habsburgs, to win religious and 
 national freedom. King Ferdinand was formally 
 deposed and a Protestant prince elected king. 
 This was the signal for the bitter religious wars 
 that involved nearly all of Europe, and which were 
 fought mostly on Bohemian territory. 
 
 At the beginning of this period of warfare Bo- 
 hemia had a population of three million; at its 
 end there were only eight hundred thousand in- 
 habitants left in Bohemia. Protestantism was 
 wiped out with fire and sword. The Czech nobility 
 was mercilessly rooted out and their lands con- 
 fiscated. Bohemia's ancient rights were abro- 
 gated. Catholicism was forced upon the surviv- 
 ing population, while in place of the Bohemian 
 aristocracy an alien ruling class was planted by 
 the Habsburgs. With the downfall of Czech 
 national power also came the end of Bohemian 
 literature which had flourished in the fifteenth and 
 sixteenth centuries. The Jesuits made it one of 
 their chief purposes to destroy systematically the 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 13 
 
 Czecli literature. One Jesuit leader boasted that 
 "he had himself burned no fewer than 60,000 
 Czech volumes ! ' ' The Czechs were made the sub- 
 jects of Austria and their land became a province 
 of the absolute monarchy of the Habsburgs. 
 
 From 1620, when the battle of the White Moun- 
 tain, in which the Czechs were disastrously beaten, 
 was fought, up to the nineteenth century, Czech 
 national life was extinguished. The Jesuits pro- 
 moted the work of Germanization through their 
 control of the educational institutions. When 
 the grip of the Jesuits was broken through the 
 suppression of their order, the Habsburgs ini- 
 tiated their own policy of Germanization. In the 
 course of the eighteenth century the Bohemian 
 institutions were limited gradually in their power, 
 till they became mere shells. This policy culmi- 
 nated in the refusal of Joseph II to be crowned at 
 Prague as King of Bohemia, thus robbing the 
 Czechs of their last vestige of independence. 
 
 Early in the nineteenth century a group of 
 Czech scholars devoted themselves to the revival 
 of the almost forgotten Czech language. They 
 succeeded in raising it from its low state, thereby 
 laying the foundations of the Czecho-Slovak 
 national movement. Literary societies and clubs 
 sprang up among the Czechs. Several poets ap- 
 peared and a National Museum was founded in 
 1818. A great historian, Francis Palacky (1798- 
 1876), entered upon Bohemia's arena and exerted 
 
14 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 tremendous influence over the fortunes of his 
 people. The foremost historian of Bohemia, he 
 also became the acknowledged leader of the 
 modern national movement. Palacky was helped 
 in his labors by a group of brilliant men of letters. 
 The Bohemians under Palacky never went further 
 than a demand for their constitutional rights, i.e., 
 the restoration of Bohemian autonomy under the 
 Habsburgs. It was clearly conceived by the Czech 
 leaders that Austria was built upon the back of 
 Bohemia; that the total separation of the latter 
 from the former would plunge Europe into a gen- 
 eral war; and that the limit of Bohemian aspi- 
 rations should, therefore, be national existence 
 within the boundaries of a federated Austrian 
 Empire. 
 
 The revolutionary year of 1848 is memorable 
 in the history of Bohemia. Prague became a lead- 
 ing center of rebellion and for a time succeeded in 
 wresting from the Austrian Emperor recognition 
 of the Czech demands. However, the revolution 
 was crushed throughout Austria-Hungary, and 
 Bohemia was forced to return to its old status. 
 A reign of persecution against liberal and national 
 thought was inaugurated by Austria, which, of 
 course, only helped the dissemination of revolu- 
 tionary ideas. When Austria began to suffer 
 miMtary defeats, beginning with 1859, the Habs- 
 burgs relaxed their despotic rule. Francis Jo- 
 seph promised to a Czech deputation, in 1861, to 
 
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 15 
 
 be crowned as King of Bohemia. But he never 
 carried the promise out. In 1866 Austria was 
 again in the throes of a struggle, this time with 
 Prussia, which ended disastrously. Again the 
 Habsburgs tried to win the favor of their op- 
 pressed nationalities. To strengthen the empire 
 the Austrians made an agreement with the Mag- 
 yars, whereby the latter obtained virtual inde- 
 pendence and control over part of the Slavonic 
 races of the empire. It was an arrangement be- 
 tween the two strongest parties, the Germans and 
 the Magyars. The Germans alone could not 
 last long, in view of their minority; they there- 
 fore decided to share their power with the next 
 strongest element in the state — Hungary — and in 
 1867 the Dual Monarchy came into existence. 
 
 The Czechs violently protested against this 
 arrangement, which incidentally placed their 
 brothers, the Slovaks, again under the heel of the 
 Hungarians. The agitation to restore Bohemia's 
 old constitutional position assumed such propor- 
 tions that Francis Joseph promised again to be 
 crowned King of Bohemia, just as he had become 
 King of Hungary. In a message to the Bohemian 
 Diet, meeting at Prague, he declared that ' ' in con- 
 sideration of the former constitutional position of 
 Bohemia and remembering the power and glory 
 which its crown had given to his ancestors, and 
 the constant fidelity of its population, he gladly 
 recognized the rights of the kingdom of Bohemia, 
 
16 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 and was willing to confirm this assurance by tak- 
 ing the coronation oath." Again he failed to 
 carry out his pledge. 
 
 The whole course of European history might 
 have been different had Francis Joseph kept his 
 word and established Austria on a federal basis. 
 Perhaps the chief cause of the Great War was the 
 struggle between German-Magyar nationalism 
 and Slavonic nationalism. The Austrian Empire 
 was composed of a majority of Slavs and a minor- 
 ity of Germans and Magyars. The satisfaction of 
 the legitimate and reasonable claims of the former 
 half a century ago would have insured the safety 
 of the Austrian imperial structure. The first step 
 toward the erection of a federal empire was the 
 granting of the constitutional demands of the 
 Czechs. Francis Joseph, however, did not resist 
 the aggressive policies of the Germans and Mag- 
 yars. Both were minorities. Both ruled Slavonic 
 majorities. Both sought to maintain their tyr- 
 anny and to impress upon the subject peoples their 
 own nationalism. Both, therefore, opposed the 
 creation of an autonomous Bohemia. And both 
 were directly responsible for the fate that has now 
 befallen Austria and Hungary. 
 
 After 1867 the Czech national movement entered 
 a new phase. Bohemian literature and arts made 
 tremendous strides, giving birth to a powerful 
 movement to make the Czech language the domi- 
 nant tongue in Bohemia's schools and govern- 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 1? 
 
 ment institutions. The German language was 
 boycotted, and Czech nationalism was fostered by 
 the Young Czechs, who believed in extremes, and 
 opposed the previous policy of ineffective pro- 
 tests. Basing their doctrines on the fact that 
 three-fifths of the Austrian population were Slavs, 
 the Young Czechs started out with the idea of 
 converting Austria into a kingdom dominated by 
 Slavs, rather than by Germans. The fight waged 
 by the Young Czechs was both external and inter- 
 nal. There were large colonies in Bohemia who 
 were either of German origin or under the in- 
 fluence of German civilization. These were aided 
 by outside forces, mainly Prussian. In spite of 
 their obstinate resistance, the Czech nationalists 
 gradually asserted their supremacy. In 1881 
 they won the right to the University of Prague, 
 which since then has been completely Czech. In 
 1891 the Young Czechs became the dominant Bo- 
 hemian power in the Imperial Reichsrat. In 1897 
 the Czech language was formally declared from 
 Vienna as official, possessed of equal rights with 
 the German. This was the signal for a new period 
 of hostility and wrangling between the Germans 
 and the Czechs. The former were furious, and the 
 two elements not infrequently came to blows in 
 the Austrian Parliament. 
 
 The growth of socialism in Austria and the Rus- 
 sian Revolution of 1905 introduced a new element 
 into the nationalistic feuds. Universal suffrage 
 
18 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 was advocated, and the German radicals were sup- 
 ported by the Czechs and other oppressed nation- 
 ahties in their demands. This reform was finally 
 promulgated, and in 1907 a parliament represent- 
 ing, on a basis of equal suffrage, all the parties 
 and national groups of Austria met in Vienna. 
 
 The Great War found Bohemian nationalism 
 developed to its highest degree. Naturally it was 
 in sympathy with the Southern Slavs of Serbia, 
 against whom was directed the famous Austrian 
 ultimatum of July, 1914. The Czechs had all 
 along been friendly toward Russia, for it was 
 there that Pan-Slavism was born, looking toward 
 the liberation of the Slavs from the German- 
 Magyar yoke. But to the Habsburgs the Czecho- 
 slovaks were Austro-Hungarian subjects. They 
 were soldiers of the imperial armies. When a 
 call for war sounded, they were expected to rise 
 to the support of their oppressors. They had 
 done so in the eighteenth and in the nineteenth 
 centuries. Their Slavonic brethren under ^he 
 Habsburgs had done so, too, and were going to 
 do so again, in 1914. Wouldn't the Czecho- 
 slovaks act likewise? It did not enter the Habs- 
 burgs' minds that they wouldn't. 
 
 But when the Czech regiments were marched 
 to the front to fight their Serbian, and Russian 
 brothers, they showed unmistakably where they 
 stood in the great crisis. In Prague itself, in 
 September, 1914, the 28th Regiment, composed of 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 19 
 
 the sons of the Bohemian capital, gave vent to the 
 emotions of the people by singing Pan-Slavic 
 hymns and by openly bearing a banner on which 
 was inscribed: ''We are marching against the 
 Russians, but nobody knows why. ' ' The populace 
 of Prague gave an ovation to its brave rebels, and 
 the Austrian officers did not dare to remove the 
 revolutionary banner. Although in Austrian uni- 
 forms, under foreign commanders, the Czech 
 soldiers exhibited their defiance of tradition and 
 established authority by deserting in mass, or 
 singly, to the ' ' enemy. ' ' The 8th, 11th Landwehr, 
 28th, 30th, 88th and 102nd Regiments of the Aus- 
 trian army, had gone over, within a year of the 
 outbreak of the war, to the Russians in regiments, 
 companies, and in small groups. They were 
 Czech regiments, imbued with a powerful national 
 consciousness, totally opposed to the Habsburg 
 rule and government. Parallel with this attitude 
 on the part of the Czechs the Austrian authorities 
 assumed toward Bohemia a policy of suppression 
 and persecution. The Czechs were "traitors.'' 
 The whole nation was accused by Vienna of high 
 treason. According to the pre-war standards it 
 was treason, for the Czechs were subjects of the 
 Habsburg dynasty. But a new era was beginning 
 for the "subject" nationalities of the world. 
 They were to break old conventions. The Czechs 
 Were the first to lead the oppressed races toward 
 a new conception of resurgent nationalism. Mean- 
 
20 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 while persecutions at home grew more violent. 
 The Czech radical leaders were arrested. Many 
 eminent figures in Bohemian national life were 
 persecuted or forced to remain in hiding. Profes- 
 sor Thomas Gr. Masaryk, the foremost Czech of 
 our time, secretly left his country and came to 
 France and England to work for its independence. 
 Together with other exiles he organized abroad a 
 Czecho-Slovak National Council, of which he was 
 elected president. The council took an uncom- 
 promising attitude toward the Dual Monarchy. 
 It issued in November, 1915, a manifesto which 
 read, in part, as follows : 
 
 *'A11 Bohemian political parties have up to this 
 time been fighting for a qualified independence 
 within the limits of Austria-Hungary. But the 
 events of this terrible war and the reckless vio- 
 lence of Vienna constrain us to claim indepen- 
 dence without regard to Austria-Hungary. We 
 ask for an independent Bohemian-Slovak state. 
 The Bohemian people are now convinced that they 
 must strike out for themselves." 
 
 And they proceeded to do so. As the number 
 of Czecho-Slovak deserters to Russia increased, 
 they began to ask of the Tsar's government per- 
 mission to organize a military unit and fight the 
 Austro-Germans. But the Tsar's ministers looked 
 askance at this request. The Czechs were Aus- 
 trian subjects and should remain loyal to Austria. 
 Otherwise, the soldiers of the many oppressed 
 
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 21 
 
 nationalities of the Tsar would desert to the Teu- 
 tons an4 be organized by them into national units 
 to fight against Russia. So the Czechs were in- 
 terned in the depths of the empire, in Siberia, 
 Turkestan and other remote regions. They were 
 prisoners of war and treated as such. Only with 
 great difficulty and with the help of the Czech 
 colony in Russia was permission finally obtained 
 from the Tsar's goverimient to organize a Czecho- 
 slovak legion. 
 
 Then came the Russian Revolution. From every 
 corner of vast Russia Czechs and Slovaks wormed 
 their way toward the headquarters of their legion. 
 The desertions from the Austrian army also con- 
 stantly augmented its ranks. But the big oppor- 
 tunity was still in store for the former subjects 
 of the Habsburgs. There were plenty of soldiers 
 in Russia. The Czecho-Slovaks had to do some- 
 thing more than merely band themselves into regi- 
 ments and join the Russian army, in order to at- 
 tain distinction. They did it in the course of the 
 only offensive attempted by the Revolution against 
 the Central Powers, the famous Kornilov move- 
 ment of July 1, 1917. The Russian soldiers lost 
 heart and stampeded to the rear. Only the Czecho- 
 slovak brigade and the Finnish troops advanced. 
 The Commander in Chief, General Brusilov, made 
 a report which sent the name of the Czecho- 
 slovaks resounding from one end of Russia to 
 the other. "The Czecho-Slovaks," he wrote, 
 
22 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 "perfidiously abandoned at Taniopol by our in- 
 fantry, fought in such a way that the world ought 
 to fall on its knees before them. ' ' 
 
 There, on the Galician battlefield, in July, 1917, 
 the foundation was really laid for the Czecho- 
 slovak Republic. The National Council was 
 bound to remain an academic body as long as it 
 was not backed by an army in the field. When 
 such a force did appear, the whole complexion of 
 the Bohemian problem underwent a deep change. 
 The Czecho-Slovaks set themselves to obtain Al- 
 lied recognition of their army. There was a 
 small contingent of Czecho-Slovaks fighting in 
 France, Bohemia's traditional friend. In De- 
 cember, 1917, a decree signed by the President, 
 Premier and Foreign Minister of France, author- 
 ized the formation of a Czecho-Slovak army as a 
 part of the French army. The text of this remark- 
 able document reveals the reason for the subse- 
 quent conduct of the Czecho-Slovaks in Russia. 
 It read, in part : 
 
 "(1) The Czecho-Slovaks, organized in an au- 
 tonomous army and recognizing the superior au- 
 thority of the French High Command from the 
 military point of view, will under their own flag 
 fight against the Central Powers. 
 
 "(2) Politically, this national army is placed 
 under the direction of the Czecho-Slovak National 
 Council whose headquarters are in Paris. 
 
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 23 
 
 ^* (3) The formation of the Czecho-Slovak army 
 is guaranteed by the French Government. 
 
 *'(4) The Czecho-Slovak army will be subject 
 to the same dispositions as regards organization, 
 hierarchy, administration, and military discipline 
 as those in force in the French Army. 
 
 '' (5) The Czecho-Slovak army will be recruited 
 from among — 
 
 ^' (a) Czecho-Slovaks at present serving with 
 
 the French army; 
 ''(b) Czecho-Slovaks from other countries, 
 admitted to be transferred to the 
 Czecho-Slovak army; 
 " (c) All those who will voluntarily enter this 
 army for the duration of the war. ' ' 
 
 There were to be 120,000 soldiers in the Czecho- 
 slovak army. A volunteer recruiting campaign 
 was launched in the United States and other coun- 
 tries where there were Czecho-Slovak immigrants. 
 Finally, money was advanced by the Allies to the 
 Czecho-Slovak National Council to enable the 
 legions in Russia to go to Vladivostok and thence 
 to France, for with the conclusion of the Brest- 
 Litovsk peace between Russia and the Central 
 Powers the Czecho-Slovak units left the front and 
 concentrated at Bakhmatch, near Kiev, in Ukraine. 
 The Ukrainian government which had negotiated 
 separately with the Central Powers was repudi- 
 ated by the Ukranian masses and was compelled 
 
24 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 to call on the Germans to keep it in power. There 
 followed a battle between the Teutons and the 
 Ukrainian and Russian Red Guards. The Czecho- 
 slovaks suddenly found themselves threatened by 
 the advancing enemy. The Russian troops, with 
 the exception of a small force, were fleeing east- 
 ward. There was no choice for the Czechs but to 
 do the same, leaving a regiment to fight a rear- 
 guard action. There was a severe clash at Bakh- 
 match, where the Czecho-Slovaks suffered a loss 
 of about six hundred dead and wounded, but ac- 
 counted for at least two thousand German corpses, 
 which they buried in one day ! 
 
 Then began the Czecho-Slovak march across 
 Eastern Europe and Asia. Armed to the teeth, 
 with three hundred machine-guns to a regiment, 
 artillery, airplanes, automobiles, horses, all of 
 which they gathered in the disorganized and aban- 
 doned war zone, the Czecho-Slovaks formed train 
 after train and ran them toward the east. As the 
 trains proceeded the German and Austrian govern- 
 ments began to realize that a new menace was 
 being created for them. Hitherto the relations 
 between the Czecho-Slovaks and the Russian revo- 
 lutionists were most amiable. The Bolsheviki, it 
 is true, tried to convert the Czechs to their point 
 of view by propaganda, telling them that they were 
 being duped by the Allies. But the Germans be- 
 gan to exert pressure on the Bolshevist govern- 
 ment to stop the progress of the Czecho-Slovaks, 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 25 
 
 on the ground that Eussia was neutral and could 
 not allow armed forces to organize on and go from 
 its territory to fight nations with whom Russia 
 was at peace. The Russian authorities then pro- 
 posed to the Czecho-Slovaks to disarm. After 
 some negotiations they turned over all their equip- 
 ment to the Russians, except ten rifles for each one 
 hundred men, on condition that their unmolested 
 passage be guaranteed. With this understand- 
 ing they resumed their movement. 
 
 Slowly, winding over thousands of miles of 
 railroad, eighty trains filled with Czecho-Slovaks 
 moved toward Vladivostok. From the Volga to 
 the Pacific they dotted railroad stations, villages, 
 big and little towns. Finally the first of the long 
 procession reached Vladivostok. It was spring, 
 1918. The Central Powers expected the Czechs to 
 get stuck in the vastness of Siberia and never 
 reach their goal. But when that first train, after 
 many vicissitudes and difficulties, arrived at the 
 Far Eastern port, they resolved to take action. 
 Under their pressure the Bolshevist government 
 issued an order to stop the Czecho-Slovaks. 
 Along the entire line the trains were halted by Red 
 Guards, among whom were German and Magyar 
 war prisoners who were supposed to have turned 
 into revolutionists, but many of whom were loyal 
 to Vienna and Berlin. Thus at Irkutsk, accord- 
 ing to a Czech officer, the following occurred, in 
 his own words. 
 
26 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ''Our train, about four hundred men, armed 
 with ten rifles and twenty hand grenades, was sur- 
 rounded by a few thousand Red Guards, armed 
 with machine gnns and cannon. Their comman- 
 der gave our men ten minutes to surrender their 
 arms or be shot. According to their habit, our 
 men began negotiations. Suddenly there was 
 heard a German command, 'Schiessen!' and the 
 Red Guards began firing at the train. Our men 
 jumped oft and in five minutes all the machine 
 guns were in their possession, the Russian Bolshe- 
 viki disarmed, and all the Germans and Magyars 
 done away with. ' ' 
 
 Similar scenes occurred along the entire route. 
 An understanding was reached with the Siberian 
 Soviet whereby the Czecho-Slovaks east of Irkutsk 
 were allowed to proceed to Vladivostok. But the 
 trains stalled between the Volga and Irkutsk were 
 not so fortunate. Their successful resistance to 
 the efforts of the Red Guards to disarm them and 
 turn them back to Russia provoked the hostility 
 of the Moscow authorities, who proclaimed a mobi- 
 lization against them and arrested their delegates. 
 Nevertheless the Czecho-Slovaks continued to 
 seek an understanding with the Bolshevist govern- 
 ment. But meanwhile the tale of their stand re- 
 verberated throughout the world. The relations 
 between the AUies and Moscow were strained. 
 The armies of the former were now under the 
 supreme command of General Foch, and the 
 
CZECHOSLOVAKIA 27 
 
 Czecho-Slovak army was subject to the orders of 
 the French High Command. In the latter part of 
 June, 1918, an order went out from Paris to the 
 Czecho-Slovaks in Siberia, instructing them to turn 
 back and occupy all the Great Siberian Railroad 
 and hold the cities along the Volga against the 
 Bolsheviki. It was not to the taste of the Czecho- 
 slovaks to fight the Russians, but orders were 
 orders. They carried out a series of brilliant 
 military moves, which won for them complete rec- 
 ognition by the Allies and the United States of 
 their national aims. 
 
 On October 18, 1918, Czecho-Slovakia declared 
 its independence and on November 14 a National 
 Assembly met in Prague and proclaimed the estab- 
 lishment of a Czecho-Slovak Republic. Thomas 
 G. Masaryk, then in the United States, was unani- 
 mously acclaimed as the first President of the 
 Republic. A provisional government was formed, 
 headed by Dr. Karel Kramarz, a veteran fighter 
 for Czecho-Slovak nationalism, numbering eigh- 
 teen members, six of whom were Socialists. Ac- 
 cording to a statement made by Premier Kramarz 
 in December to a delegation representing so-called 
 German Bohemia, which had been occupied by 
 Czecho-Slovak troops, the Allies had signed an 
 agreement by which the entire country claimed by 
 the Czecho-Slovaks was to belong to the new state, 
 exempting it from the jurisdiction of the Peace 
 Conference. The German minority in Bohemia 
 
28 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 is very considerable, and claims the right of estab- 
 lishing its own autonomous government, with the 
 capital at Reichenberg, fifty-eight miles northeast 
 of Prague. Asked by a correspondent how the 
 Czecho-Slovaks would solve their internal Ger- 
 man problem, President Masaryk replied : 
 
 "After all, what does the whole matter come 
 down to? Language and politics. First, we shall 
 give them (the German Bohemians) their own 
 schools, conducted in German. How many Ger- 
 man-speaking inhabitants must there be in any 
 one district before a German school shall be 
 opened there? Well, the general feeling is that 
 any district which can furnish forty German 
 pupils is entitled to a German school. Who shall 
 pay the schools? Shall the Czecho-Slovak com- 
 munities pay for theirs and the Germans for 
 theirs? Or shall the state pay for all the schools 
 by general taxation? I am in favor of the latter 
 method. It will be more just to those German- 
 speaking communities which are small and there- 
 fore less able to bear the expense of a school. 
 
 ' ' From the schools let us proceed to the courts. 
 These shall be bilingual throughout. What more 
 can the Germans want? Then there is the political 
 constitution. Germans, as Germans, will be able 
 to vote for their own representatives in parlia- 
 ment. That is to say, there will be absolute minor- 
 ity recognition in every respect." 1 
 
 It remains to be seen whether President Mas-] 
 
CZECHO-SLOVAKIA 29 
 
 aryk's policy will provide a solution for the for- 
 eign national minorities in the newly erected 
 states. Bohemia's problem is typical of the diffi- 
 culties confronting most of the other liberated 
 nationalities. If it fails in Czecho-Slovakia, the 
 idea of setting up permanent peace in Europe 
 through a settlement of the various national 
 claims is bankrupt, entailing the bankruptcy of 
 the institution of political nationalism. Czecho- 
 slovakia is the most civilized, as well as the most 
 tolerant of all the resurrected nations. Thomas G. 
 Masaryk is undoubtedly the most gifted exponent 
 of the cause of the small nationalities in the world. 
 He is second to none among the European states- 
 men in knowledge and understanding of inter- 
 national affairs. 
 
 Bom on March 6, 1850, of a poor family in Mo- 
 ravia, Thomas Masaryk began his career in life 
 as an apprentice to a blacksmith, but succeeded in 
 entering high school and making his way through 
 the University of Vienna, where he became, in 
 1879, instructor in philosophy. Three years later 
 he was appointed professor at the Prague Uni- 
 versity. In 1891 Masaryk was elected deputy to 
 the Reichsrat, but resigned two years later to for- 
 mulate a practical national problem for the Czechs. 
 He founded the Realist party, which entertained 
 no illusions as to the nature of the Habsburgs. He 
 became known throughout Europe by his great 
 works on Czech national questions and history, on 
 
30 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Marxism, on Russia, and other subjects. In 1907 
 he was re-elected deputy to the Vienna Parlia- 
 ment, waging since then relentless warfare against 
 the Austro-Hungarian bureaucracies. 
 
 ''A man of great learning and well posted in all 
 contemporary ideas and movements, whether phil- 
 osophical, literary, political or social," writes of 
 Masaryk one of his countrymen, ''he began to 
 facilitate the spread of all such movements in Bo- 
 hemia. . . . University professor, philosopher, 
 writer, publicist, journalist, his eyes were always 
 turned to the practical side of things and to the 
 everyday problems of national life. He founded 
 reviews and libraries, encouraged the publication 
 of foreign works and contributed largely to the 
 knowledge of all other European nations. It was 
 under his auspices that Russian and French liter- 
 ature penetrated to Bohemia, and that the master- 
 pieces of English literature became familiar to 
 the Czechs. . . . He thus influenced the whole 
 youth of Bohemia, and his ideas spread also 
 among the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes and Ruthenes. 
 Masaryk, in fact, carried on the glorious tradition 
 of the great Czech patriots of the ninetenth cen- 
 tury, 'the national awakeners,' and was himself 
 the last of them. With him begins a new phase in 
 the history of the Czech people, which from now 
 on takes its place side by side with the other 
 European nations in virtue of its intellectual, 
 moral, and material development." 
 
The ethnographic boundaries of Czeeho-Slovakia, Jugoslavia and Albania. 
 The section between Trieste and Pola is Italian in population. 
 
n 
 
 JUGOSLAVIA 
 
 Jugoslavia is the land of the Southern Slavs. 
 The word ''jug" in Slavic means ''south." The 
 Jugoslavs and the Southern Slavs are therefore 
 synonymous terms. Racially the Jugoslavs in- 
 clude the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. 
 Politically, however, the Bulgars have dissociated 
 themselves from the Southern Slavs. Jugoslavia 
 in its current usage is therefore primarily a politi- 
 cal term, applied to the territory inhabited by 
 Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. 
 
 This territory is a huge block nearly two hun- 
 dred miles wide, bounded on the west by Italy 
 and the Adriatic Sea ; on the north by Austria and 
 Hungary ; on the east by Eumania and Bulgaria ; 
 and on the south by Greece and Albania. It com- 
 prises Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 
 Dalmatia, Croatia-Slavonia, Carniola, and sec- 
 tions of Istria, Goritzia, Styria, Carinthia, Ba- 
 ranya, Backa and the Banat. All of these, except 
 the first two, were provinces of Austria and Hun- 
 gary before the outbreak of the World War. The 
 population of entire Jugoslavia exceeds twelve 
 
 33 
 
34 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 million, more than a third of which falls to Serbia 
 and Montenegro. 
 
 The Slovenes, the least numerous of the Jugo- 
 slavs, numbering only about a million and a half, 
 inhabit the northwestern end of the country, sur- 
 rounded by the Italians to the west and the Aus- 
 trians to the north. The Croats occupy the cen- 
 tral regions of Jugoslavia, and the Serbs and 
 Montenegrins are at the extreme south and east. 
 While the language of the Croats and Serbs is 
 nearly identical, that of the Slovenes is a distinct 
 dialect. These linguistic differences are undoubt- 
 edly the result of the forced estrangement of the 
 various elements of the Jugoslav race in the course 
 of centuries of struggle and slavery. 
 
 In their early history, the Jugoslavs appear as 
 one people. Fifteen centuries ago they crossed 
 from the Carpathian ranges and established them- 
 selves in their present homeland, under the aegis 
 of Byzantium. A historian of the seventh cen- 
 tury tells of a number of Slavs taken prisoner 
 on the Danube by the soldiers of the Byzantine 
 Emperor Mavricius (582-602), and describes them 
 as tall, broad-shouldered men, armed only with 
 pikes, and in appearance quite harmless and good- 
 natured. In reply to questions as to their identity 
 they said: "We are Slavs, coming from the far- 
 off sea. We do not know steel or arms, we graze 
 our herds, make music with our pipes and do not 
 harm anyone." 
 
 I 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 35 
 
 The Slovenes were subjugated during the reign 
 of Charlemagne, toward the end of the eighth 
 century, by German lords, who, however, op- 
 pressed them so severely that they revolted. Out 
 of this rebellion sprang the first Jugoslav state. 
 Under the leadership of one of their chiefs, Lude- 
 vit Posavsai, the Slovenes formed a powerful 
 kingdom. This was the first and only time in the 
 life of the Jugoslavs that all of their elements 
 were united in one state. The Slovenian kingdom 
 soon succumbed to its mighty neighbors. The 
 Croats, however, evolved an independent state of 
 their own in the ninth century. Toward the end of 
 the tenth century it became impoverished as a 
 result of participation in the wars that raged in 
 Europe at that time. In 1102, at the extinction of 
 the Croatian dynasty, the Hungarian king was 
 elected to the throne of Croatia. Since then it has 
 been part of Hungary and later the Dual Mon- 
 archy. Croatia remained for centuries an autono- 
 mous state, as the Hungarian kings, upon their 
 accession to the throne, would also be crowned as 
 kings of Croatia. This practice continued till the 
 Croat resistance to the Magyar domination weak- 
 ened. 
 
 An important element of division was intro- 
 duced among the Jugoslavs in the eleventh cen- 
 tury, when the Christian Church split into the 
 Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic branches. 
 The southeastern Jugoslavs came under the in- 
 
36 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 fluence of the first, wliile the northwestern Jugo- 
 slavs fell under the domination of Rome. The re- 
 sult was that the two churches were established 
 in Jugoslavia. The Greek Orthodox elements be- 
 came known as Serbs, while the Roman Catholics 
 were called Croats and Slovenes. 
 
 Up to the twelfth century the Serbs remained 
 in their tribal state, not infrequently falling vic- 
 tims to their strong Bulgarian brothers. When 
 the Bulgarian empire of the ninth and tenth cen- 
 turies collapsed, the Serbs paid tribute to Byzan- 
 tium. In 1159, under the leadership of their first 
 national figure, Stephen Neman j a, the Serbs con- 
 stituted themselves into an independent state, 
 comprising parts of Dalmatia and Montenegro. 
 It was during the reign of Stephen Nemanja 's son 
 that Serbia finally identified herself with the East- 
 ern Church. 
 
 Serbia rose to the zenith of her power in the 
 fourteenth century under the rule of Stephen Dus- 
 han, a great general, reformer and statesman. 
 During his reign Serbia waged thirteen campaigns 
 against Byzantium. He extended his dominions 
 as far as the Gulf of Corinth in the south and 
 Adrianople in the east. Louis the Great, of Hun- 
 gary, found himself menaced by Dushan and began 
 a war against Serbia. He was defeated and lost 
 some of his Jugoslav possessions, including Bos- 
 nia, inhabited by Croats. Dushan, however, did 
 not aim to consolidate all the Jugoslavs under his 
 
 I 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 37 
 
 scepter. His eyes were on Constantinople. In 
 1356 he captured Adrianople. But lie died before 
 his armies reached the Byzantine capital. His 
 vast kingdom immediately crumbled. Bosnia 
 soon reverted to Louis the Great, who sought to 
 win her favor by bestowing the royal title on her 
 Ban, or chief. After the death of Louis the Great, 
 Bosnia attained complete independence and a 
 powerful position under Stephen Tvrtko, who 
 styled himself "King of the Serbs and of Bosnia 
 and the Coastland." 
 
 JVIeanwhile a terrible foe appeared in the east. 
 The Turks had invaded Europe. A Serbian army 
 which went out to meet them was defeated in 
 1371. The Turks continued their conquests of the 
 Balkans, capturing Nish in 1386, and exacting an 
 indemnity from the Serbian Tsar. The menace 
 of the Ottoman hordes did not, however, cause the 
 Christian states to abandon their own quarrels 
 and present a united front to the Moslem hosts. 
 Even Tvrtko of Bosnia did not realize in time the 
 meaning of the Turkish danger, and continued his 
 favorite policy of consolidating all the Jugoslav 
 dominions in the north until it was too late. 
 
 The Turks were ready for a tremendous drive 
 into Europe. The Serbs were at the gate of Cen- 
 tral Europe and against them the Ottoman Sultan, 
 Murat, directed his vast armies. The crisis came 
 in 1389. The Serbian Tsar, Lazar, realized the 
 acute situation and made a desperate appeal to 
 
38 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 all the Jugoslav chiefs and princes to come to his 
 support. King Tvrtko, of Bosnia, was among 
 those who heeded the call of Serbia. On the plain 
 of Kosovo, the ' ' Field of Blackbirds, ' ' the two con- 
 tending forces met. On one side were the hordes 
 of Moslems; on the other, the Jugoslav kings, 
 chiefs, nobles and soldiers. Here was fought, on 
 June 15th, 1389, one of the bloodiest battles in his- 
 tory. Tsar Lazar and the flower of Serbian man- 
 hood went down in the contest. The Turkish Sul- 
 tan Murat was also slain on the battlefield. But 
 the victory was Turkish and Serbia was crushed 
 and her independence slowly extinguished. How 
 important the Battle of Kosovo was considered 
 by the Western world can be seen from the fact 
 that its issue was awaited impatiently in Paris. 
 The records of the Church of Notre Dame show 
 that a false report reached Paris of Serbian vic- 
 tory, and a solemn Te Deum was sung on the oc- 
 casion. 
 
 The downfall of Serbia was followed by the 
 collapse of the other Jugoslav state — Bosnia. 
 King Tvrtko died in 1391, after gaining possession 
 of the Dalmatian coast from Cattaro to Zara. 
 Soon after his death the Republic of Venice, then 
 a great maritime power, sought to establish itself j 
 in Dalmatia. By 1420 practically the entire Dal- 
 matian coast, excepting the small Republic of Ra- 
 gusa, had passed into the possession of Venice. In 
 1440 the Turks subjugated Bosnia. In 1459 Mo- 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 39 
 
 hammed II destroyed the last remnants of Serbian 
 independence, in 1463 he completely crushed Bos- 
 nia, and in 1476 Herzegovina. These Jugoslav 
 lands remained under Turkish rule for three cen- 
 turies. Only two little principalities retained their 
 independence. One was impregnable Montenegro, 
 the embodiment of the fighting spirit of the race. 
 The other was the Republic of Eagusa (Dubrov- 
 nik), which continued to exist till the days of Na- 
 poleon as a cultural center, in which Jugoslav 
 civilization attained its greatest heights. 
 
 In the latter part of the fifteenth century large 
 numbers of Serbians migrated to South Hungary, 
 to escape the Turkish oppression. According to 
 a statement made by King Matthias of Hungary 
 in a letter to the Pope, in 1483, about two hundred 
 thousand Serbians had immigrated to his country 
 in the preceding four years. The Turks were now 
 menacing Hungary. In 1526 they were met by 
 Louis II, at the head of a Hungarian army. So 
 sure was he of victory over the invaders that he 
 did not desire his dominion, Croatia, to share in 
 the glory of the battle. The Turks, however, were 
 the victors. King Louis was slain, his army anni- 
 hilated, his country invaded. On January 1, 1527, 
 the Croatian diet elected Archduke Ferdinand of 
 Austria, of the Habsburgs, to the Croatian throne. 
 Ferdinand had been elected previously to the Bo- 
 hemian and Hungarian thrones, thus founding the 
 Habsburg empire. 
 
40 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 In the course of the sixteenth century the Turks 
 penetrated into Croatian territory, after conquer- 
 ing even those South Hungarian provinces which 
 were populated by Serbian immigrants. But while 
 in Bulgaria and Bosnia they impressed themselves 
 deeply on the national character, in Serbo-Croatian 
 territory they left no strong marks. In the second 
 half of the seventeenth century the Western Euro- 
 pean Powers allied themselves to stem the ad- 
 vance of the Turks and push them back. Begin- 
 ning with 1683, when the Turks besieged Vienna, 
 the tide turned for the Moslems. It was John So- 
 bieski of Poland who sealed the fate of the Turks 
 by his timely aid. Since then the Turkish wave has 
 been receding toward Asia. Austria was saved 
 and Hungary freed from the invaders in 1683. 
 The Habsburgs, in their subsequent campaigns 
 against the Turks, appealed to the Serbians of 
 South Hungary to rise against the Ottoman gov- 
 ernment. The Serbians met in a national assembly 
 and demanded in return that Austria recognize 
 the autonomy of their church, headed by their 
 Patriarch. Emperor Leopold I accepted the Ser- 
 bian conditions. The rights thus granted to the 
 Serbians were proclaimed by the Austrian court 
 on August 31st, 1690, and assured to them religious 
 and national autonomy. Thanks to the Jesuit in- 
 fluences at Vienna these pledges were never fully 
 carried into effect. In the early years of the 
 eighteenth century the Magyars revolted, under 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 41 
 
 Rakoczy II, against Austrian domination. The 
 Serbians of South Hungary were invited to join 
 the rebellion, but remained loyal to the Habsburgs. 
 They lost about 100,000 men in their struggle 
 against the Magyars, and materially assisted the 
 Habsburgs to maintain their position. Although 
 this brought forth, in 1706 and in subsequent 
 years, confirmations by Austria of the Serbians' 
 autonomous rights, these were not realized. In 
 1735 the Serbs revolted, but were promptly sup- 
 pressed and their rights limited even further. 
 
 The result of this was an extensive emigration 
 of Serbians from South Hungary. In 1751-53 
 many thousands of them left the Habsburg do- 
 minions. The Austrian government sought to 
 stop this movement by creating, in 1752, a commis- 
 sion for the protection of Serbian interests in 
 Austria, which was abolished twenty-five years 
 later. Toward the end of the eighteenth century 
 the Austrian Emperor, Joseph 11, inaugurated a 
 policy of centralization, which aroused Hungary's 
 bitter opposition. The latter was encouraged by 
 Austria 's reverses in 1790 to insist on guarantees 
 of Magyar national rights, demanding the sup- 
 pression of the national privileges of the Serbians 
 living in South Hungary. The Habsburgs pro- 
 ceeded to crystallize Serbian sentiment against 
 the Magyars, using it as a weapon against them. 
 
 While this struggle of the Serbs — the Orthodox 
 Jugoslavs — went on from generation to genera- 
 
42 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 tioii, their Catholic brethren — the Croats — had 
 grown ahnost barren of national feeling in the 
 course of their domination by the Catholic Mag- 
 yars. It can thus be seen that it was the Greek 
 Orthodox Church that kept alive Serbian national- 
 ism. However, with the nineteenth century, a new 
 era dawned upon the Jugoslav people. In 1805 the 
 Croatians began to manifest organized opposition 
 to the Hungarians who sought to Magyarize the 
 country. This national feeling among the Jugo- 
 slavs gained tremendous impetus with the rise 
 of Napoleon, who shook the Austrian empire to 
 its foundations. He conquered Dalmatia, which 
 had come into the possession of Austria after the 
 fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, and joined 
 it with part of Croatia, and Istria, Goritzia, Car- 
 inthia and Carniola under the name of the King- 
 dom of lUyria. "This kingdom of Illyria was the 
 first purely Southern Slav state since the ninth 
 century," writes Vladislav R. Savic, "in which 
 all three branches of the race — Serbs, Croats and 
 Slovenes — w^ere united under one administration. ' ' 
 Napoleon added to Illyria the Republic of Ragusa 
 in 1808. His genius perceived clearly the vital im- 
 port of the land of the Jugoslavs. "Illyria is the 
 guard set before the gates of Vienna," he said. 
 
 There followed a brief but intensely productive 
 period of life for the Southern Slavs. "Under 
 the enlightened, if despotic, rule of Marshal Mar- 
 mont," observes R. W. Seton- Watson, "the long 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 43 
 
 stagnation of the Middle Ages was replaced by- 
 feverish activity in every branch of life. Admin- 
 istration and justice were reorganized, the Code 
 Napoleon superseding the etf ete mediaeval codes ; 
 schools, primary and secondary, commercial and 
 agricultural, sprang up in every direction: the 
 first Croat and Slovene newspapers appeared: 
 the old Guild System was reformed and commer- 
 cial restrictions removed; peasant proprietary 
 was introduced; reafforestation was begun, and 
 splendid roads were constructed which are still 
 the admiration of every tourist. Official business 
 was conducted in French and Croatian, with the 
 addition of Italian along the coast." 
 
 In 1804 Serbia, still under Turkish domination, 
 made an attempt to liberate itself under the leader- 
 ship of Karageorge. The Serbs were joined by 
 thousands of their brethren from Austria and 
 Hungary, and for several years fought the Turks 
 successfully. In 1813 the Serbian insurrection 
 was crushed, but came to life again two years 
 later, and wrested from the Ottoman government 
 recognition of an autonomous principality formed 
 of a part of the Old Serbia. In the same year the 
 Kingdom of Illyria came to grief, but with the 
 downfall of Napoleon his ideas of Jugoslav unity 
 did not die out, and an Illyrian movement came 
 into existence. Its originator and leader was 
 Ljudevit Gaj, and he played a great role in arous- 
 ing Jugoslav nationalism. He adapted the Croa- 
 
44 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 tian dialect to the Serbian, thus creating a common 
 literary tongue for the larger part of the Jugo- 
 slav people. 
 
 The rise of Magyar nationalism under the 
 Habsburgs made the lot of the Croats and Serbs 
 doubly oppressive. In 1825 the Magyars were al- 
 lowed to convoke their diet, which formulated a 
 policy of Magyarization for Hungary, without 
 regard to the national rights of Croatia and Sla- 
 vonia. To the Magyar nationahsts the Croats de- 
 clared: '*We are resolved not to degenerate from 
 our fathers and will preserve our nationality at 
 all costs and with every possible means. Our 
 rights of local government can never be the sub- 
 ject of negotiations, our internal administration 
 is not within the jurisdiction of the estates of 
 Hungary, and we protest most solemnly against 
 all innovations." But the Magyars, while con- 
 tinuously struggling to obtain recognition of their 
 autonomy from the Habsburgs, encroached upon 
 the Slavs that inhabited Greater Hungary, impos- 
 ing upon them the Magyar tongue and even inter- 
 fering with the Serbian Church. 
 
 The great revolutionary year of 1848 stirred 
 the Serbs of Hungary profoundly. They formu- 
 lated a series of demands and delegated several 
 leaders to present them to the Magyars. In April 
 the deputation had an audience with Kossuth, the 
 great Magyar statesman. It was an historic audi- 
 ence. The Serbs, led by Alexander Kostic, claimed 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 45 
 
 their right to be regarded as a nation. What fol- 
 lowed is thus set down by E. W. Seton- Watson : 
 
 "What do you understand by a 'nation'?" in- 
 quired Kossuth. 
 
 ^*A race which possesses its own language, cus- 
 toms and culture," was the Serb reply, "and 
 enough self -consciousness to preserve them." 
 
 "A nation must also have its own government," 
 objected Kossuth. 
 
 "We do not go so far," Kostic explained; "one 
 nation can live under several different govern- 
 ments, and again several nations can form a single 
 state." 
 
 When one of the younger members of the depu- 
 tation, in reply to a statement by Kossuth that 
 Hungary must be Magyarized, said that the Serbs 
 would be compelled to seek justice elsewhere, the 
 deputation was dismissed with the striking phrase : 
 "The sword must decide." These words of Kos- 
 suth were the signal for a bitter racial struggle, 
 which developed in 1848. The Serbians of South- 
 ern Hungary, who were Orthodox, and the Catho- 
 lic Croats now forgot all their religious differ- 
 ences and united in one cause. In June the 
 Croatian diet arrived at an agreement with the 
 Serbian assembly which met at Karlovci and 
 which had demanded the creation of a separate 
 principality embracing the South Hungarian prov- 
 inces of Syrmia, Baranya, Backa and the Banat. 
 This rapprochement between the two Jugoslav 
 
4G THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 sections of opposite religious faith was a great 
 national triumph. It showed that the idea of Jugo- 
 slav unity was making big progress. 
 
 The Magyar movement became a menace to the 
 Habsburgs. Vienna therefore decided to make 
 use of the Serbo-Croats in order to subdue the 
 Magyars. To win the favor of the Jugoslavs the 
 Austrian rulers granted them reforms and ap- 
 pointed Baron Jelacic to the office of Ban of 
 Croatia, allowing him to command an army against 
 the Magyars. The latter, however, repulsed the 
 Jelacic force, and soon afterwards launched their 
 famous revolutionary movement of 1848-49. The 
 first victims of the Magyar revolution were the 
 Serbs of South Hungary. The Habsburgs be- 
 came uneasy and hastened to desert Croatia and 
 Slavonia and conciliate the Magyars. Jelacic, 
 having served his purpose as commander of 
 the Serbo-Croatian forces, which helped Aus- 
 tria in the war that had meanwhile been 
 declared by Italy, was now deprived of his 
 offices as Ban and General. But it was too 
 late for the Habsburgs to escape the Mag- 
 yar wrath. The revolution had gained much mo- 
 mentum. The Magyars attacked the Serbs and i 
 Croats and forced a union between the latter and | 
 the Austrians. The Habsburgs again favored the 
 Jugoslavs with reforms and privileges. A Serbian 
 principality was created in South Hungary after 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 47 
 
 the Magyar revolution had been bloodily sup- 
 pressed. 
 
 Beginning with 1849 Austria was in the grip of 
 a reactionary wave. The Serbian principality 
 was virtually abolished when the Emperor had 
 assumed the title of its chief. Germanization 
 became the leading policy of the Habsburg rule. 
 This policy exploded in 1859, when Austria suf- 
 fered a defeat at the hands of Italy and found it 
 necessary to strengthen the empire by winning 
 the support of the subject nationalities. But no 
 definite plan was elaborated and followed by the 
 Vienna government for several j^ears. It was 
 only in 1867, after the disastrous war of the 
 preceding year against Prussia, that Emperor 
 Francis Joseph embarked upon the definite but 
 fatal system of Dualism. By the famous agree- 
 ment of February, 1867, the Magyars were raised 
 to the position of a sovereign nation, and Aus- 
 tria-Hungary was created. It was fatal because 
 the Slavic races, the Poles, Ruthenes, Czechs and 
 Serbo-Croats, were not admitted into the union. 
 The two dominant peoples in the empire were the 
 Germans and the Magyars, and thus was the stage 
 set for the explosion that occurred half a century 
 afterward. The Magyars, having gained ascen- 
 dancy, proceeded to conciliate Croatia, and an 
 agreement was reached with her in 1868 which, 
 although restricting Croatian autonomy and ter- 
 ritory, still allowed her self-government. 
 
48 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Meanwhile Serbia was gradually emerging from 
 Turkish domination and developing into an in- 
 dependent state. In 1815, after the failure of 
 Karageorge's insurrection, Milos Obrenovic, an- 
 other Serbian leader, raised the banner of rebel- 
 lion and succeeded in becoming the ruler of Serbia 
 under the Ottoman aegis. The Sultan's govern- 
 ment was conciliated when Karageorge was slain 
 by the party of Obrenovic and his head sent to the 
 Sublime Porte. This bloody deed of treachery 
 marked the beginning of the bitter dynastic feud 
 between the families of the two chiefs. Milos, 
 however, was recognized by Turkey as the Prince 
 of Serbia only in 1830. Although a despot by 
 nature, he was compelled to grant a constitution 
 with a national assembly in 1835. Thanks to the 
 interference of foreign powers, especially Russia, 
 in Serbian affairs, Milos abdicated and went into 
 exile in 1839. He was succeeded by his son 
 Michael, who was also forced to become an exile 
 because of foreign intrigue. The next ruler of 
 Serbia was a son of the slain Karageorge, Alex- 
 ander. He was deposed in 1858 by the assembly 
 because of his anti-Russian policy, and the old 
 Milos, still alive and in exile, was recalled. He 
 died in 1860, to be succeeded again by his son 
 Michael. He introduced many refomis and re- 
 modeled the Constitution, and succeeded, with the 
 aid of the great powers, in having the Turkish gar- 
 risons withdrawn from his domain. On May 6th, 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 49 
 
 1867, Serbian soil was clear of the Turk. Prince 
 Michael looked ahead to the time when all the 
 Jugoslavs would be united and slowly worked 
 for the consummation of this aim. But in June, 
 
 1868, he was assassinated by followers of the 
 Karageorge dynasty. After a regency, his cousin 
 Milan, aged fourteen at his death, became the 
 ruler of Serbia. During his rule Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina, populated by Serbo-Croats, but 
 dominated by Moslem nobles, revolted against the 
 Turkish government. At the end of a year of hesi- 
 tation and vacillation Prince Milan, together with 
 Montenegro, declared, in 1876, war on the Turks 
 in support of the Jugoslavs of Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina, promulgating a manifesto which called for 
 the union of the Southern Slavs in one gi'eat Ser- 
 bian state. 
 
 It was at this juncture that the policy which 
 reached its culminating point in July, 1914, was 
 inaugurated by the Habsburgs. Austria and 
 Hungary considered Serbia's aspiration to Bosnia 
 and Herzegovina a menace to themselves. Thanks 
 to Eussia's intervention in 1877, Turkey was 
 beaten. But Serbia did not get much satisfaction 
 either from Russia or from Austria-Hungary at 
 the Congress of Berlin. Great Britain had rec- 
 ognized secretly Austria-Hungary's title to Bosnia 
 on June 6th, 1878. Russia was too much interested 
 in Bulgaria and other things to justify the Serbian 
 hopes. The result was that, although Serbia and 
 
50 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Montenegro were augmented by the addition of 
 some territory to each, Bosnia and Herzegovina 
 were placed by the Congress of Berlin under 
 Austro-Hungarian control, which took the form 
 of the occupation of the two provinces, still nomi- 
 nally Turkish, by Austrian authorities. For a 
 time Serbia was torn between hatred for Russia 
 and Austria-Hungary. The latter knew how to 
 utilize this condition. It encouraged Prince Milan 
 to assume the royal title, which he did, but the 
 Serbian kingdom under him was greatly dis- 
 credited. He wrecked the larger Jugoslav aims by 
 falling upon Bulgaria and waging a war which 
 ended disastrously for Serbia. He finally gained 
 the enmity of his people to such an extent that 
 he found himself constrained to abdicate in 1889 
 in favor of his son Alexander, who was a minor. 
 A regency took over the supreme power. King 
 Alexander was an arbitrary and capricious ruler 
 and set up practically the entire nation against 
 him by marrying a former mistress of his. After 
 a reign of immoral conduct and general provoca- 
 tion. King Alexander and his wife were assassi- 
 nated during the night of June 10th, 1903, by a 
 group of officers. A grandson of Karageorge, 
 Peter, was now elected to the Sei|)ian throne and 
 instituted an exemplary constitutional govern- 
 ment. 
 
 During the latter part of King Milan's life and 
 the disgraceful reign of his son, Alexander, Croa- 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 51 
 
 tia was smarting under an oppressive Magyar 
 yoke. After tlie Bosnian rebellion of 1876 the re- 
 lations between the Magyars and Groats again be- 
 came acute. The Groats wanted Bosnia joined 
 to Croatia under Habsburg rule; the Magyars 
 sought to add it to Hungary. Premier Tisza, of 
 Hungary, suspended temporarily the Croatian 
 constitution in 1883, when the Groats made an ef- 
 fort to revolt, and appointed as Ban of Croatia 
 his own cousin. Count Khuen-Hedervary, whose 
 twenty years' rule formed, according to R. W. 
 Seton-Watson, "a most humiliating epoch in 
 Southern Slav history. . . . He was probably 
 the most effectively corrupt satrap of a subject 
 province whom the nineteenth century has pro- 
 duced, wiiile in 1910, as Hungarian Premier, he 
 organized electoral corruption on a scale hither- 
 to unsurpassed, not merely in Hungary, but prob- 
 ably in modern Europe. . . . Above all, Khuen's 
 system depended upon playing off Croat and Serb 
 against each other, upon inflaming the petty pas- 
 sions and religious bigotry of Catholic and Ortho- 
 dox." 
 
 In 1905, when Austria, under -the influence of 
 the Russian Revolution, was compelled to grant 
 universal suffrage, the Serbo-Croats found their 
 opportunity. They formed a coalition, both in 
 Croatia and Dalmatia, and triumphed in 1906, is- 
 suing a series of demands for reforms and lib- 
 erties. After that developments followed quickly. 
 
52 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Serbia and Montenegro became the centers of 
 active agitation for Jugoslav unity. The revolu- 
 tionary elements in Croatia, Dalmatia and Sla- 
 vonia were even more intensely at work on the 
 propagation of the Jugoslav national idea. The 
 Austrians and the Magyars by their policy of per- 
 secution and intolerance helped the spread of the 
 movement. The Habsburg government did not 
 stop at forgery in order to be able to throw accu- 
 sations at both its own Jugoslav subjects and the 
 Serbian government. Austria-Hungary decided 
 to formally annex Bosnia-Herzegovina, and con- 
 sidered it necessary to make out a strong case by 
 proving that the Serbian king and his counselors 
 were plotting together with the Croats against 
 the Vienna government. A number of documents 
 were forged to back up the accusations and were 
 sufficient to justify Austria in annexing Bosnia- 
 Herzegovina. This provoked the great crisis of 
 1908, when a world war seemed inevitable, as the 
 Russian government considered Austria-Hun- 
 gary's act a slap in the face. However, when 
 Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany openly placed him- 
 self on the side of Austria, Russia backed out, 
 suffering diplomatic humiliation. The two prov- 
 inces remained Austrian, although in the sensa- 
 tional trial that followed the documents produced 
 by the Austrian government against Serbia were 
 proven forgeries. Professor Masaryk, the Czecho- 
 slovak leader, was able to demonstrate later that 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 53 
 
 the documents were concocted by Count Forgach, 
 the Austro-Hungarian minister to Serbia. 
 
 These methods of the Vienna politicians only- 
 solidified the Jugoslav national sentiment. In 
 1912, during the war of the Balkan League against 
 Turkey, the Serbs amazed the world by their high 
 military ability. Serbia, it has been said, avenged 
 Kosovo in that year and revealed a spirit that 
 caught the entire Southern Slav race in a wave of 
 enthusiasm. Serbia's achievements gave a greater 
 impetus to Jugoslav nationalism than generations 
 of literary and political propaganda. Naturally, 
 Austria-Hungary became uneasy at the sudden 
 manifestation of Serbian power and proceeded to 
 repress Jugoslav activities within its domains, 
 simultaneously plotting to disrupt the Balkan 
 League and set Bulgaria against Serbia. This 
 Vienna accomplished. The second Balkan war 
 robbed the Serbs of access to the sea and embit- 
 tered further their attitude toward Austria-Hun- 
 gary. 
 
 In 1914, then, the Jugoslav movement had 
 reached its highest mark. Russia had since 1908 
 made great strides in the reorganization of her 
 army. Austria-Hungary was in a mood to crush 
 the Southern Slav menace, the sponsor of which 
 was Serbia in the eyes of Vienna. Serbia, how- 
 ever embittered, cannot be said to have been 
 physically fit for an arduous war after the two 
 wars of 1912 and 1913, which had fairly exhausted 
 
54 THE KESUKRECTED NxVTIONS 
 
 her. Still the inflammatory material was there. 
 (xerman-Magyar nationalism had in the course of 
 a century cultivated Jugoslav nationalism by op- 
 pression and persecution. Now it blossomed forth 
 and was desperate enough to fight for its national 
 riglits. The clash might have been postponed for 
 a time, but it could hardly have been avoided. The 
 signal was given when Archduke Francis Ferdi- 
 nand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated at 
 Sarajevo, Bosnia, by a youth named Princip. The 
 full story of the criminal act has not yet been re- 
 vealed. It has been charged, not without some 
 reason, that the assassin was a protege of certain 
 Austro-Hungarian politicians. At least it is now 
 established that the murdered archduke was in- 
 clined toward a radical solution of the Jugoslav 
 problem, and that he had even favored the recon- 
 struction of the Dual Monarchy on a federal basis. 
 He was pronouncedly anti-Magyar, that is certain, 
 and it is this that adds an element of mystery to 
 the assassination. What followed is but too well 
 known. Vienna took Serbia to task, holding her 
 government responsible for the assassination and 
 the revolutionary movement in the Austro-Hun- 
 garian Jugoslav provinces. The famous ulti- 
 matum w^as despatched to Serbia, plainly aiming 
 at the destruction of Serbian sovereignty. That 
 Serbia wTnt as far as it could possibly have been 
 expected from a sovereign nation in her reply to 
 Vienna is clearly written in the records of the 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 55 
 
 Great War. Jugoslav nationalism was opposed by 
 German and Magyar nationalism, and only by the 
 self-negation of one party could a collision have 
 been averted. But that would have been a nega- 
 tion of the very soul and purpose of the power that 
 is modern nationalism. 
 
 What happened to the Croats, Serbs and Slo- 
 venes within the boundaries of the Dual Mon- 
 archy after the outbreak of the World War re- 
 mains of the least known pages of atrocities and 
 persecutions recorded in Europe and the Near 
 East between 1914 and 1918. Perhaps it was be- 
 cause public opinion considered the Jugoslavs 
 .partly responsible for the universal conflict that 
 little attention was paid to their condition. Ac- 
 cording to a speech delivered on October 19th, 
 1917, in the Austrian Parliament by a noted Croat 
 poet and politician, who had himself been im- 
 prisoned during the early part of the war, the 
 Jugoslavs suffered hideous persecution. 
 
 * ' Upon the outbreak of the war a veritable tem- 
 pest of destruction was let loose upon all Jugo- 
 slav patriots. . . . All the nationally enlight- 
 ened, responsible and honest elements of the male 
 population were arrested, interned, imprisoned, 
 ruined, condemned to death, executed; the very 
 young and the aged were fated to die of hunger, 
 the remainder were terrorized, demoralized and 
 dishonored. . . . 
 
 "When, after three months' imprisonment at 
 
56 THE RESUERECTED NATIONS 
 
 Maribor (Marburg), I was for the first time 
 brought before a judge, he said to me: 'I do 
 not know what the accusation is against you, and 
 this you will readily understand when I tell you 
 that in Dalmatia, Istria and Carniola alone we 
 have arrested more than five thousand persons.' 
 You can now imagine how many have been ar- 
 rested in Bosnia, in Herzegovina, in Slavonia and 
 in the south of Hungary ! ' ' 
 
 The executions and atrocities to which the Jugo- 
 slavs were subjected only further exasperated 
 them and consolidated their national conscious- 
 ness. A Jugoslav committee was formed abroad, 
 aiming at the constitution of all the Jugoslav 
 provinces of Austria-Hungary into a separate 
 state, preferably in union with Serbia and Mon- 
 tenegro. Serbia now openly espoused the cause 
 of Jugoslav unity. On July 20th, 1917, the Serbian 
 government and the Jugoslavs of Austria-Hun- 
 gary arrived at a formal agreement, known as 
 the Declaration of Corfu. It expressed the aspi- 
 rations of all the Jugoslav peoples to become one 
 nation. Specifically, it provided that the future 
 Jugoslavia should be a kingdom under the rule of 
 the Serbian dynasty, while leaving to an all-Jugo- 
 slav constituent assembly to promulgate a consti- 
 tution as "the beginning and end of all author- 
 ity." When Austria-Hungary collapsed and the 
 Jugoslavs suddenly found themselves the masters 
 of their destinies, the republican sentiments of the 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 57 
 
 former Austro-Hungarian subjects asserted them- 
 selves and they sought to make the united Jugo- 
 slavia a republic. Friction thus developed be- 
 tween the two parties to the declaration of Corfu. 
 ''The difference between the two views," said 
 Dr. Hinko Hinkovic, one of the signators of the 
 pact and a recognized leader of the Croats, ''may 
 be shortly defined as the scheme of Greater Serbia 
 and Jugoslavia. According to Mr. Pasic, the 
 Serbian Premier, the Jugoslavs outside of Serbia 
 ought to enter this kingdom. Meanwhile the 
 overwhelming majority of our nation most ener- 
 getically refuses any idea of a Greater Serbia, as 
 well as of a Greater Croatia. What we desire is 
 to establish a new state which all parts of the 
 nation should enter on absolutely equal terms, re- 
 serving to the constituent assembly the sovereign 
 decision of the whole constitution, including, of 
 course, the question of a republic or a monarchy." 
 Another element of friction was introduced by 
 Montenegro, whose king, Nicholas, was declared 
 deposed by the partisans of the idea of a Greater 
 Serbia. The king, who is a most enlightened 
 man, persisted in clinging to the throne, seeing 
 no reason why he should abdicate in favor of 
 King Peter of Serbia. In a proclamation which he 
 issued in November, 1918, he said: "I solemnly 
 declare that my dear Montenegro should become 
 a constituent part of Jugoslavia, and enter in the 
 Jugoslav community frankly and honestly, as it 
 
58 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 has struggled and suffered for it. I desire that 
 we unite ourselves as brothers in a confederate 
 Jugoslavia in which each state will retain its 
 rights, institutions, religion and customs and in 
 which no one will dare pretend to supremacy, but 
 where all will be equal." 
 
 In December, 1918, the representatives of Croa- 
 tia, Dalmatia, Slavonia, and other parts of the 
 fallen Dual Monarchy, arrived at an understand- 
 ing with the Serbian government and entered an 
 all-national provisional ministry. However, that 
 was not a final solution of the internal problems 
 confronting the new state. Before Jugoslavia is 
 solidly established it would-be necessary to recon- 
 cile the republicanism of the Austro-IIungarian 
 Jugoslavs with the imperialistic aspirations of 
 the Serbian dynasty ; and the differences between 
 the Serbian and Montenegrin monarchies would 
 have to be composed. Jugoslavia might become 
 one nation governed on a federal basis, being in 
 effect a United States of Jugoslavia; national 
 unity might be achieved under the scepter of the 
 Karageorge house of Serbia. The outcome will, 
 to a very large extent, depend on the solution of 
 the external problems facing Jugoslavia. 
 
 By far the most important of these is the con- 
 flict between the territorial aims of the Italian 
 government and the national rights of Jugoslavia. 
 By the secret treaty concluded in London on 
 April 26th, 1915, between Italy on one side and 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 59 
 
 Great Britain, France and Eussia on the other, 
 the former was to receive in reward for her 
 entrance into the war on the side of the Allies, 
 among other things, the city of Trieste and its sur- 
 roundings; the provinces of Goritzia and Gra- 
 disko ; the whole of Istria and a number of islands 
 in the vicinity; the province of Dalmatia and all 
 the neighboring islands. The Adriatic is virtually 
 turned into an Italian lake, and Jugoslavia is de- 
 prived of much territory inhabited by Slavs. 
 Italy's claim to Dalmatia is based on its conquest 
 and possession by the Venetian Republic for sev- 
 eral centuries, as well as her need of harbors. Sir 
 Arthur Evans, a Britisher with an intimate knowl- 
 edge of the Adriatic problem, wrote in April, 
 1917, long before the publication of the secret 
 treaty and the crumbling of Russia under the 
 Central Powers, with regard to the Italian claims, 
 as follows : ' 
 
 "The legitimate need of Italy for protection 
 on her eastern maritime flank is well recognized 
 and must certainly outweigh any pedantic appli- 
 cation of the principle of nationality. No peace 
 could be satisfactory for her, nor indeed for the 
 Allies, that did not place in her hands not only 
 such purely Italian territories as the western strip 
 of Istria from Trieste to the Arsa — the territorial 
 boundary of Italy f rqm the days of Augustus on- 
 wards — but a series of key positions, including 
 not only Pola, but the island and city of Lussin, 
 
60 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 on the other side of the Quarnero, and Lissa, the 
 key island of the Middle Adriatic, besides Valona 
 at its mouth. Let every legitimate security be 
 given her. 
 
 ''But to endeavor to lay hold of Dalmatian or 
 Croat territory en masse, more especially any 
 mainland tract, would be, from the point of view 
 of the true Italian interests, little short of 'mid- 
 summer madness.' Having lived the better part 
 of seven years on those shores and possessing a 
 personal knowledge of the most out-of-the-way 
 districts of the Interior, I can claim an exceptional 
 right to speak on this question. Nearly 97 per 
 cent, of the population is Slav. Even the infini- 
 tesimal minority is not in the true sense of the 
 word Italian. The Province is the very focus of 
 South Slav nationalism. An attempt of this kind 
 would antagonize the whole Slavonic world and 
 could only be the prelude to a new War of Libera- 
 tion in the near future. Nay, more, it would do 
 much to prejudice the real heritage of Latin civi- 
 lization on the East Adriatic shores. ..." 
 
 The conflict between the Jugoslavs and the 
 Italian government assumed such bitterness that 
 the former even went as far as denying the right 
 of the latter to Trieste and Pola, basing their claim 
 on the fact that the territory lying behind these 
 ports is populated by Slavs. Ethnographically, 
 this is to a great extent true. Although the strip 
 of coast between Trieste and Pola, about twenty 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 61 
 
 miles wide, is predominantly Italian, the hinter- 
 land is indubitably Slav. Still the Italian claims 
 here are generally conceded, because the two cities 
 contain Italian majorities. Not so with Fiume, 
 the outlet of Croatia and Slavonia. The majority 
 of its population is Italian. Its immediate hinter- 
 land, however, is Jugoslav. Although it is not a 
 natural port, an artificial harbor was built there 
 at a tremendous expense. It forms another bone 
 of contention which has already resulted in bloody 
 warfare between the Jugoslavs and the Italians 
 who, according to an account in The New Europe, 
 of London, crossed the line of demarcation laid 
 down in the armistice of October 31 and pressed on 
 as far as the very suburbs of Laibach, the Slovene 
 capital, following this movement up with a land- 
 ing at Fiume on November 17. This provoked the 
 Jugoslavs, and their National Council sent a note 
 to the Allies and the United States, which read, in 
 part, as follows : 
 
 '^ Though the Italians had assured the Serbian 
 Army in Fiume that they would not occupy the 
 town, they landed in the harbor as soon as the 
 Serbs had by agreement withdrawn from the town 
 area. The Italians occupied with military force all 
 public buildings and oflQces and the railway sta- 
 tion, and ignored the protests of the Entente rep- 
 resentatives who were present. Communication 
 by rail, post and telegraph between Fiume and 
 Zagreb (capital of Croatia) was interrupted by 
 
62 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 the Italian military. . . . The Jugoslav National 
 Council repudiates all responsibility for the con- 
 sequences which may result from these intolerable 
 conditions." 
 
 Two days later the Council ordered the mobi- 
 lization of five classes from 1895 to 1899, while the 
 Serbian High Command despatched the Jugoslav 
 Legions to Laibach "for the express purpose of 
 defending the frontiers of the new state against 
 Italy. ' ' The arrival of American troops in Trieste 
 and Fiume averted immediate bloodshed. 
 
 Meanwhile differences had developed in the 
 Italian government. Minister Bissolati resigned 
 from the Cabinet as a protest against Italy's in- 
 sistence on the terms of the secret treaty of April, 
 1915, and was understood to have the support of 
 a large section of Italian public opinion. The 
 Jugoslav-Italian conflict reached such a degree 
 that M. R. Vesnitch, the Serbian Minister to 
 France, officially made the following striking state- 
 ment on January 4, 1919 : 
 
 ' * Should the treaty secretly signed by England, 
 France, Russia and Italy in 1915, whereby Italy 
 was to come into possession of the eastern coast 
 of the Adriatic after the war, be confii-med by the 
 coming Peace Conference, then Serbia would fight 
 again, and fight to the finish. Serbia did not 
 enter this war to become the vassal of any nation. 
 She cannot agree to have Italy control the terri- 
 tory in question. 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 33 
 
 ''Serbia goes to the conference believing that 
 affairs will be directed there in accordance with 
 the public announcements of the great powers, 
 especially those of President Wilson. The posi- 
 tion of Serbia and the Jugoslavs would be des- 
 perate if their hopes did not rest in the principles 
 laid down by America. They would be desperate 
 because certain of the great Allied powers, while 
 announcing these principles, have entered into 
 opposing conventions and understandings. Some 
 of these understandings were directed against 
 Serbia. 
 
 ' ' Serbia is the only nation in Europe which has 
 made no treaty of any kind with the Allies. She 
 has marched on from the first with justice as her 
 only weapon." 
 
 The statement contained in the last sentence is 
 challenged by the Montenegrin king, by Hungary 
 and by Albania. Sympathy for Jugoslav national- 
 ism on the part of the American people ought 
 not to blind them to its misdeeds. The machina- 
 tions which brought about the illegal deposal of 
 King Nicholas must be laid at the door of Serbia, 
 while the refusal of France to allow him to return 
 to Montenegro was the result of Jugoslav in- 
 fluences. As to South Hungary, where the Jugo- 
 slavs claim considerable territory, the principle 
 of self-determination by plebiscite advocated by 
 the Jugoslavs in their disputes with Italy should 
 be equally applied here. 
 
64 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 As regards Albania, both Serbia and Monte- 
 negro are the sinners. Both have acquired Al- 
 banian territory. In the past this could have been 
 justified on the ground that the two little countries 
 needed access to the sea. But with the disruption 
 of Austria-Hungary and the creation of a united 
 Jugoslavia this need is eliminated. Still there ap- 
 pears to be no disposition on the part of the Jugo- 
 slavs to return to Albania what is hers by indis- 
 putable right, perhaps because the Albanian 
 people lack national cohesion and a strong national 
 consciousness, which renders them helpless for 
 the time being in the midst of the aggressive 
 Greeks and Jugoslavs, but whose interests cannot 
 be disregarded by those who, like President Wil- 
 son, seek to establish a relationship of amity and 
 sympathy ''among such states as those of the 
 Balkans," instead of "the coercion of force and 
 the guidance of intrigue" under which they la- 
 bored heretofore. 
 
 A united Jugoslavia, purged of all imperialism 
 and founded on justice, would be broad-hearted 
 enough to extend a brotherly hand to the free Bul- 
 garian people, who are Jugoslav by origin. The 
 Southern Slavs in the United States, according to 
 Joseph Goricar, one of their leaders, want to see 
 all the Jugoslavs, including the Bulgarians, united 
 in a federation comprising a population of more 
 than eighteen million. ' ' They want to unite with 
 Bulgaria, ' ' he adds, ' ' to get away from the ancient 
 
JUGOSLAVIA 65 
 
 strife. They want a strong federal republic with 
 a common army and navy, a common diplomacy, 
 a republic in which each state will have the right 
 to its own religion and language and its own cul- 
 tural freedom. ' ' A Jugoslavia built on such foun- 
 dations would endure, and would prove a bulwark 
 of peace in Europe and a great force in civili- 
 zation. 
 
in 
 
 ALBANIA 
 
 Many races have come and gone in Europe. 
 Mighty hordes from the East swept over it at 
 various times and vanished in the course of his- 
 tory. But of the few original inhabitants of 
 Europe, the true Europeans, there still remain the 
 Albanians, populating a mountainous section of 
 the Balkan Peninsula. The Albanians are the di- 
 rect descendants of the Blyrians who lived in the 
 south of Europe since the dawn of history. 
 
 Albania lies on the eastern coast of the Adri- 
 atic, where it is nearest to Italy, and is bounded 
 by Montenegro on the north, Serbia and the Mace- 
 donian Slavs on the east, and Greece on the south. 
 Albania's seacoast possesses splendid harbors, 
 that of Valona, the "Gibraltar of the Adriatic," 
 being especially important. Albania is a rugged 
 country and its inhabitants are a rugged people. 
 They speak a language of their own. The total 
 number of Albanians is difficult to establish, as it 
 is not clearly defined yet where the Albanians 
 cease to predominate along their southern and 
 northeastern boundaries. The maximum estimate 
 
 66 
 
ALBANIA 67 
 
 of Albania's population does not go beyond two 
 and a half million. 
 
 The geographical situation of Albania is largely 
 responsible for the history of jits inhabitants. 
 Driven into the mountain fastnesses by the waves 
 of Eastern invaders, the Albanians resisted all 
 efforts to assimilate them. Through centuries of 
 struggle they maintained their language and cus- 
 toms, though not their political independence. The 
 success with which the Albanians clung to their 
 traditions appears most remarkable when it is 
 considered that in the past three thousand years 
 Albania had been invaded and ruled by the armies 
 and authorities of ancient Greece, Rome, Byzan- 
 tium, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Albania's 
 history has really been one uninterrupted series 
 of epic fights for the preservation of its racial 
 characteristics, as observed by an Albanian publi- 
 cist. 
 
 With the arrival of the Turks in Europe, Al- 
 bania was, after a fierce struggle, subjected by 
 them and Mohammedanism was introduced into 
 the country. Early in the fifteenth century the 
 Turks, not quite sure yet of Albania's loyalty, 
 sought to restrain it by seizing the four sons of 
 the Albanian prince John Castriota as hostages. 
 The youngest of these boys, George, named by the 
 Turks Iskander Bey, and become known as Skan- 
 derbeg, was very gifted. He was educated at the 
 court of Sultan Murat II, and became a brilliant 
 
68 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 military leader. In 1443 the Turks were badly- 
 beaten in a battle with Ladislaw II, King of Hun- 
 gary. The Albanian soul of Skanderbeg as- 
 serted itself and he resolved to return to his native 
 country and restore its independence. He was 
 received by his people with acclamation and named 
 their prince. Then began one of the most phe- 
 nomenal careers of the Middle Ages. 
 
 Skanderbeg first cleared his country of the 
 Turkish garrisons and began a struggle against 
 the Turks that is writ in the history of Europe in 
 letters of glory. Every Ottoman army that was 
 despatched against the Albanian chief was de- 
 feated in turn. He was appointed by Pope Pius 
 II as Commander in Chief of all the Christian 
 armies in Europe. In 1449, he disastrously beat 
 a Turkish force of 100,000, under the personal 
 command of Sultan Murat II, who was finally 
 forced to return to his country, humiliated. The 
 Sultan who succeeded Murat, Mohammed II, the 
 conqueror of Constantinople, was powerless 
 against the Albanians. Albania was invincible un- 
 der Skanderbeg, who incidentally saved Europe 
 from the ravages of the Asiatic invasion that 
 threatened it in the fifteenth century. Skanderbeg 
 died in 1467, "fighting the battle of European 
 Christendom and civilization against barbarism 
 and heathenism, ' ' according to the Reverend Noli, 
 an Albanian leader in the United States. Henry 
 
ALBANIA 69 
 
 Wadsworth Longfellow sang as follows of Skan- 
 derbeg, in his ''Tales of a Wayside Inn": 
 
 Anon from the Castle walls 
 
 The Crescent Banner falls, 
 
 And the crowd beholds instead, 
 
 Like a portent in the sky, 
 
 Iskander's banner fly, 
 
 The Black Eagle with double head; 
 
 And a shout ascends on high, 
 
 For men's souls are tired of the Turks, 
 
 And their wicked ways and works. 
 
 That have made of At-Hissar 
 
 A city of the plague; 
 
 And the loud, exultant cry 
 
 That echoes wide and far 
 
 Is: ''Long live Skanderbeg!" 
 
 Skanderbeg was not the first great military 
 leader that Albania produced. As early as 1225 
 B. C, the Albanians had a fighting king named 
 Hyllus. Alexander the Great is thought by some 
 to have been Albanian. Pyrrhus, the greatest 
 soldier of his time, was an Albanian. Many of the 
 brilliant leaders of the armies of the various 
 Balkan peoples were of Albanian blood. What the 
 Albanians are is picturesquely shown by their na- 
 tive name. Shkipetars is what the Albanians call 
 themselves. "Shkipetar" means "So?i of the 
 Mountain Eagle." 
 
 After the death of Skanderbeg the Turks re- 
 sumed their efforts to dominate Albania. A con- 
 siderable emigration occurred as a result of the 
 Turkish policies. Large numbers of Albanians 
 
70 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 migrated to Greece and South Italy, not wishing 
 to bear the foreign yoke. There are nearly half a 
 million Albanian descendants in Greece, who form 
 now the principal cause for the strained Greco- 
 Albanian relations. The Greeks claim these im- 
 migrants, inhabiting the so-called Northern 
 Epirus, as their own nationals, but the Albanians 
 insist that their brethren, in what they term 
 Southern Albania, have never been Hellenized and 
 that they still preserve their language and tra- 
 ditions. 
 
 Albania remained a part of the Turkish Empire 
 np to 1912. And yet not all the Albanians became 
 Mohammedans. A considerable minority belong 
 to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. 
 It is a significant reflection of the natural tolerance 
 of the Albanian that the divergence in faith did 
 not produce any internal strife. The Christians 
 and Moslems intermarried freely, and both sec- 
 tions of the race maintained their national tradi- 
 tions. The world, however, was allowed to get 
 mostly erroneous ideas about the Albanians. They 
 were represented by their oppressors as a savage 
 people, quarrelsome, barbaric, a race of brigands 
 and robbers. They appeared quite different to 
 close Western observers. Captain J. S. Barnes, 
 R.F.C., in a paper that he read before the British 
 Geographical Society said of the Albanians : 
 
 "The Albanian has many stirring qualities 
 which make for success. He is brave, frugal, gen- 
 
ALBANIA 71 
 
 erous, independent, honest, as well as honorable, 
 industrious, intelligent, artistic, 'and faithfully 
 obedient to those whom he trusts and respects. If 
 he is ignorant, diffident, superstitious, obstinate, 
 conservative and lacking in self-control, these are 
 defects due to his environment rather than innate 
 in his character." 
 
 In 1878, at the Congress of Berlin, when Turkey 
 was trying to improve with the help of the West- 
 ern powers the terms which Eussia imposed upon 
 her at San Stefano as a result of the war of 1877, 
 Albania for the first time became an object of 
 aggrandizement in the European game for the bal- 
 ance of power. Albania was of course considered 
 as a portion of Turkey. The Congress carved 
 out the Albanian town and district of Dulcigno 
 and gave it to Montenegro. In the south the great 
 powers extended the frontiers of Greece to the 
 Eiver Kalama, which empties into the channel of 
 Corfu. 
 
 In both instances the partitioning of Albania 
 took place regardless of any ethnic considerations. 
 The leading Albanians suddenly realized that with 
 the impending collapse of the Turkish Empire, 
 Albania might cease to exist as a whole, even un- 
 der foreign control, and pass in slices into the 
 hands of several state;,. A national consciousness 
 was aroused in then] and took definite form in the 
 establishment of the Albanian League which 
 fiercely fought for the maintenance of Albania's 
 
72 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 integrity. It was due to the determined protests 
 of the Albanians that the original provisions of 
 the Treaty of Berlin were not carried out fully in 
 the south. There was even an attempt at a gen- 
 eral rising among the Albanians, intended to 
 throw off the Ottoman shackles and make Albania 
 independent. However, the Turks were able to 
 nip the plot in the bud and even promised to allow 
 the Albanians an educational system of their own. 
 These promises were never carried out. Never- 
 theless, many Albanians educated themselves in 
 foreign schools, so as to be able to wage their 
 fight for independence more effectively, in which 
 they succeeded to a marked degree. 
 
 * ' The Albanian movement is a perfectly natural 
 one," wrote Lord Goschen, the British Ambassa- 
 dor at Constantinople, in July, 1880, to Lord Gran- 
 ville, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. ''An 
 ancient and distinctive race, as any by whom they 
 are surrounded, they have seen the nationality of 
 these races taken under the protection of various 
 European powers and gratified in their aspira- 
 tions for more independent existence. . . . They 
 see the Eastern Question being solved on the prin- 
 ciple of nationality and the Balkan Peninsula 
 being gradually divided among various races. 
 Meanwhile they see that they have not received 
 similar treatment. Their nationality is ignored 
 and territory inhabited by Albanians is handed 
 over in the north to Montenegrins, to satisfy Mon- 
 
ALBANIA 73 
 
 tenegro, the protege of Eussia ; and in the south 
 to Greece, the protege of England and France. 
 Exchanges of territory are proposed, other diffi- 
 culties arise, but it is still at the expense of Al- 
 bania, and the Albanians are handed over to Slavs 
 and Greeks without reference to nationality. ..." 
 
 The Balkan War of 1912 placed Albania at the 
 mercy of its neighbors, and it became the bone of 
 contention of Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Mon- 
 tenegro. These four contemplated the full parti- 
 tion of Albania among themselves. The interests 
 of Austria and Italy conflicted with the strength- 
 ening of these Balkan states at the expense of 
 Albania, and they stepped in to urge the establish- 
 ment of an independent Albanian state. During 
 the winter of 1913, at the Conference of the Am- 
 bassadors of the Great Powers, held in London, 
 Albania's claims to recognition as a separate na- 
 tional entity desei^ing sovereign existence were 
 acknowledged and the decision was made to create 
 an Albanian state. However, when the question 
 of boundaries came up, the Serbs, Montenegrins 
 and Greeks displayed an imperialistic attitude that 
 carried with it bitter disillusionment to the Al- 
 banians, nearly a million of whom were torn away 
 from their country and divided among their neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 Although considerably reduced in size, Albania 
 started out on its career of independence. Prince 
 William of Wied, a relative of the Rumanian 
 
74 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 queen, was appointed king of Albania. His rule 
 was stormy and brief. He had several unfavor- 
 able factors to contend with. First came the dis- 
 pute with Greece. The latter was ordered by the 
 powers to withdraw its troops from South Al- 
 bania, or Northern Epirus. She did so, but en- 
 couraged a movement among the so-called Epirots 
 to establish autonomy in the province. The Great 
 Powers failed to step in and settle the Albanian- 
 Greek conflict. 
 
 In addition to the difficulties with Greece, there 
 appeared on the scene the figure of Essad Pasha, 
 who placed himself in command of the Ottoman 
 forces in the town of Scutari which he surren- 
 dered to the Montenegrins, and started out to gain 
 the favor of the Balkan States in order to obtain 
 the leadership over Albania. Prince William of 
 Wied got little encouragement from abroad upon 
 his arrival in Albania. Had the powers that chose 
 him lent their support to him, he would have suc- 
 ceeded in introducing law and order into the coun- 
 try. But they seemed to have forgotten Albania, 
 and the result was that the Prince of Wied left 
 Albania in disgust on the eve of the Great War. 
 
 In 1915 Albania was occupied by the Austrians 
 and Bulgarians. The invaders set themselves to 
 persecuting the Albanians, requisitioning supplies 
 without consideration for the needs of the people 
 and treating the natives with cruelty. When the 
 Albanians protested in Vienna against the occu- 
 
ALBANIA 75 
 
 pation of their country, on the ground of their 
 neutrality, they were answered by the forcible 
 induction of many Albanians into the armies of 
 the Central Powers. The Albanian colonies 
 abroad, notably that in the United States, where 
 there are fifty thousand Albanian immigrants, 
 realized that the fate of their motherland was 
 bound up with that of the Allied cause. They 
 organized an Albanian contingent, with the per- 
 mission of the British Government, to fight with 
 the Allied armies. 
 
 In 1917 an Italian force landed in Albania, and 
 occupied its southern half. The commander of 
 the Italian Army of Occupation, Lieutenant-Gen- 
 eral Ferrero, on June 3rd, 1917, proclaimed the 
 unity and independence of all Albania under the 
 aegis and protection of the King of Italy. This 
 proclamation caused a great sensation and much 
 dissatisfaction in Allied countries, as it was taken 
 to mean that Italy sought to annex Albania before 
 the Peace Conference had convened. The Al- 
 banians, however, greeted the Italian occupation 
 with enthusiasm, as Italy proclaimed her interest 
 in a united Albania. To that extent they preferred 
 unity under Italy rather than independence in one 
 half of their country with the other half dismem- 
 bered. That the Albanians would be satisfied with 
 nothing less than complete independence, within 
 their ethnical boundaries, may be seen from the 
 statement of the Albanian leader, Javer Bey Ghi- 
 
76 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 nokastra, made in reply to General Fcrrero on the 
 occasion of the anniversary of Italy's proclama- 
 tion of Albanian autonomy. Thanking Italy in 
 the name of his people he expressed his hope that 
 the Albanian government would be set up soon, 
 and added, amidst a great popular ovation : 
 
 "The Albanians do not want a small Moslem 
 Albania, as some diplomats have planned in secret 
 understandings, revealed lately, but a united Al- 
 bania within her geographical, historical and racial 
 frontiers. No statesman can decently claim at the 
 next Peace Congress that our rights in the prov- 
 inces of Kosovo, Northeastern Albania, and Cha- 
 neria. South Albania, are less sacred than the 
 rights of France to Alsace-Lorraine." 
 
 The Albanians have made a special appeal to 
 the United States to take an interest in their coun- 
 try. Mehmet Konitza, delegate of the American 
 Pan- Albanian Federation "Vatra," writes: 
 "America has given her moral support to Albania 
 in years past by enabling her to have the only 
 free schools that were not a pretext of foreign 
 
 propaganda It is the unanimous desire 
 
 of the Albanians to turn to America for help and 
 ask her to send a commission for a period of five 
 years to give the country time to bring into action 
 all its organizing forces." The case for Albanian 
 independence was laid before President Wilson by 
 the Reverend Fan Noli on American Independence 
 Day, 1918. 
 
ALBANIA 77 
 
 ''I shall have one voice in the next Peace Con- 
 gress and I shall use that voice in behalf of Al- 
 bania," was the answer of President Wilson. 
 
 Albania's history and its ethnographical com- 
 pactness are such as to make its case for sovereign 
 existence perfectly legitimate. "Provided she is 
 secure in the frontiers which are her due — for 
 otherwise she runs the risk of being strangled at 
 birth," wrote Captain J. S. Barnes, "Albania has 
 no reason to despair of a prosperous, and even a 
 brilliant future. ... A strong, just and national 
 government should soon give Albania her birth- 
 right to civilization. The material is there, 
 strongly endowed ; the resources are there, beyond 
 doubt; she occupies an enviable geographical po- 
 sition with the making of good harbors on the 
 narrowest portion of one of the most important 
 waterways of the world ; she lies across the path 
 of what will one day be the quickest mail route 
 from London to Suez, via Brindisi, Vlore, Janina, 
 Kalabaka and the Piraeus. 
 
 "The extent of her mineral resources is doubt- 
 ful, beyond the rich bituminous deposits round 
 Selintsa. But her future is none the less prom- 
 ising. The cultivation of the vine, the olive, to- 
 bacco, wheat, maize, hemp, flax, cotton, rive, valo- 
 nia, the potato and fruits of every description, 
 including the mulberry for the rearing of silk- 
 worms, will form the staple industries, comple- 
 mented by the manufacture of milk products, to- 
 
78 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 gether with sheep, horse and cattle rearing, affor- 
 estation and sea and lake fisheries. The list by 
 no means exhausts what might be profitably under- 
 taken for export. Poultry farming, bee farming 
 and the cultivation of the beetroot should be added 
 before compiling supplementary lists of minor 
 and by-products. The manufacture of silk, cotton, 
 wool, leather and tow would have at hand their 
 raw materials of high quality; and power would 
 be supplied by the control of the abundant rivers. 
 In addition, pottery, weaving, iron, silver and 
 leather work have a long history as local indus- 
 tries, which exploit the Albanians' delicate artis- 
 tic sense, and are capable of considerable develop- 
 ment. There are no grounds for pessimism in this 
 quarter. ' ' 
 
 Grounds for pessimism, however, do exist in 
 other quarters. Albania, although perfectly en- 
 titled to exist and develop as a nation, has not 
 yet evolved a strong national consciousness, and 
 is therefore unable to resist the encroachments 
 of the Montenegrins, the Serbs, the Greeks and 
 the Italians. Montenegro and Serbia both sought 
 routes to the Adriatic through Albanian territory 
 before 1914. The former was in possession of 
 Dulcigno and strove to annex Scutari (Skodra). 
 The latter was given by the powers the freedom of 
 the port of Durazzo and the right to construct a 
 railroad from Serbia through Albania to that har- 
 bor. The two nations have, however, with the 
 
ALBANIA 79 
 
 collapse of Austria-Hungary and the rise of a 
 united Jugoslavia, plenty of accessible routes to 
 the sea. There is therefore no longer any 
 economic need for the Serbo-Montenegrin en- 
 croachment upon Albania. Will they relinquish 
 the Albanian territories now in their hands and 
 the special privileges they had obtained there? 
 If not, what will happen a quarter of a century 
 hence when the Albanians develop sufficient 
 national cohesion and spirit to fight for their 
 rights ? Much more bitter is the struggle between 
 Albanians and Greeks over what the first call 
 Southern Albania and the second, Northern Epi- 
 rus. It is inhabited by Moslem and Greek Ortho- 
 dox Albanians who have, however, identified them- 
 selves to a large degree with modern Greek 
 civilization. Ethnically, then, there can be no 
 doubt as to the Albanian character of the region. 
 But culturally its inhabitants, the Epirots, have 
 much in common with the Greeks. The only abso- 
 lute means of ascertaining the desires of the Epi- 
 rots is to ask them, by means of a referendum, 
 held under neutral auspices, whether they prefer 
 to belong to Greece or to Albania. The leaders 
 of the latter, finding themselves outwitted by the 
 Greek statesmen, have appealed to Italy to cham- 
 pion their cause. Italy has a considerable Alba- 
 nian population. Besides, Italy has a very deep 
 interest in the strategically situated port of 
 Valona, at the entrance into the Adriatic, Now 
 
80 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 the Italian government did not like Greece to get 
 too close to Valona and therefore sought the in- 
 corporation of the disputed Epirus territory in 
 Albania, in which she succeeded, although pro- 
 voking thereby the hostility of Greece. In Novem- 
 ber, 1914, Italy, then a neutral, occupied Valona. 
 In April, 1915, Italy concluded a secret treaty with 
 England, France and Russia in which the Allies 
 stipulated that to Serbia and Montenegro should 
 belong a strip of Albania's Adriatic littoral, ex- 
 tending as far south as the River Drin and includ- 
 ing the ports of Dulcigno and S. Giovanni di 
 Medua. The same clause provides that ''the port 
 of Durazzo can be assigned to the independent 
 Mohammedan state of Albania." Then come 
 Articles VI and VII, which read : 
 
 "Italy shall obtain in full ownership Valona, 
 the island of Saseno and territory of sufficient 
 extent to assure her against dangers of a military 
 kind — approximately between the River Vojussa 
 to the north and east, and the district of Shimar 
 to the south. 
 
 "Having obtained Trentino and Istria by Ar- 
 ticle IV, Dalmatia and the Adriatic Islands by 
 Article V, and also the Gulf of Valona, Italy 
 undertakes, in the event of a small autonomous 
 and neutralized state being formed in Albania, 
 not to oppose the possible desire of France, Great 
 Britain and Russia to partition the northern and 
 southern districts of Albania between Montenegro, 
 
ALBANIA 81 
 
 Serbia and Greece. The southern coast of Alba- 
 nia, from the frontier of the Italian territory of 
 Valona to Gape Stilos, is to be neutralized. 
 
 ' ' To Italy will be conceded the right of conduct- 
 ing the foreig-n relations of Albania; in any case 
 Italy will be bound to secure for Albania a terri- 
 tory sufficiently extensive to enable its frontiers 
 to join those of Greece and Serbia to the east of 
 the Lake of Ohrida." 
 
 It was on the strength of the above-quoted con- 
 tract that Italian forces occupied Albania in 1917, 
 although at the time the public was unaware of 
 the existing treaty. While there can be no justifi- 
 cation whatsoever for Italy's desire to make Al- 
 bania an Italian province, it must be recognized 
 that the port of Valona, because of its virtual 
 domination of the whole Adriatic, cannot be al- 
 lowed by the Italian government to pass into the 
 hands of another strong nation. What is the 
 solution? Give Valona to whom it rightfully be- 
 longs, to Albania, suggests Arnold J. Toynbee, 
 and guarantee its perpetual neutralization in 
 some such provisions: 
 
 " (a) Avlona (Valona) shall always remain part 
 of Albania. 
 
 f*(b) It shall never be fortified, either by Al- 
 bania herself or by any large political group with 
 a unified military organization, of which Albania 
 may at any time hereafter become a member. ' ' 
 
 The Albanian problem is pregnant with danger- 
 
82 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ous possibilities. It is even more complicated 
 than the Italian-Jugoslav dispute. Montenegro, 
 Serbia, Greece and Italy are involved in its diffi- 
 culties, and a failure to solve it fundamentally 
 would mean the rise of another menace to the 
 peace of Europe at some future date. 
 
IV 
 
 UKEAINE 
 
 Before the Russian Revolution of 1917 the 
 world was practically ignorant of the existence 
 of the Ukrainian problem. Then, when Ukraine 
 dramatically entered the field of international 
 relations by separating from Russia and conclud- 
 ing its own peace with Germany, the world was 
 appalled at the tremendous size and enormously 
 vital geographical position of Ukraine. Who 
 were the inhabitants of Ukraine and how did they 
 come into possession of that fertile and rich coun- 
 try that cut Russia off from the Black Sea? 
 
 The fact is that the Ukrainians are not a race 
 distinct from the Russians in origin. The Ukrain- 
 ians are Russians. They have as much claim to 
 that title as the people whom we call Russians. 
 The latter, strictly speaking, are Great Russians. 
 The Ukrainians are Little Russians. The two 
 form nine-tenths of the Russian race proper. The 
 other tenth is made up of the White Russians, 
 lying between the Great Russians of the north 
 and the Little Russians of the south. 
 
 Ukraine means ' ' borderland. ' ' That name was 
 
 88 
 
84 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 given to the southern territory by the inhabitants 
 of the northern, Muscovite, region. Had the Little 
 Russians developed historically along the lines 
 followed by the Great Russians, had they been 
 confined to Russia, Ukraine would comprehend 
 all of Little Russia. But a part of them came 
 under the domination of Austria-Hungary, and 
 there became known as Ruthenes, or Ruthenians. 
 Their bulk is to be found in Eastern Galicia. The 
 Little Russians are thus divided into two separate 
 groups, although in language, religion, customs 
 and early history they are one and the same peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The history of Russia does not begin with the 
 history of the Great Russians, but with that of the 
 Little Russians. The first Russian kingdom or 
 principality was established in Kiev, the capital 
 of what is now Little Russia. When Kiev was a 
 flourishing town, carrying on trade with the By- 
 zantine Empire, the north of Russia was still 
 undeveloped. Had no external forces interfered, 
 Russia would perhaps have developed its strength 
 in the south and eventually become dominated by 
 the Little Russians. However, the Mongol in- 
 vasions swept over the southern regions, driving 
 the independent chiefs into the marshy and for- 
 ested north. Kiev, the "Mother of Russian 
 Cities," as it is still known, was conquered, while 
 Moscow, in the heart of Great Russia, took over its 
 position. 
 
UKRAINE 85 
 
 It has been said, and not without justness, that 
 had Kiev continued as the capital of all Russia, 
 the Ukrainian problem would never have arisen 
 and Little Russia would have considered itself 
 as integral a part of the country as Great Russia. 
 The difference in the language of the two groups 
 was only dialectic. However, Muscovy was from 
 the very beginning a highly centralized state, and 
 Little Russia was never permitted to share in its 
 councils and government. The result, of course, 
 was the estrangement of the latter from its north- 
 ern brother. 
 
 Christianity entered Russia through the south. 
 It was when Kiev was just rising that its Grand 
 Duke, Vladimir, joined the Greek Church, and 
 had all the inhabitants of Kiev baptized. After 
 that Christianity spread northward and pene- 
 trated into the vast country. Kiev is even now 
 a holy city to the religious Russians, and hundreds 
 of thousands of pilgrims flock to its sacred places 
 annually from every corner of Russia. 
 
 The Tartar invasions from the East drove many 
 Little Russians westward, and they settled in 
 Western Bukovina, Eastern Galicia and the sur- 
 rounding territory. It was here that the Little 
 Russians became known as Ruthenes in later years. 
 This dispersal of the race weakened it, while to 
 the northwest two great powers were developing, 
 Lithuania and Poland. The latter obtained con- 
 trol over Galicia in 1340, when the Polish king. 
 
86 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Casimir the Great, established himself in Little 
 Russia upon the death of its duke, in 1339. Lith- 
 uania also coveted part of that southern land and 
 the two kingdoms finally divided it among them- 
 selves, Lithuania taking the eastern regions of 
 Little Russia. But Lithuania later became united 
 with Poland so that Little Russia, from the Car- 
 pathians to the Don, was incorporated with 
 Greater Poland. 
 
 Under the rule of Poland Ukraine was sub- 
 jected to considerable oppression. The Poles 
 sought to impose their Catholic faith upon the 
 Orthodox Little Russians. The Polish gentry suc- 
 ceeded in Polonizing the Little Russian gentry by 
 barring the latter from their diets unless they be- 
 came Roman Catholics. The Little Russians were 
 originally peasants. But the introduction of the 
 institution of serfdom in the northern countries 
 sent a whole stream of freemen and criminals to 
 the southern steppes of the borderland — Ukraine. 
 These adventurers formed the nucleus for the 
 Cossacks, who were freelances banded together by 
 the Polish government to combat the Tartar and 
 Turkish invaders. The Cossacks loved freedom, 
 and when the Polish and Lithuanian nobles ex- 
 tended their grip over Ukraine and sought to im- 
 pose serfdom on its inhabitants, a feeling of bitter 
 enmity developed between the Ukrainians and 
 their masters. As in many a similar case, relig- 
 ious persecution and economic oppression helped 
 
UKRAINE 87 
 
 to mold a national consciousness in the Little 
 Russians, fostering first of all a spirit of revolt. 
 
 This rebellious spirit, although prevalent 
 throughout Ukraine, found its stronghold among 
 the independent Cossack communities living along 
 the lower Dnieper. A climax was reached in 1648, 
 when the Cossacks, led by their great hetman, Bog- 
 dan Khmelnitsky, raised the banner of insurrec- 
 tion. Khmelnitsky was a small Cossack land- 
 owner. He had been subjected to cruel ill-treat- 
 ment by a Polish noble. Unable to obtain redress 
 by law he centered his efforts on consolidating the 
 spirit of discontent among his brethren. With a 
 force of Cossacks and Tartars he started out 
 northward in 1648, annihilating all the Poles and 
 Polish Jews. A Polish leader, Potocki, made an 
 attempt to stop his march with a force of four 
 thousand. This contingent was wiped out, and a 
 week later another Polish army was disastrously 
 defeated by the rebels. The rising now assumed 
 vast proportions, hundreds of thousands of insur- 
 gent Ukrainians gathering about Khmelnitsky. 
 The path of the Ukrainian advance was marked 
 with unexampled bloodshed. Terrible atrocities 
 were committed; whole cities were wiped out, so 
 deep was the feeling of revenge in the Cossack 
 heart. Poland was fairly shaken. An enormous 
 army of a quarter of a million was finally re- 
 cruited by the Poles to stop the advancing war- 
 
88 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 riors. The battle that ensued was a decisive vic- 
 tory for the Cossacks. 
 
 The Poles then offered terms to the Cossacks, 
 but they were rejected by Khmelnitsky. Under 
 the personal leadership of the king, the Poles con- 
 tinued desperately their efforts to subdue the ris- 
 ing. On the part of the Poles it was really a fight 
 for the "privileges of the nobles and for religious 
 intolerance," while the Cossacks fought for free- 
 dom. After many battles the latter were defeated 
 and peace was concluded, but not of long duration. 
 Hostilities were renewed and the Cossacks found 
 it necessary to transfer their allegiance to the Mus- 
 covite Tsar. Khmelnitsky sent an envoy to the 
 northern ruler offering Little Russia to him, as 
 an autonomous unit. The treaty of Pereyaslav, 
 concluded betwe^iii Ukraine and Russia in 1654, 
 stipulated that the former retain its separate or- 
 ganization under the afgis of Moscow. 
 
 .The Ukrainian governmental system, if it may 
 be described thus, was crudely republican. The 
 hetman was elected by a general assembly of the 
 Cossacks. This democratic institution was to be 
 perpetuated even under the Tsar's suzeranity, 
 according to the treaty. Perhaps if Khmelnitsky 
 had lived long enough to establish firmly the 
 proper relations with Moscow, Ukraine's auton- 
 omy might have proved more or less durable. 
 Unfortunately, Kkmelnitsky died in 1657, and 
 Russia began to encroach upon Ukraine's rights. 
 
UKRAINE 89 
 
 with a view toward the complete fusion of Little 
 and Great Russia. By the peace of 1667, con- 
 cluded between Russia and Poland, the latter ob- 
 tained that part of Ukraine which adjoined it. Of 
 course, this section lost its autonomy quickly. 
 Eastern Ukraine, under Mazeppa, a bold hetman, 
 sought an alliance with Charles XII of Sweden, 
 in an effort to get rid of the oppressive Russian 
 rule. This was during the reign of Peter the 
 Great, who inflexibly pursued the policy of con- 
 solidation. In the celebrated Battle of Poltava, 
 1709, Sweden was disastrously beaten and Ma- 
 zeppa fled to Turkey. Ukrainian autonomy was 
 entirely abolished by Peter. 
 
 After his death the office of hetman was re- 
 stored, although considerably reduced in power, 
 and lasted till 1764. At the same time as 
 Ukraine's political institution was being demol- 
 ished, Russia initiated measures of repression 
 against the Ukrainian language. In 1680 it was 
 banned from ecclesiastical literature. In 1720 the 
 printing of Ukrainian books was prohibited, fol- 
 lowed by the suppression of Ukrainian schools. 
 According to one authority, there were in the 
 eighteenth century in the province of Tchernigov 
 alone 866 schools, while sixty years later none of 
 them remained in existence. 
 
 In 1772 and 1793-5, when Poland was parti- 
 tioned, those parts of Ukraine which belonged to 
 it were taken over by Russia, except Eastern Gali- 
 
90 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 cia and part of Bukovina. These latter, known 
 as Rutlienia, went to Austria, disguised as Polish 
 territory. The modern Ukrainian problem dates 
 from this division and is really a double problem, 
 that of the Ukrainians in Russia and of the 
 Ukrainians in Galicia. In the first they were sub- 
 jected to an intense campaign of Russification, 
 while in the second they were controlled by the 
 Poles who desired to have them Polonized. 
 
 It was in Russian Ukraine that the ideas of 
 Ukrainian nationalism were first born, doubtless 
 because of the ruthless rule of Tsarism. It was 
 there that the Ukrainian language finally assumed 
 a literary form and found its champion and 
 prophet in Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine's national 
 poet. He was born a serf and raised as a serf, 
 so that if not for the efforts of his Russian 
 friends, he would have died a serf. He was per- 
 secuted by the Tsar's authorities and finally was 
 arrested and exiled. He became Ukraine's 
 national hero, and around his name centered the 
 Ukrainian movement for national revival. Even 
 as early as the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury, there was already an organization in 
 Ukraine aiming to make it an independent unit 
 in a federation of Slavic states. When the revo- 
 lutionary movement in Russia assumed large pro- 
 portions, the Ukrainians were among its most 
 active promoters. It is remarked by an Ukrainian 
 publicist that while the Russian revolutionary or- 
 
UKRAINE 91 
 
 ganizations were favoring the idea of a central 
 governmental power to be established on the ruins 
 of Tsardom, the Ukrainian revolutionists were 
 aiming at the reorganization of Russia on a fed- 
 eral basis. It is vital to note this difference. 
 Unfortunately it was overlooked when the two 
 elements struggled for the overthrow of the autoc- 
 racy, and became a stumbling-block after the revo- 
 lution. 
 
 Toward the middle of the nineteenth century 
 Austria initiated a new policy in Galicia. Previ- 
 ously it had supported the Poles in their persecu- 
 tions of the Ruthenians. In order to make trouble 
 for Russia and to curb the Poles it was found 
 necessary to encourage the Ukrainian national 
 movement. The Ukrainian nationalists, driven 
 from Russia, found a haven in Galicia. The 
 Ruthenians were even allowed to establish profes- 
 sorships in the University of Lemberg. It has 
 been said that the Teuton monarchies aimed at the 
 creation of a united autonomous Ukraine to 
 weaken Russia. A large literature was printed in 
 Galicia and circulated secretly in Russian Ukraine, 
 instigating rebellion and propagating Ukrainian 
 nationalism. Several Ukrainian revolutionary 
 parties were active in Russia in the first years of 
 the present century. The outbreak of 1905 gave 
 strong impetus to the Ukrainian movement. In 
 the autumn of that year thirty-four Ukrainian 
 periodicals were being published. In the mutiny 
 
92 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 of the Russian Black Sea fleet of that year the 
 Ukrainians had the lion's share. There were 
 forty Ukrainian nationalist members in the first 
 Russian Duma. They demanded autonomy. The 
 subsequent Ukrainian representations in the Duma 
 upheld this demand, adding to it a demand for 
 the restoration to Ukraine of all the rights ac- 
 corded to it by the Treaty of Pereyaslav of 1654. 
 
 Simultaneously with the tribulations of Russian 
 Ukraine there was a stirring of forces in Austrian 
 Ukraine or Ruthenia, where the Poles dominated. 
 Speaking of the Ruthenes, Yaroslav Fedortchuk, 
 a native writer, says : ' ' Although since 1772 they 
 have been Austrian, they have, as a matter of fact, 
 remained under Polish 'patronage.' At first the 
 Austrian government limited the power which the 
 great Polish landowners exercised over their 
 Ukrainian serfs. During the revolution of 1848 
 the Austrian government sought, against the 
 Poles and the Hungarians, the support of the 
 Ukrainians, and promised them the division of 
 Galicia into two parts nationally distinct, the in- 
 troduction of teaching in the Ukrainian language 
 throughout their own schools, and finally the en- 
 franchisement of the peasants from a state of 
 serfdom. Having crushed the revolution the gov- 
 ernment abolished serfdom, but took no further 
 notice of the other Ukrainian claims." 
 
 In 1873 the Poles entered into a secret compact 
 \^4th the Austrian government, whereby their 
 
UKRAINE 93 
 
 supremacy in Galicia was guaranteed. A Pole was 
 appointed to the cabinet, responsible to the Polish 
 deputies in parliament. This strengthened the 
 Polish repressive policy toward the Ruthenians. 
 Measures were promulgated by the Poles making 
 it difficult for the Ukrainians to erect higher 
 schools. Eastern Galicia, eighty per cent, of 
 whose population is Ruthenian, became the scene 
 of a fierce Polish-Ukrainian struggle, centering at 
 first around the Lemberg University, from which 
 the Poles tried to oust the Ukrainian professor- 
 ships. In 1900 the Ukrainian students struck and 
 left the University. The Austrian government 
 proposed the establishment of a separate Ukrain- 
 ian university if the Poles would consent, but the 
 Lemberg City Council refused such consent. 
 
 '* Following the Prussian methods of coloniza- 
 tion, ' ' writes Pedortchuk, ' ' the great Polish land- 
 lords, who owned land in the Ukrainian part of 
 Galicia, dare not sell their land to the Ukrainian 
 peasants. When they do, they are considered as 
 traitors and are boycotted by the Poles, the Polish 
 motto being: 'Not one foot of ground to the 
 Ukrainians.' The Ukrainian peasants, the prole- 
 tarians of the agricultural life, are obliged to work 
 for a miserable pittance Ukrainian ground, which 
 constitutes the domain of the Polish nobleman. 
 They are shamefully exploited, and in case of re- 
 sistance or boycott they are treated like bandits; 
 
94 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 they are chained, flogged, brought barefoot to the 
 town prisons and finally sentenced. ' ' 
 
 The conditions under which the Ukrainians 
 lived in Galicia finally culminated in a general 
 strike, in 1902, and which extended over all of 
 Eastern Galicia. This was preceded, in 1897, by 
 a conflict with the Poles which resulted in the 
 murder of eight Ukrainians and many wounded^ 
 In 1900 two political parties were organized by 
 the Ukrainians in Galicia. They demanded tho 
 division of Galicia into two parts. Eastern and 
 Western, the former to be constituted as a sepa- 
 rate Ukrainian province. It was these parties who 
 were responsible for the strike of 1902 and for 
 the numerous subsequent demonstrations. The 
 revolutionary outbreaks in Russia in 1905 rever- 
 berated in Eastern Galicia and the Ukrainian 
 movement there gained in intensity just as the 
 Polish policy of suppression grew in severity. 
 The dramatic climax of the contest occurred in 
 1908 when the Polish governor of Galicia, Count 
 Potocki, was shot by Miroslav Sichinsky, a 
 Ukrainian student. The indictment of the assassin 
 recognized the fact that the shooting was the out- 
 come of the struggle of the Ukrainian peasants 
 against the Polish nobility, admitting that the slain 
 governor supported the Russian policy in Galicia. 
 In 1913 a semi-official Russian statement said that 
 a secret pact between the Polish leaders in Galicia 
 and the Russian Prime Minister Stolypin was in 
 
UKRAINE 95 
 
 existence. This agreement apparently was the 
 result of the menace which the Ukrainian demo- 
 cratic movement constituted to both the Russian 
 autocracy and Polish aristocracy. Sichinsky later 
 escaped and made his way to the United States, 
 where he was admitted after the United States 
 government held his offense to have been a politi- 
 cal act. 
 
 The Great War brought Galicia into the inter- 
 national arena. The Russian armies occupied 
 Galicia in 1914 and immediately the Tsar's gov- 
 ernment instituted a campaign of Russification 
 there. The reactionary Russian Governor-Gen- 
 eral, Count Bobrinsky, issued a proclamation in 
 which he announced that he considered ' ' Lemberg, 
 in East Galicia, the real cradle of Great Russia, 
 since the original population was Russian," and 
 that he intended to reorganize the country on the 
 basis of Russian ideals. The Russian language 
 was immediately introduced and the Ukrainian 
 prohibited. Russian oflBcials were appointed and 
 the Ruthenian Uniate Church subjected to perse- 
 cution. The Ukrainian deputy Levitsky protested 
 in the Austrian parliament against the Russian 
 activities, while in the Russian Duma the same 
 methods were denounced by the radical members. 
 When the Russians were driven out of Galicia 
 and Russian Poland was occupied by the Central 
 Powers, the latter sought to win the support of 
 the Poles by setting up a reunited Poland under 
 
96 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 their protection. The Ukrainians in Galicia were 
 alarmed at the prospect of being incorporated in 
 Poland and again raised their voices for auton- 
 omy. 
 
 The Russian Revolution quickly gave birth to a 
 Ukrainian national assembly, or Rada, which met 
 in Kiev. If the Ukrainian nationalists had de- 
 manded complete separation from Russia previous 
 to the revolution, it was due to the rule of Tsar- 
 ism. In a free Russia the Ukrainians expressed 
 themselves in favor of a union with Russia on a 
 federal basis. Unfortunately the Provisional 
 Governments of Lvov and Kerensky still dreamed 
 of a centralized and indivisible Russia. Had 
 Kerensky realized early Ukraine's just demands 
 for autonomy, the course of subsequent world 
 events might have been different, for Ukraine did 
 not come under the domination of the Bolsheviki 
 when they took over the government in Petrograd. 
 Nationalist Ukraine, alienated from Russia by 
 Lvov, Kerensky and Lenine, adopted a remarkably 
 broad-hearted attitude toward Russia, although 
 the ''separatists," mostly Austrophiles hailing 
 from Ruthenia, did attain considerable influence in 
 Ukrainian circles. Nevertheless, Ukraine's liberal 
 policy triumphed, as clearly shown by the Gen- 
 eral Proclamation of the Ukrainian National 
 Council of the 20th of November, 1917, which was 
 Ukraine's declaration of independence. It read, 
 in part, as follows : 
 
UKRAINE 97 
 
 * ' Ukraiman people and all peoples of the 
 Ukraine! An hour of trials and difficulties has 
 come for the land of the Russian Republic. In the 
 north, in the capitals (Petrograd and Moscow), 
 a bloody internecine struggle is in progress. A 
 Central Government no longer exists, and anarchy, 
 disorder and ruin are spreading throughout the 
 State. 
 
 ''Our country also is in danger. Without a 
 strong, united and popular Government, Ukraine 
 also may fall into the abyss of civil war, slaughter 
 and destruction. 
 
 ''People of Ukraine, you together with the 
 brother peoples of Ukraine, have entrusted us with 
 the task of protecting rights won by struggle, of 
 creating order and building up a new life in our 
 land. And we, the Ukrainian Central Rada, by 
 your will, for the sake of creating order in our 
 country and for the sake of saving the whole of 
 Russia, announce that henceforth Ukraine be- 
 comes the Ukrainian National Republic. Without 
 separating from the Russian Republic, and pre- 
 serving its unity, we take up our stand firmly on 
 our lands that with our strength we may help the 
 whole of Russia and that the whole Russian Re- 
 public may become a federation of free and equal 
 peoples. . . . 
 
 "Likewise we shall insist that at the Peace 
 Congress the rights of the Ukrainian people in 
 Russia and outside Russia shall not be infringed 
 
98 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 in the treaty of peace. But until peace comes, 
 every citizen of the Republic of Ukraine, together 
 with the citizens of all the peoples of the Rus- 
 sian Republic, must stand firmly in their positions 
 both at the front and in the rear. . . . 
 
 ' ' Citizens ! In the name of the National Ukrain- 
 ian Republic in federal Russia, we, the Ukrainian 
 Central Rada, call upon all to struggle resolutely 
 with all forms of anarchy and disorder, and to help 
 in the great work of building up new State forms, 
 which will give the great and powerful Russian 
 Republic health, strength and a new future. The 
 working out of these forms must be carried out at 
 the Ukrainian and all-Russian Constituent As- 
 semblies." 
 
 The rise of Bolshevism in Russia produced a 
 corresponding effect on the proletariat of Ukraine, 
 and a struggle ensued between Ukrainian Bolshe- 
 vism and Ukrainian nationalism. The struggle 
 was of brief duration. Bolshevism succumbed to 
 the nationalist elements, reenforced by the Central 
 Powers, who were naturally interested in dis- 
 rupting Russia. The Ukrainians sent a separate 
 commission to negotiate peace with the Central 
 Powers. As a result of the separate peace the 
 Teutons extended their influence in Ukraine and 
 finally dissolved the Ukrainian national Rada 
 and set up in its stead a dictatorship headed by 
 Hetman Skoropadsky, who remained an power 
 leaning on German bayonets. The downfaB of the 
 
UKRAINE 99 
 
 Central Powers naturally led to the downfall of 
 their puppet. The breakup of Austria liberated 
 the Austrian Ukrainians, or Ruthenians, and 
 there was no apparent obstacle toward their union 
 with Russian Ukraine. But such an obstacle did 
 arise as soon as the Poles learned that the Ukrain- 
 ian National Council took over the administration 
 of Eastern Galicia. The former would not admif 
 the national claims of the Ruthenians, and war 
 between the two races opened when Lemberg was 
 occupied by the Ukrainians. Polish troops re- 
 conquered the city, but the Ukrainians besieged 
 it again in January, 1919. 
 
 The Ukrainian problem is fairly complicated. 
 The Russian Ukrainians do not demand complete 
 separation from Russia, realizing that it would 
 cut off the latter from the Black Sea and virtually 
 strangle the hundred-million nation to the north. 
 Russian Ukraine would therefore prefer to be- 
 come an autonomous member of an all-Russian 
 federation. The Ukrainians in Galicia and Buko- 
 vina are actuated by two motives mainly. First, 
 liberation from the yoke of the Polish nobility and 
 separation from Poland. Second, reunion with 
 their brethren to the east. 
 
 If the principle of self-determination be justly 
 applied to the Ukrainian problem, its solution 
 would necessarily follow ethnic lines. But these 
 lines are rather vague in the east and north, where 
 the Little Russians and Great Russians and White 
 
100 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Russians are merged. The Ukrainian national 
 council claimed in Russia for Ukraine the prov- 
 inces of Kiev, Podolia, Volhynia, Chernigov, Pol- 
 tava, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav, Kherson and 
 Taurig (less the Crimea). In addition, it claimed 
 some districts of other adjoining provinces, in- 
 Jcluding that of Kholm, which the Poles also 
 claimed for Poland, thus creating another Polish- 
 Ukrainian quarrel. The main dispute is, of 
 course, in Galicia. The Poles claim Lemberg, the 
 capital of Eastern Galicia, on the ground that a 
 majority of its inhabitants are Poles. Counting 
 the Polish Jews, this is true of Lemberg and its 
 immediate vicinity. But do the Polish Jews pre- 
 fer Poland to Ukraine? And what about the in- 
 disputable fact that the larger territory in the 
 midst of which Lemberg is situated is inhabited by 
 a majority of Ukrainians? 
 
 When the ethnographic frontiers of Ukraine 
 are drawn, it emerges a vast country, stretching 
 from the Carpathians to the Caucasus. On the 
 south it is bounded by the Black Sea, Rumania 
 and Hungary; on the west, by Czecho-Slovakia 
 and Poland ; on the north and east by Russia. Ac- 
 cording to the Russian Imperial census of 1897 
 there were 22,000,000 Ukrainians in Russia, and 
 their number must have considerably increased in 
 the following twenty years. In Eastern Galicia 
 and Bukovina there were 4,000,000 Ukrainians, 
 bringing the present total for the nation well above 
 
UKRAINE 101 
 
 30,000,000, spread over more than three hundred 
 thousand square miles, a territory almost as large 
 as France and Spain combined. 
 
 Ukraine is an extremely fertile and wealthy 
 country. Without Ukraine Russia would be un- 
 able to breathe and prosper. A settlement of the 
 Ukrainian problem can therefore not be effected 
 without consideration for Russia, as the latter 
 would sooner or later break the barrier of an in- 
 dependent Ukraine and provoke another war. 
 The Ukrainians realize this and, while pleading 
 for the recognition of their national rights, express 
 their willingness to enter a federation of Russian 
 States patterned after the United States of 
 America. 
 
V 
 
 POLAND 
 
 The case of Poland exemplifies to an almost per- 
 fect degree all those elements which call for the 
 constitution of a subject people into a sovereign 
 nation. Historical justice, national consciousness, 
 ethnographic position are factors which in the 
 Polish problem are made of solid material. The 
 dismemberment of Poland is so fresh an event 
 in history that no just settlement of the problem 
 of nationality in Europe can be imagined without 
 the restoration of Polish sovereignty. The Polish 
 national consciousness does not suffer from a lack 
 of depth and vigor, but from too much strength 
 and passion. Ethnographically, Poland is a com- 
 pact territorial unit. It is bounded on the north by 
 East Prussia and extends to the Baltic Sea west 
 of Danzig; it touches Lithuania in the northeast 
 and adjoins White Russia and Ukraine in the 
 east ; on the south it is bounded by Czecho-Slova- 
 kia and on the west by Prussia. 
 
 The early history of Poland is wrapped in my- 
 thology. The ancestors of the Poles appeared on 
 the stage of European history about twelve cen- 
 
 105 
 
106 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 turies ago. Inhabiting what is in effect a huge 
 plain, they became known to foreign travelers as 
 *'Polans," the word ''pole" in Slavic meaning 
 ''field." These dwellers of what now is known 
 as Poland, were divided before the ninth century 
 into numerous independent tribes, governed by 
 elected chiefs. 
 
 During the reign of Otto the Great, Germany 
 became a menace to the Poles and they banded 
 themselves together under the leadership of one 
 of their chiefs, a member of the humble family 
 of the Piasts, who was elected the first ruler of 
 Poland in 842. He and his son consolidated the 
 country, introduced military reforms and taught 
 the Poles the art of organized warfare. How- 
 ever, the authentic records of Polish history date 
 from 962, when Micezyslaw I ascended the throne. 
 It was he who introduced Christianity into Poland, 
 through his marriage to a Christian princess of 
 Bohemia. In 968 he founded the city of Posen, 
 considered the cradle of their country by the Poles. 
 The expansion of Poland began with the reign 
 of Boleslaw I, in 992. He succeeded in winning 
 the friendship of Germany, after which he turned 
 to the East and conquered the rich Russian town 
 of Kiev. Boleslaw died in 1025, going down into 
 history as the Brave, and leaving a great empire 
 to his successors. 
 
 Meanwhile an event of tremendous consequence 
 to the Slavic races was occurring. The two great 
 
POLAND 107 
 
 churches, the Greek and Roman, were struggling 
 to extend their respective influences over the Slavs. 
 While the Russians were coming under the domi- 
 nation of the Eastern Church, the Poles were being 
 brought into the folds of the Roman Church. This 
 division affected the future of Slavdom pro- 
 foundly. As one historian observes, the Eastern 
 Church cut off Russia to an enormous extent from 
 Western thought and culture, and threw her back 
 upon her own undeveloped resources and uncivil- 
 ized environment. Russia was the last of the great 
 powers to consolidate her empire. Poland, on the 
 other hand, through the Roman Church, had a 
 Western outlook. Western literature, art, philos- 
 ophy and science, as well as religion, flowed 
 within its borders, and as time went on greatly 
 widened the breach between Poland and Russia. 
 
 If not geographically, spiritually Poland became 
 a Western state. As such, it was the first to be- 
 come the victim of the Asiatic invasions that 
 swept over Europe, beginning with the thirteenth 
 century. In 1241 the Mongolian hordes, emerging 
 from the East, passed through Poland, leaving a 
 trail of blood and devastation in their wake. It 
 is interesting to observe that Poland's rehabilita- 
 tion, after the invasion, was effected with the co- 
 operation of large immigrant elements from West- 
 ern Europe, mostly Germans and Jews. The rea- 
 son for the movement of the latter into Poland 
 was largely religious. Persecuted in the West, 
 
108 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 they found a haven in the new Slavic state, which 
 early proclaimed religious toleration. The Jews 
 came to Poland from Germany in the eleventh cen- 
 tury. A charter granting them the right to reside 
 in Polish cities was issued by King Ladislaw Her- 
 man in 1096. 
 
 In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Poland 
 was in a state of internal discord. However, with 
 the rise of Casimir III to the throne in 1332 Poland 
 entered upon an era of greatness. A statesman of 
 the first rank, Casimir expanded his kingdom to 
 unprecedented size. Polish civilization made great 
 strides under Casimir 's rule. In 1347 a general 
 diet was convoked to promulgate national laws. 
 The fruit of this legislative assembly's labors was 
 the famous ''Statute of Wislica," Poland's Magna 
 Charta. Thirteen years before a law had been 
 enacted which freed the Jews from all civil and 
 commercial disabilities. In 1357 another statute, 
 improving the condition of the Jews, was passed. 
 In 1364 the University of Cracow was founded, 
 the second in Europe. An event of great impor- 
 tance occurred during Casimir 's reign, which 
 formed the foundation for one of the most compli- 
 cated phases of the present Polish problem. 
 Ruthenia, a vast stretch of land spreading from 
 the Danube to the Dnieper and beyond it, compris- 
 ing Eastern Galicia, with its capital Lwow, or 
 Lemberg, and Little Russia, with its capital Kiev, 
 
POLAND 109 
 
 was inlierited by Casimir in 1340 from his mother. 
 This land is now known as the Ukraine. 
 
 After the death of Casimir, another important 
 event happened, which also left its mark deep in 
 the history of Poland. Qneen Jadwiga, a grand- 
 niece of Casimir, was united in marriage with Jag- 
 iello, the Prince of Lithuania, in 1386. The pur- 
 pose of this marriage was to bring about an en- 
 tente between Poland and Lithuania. Jagiello, 
 a pagan, was baptized by the name of Ladislaw II, 
 assumed the throne of the two countries under a 
 single crown. This union remained personal for 
 almost two centuries. It was only in 1569 that the 
 two states were knit into a close alliance through 
 the fusion of their national diets. One joint as- 
 sembly was elected by the provincial dietines and 
 Warsaw was chosen as the meeting-place for it, 
 being situated between the two countries. 
 
 It is vital to note that the force which held 
 Lithuania and Poland so long together was in- 
 troduced by the Poles in the thirteenth century 
 into the Baltic region. This force was the Order 
 of the Teutonic Knights, and a Polish duke in- 
 vited it to enter Old Prussia to combat its inhabi- 
 tants, who were of Slavonic origin. This was a 
 fatal blunder. The Teutons conquered the original 
 Prussians and soon became a menace to the Poles 
 and Lithuanians. They occupied the Baltic coast 
 and extended their power in all directions. In 
 1410 the famous Battle of Grilnwald was fought 
 
110 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 between the Teutons and the Poles and Lithuani- 
 ans. The former were beaten and Poland re- 
 gained the towns of Danzig and Thorn. Eastern 
 Prussia was held by the Teutonic Knights under 
 the Eegis of Poland. It presents to-day one of the 
 greatest difficulties attending a just solution of the 
 Polish problem. 
 
 *'The sixteenth century," writes Nimian Hill, 
 ' ' was the period when the prosperity and fame of 
 Poland reached its zenith. It was a wonderful 
 century everywhere, when the new life of the Ren- 
 aissance was pulsating with exuberant virility, and 
 Poland shared in no small measure its progress 
 and joy. Early in its course the new movement 
 found a champion in Sigismund I, whose second 
 wife was Bona Sforza, a daughter of the Duke of 
 Milan. Under their patronage Italian architects 
 and craftsmen were brought to Poland, where the 
 artistic temperament of the Poles assured them of 
 appreciation and encouragement. Art and science, 
 liberally supported by the wealth of the nobles, 
 flourished and led to a display of such luxury and 
 grandeur as excited the admiration of all Europe." 
 
 Simultaneously with the attainment by Poland 
 of its great position as a state in Europe the ele- 
 ments of disintegration were rising in her system. 
 And these elements were due to Poland's experi- 
 ments in democracy. Beginning with 1425, the 
 Polish diet began to exercise control over the elec- 
 tion of the country's kings. The diets were as- 
 
POLAND 111 
 
 semblies representing the gentry, or szlacMa, 
 which was composed of the privileged classes. 
 The szlacMa became the decisive factor in Polish 
 national life. It used its elective powers to obtain 
 special rights and privileges. Thus it won its first 
 habeas corpus statute for recognizing the infant 
 son of Ladislaw II as heir to the throne. A king 
 would be elected for life, but his rule was con- 
 ditioned on his keeping of the promises made. In 
 case he failed to do so, the country was absolved 
 from all obedience to him. The diet met irregu- 
 larly, but the tendency was to limit the perogatives 
 of the king. In 1454 Casimir IV pledged himself 
 not to declare any war without the consent of the 
 diets. Shortly afterward the diet obtained control 
 over the national militia. 
 
 It is true, the szlaclita, which constituted the 
 diet, passed laws that were detrimental to any 
 other class of the people but themselves. Still, it 
 was a foundation for a legislative chamber that 
 in favorable circumstances would have developed 
 into a great parliamentary system. Perhaps if 
 Poland had been so situated geographically as to 
 be safe from foreign invasions and hostile neigh- 
 bors, it would have achieved, ultimately, demo- 
 cratic government. As it was, self-governed 
 Poland's only hope for the preservation of its 
 life lay in internal harmony and unity. This con- 
 dition, unfortunately, was absent from Polish life. 
 The jealousies of the various nobles superseded 
 
112 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 the interests of the nation. The youthful Polish 
 democracy was therefore doomed to an existence 
 of constant peril from the very outset of its stormy 
 career. 
 
 Following the death of Sigismund II, a diet was 
 convoked to elect the new king. The constitution 
 was altered on the eve of the election so as to limit 
 the authority of the newly elected monarch to an 
 extraordinary degree. The king was to have no 
 voice in the election of his successor. He was not 
 to be an hereditary sovereign. He was to marry 
 a woman chosen by the senate and was to be under 
 the constant supervision of a Senate delegation. 
 The king could not lead any troops out of Poland 
 unless with the consent of the Assembly. The 
 elected candidate, Henry of Valois, found his 
 throne so uncomfortable that after a reign of 
 thirteen months he decided to flee. Stealing out 
 of his castle in the night, he fled on horseback with 
 a few servants to France. 
 
 Poland was, in effect, a republic. The diet soon 
 developed into a two-chamber assembly, the senate 
 being composed of the higher nobility, while the 
 lower house represented the poorer szlachta. But 
 that was not the age of republicanism in Eastern 
 Europe. It was the age of conquest and endless 
 warfare. A strong central government was what 
 Poland reaUy needed, but few realized it at the 
 time. The gentry, large and small, was dominated 
 by petty passions and selfish motives. They 
 
POLAND 113 
 
 showed no disposition to share the burden of the 
 government. Theirs was but to criticize and to 
 see to it that no taxes be imposed on their class. 
 They took it for granted that it was up to the 
 king, once elected, to govern the state. It was 
 not for them to provide him with the necessary 
 resources. To be sure it was an erratic democracy. 
 But has democracy in the twentieth century 
 achieved perfection? Poland was groping in the 
 dark, but with a parliamentary system of govern- 
 ment, nevertheless. If Poland had been situated 
 like England, instead of in the midst of Europe, 
 surrounded by autocratic Russia and Germany, 
 it would finally have emerged a modem democracy. 
 But there was no safety in Poland's position and 
 peace was not to be its lot. 
 
 Up to 1648 Poland maintained its imposing state 
 in spite of internal discord and much external 
 trouble. Beginning with that year the disintegra- 
 tion of the Polish power followed with amazing 
 swiftness. That was the year of the great Ukrain- 
 ian revolt, under the leadership of Bogdan Elhmel- 
 nitsky, the famous Cossack hetman. The Ukrain- 
 ians were a free people, and the Cossacks among 
 them were recruited largely from daring refugees 
 from Russia. They were frontiersmen, used by 
 the Polish rulers to combat the Turks and Tartars 
 who occasionally emerged from the south. Grad- 
 ually, however, the Polish nobility extended its 
 grip on these freemen. They were rebellious 
 
114 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 against this foreign yoke and finally broke loose, 
 led by Khmelnitsky, in a terrible war for political 
 and religious freedom. Ukraine rose, the Cossacks 
 united with the Tartars, and wiped out all Catho- 
 lics and Jews. The Polish nobles were murdered, 
 burned alive and their houses and castles reduced 
 to ashes. The Polish armies were annihilated, 
 one after another, and Poland lay prostrate before 
 the Ukrainian hosts. Khmelnitsky was recognized 
 as the hetman of Ukraine, and for a year and a 
 half ruled it. However, in 1651, Khmelnitsky and 
 his forces were defeated by Stefan Czarniecki, 
 the great Polish leader. This victory proved a 
 disaster to Poland. Ukraine transferred its al- 
 legiance to Russia, thereby bringing about one of 
 the most hideous wars in history. 
 
 Russia advanced against Poland, quickly oc- 
 cupied Lithuania and with the aid of the Cossacks 
 conquered Lemberg and Ruthenia, thus consolidat- 
 ing all of Ukraine under the Tsar's scepter. At 
 the same time Sweden saw its opportunity and 
 invaded Poland from the north, meeting practi- 
 cally with no resistance, as the Polish gentry de- 
 serted their King and went over to Sweden 's side. 
 Then, for a while, Poland was virtually wiped out 
 as a state. The king, John Casimir, fled to Silesia. 
 Warsaw and Cracow were occupied by the Swedes. 
 
 When everything seemed to have been irrepar- 
 ably lost, a religious and patriotic movement 
 originated at the C?;enstochowa Monastery, a,tn:i- 
 
POLAND 115 
 
 ing at the restoration of the state. The insurgents 
 met with success in the beginning, as the Swedes 
 were then waging a bitter war against Denmark. 
 Under the leadership of Czarniecki the Poles 
 freed most of their country from the Russians and 
 the king was returned to his throne. But no great 
 change was wrought by the rebellion in the inter- 
 nal affairs of Poland. The country soon drifted 
 into its former condition of corruption and in- 
 trigue. The celebrated "Liberum Veto" was in- 
 troduced into the diet, by which a single dissenter 
 could defeat a bill and even dissolve the assembly. 
 Foreign governments utilized this extreme instru- 
 ment of democracy for their own benefit. The in- 
 ternal demoralization continued to grow in Poland, 
 in spite of the fact that it produced one of its 
 most brilliant rulers toward the end of the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
 John Sobieski, a military genius of the first 
 rank, was chosen king in 1674. He defended his 
 country with great skill against the Turks and 
 later rendered imperishable service to the cause 
 of Western civilization, when he relieved Vienna, 
 in 1683, by inflicting a crushing blow upon the ag- 
 gressive Ottoman forces. After Sobieski followed 
 a period of civil war and another Swedish invasion. 
 Poland continued to decline during the eighteenth 
 century till it reached the stage when it '^ ceased 
 to exhibit any evidence of national life and vir- 
 tue,'* according to one publicist. "It was a time 
 
116 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 of external peace, internal stagnation and moral 
 decay. . . . The end was hastening on. The de- 
 cline of Poland was irremediable." 
 
 Then followed the great crime. Prussia, Rus- 
 sia and Austria deliberately plotted to destroy the 
 Polish republic. What is usually overlooked 
 about this revolting plot is that it was carried out 
 by three Teutonic rulers, for Catherine the Great 
 was really a Prussian princess and the protegee of 
 Frederick the Great. It was the latter who took 
 the initiative in the movement to dismember 
 Poland. In 1769 he sent a special envoy to Russia 
 to sound Catherine on a scheme to partition 
 Poland. In 1772 the first partition of Poland oc- 
 curred. 
 
 What were the motives that urged Prussia and 
 Russia to fall upon Poland and tear it to pieces? 
 Paderewski says that '^ Poland fell because her 
 neighbors were greedy, unscrupulous and strong! 
 Poland fell because she was generous, humane and 
 weak! Poland fell, to tell you the truth, because 
 she had no permanent army to defend her posses- 
 sions. But, do not think that Poland fell alone! 
 With the Polish republic fell also the honor of 
 three monarchies. With our independence fell 
 also the apathetic conscience of civilized Europe. 
 They will not rise, they will not cleanse them- 
 selves, until our freedom is restored again." 
 
 But Poland fell also because she was evolving 
 a system of government contrary to the prin- 
 
POLAND 117 
 
 ciple of autocracy. In fact, old, decayed Poland 
 was about to give way to a new, modern Poland. 
 France was undergoing a process that was bound 
 to have profound effects on Poland. France was 
 giving birth to those powerful ideas which her- 
 alded a new social and political world order. 
 Poland could not help reacting to them. It soon 
 followed France in the path of regeneration. But 
 it had the misfortune of being situated among 
 three powers that had already learned to elevate 
 autocracy into a modern institution. It was there- 
 fore in the interests of these powers to safeguard 
 their own system of government from the dangers 
 of democracy. 
 
 By the first partition Prussia robbed Poland of 
 the Baltic littoral, taking all of West Prussia, ex- 
 cept the cities of Danzig and Thorn. Russia ob- 
 tained the provinces of Polock, Vitebsk and Mog- 
 hilev, which were, strictly speaking, half Rus- 
 sian and half Lithuanian, but not Polish, in popu- 
 lation. Austria secured Galicia and some border- 
 ing territory. Thus, in the first partition only 
 Prussia and Austria obtained control over parts 
 of Poland that were inhabited by Poles. 
 
 Following the first partition comparative order 
 reigned in Poland for a couple of decades. The 
 people were under the delusion that the appetites 
 of their neighbors had been satisfied and that 
 henceforth Poland's integTity would be respected 
 and her independence secured. Intellectually, 
 
118 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Poland made great progress in the latter part of 
 the eighteenth century. Her trade flourished, in 
 spite of her loss of the Baltic littoral. The ideas 
 of Jean Jacques Rousseau and contemporary 
 French philosophers made headway among the 
 Poles. Politically, however, the Poles smarted 
 under the humiliation of Russian rule and in- 
 trigue, as the Polish king, Stanislaw, was the pup- 
 pet of Catherine the Great. Poland found an op- 
 portunity to breathe freely in 1787, when Rus- 
 sia became engaged in a war on Turkey. Poland 
 began to set her house in order. A diet was con- 
 voked, which went down into history under the 
 name of ^'The Four Years' Diet." It was to 
 elaborate a new constitution. The diet was com- 
 posed mainly of young, enthusiastic, patriotic 
 deputies. The constitution finally adopted by the 
 assembly made the form of government a limited 
 and hereditary monarchy. The Liberum Veto was 
 abolished. The franchise was so extended as to 
 give the vote to the townsmen, on an equal basis 
 with the nobles. The condition of the peasants 
 was improved. A provision was made for relig- 
 ious toleration. The constitution embodied many 
 other reforms, and it was greeted with tremendous 
 popular rejoicings. Poland became a democracy 
 in a modern sense, with a constitution that is still 
 considered to have been the most advanced of its 
 time. 
 
 The transformation that occurred in Poland 
 
POLAND 119 
 
 was not to the liking of autocratic Eussia. Cathe- 
 rine the Great adopted at first a cold, and later an 
 openly hostile attitude toward the new Polish 
 revolutionary constitution. She was aided in her 
 designs by a group of treacherous Polish mag- 
 nates, led by Prince Felix Potocki, who were 
 naturally displeased with the democratic move- 
 ment. The Russian Empress now declared war 
 on Poland and sent an army of 100,000 against it. 
 The Polish forces were numerically much weaker 
 and were compelled to retire before the Eussian 
 invaders. The Poles appealed for help to Frede-, 
 rick William, King of Prussia, who had previously 
 approved of the constitution and adopted a 
 friendly policy toward Poland. However, he was 
 now embroiled in the celebrated campaign against 
 revolutionary France, and could not very well 
 support, even morally, a course in Poland whicfi 
 he opposed in France. He announced that he 
 would cooperate with Eussia and Austria in "re- 
 storing order ' ' in Poland. 
 
 ''The Poles were aghast," according to one 
 writer, "at the turn of affairs. The constitution 
 from which so much had been expected, instead of 
 assuring peace and prosperity, was doing nothing 
 but increasing internal dissensions and causing 
 renewed foreign intervention." The Polish 
 troops, in spite of their hard resistance, were too 
 weak to withstand the Prussian and Eussian 
 armies. The former occupied Danzig and Thorn 
 
120 THE RESUERECTED NATIONS 
 
 in January of 1793. Under the leadership of 
 Prince Joseph Poniatowski the Poles succeeded 
 in retarding somewhat the Russian advance. 
 Meanwhile, a new figure appeared on the scene. 
 His name was Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who fought 
 under Washington in the American War of In- 
 dependence. He brilliantly marshaled the small 
 forces of his country, but in vain. There was no 
 unity in the heart of Poland. The king was a 
 weakling, and with the lesson of Louis the Six- 
 teenth, who was executed on the 21st of January, 
 1793, before him, he joined the confederation of 
 the renegade Polish magnates that supported 
 Catherine's schemes. The constitution was re- 
 pealed, the Polish leaders fled, and the confeder- 
 ation was set up as the government of the country, 
 placing Poland virtually in the hands of Catherine. 
 In accordance with a secret treaty concluded 
 between Russia and Prussia, the second partition 
 of Poland then took place. To give this criminal 
 act a semblance of legality, a diet was assembled 
 at Grodno. Its membership was packed, and yet, 
 in spite of all threats from the Russian ambassa- 
 dor, it was slow to ratify the treaty of dismem- 
 berment. Finally, grenadiers were introduced 
 into the assembly-place and four cannon were 
 pointed against the meeting-chamber. The Rus- 
 sian general was present to enforce the ratifica- 
 tion. But to the eternal honor of the Poles, they 
 refused to be intimidated, even after four of them 
 
POLAND 121 
 
 had been arrested. The deputies then decided not 
 to transact any business till their colleagues were 
 freed. Silence reigned in the hall Nobody spoke. 
 The Eussian ambassador made it clear that no 
 one would be allowed to leave the chamber unless 
 the treaty was ratified. Silence was the diet's 
 response to this, too. Hour after hour passed in 
 stillness. Midnight came and went in silence. 
 Finally, at three o'clock in the morning, after the 
 marshal had again asked the deputies for a votcj 
 it was suggested that silence might be construed as 
 an expression of assent. The Eussian ambassa- 
 dor read the instructions of Catherine, which in 
 addition to Eussia's annexation of Lithuania, 
 White Eussia, and the Ukrainian provinces incor- 
 porated in Poland, provided for the cession of 
 purely Polish territory to Prussia, and which was 
 the chief cause for the deputies ' objection. It was 
 then announced the treaty had been ratified. The 
 second partition of Poland was accomplished 
 through this "dumb sitting." 
 
 A wave of patriotic frenzy swept over Poland, 
 as a result of the humiliation of the second par- 
 tition. The spirit of revolt spread widely, fostered 
 by general dissatisfaction, due to the breakdown 
 of commerce and trade. It finally took the form 
 of an insurrection in Cracow where, on the 24th of 
 March, 1794, the cry was raised by the populace of 
 *' Liberty, Integrity and Independence!" The 
 man to whom the insurgents naturally turned was 
 
122 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Kosciuszko, who was then living in retirement in 
 Dresden. He heard the call of his countrymen and 
 hurried to Cracow, where he assumed command 
 over all the Polish forces. He summoned the 
 people to arms in a manifesto in which he said: 
 ''The last moment has arrived, in which despair, 
 in the midst of shame and reproach, puts arms 
 in our hands. Our hope is that scorn of death 
 which can alone ameliorate our lot and that of our 
 posterity." 
 
 Kosciuszko 's rebellion met with spectacular suc- 
 cesses at the beginning. Although his army was 
 badly equipped, he defeated the Russians in sev- 
 eral engagements. All Poland was ablaze with 
 the flame of revolt and rose against its oppressors, 
 sweeping them out of the country. Nevertheless, 
 it was too much for Poland to overcome the forces 
 of three mighty powers. The Prussian army ad- 
 vanced and Cracow was taken, opening the road 
 into Poland, after a battle in which the Poles were 
 outnumbered and defeated. The Prussians then 
 advanced toward Warsaw and invested the city, 
 but were unable to capture it. Meanwhile Cathe- 
 rine had concluded peace with Turkey and ordered 
 her general, Suvorov, to make speed with his army 
 toward Poland. The Empress was furious at the 
 insurgents and resolved, in her own words, ''that 
 the time has come, not only to extinguish to the 
 last spark the fire that has been lighted in our 
 
POLAND 123 
 
 neighborhood, but to prevent any possible re- 
 kindling of its ashes." 
 
 On October the 10th, 1794, the Polish and Eus- 
 sian armies met, and the fatal battle in the history 
 of Poland was fought. Kosciuszko was wounded 
 several times and finally taken prisoner. A re- 
 mark was attributed to him which he later stoutly 
 denied having made. It was the famous ''Finis 
 Poloniae!" Poland, indeed, was finished. Suvo- 
 rov advanced, took Warsaw and ended the rising, 
 with a bloody massacre of the inhabitants of War- 
 saw. Thirteen thousand Poles were butchered by 
 the Russians, two thousand were drowned. Among 
 the valiant defenders of Warsaw was a Jewish 
 regiment, which perished to the last man. 
 
 There was much discord among the conquerors 
 over the spoils, the Russians claiming the lion's 
 share. An agreement was finally reached, in 1795, 
 whereby Austria annexed Cracow and a large 
 slice of territory; Prussia took Warsaw, with a 
 stretch of country as far as the Niemen, and 
 Russia got the rest. Thus Poland passed out of 
 existence. 
 
 The hopes of the Poles were raised with the rise 
 of Napoleon. His sweep eastward, his conquest 
 of Prussia and march into Russia won the sym- 
 pathies of the Polish people for him. They ex- 
 pected him to liberate and restore their country, 
 although he was never explicit on this point. 
 Upon his arrival in Warsaw he was greeted with 
 
124 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 unbounded enthusiasm. It was there that he met 
 the beautiful Countess Walewska and fell in love 
 with her at first sight. She left her husband to 
 join Napoleon, and they had a son who afterward 
 had quite a distinguished career as a diplomat. 
 After defeating the Russians, Napoleon created at 
 Tilsit, on July 7th, 1807, the Duchy of Warsaw. 
 The Poles were naturally not satisfied with this 
 small kingdom and gallantly fought the Austrians, 
 regaining Cracow and Western Galicia. Eighty 
 thousand Poles supported Napoleon's disastrous 
 campaign in Russia in 1812. With the passing 
 of Napoleon, the Duchy of Warsaw expired. At 
 the Congress of Vienna, 1815, Poland was re- 
 distributed among the partitioning powers. The 
 city of Cracow was constituted an independent 
 little republic, while the purely Polish provinces 
 that went to Russia were set up as an autonomous 
 kingdom with Alexander I as hereditary ruler. 
 Differences developed between Russia and the 
 Polish kingdom, which culminated in a r«^volt in 
 1830, following the French revolution of that 
 year. The Poles put up a valiant fight, but were 
 crushed by Nicholas I, and their autonomy was 
 abolished. Again in 1848, when the tide of revolu- 
 tion rose in Western Europe, Poland became a 
 center of rebellion. This time it proved the end 
 of the Cracow principality. Then in 1863 a rising 
 of large dimensions again broke out in Russian 
 Poland. It was suppressed in torrents of blood. 
 
POLAND 125 
 
 The hand of Tsarism lay heavy on political Poland. 
 The country became a virtual province of the Rus- 
 sian Empire, and was subjected to an intense cam- 
 paign of Russification. Prussian Poland fared 
 even worse, for the German autocracy was more 
 efficient, and its campaign of Prussianization 
 proved more merciless and deadly. 
 
 However, from 1863 to 1914 Poland, partitioned 
 among the three empires, prospered economically. 
 Especially was this prosperity marked in Russian 
 Poland, where commerce and industry reached 
 enormous proportions. The Polish provinces be- 
 came the most progressive section of Russia in 
 education, in manufacture, in trade, and in the 
 development of natural resources. In spite of 
 all the efforts of the Tsar 's government to Russify 
 Poland, the Poles retained their national con- 
 sciousness and cohesion, and Poland seethed with 
 nationalistic movements. Its literature, poetry, 
 music blossomed luxuriantly. Poland became a 
 great center of modern civilization. 
 
 Then came the Great War. On the fields of 
 Poland immense armies swayed back and forth, 
 killing, pillaging, devastating. These armies had 
 hundreds of thousands of Poles on the side of 
 Russia opposed to hundreds of thousands of Poles 
 in the ranks of the Austro-German forces. For 
 Poland, therefore, it was a terrible experience. 
 But even more terrible was the ruin wrought in 
 its fair cities and villages. According to some 
 
126 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 estimates, three hundred towns, twenty thousand 
 villages, two thousand churches were razed to 
 the ground. Millions were set adrift, wandering 
 eastward back of the Russian armies. Billions 
 of dollars in property were destroyed. 
 
 Politically, Poland was torn in two. The work- 
 ing classes, generally speaking, favored the Cen- 
 tral Powers, being actuated by deep hatred for 
 Tsarism. The upper classes favored an under- 
 standing with Russia. As soon as the war broke 
 out the former rallied around Joseph Pilsudski, 
 a Russian Polish revolutionary leader, who led 
 a Polish Legion organized in Galicia against the 
 Russian army. But the Russians were at first vic- 
 torious. In the fall of 1914 Grand Duke Nicholas 
 issued his celebrated manifesto, promising auton- 
 omy to a re-united Poland. Although the Rus- 
 sian conduct in the occupied Polish territory was 
 not of a nature to encourage Polish national 
 optimism, the Grand Duke's proclamation had a 
 profound effect. However, Hindenburg's great 
 victory over the Russian armies in 1915 placed all 
 of Poland in the hands of the Central Powers. 
 After more than a year of hesitation Austria and 
 Germany declared, on November 5, 1916, Polish 
 "independence." The Central Powers wanted 
 Pilsudski to raise an army to cooperate with them, 
 but the Polish radical and his party would not 
 agree to do it unless guaranteed a strictly Polish 
 national government for the country. 
 
POLAND 127 
 
 The Russian Revolution of 1917 brought Poland 
 near to Russia. The Petrograd Provisional Gov- 
 ernment addressed the following words to the 
 Poles : ''The Russian nation, which has shaken off 
 its yoke, recognizes also the absolute right of the 
 brother nation of Poland to decide its own fate 
 by the exercise of its own will, . . . The Polish 
 nation, liberated and unified, will settle for itself 
 the nature of its own government, expressing its 
 will by means of a Constituent Assembly, convoked 
 on the basis of universal suffrage in the capital of 
 Poland. ' ' This proclamation made the Poles anti- 
 Teutonic. Deep differences developed between 
 the Central Powers and the Warsaw Regency 
 Council, and ended in the arrest of the once Aus- 
 trophile General Pilsudski and his imprisonment 
 in Germany. 
 
 Meanwhile a Polish National Committee was set 
 up in Paris by leading exiles, representing the 
 tendencies of the Polish upper classes, especially 
 the nobility. The chief figures in this committee 
 were I. J. Paderewski, the famous pianist, and R. 
 Dmowski, formerly the head of the Polish dele- 
 gation in the Russian Duma. A Polish army was 
 organized in Prance, under General Haller, to co- 
 operate with the Allies, and France, England, 
 Italy and the United States recognized it in 1918 
 as a co-belligerent force. Thousands of American 
 Poles voluntarily joined the army of General 
 Haller. 
 
128 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 When Austria-Hungary collapsed a Polish gov- 
 ernment sprang up in Galicia under the presidency 
 of the Socialist Daszynski, but he handed over his 
 authority to Pilsudski upon the surrender of Ger- 
 many and his release from prison. The Germans 
 were then expelled from Poland and the Poles 
 proceeded to consolidate their liberated country. 
 It was while doing so that the Poles came in con- 
 flict with their neighbors, at a time when peace at 
 home was not yet established. The arrival of 
 Paderewski in Poland in the last days of 1918 
 caused a crisis between the conservative and radi- 
 cal elements in the country. The foimer even 
 made an effort to overthrow Pilsudski 's govern- 
 ment, but failed. 
 
 The solution of the Polish international problem 
 has not been worked out yet on an equitable basis 
 even theoretically. Polish national aspirations, it 
 must be frankly acknowledged, are annexationist. 
 While the elements represented by R. Dmowski 
 aim at the creation of a centralized Polish empire 
 numbering between 35,000,000 and 40,000,000 in- 
 habitants, nearly half of whom would be non- 
 Polish, the radical patriotic elements, considerably 
 less avaricious, still lay claim to Lithuania, as if 
 the latter were not a distinct nationality with 
 rights of its own. In order to solve the Polish 
 problem it is necessary to settle Poland's disputes 
 with Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Czecho-Slovakia, 
 Germany, and the Jews. Had the Poles been will- 
 
POLAND 129 
 
 ing to leave all these settlements to the Peace Con- 
 ference, a great deal of racial and national enmity- 
 would have been averted. There is only one way 
 to solve the Polish territorial problem justly, and 
 that is to find an ethnographic solution, and not 
 an historical one. The entire civilized world rec- 
 ognizes Poland's indisputable right to sovereign 
 national existence, as well as the crime committed 
 by Russia, Austria and Prussia in partitioning 
 Poland. And yet the restoration of Poland as 
 it existed in 1772, before the first partition, would 
 be a monstrosity. Poland was then a conglomer- 
 ate state, a huge empire, but not a nation. Within 
 its borders were then large sections of Great Rus- 
 sian, White Russian, Little Russian, Lithuanian, 
 Latvian (Lettish), and German territory. 
 
 To recreate that empire would be equivalent to 
 the restoration of the disrupted Dual Monarchy. 
 And yet there are Polish leaders who go nearly as 
 far as advocating such a *' solution" of their 
 national problem. What will have happened 
 if they actually take over the control of Poland 
 can be imagined from what really did happen 
 under the dictatorship of the radical Pilsudski. 
 Within a few days after his rise to power the 
 Poles were fighting with the Lithuanians, White 
 Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, and Germans. Pil- 
 sudski 's government publicly claimed Vilna, the 
 capital of Lithuania, and some districts of White 
 Russia. The Lithuanians and White Russians 
 
130 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 called upon the Bolsheviki of Russia to support 
 them against the aggression of Poland. In Gali- 
 cia bloody warfare occurred between the Ukrain- 
 ians and the Poles, mainly over Lemberg and Prze- 
 mysl, in which the Jews suffered greatly. In the 
 west, a Polish force, after occupying Posen, which 
 rightfully belongs to Poland, spread out in every 
 direction, toward Breslau, Silesia; Berlin, the cap- 
 ital of Germany ; and Danzig, the great Baltic port. 
 Now Danzig and its immediate vicinity are Ger- 
 man ethnographically. To the west of Danzig a 
 strip of territory about twenty-five miles wide, 
 inhabited by a majority of Poles, connects the Bal- 
 tic with the bulk of Poland. However, it is gener- 
 ally agreed that Poland ought to have access to 
 the sea, that the port of Danzig ought to be made 
 available to the Poles, which could be done by mak- 
 ing it a free port, but the Polish government was 
 not satisfied to leave the settlement of the prob- 
 lem to the Peace Conference and proceeded to 
 seize the city by force. 
 
 In the case of Poland, then, the diflSculties lie 
 mainly in the strength of the national spirit of 
 the Polish people. Poland must be re-united. Po- 
 land must be independent. These two demands 
 have the approval of civilized mankind. But how 
 are you going to curb the annexationist tendencies 
 of Polish nationalism 1 This nationalism must be 
 reconciled, to insure peace, with the legitimate 
 claims of the Lithuanians, Russians, Ukrainians, 
 
POLAND 131 
 
 Germans, and Jews. The last present an inter- 
 nal question, but a sore one. There will be about 
 three million Jews in the new Poland. The rela- 
 tions between the Jews and the Poles in the past 
 decade have been very strained. The Poles, led by 
 anti-Semites like Dmowski, had organized an eco- 
 nomic boycott of the Jews which resulted in great 
 suffering to them. An even more important re- 
 sult was the awakening in the Polish Jews of ex- 
 treme nationalistic tendencies, which widened the 
 chasm betwen them and the Poles. To satisfy 
 all the demands of the Polish Jews would be an 
 infringement of Polish rights, it must be admitted. 
 But that the Jews in Poland should enjoy full re- 
 ligious, political, cultural and economic freedom, 
 such as they are enjoying in the United States of 
 America, for instance, seems but elementary jus- 
 tice. This was recognized by the government of 
 Pilsudski, which announced its intention to solve 
 the Polish-Jewish problem on such a basis. 
 
 There can be no just and definite solution of 
 Poland's boundary questions unless it rests on 
 purely ethnographic lines. More than in any other 
 case, Polish historical claims are pregnant with 
 international disputes. Poland must be re-united, 
 free and independent, with access to the sea, but 
 must include only genuinely Polish lands. 
 
VI 
 
 LITHUANIA 
 
 There is a widespread impression that the Lith- 
 uanians are a Slavic race. This is not true. The 
 Lithuanians, together with the Letts and the ex- 
 tinct Old Prussians, formed a distinct branch of 
 the Indo-European family. They occupied the 
 southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea early in the 
 history of Europe and inhabited the basin of the 
 River Niemen and the territory lying between the 
 Vistula and the Dwina a thousand years ago. The 
 country that later became known as Lithuania was 
 a thickly-forested, marshy, inaccessible land, the 
 dwellers of which preserved their primitive life 
 longer than their neighbors. Their fighting quali- 
 ties made them the masters of a large stretch of 
 territory, extending at one time as far north as 
 the Gulf of Finland. They remained pagans even 
 after the neighboring races had adopted Christian- 
 ity. 
 
 With the rise of strong nations in the east and 
 west of their country, the Lithuanians were put on 
 the defensive, fiercely fighting the Russians and 
 the Poles. The latter fouud the Lithuanians and 
 
 132 
 
LITHUANIA 133 
 
 their kindred races so troublesome that they in- 
 vited the Teutonic Knights to enter the Baltic lit- 
 toral, ostensibly to spread Christianity, but really 
 to combat the savage inhabitants of the region. 
 It was this movement that turned part of the Bal- 
 tic littoral into German territory known to us now 
 as East and West Prussia. 
 
 The Lithuanians were able to withstand the 
 onslaughts of the Teutonic Knights, although 
 parts of their territory were overrun and occu- 
 pied by the invaders. The Lithuanians to-day 
 claim those parts of Prussia under the name of 
 Lithuania Minor as properly belonging to them, 
 insisting that the inhabitants had never been Ger- 
 manized during the centuries that they formed 
 part of Prussia. Because of their paganism, the 
 light-haired, blue-eyed, massive, warlike inhabi- 
 tants of the valley of the Niemen were subjected 
 to efforts at Christianization by the Greek Ortho- 
 dox Russians and the Roman Catholic Poles. It 
 was the Lithuanian resistance that finally gave 
 birth to a united Lithuanian state. The pressure 
 of the Christians was too great, especially after 
 the Lithuanian cousins, the Letts, had been con- 
 verted to Christianity and organized into the Li- 
 vonian Order, which pushed onward in its cam- 
 paign to spread Christianity. The Lithuanians 
 were surrounded by aggressive Christian forces, 
 which included adventurous crusaders from all 
 over Europe. The Lithuanian ruler of the period. 
 
134 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Mindaugas, resolved to submit to Rome and be 
 baptized, which ceremony took place in 1250. Pope 
 Innocent IV was so pleased that he rewarded the 
 Lithuanian chief with a crown, making Mindau- 
 gas the first king of Lithuania. 
 
 With the adoption of Christianity the Lithuan- 
 ian king expected to regain his former possessions 
 and consolidate his state. However, he encoun- 
 tered the opposition of the Christian Orders and 
 found it expedient to recant in order to lead an 
 uprising of all the Lithuanian tribes against the 
 Livonian Order. The rising was successful, al- 
 though Mindaugas was killed three years after he 
 recanted, in 1260. He was followed by a series of 
 Lithuanian rulers, of whom the most renowned 
 was Gedeminas, 1316-1341, the first ruler to es- 
 tablish a system of government in Lithuania. He 
 extended his dominions over many principalities 
 to the east and south, so that in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury Lithuania included practically all of White 
 Russia, a portion of Great Russia and a consider- 
 able section of Little Russia, or Ukraine. Gede- 
 minas concluded a treaty with Poland in 1325, 
 forming a military alliance against the Livonian 
 Order, as well as the foundation for the later 
 union of Lithuania and Poland. 
 
 Lithuania embraced Christianity in 1386 as the 
 result of the marriage of its ruler Jagello to the 
 queen of Poland, Jadwiga. The Lithuanian ruler 
 thus became the king of Poland, It is from this 
 
LITHUANIA 135 
 
 year that the controversy over the Polish-Lithuan- 
 ian union dates. According to the Poles, the mar- 
 riage constituted the virtual fusion of Lithuania 
 and Poland into one sovereign state. According 
 to the Lithuanians, the marriage of Jagello re- 
 moved him from Lithuanian life, and their coun- 
 try continued to exist as an independent entity. 
 It would appear that the union was in fact but 
 nominal, as the Lithuanians elected a successor 
 to Jagello, an able leader, named Vitautas. Hence- 
 forth Poland and Lithuania fought conjointly the 
 Teutonic Order, and in 1410, at Griinwald, the 
 two allies decisively defeated the Teutons and 
 stopped their spread eastward. In the fifteenth 
 century Lithuania reached its greatest territorial 
 limits, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north 
 to the Black Sea in the south. 
 
 Up to 1569 the relations between Lithuania and 
 Poland remained unchanged. The Poles contin- 
 ued to elect as their kings the descendants of Ja- 
 gello who ruled over Lithuania. In that year, dur- 
 ing the reign of Sigismond Augustus, an assembly 
 was convoked in Lublin, which resulted in the 
 fusion of the two states. ''Here over the protests 
 of a large number of the Lithuanian delegates," 
 writes a Lithuanian publicist, "the Lublin Union 
 was formed under which Lithuania and Poland 
 were welded together into one so-called republic, 
 ruled by the privileged nobility. Both states were 
 presided over by one head and were permitted but 
 
136 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 one senate and one 'Sejm' (the Lower House), 
 wiiicli convened alternately first in one, then in 
 the other country. A single coat of arms was 
 adopted, with the insignia of both countries incor- 
 porated in the seal. The customs duties between 
 the two nations were entirely abolished. In the 
 face of all this, however, Lithuania persisted in 
 maintaining her own army, her own fiscal and ju- 
 dicial system, and certain of her administrative 
 officers, such as Marshal, Chancellor, a Hetman 
 and others." 
 
 Lithuania remained a part of Poland till the 
 dismemberment of the latter. It is this that gives 
 ground for the Polish argument that the restora- 
 tion of Poland entails the incorporation in it of 
 Lithuania. Had the Lithuanians been assimilated 
 by the Poles during the centuries that they be- 
 longed to Poland, the present Polish claim to Lith- 
 uania might be justified. However, such is not the 
 case. The Lithuanians display a vigorous national 
 consciousness, and deny that they had ever been 
 Polonized. Polish penetration into Lithuania 
 never went further than a spiritual union between 
 the nobility of the two countries. The Lithuanian 
 peasantry never came under the influence of the 
 Poles and preserved their own language, tradi- 
 tions and even many of their ancient heathen 
 practices and ceremonies. 
 
 In the first partition of Poland, 1772, Russia's 
 share was really a perfectly legitimate one. Rus- 
 
LITHUANIA 137 
 
 sia took away from Poland provinces that were in- 
 corporated in Lithuania before it had joined Po- 
 land, but which were really Russian. It is both 
 curious and significant that even at the second 
 partition, 1793, in which Germany and Austria 
 came in possession of genuinely Polish lands, Rus- 
 sia's share was still legitimate as the territories 
 which Russia then detached from Poland were not 
 Polish, not Lithuanian, strictly speaking, but 
 White Russian. A Lithuanian writes that at the 
 second partition Russia received so-called Russian 
 Lithuania, and the Lithuanians were left only Lith- 
 uania proper. Thus the ethnographical borders 
 of Lithuania were thereby defined by the Rus- 
 sians themselves. At the third partition in 1795 
 Russia took all that remained of Lithuania, with 
 the exception of the province of Suvalki, which 
 went to Prussia, and later was added by Napoleon 
 to the Duchy of Warsaw. The Congress of Vienna 
 ceded this province to Russia, with the Kingdom 
 of Poland. 
 
 What would have happened to Lithuania had 
 she not joined Poland in the sixteenth century will 
 always remain a subject for speculation. Some 
 Lithuanians beheve that the union with Poland 
 brought about Lithuania's ruin. According to 
 them, Lithuania degenerated when united with 
 Poland. "The state was dissolved, the upper 
 classes became separated from the common peo- 
 ple, who still remained faithful to their language, 
 
138 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 though they were without schools, without any 
 rights, and were oppressed by the degrading sys- 
 tem of serfdom. Lithuania, during this period, 
 made no progress in literature, political economy, 
 or business, but rather degenerated in these 
 branches of activity. ' ' 
 
 It is hardly conceivable that an independent 
 Lithuania would have emerged and existed in mod- 
 ern times with powerful, aggressive Russia sur- 
 rounding it. It is probable, though, that Lithu- 
 ania, swallowed up by Russia, would still have 
 remained a strongly individual national body, even 
 as Poland was in all the years that it formed part 
 of the Russian Empire. In fact it was the Rus- 
 sian oppression that stimulated the development 
 of the national consciousness in all the subject 
 races of the Empire. The Lithuanians were 
 treated in the traditional manner. A campaign of 
 Russification was inaugurated in their land, abol- 
 ishing every vestige of Lithuanian autonomy and 
 national life. The Universiay of Vilna, the capi- 
 tal of Lithuania, and many other schools, were 
 closed in 1832. In 1864 all the Lithuanian native 
 publications were suppressed and the Russian lan- 
 guage was imposed upon them. The Lithuanians 
 were also persecuted on account of their Roman 
 Catholic faith. Finally, the Russians went as far 
 as colonizing Lithuanian lands with Russians, who 
 were encouraged and financially helped to settle 
 in Lithuania. 
 
LITHUANIA 139 
 
 The persecutions resulted iu a large emigration. 
 About three hundred thousand Lithuanians emi- 
 grated into the interior of Russia and into Poland 
 and the neighboring provinces. Gradually the 
 stream of emigration grew in size, passing through 
 England and Scotland, extending as far as South 
 Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, Canada and the 
 United States. There are nearly eighty thousand 
 Lithuanians in Chicago alone. If the Lithuanian 
 claim to Kosciusko, who was a native of Lithu- 
 ania, be upheld, the Lithuanians would have rea- 
 son to be proud of their contribution to the mak- 
 ing of the United States. At present there are 
 nearly three-quarters of a million Lithuanians in 
 the United States. 
 
 The Lithuanian national consciousness finds its 
 expression in the Lithuanian literature and cul- 
 ture, as well as the movement for independence. 
 Lithuanian writers first appear in the sixteenth 
 century. Between 1547 and 1701 fifty-nine Lithu- 
 anian books were published. The translator of the 
 Bible, the Reverend Dauksa, a famous preacher, 
 was also a Lithuanian nationalist. "To take the 
 language from a nation is equivalent," he said, 
 'Ho taking the sun from the heavens, to destroy- 
 ing world-order, to snuffing out the life and the 
 honor of a nation." In the eighteenth century 
 Lithuanian poetry reached a high standard, when 
 the remarkable pastoral poem by Christian Don- 
 elaitis, ''The Joys of Spring," was written. It 
 
140 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 was rendered into German under the name of 
 ' ' The Four Seasons ' ' and into Russian by the Im- 
 perial Academy and also by two modern poets. 
 After 1864 the Lithuanians were forbidden to print 
 even a prayer-book in their own language and in 
 the Latin characters. It was therefore in foreign 
 lands that the Lithuanian national press was born. 
 In 1883 a Lithuanian periodical was established 
 at Tilsit, Prussia, which clearly set forth the ideas 
 of Lithuanian nationalism, independent of Poland 
 and its culture. Since then the Lithuanian na- 
 tional movement gained in intensity at such a rapid 
 pace, that in 1905 the Lithuanians were among the 
 first to lead in the Russian revolution of that year. 
 With the freedom then gained by the Russian peo- 
 ple, the Lithuanians were allowed to use their 
 own language. In Vilna alone a dozen periodicals 
 sprang up in a decade. Altogether there were 
 about seventy publications appearing in Lithua- 
 nian all over the world. A Russian professor 
 wrote a quarter of a century ago of the Lithuanian 
 national movement: "Young Lithuania has suc- 
 ceeded, first, in developing a new spelling and 
 literary language for the Lithuanian people, sec- 
 ondly, it has satisfactorily explained the close eth- 
 nographic relationship existing between the Letts 
 and the Lithuanians and has pointed out the abso- 
 lute divergence of the interests of the Lithuanian 
 intellectuals from those of the Poles. . . . The 
 Poles may say what they please, but the fact re- 
 
LITHUANIA 141 
 
 mains that the Lithuanians inhabiting the Lithua- 
 nian territory not only continue to speak their 
 own native tongue, but have also been successful 
 in preserving their ancient customs and traits. ' ' 
 
 In the revolutionary year of 1905 the Lithua- 
 nians called a national assembly, which met in Vil- 
 na. Two thousand delegates, representing every 
 section and class, came to the Congress. Some 
 of the envoys were said to have been unable to 
 speak their native tongue, but insisted that they 
 were of Lithuanian blood. The Lithuanian repre- 
 sentatives in the Duma were always on guard to 
 defend their national rights, claiming autonomy 
 and demanding the separation of the province of 
 Suvalki from the Kingdom of Poland. Both the 
 Poles and the Eussians were hostile to the Lithua- 
 nian movement, which constantly gained strength 
 from the support given to it by the Lithuanian col- 
 onists abroad, notably in the United States and 
 Great Britain. 
 
 The Great War caused immense suffering in 
 Lithuania, where the contending hosts fought long 
 and stubbornly. But it also gave an added im- 
 petus to Lithuanian nationalism. In an appeal 
 made to their brethren in America, the Lithuanian 
 leaders said early in the war: ''Strenuous and 
 telling times are here. We must emerge free, or 
 die fighting for freedom. Lithuanians have vital- 
 ity and strength enough to be equals of all other 
 free nations. We must win the right to mould our 
 
142 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 own destiny and our own future. Now is the time 
 to take our faith in our hands — now, or never ! ' ' 
 
 After Grand Duke Nicholas, the Conunander-in- 
 Chief of the Russian Army, issued his manifesto 
 to the Poles toward the end of 1914, promising 
 restoration of their country, the Lithuanian politi- 
 cal committee of Vilna issued the following state- 
 ment: 
 
 "Lithuania is a separate unit historically, cul- 
 turally, and economically. 
 
 "Lithuania will defend herself to the bitter end 
 against every attempt of the Poles to spread Pol- 
 ish propaganda in Lithuania under the pretext of 
 the historical union of the two countries. 
 
 "Because certain Poles deliberately and fraud- 
 ulently misrepresent the identity of Poles and 
 Lithuanians, it becomes indispensable for the na- 
 tional life of Lithuania to combat such political 
 methods of the Poles and to disclose to the world 
 the actual relations as they exist between the Poles 
 and the Lithuanians. 
 
 "It is essential to struggle for the unification of 
 Lithuania, i. e. for the union of the government of 
 Suvaiki and of Lithuania Minor to Lithuania and 
 it is vital to obtain the right of political self-deter- 
 mination for the Lithuanians." 
 
 In the course of the World War several Lithua- 
 nian conventions and conferences met in foreign 
 countries, in Stockliolm, in Berne, Lausanne, and 
 in the United States. They all set forth umnis- 
 
LITHUANIA 143 
 
 takably the principles of Lithuanian nationalism. 
 In Eussia, after some secret meetings, the Lithua- 
 nian National Council, representing all the parties 
 of the country, was formed, dedicated to the at- 
 tainment of independence for the Lithuanian na- 
 tionality. The Russian Revolution naturally gave 
 a tremendous impetus to the Lithuanian move- 
 ment. The Lithuanian National Council adopted a 
 declaration in which it stated that "Lithuania is a 
 separate ethnographical, cultural, economic, and 
 political unit, and as regards numbers and eco- 
 nomic considerations, the Lithuanians constitute 
 the basic element of Lithuania's inhabitants." 
 
 However, all the Lithuanian manifestos were in- 
 effective, for the simple reason that practically all 
 Lithuania was occupied by the German armies. 
 The Lithuanians exerted all their efforts in influ- 
 encing Russian public opinion in their favor, but 
 the Provisional Government of Russia was slow 
 to recognize Lithuania's claims, favoring an ar- 
 rangement with Poland whereby the latter would 
 include Lithuania, so as to lay the basis for a Rus- 
 sian-Polish union. In October, 1917, there met in 
 Kiev a congress of twenty-two minor Russian na- 
 tionalities. This convention passed on the claims 
 of all the subject races of Russia. It adopted a 
 series of resolutions, one of which was on the 
 Lithuanian question, demanding that: 
 
 "The Provisional Government of Russia issue 
 a proclamation recognizing the right of Lithuania 
 
144 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 to form a sovereign state of Lithuania out of the 
 Russian and Prussian Lithuanian territories and 
 of the Lithuanian districts of the Government of 
 Suvalki, in conformity with the principle of self- 
 determination." 
 
 Ethnographically, the Lithuanian problem is not 
 easy of solution. Fortunately the Lithuanians do 
 not demand the restoration of their country as 
 it existed at the height of its career as a state. 
 ''The platform of every active political party in 
 Lithuania contains the demand for the right of 
 self-determination within the whole of ethno- 
 graphic Lithuania. All these parties realize only 
 too well that it would be both fatal and wrong to 
 desire the reestablishment of historic Lithuania 
 which extended over a vast expense inhabited by 
 many other races. Nor would any of them lay the 
 slightest claim to lands which were genuinely 
 Lithuanian in times remote, but whose inhabitants 
 subsequently suffered complete transformation as, 
 for instance, Western Prussia, where the popula- 
 tion has ceased being Lithuanian altogether in 
 speech, in custom and in spirit." Thus reads a 
 Lithuanian statement. 
 
 By a secret agreement concluded between Rus- 
 sia and the Allies and made public by the Bolshe- 
 vist government, Russia was to annex as a result 
 of the war German Lithuania Minor. Had that 
 treaty been carried out, all Lithuania would have 
 been reunited under Russian protection. Lithua- 
 
LITHUANIA 145 
 
 nia Minor has a population of about half a mil- 
 lion. Russian Lithuania, or Lithuania Major, 
 comprising the government of Kovno, the larger 
 parts of the governments of Vilna and Suval- 
 ki, and sections of the governments of Grod- 
 no and Minsk, has a population of nearly five mil- 
 lion. An independent Lithuanian state would thus 
 have a population of five million, more than Ser- 
 bia or Bulgaria before the war, almost as populous 
 as Denmark and Norway put together, or nearly 
 equal to either Sweden or Portugal. 
 
 There is a movement in Lithuania for a union 
 with the Letts. Should such an alliance be con- 
 summated the united state would contain a 
 population of more than seven million. Given a 
 chance there is no reason why the Lithuanians 
 should not prosper and develop economically and 
 culturally. Their land is fertile and abundant with 
 forests. Germany exploited Lithuania to an enor- 
 mous extent. By the way of the Niemen River 
 alone she imported from Lithuania about three 
 hundred million cubic feet of wood. Russia did 
 not seek to develop Lithuania's resources. If any- 
 thing, she hampered such a development. And yet 
 the Lithuanian people are capable of producing a 
 high state of civilization. To insure such an out- 
 come, it is but necessary to allow Lithuania free 
 and autonomous development and start it on the 
 road to progress. 
 
VII 
 
 LETTONIA 
 
 The Letts are of the same origin as the Old 
 Prussians, who no longer retain their racial char- 
 acteristics, having been absorbed by the Teuton 
 invaders, and the Lithuanians. Lettonia, or Li- 
 vonia, or Latvia, the homeland of the Letts, lies 
 immediately to the north of Lithuania, on the Bal- 
 tic littoral, about equally divided by the Dwina 
 River. North of Lettonia lies Esthonia. To the 
 east of it is Russia. Of the three Baltic provinces 
 of the Russian empire, Courland, Livonia or Liv- 
 land, and Esthonia, the first and the greater part 
 of the second are inhabited by the Letts and com- 
 prise Lettonia. 
 
 The Letts number about 2,000,000. They have 
 lived in their land since time immemorial and are 
 the only rightful masters of it. The Letts are not 
 of Slavonic origin, neither are they related to 
 the Mongolian Finns, dwelling to the north of 
 them. They are, together with the Lithuanians, 
 the only survivors of a distinct branch of the Indo- 
 European family. They speak a language closely 
 related to the Lithuanian. But they are separated 
 
 146 
 
LETTONIA 147 
 
 from the latter by religion, being Lutherans, while 
 the Lithuanians are Eoman Catholics. 
 
 It was the Germans who brought Christianity 
 into Lettonia, and in doing so subjugated the Letts. 
 The first Germans to come into the country were 
 traders from Liibeck. They were followed by mis- 
 sionaries of Christianity who founded the town of 
 Eiga in 1201 and organized a military body, the 
 Livonian Order, to Christianize the Letts. There 
 were not many of these Germans, but they con- 
 quered the land and settled on it as rulers, even- 
 tually assuming baronial titles. During the Kef- 
 ormation they embraced Lutheranism, communi- 
 cating it to the Letts. 
 
 When the Livonian Order was dissolved and 
 Sweden gained control of the Baltic region, the 
 oppressed population received some freedom and 
 education. During the reign of Gustavus Vasa, 
 King of Sweden, in the first part of the sixteenth 
 century, many schools were established in Let- 
 tonia. The benevolent rule of the Swedes did not, 
 however, carry with it the overthrow of the im- 
 mediate overlords, the Teutonic nobles, who were 
 thoroughly hated by the Lettish peasantry. When 
 Charles XII was defeated at Poltava in 1709, the 
 Baltic lands came under the aegis of Peter the 
 Great and became part of the Eussian Empire. 
 
 It was from the ranks of the Teutonic nobihty 
 in the Baltic provinces that autocratic Eussia re- 
 cruited in the past two centuries many of its lead- 
 
148 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ing statesmen, administrators and reactionary 
 governors. Up to the outbreak of the Great War 
 these Baltic Junkers were intimately identified 
 with all that was sinister in Tsardom, maintain- 
 ing only remote relations with their German 
 cousins. Perhaps in all the breadth and width of 
 Russia there was not another region where the 
 hand of the landlords lay heavier on the peasants. 
 The Teuton nobles barred even the slightest re- 
 forms introduced by Russia. In the early days of 
 the reign of Alexander I an attempt was made by 
 the then liberal Russian government to relieve the 
 lot of the Lettish serf, but it was thwarted by the 
 German masters, who were greatly helped by the 
 corrupt clergy. 
 
 About the middle of the nineteenth century the 
 Lettish peasants began to show signs of rebellion. 
 Several times they revolted against their oppres- 
 sors, but were suppressed by Russian troops. 
 With the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 
 there occurred nothing in Lettonia to improve the 
 condition of the peasant. He was free, but he 
 was landless, practically the entire country was 
 owned by the small group of barons. The Letts 
 were thus dependent upon their foreign masters 
 for a living. There was little change in the agra- 
 rian situation in Lettonia in the period that 
 elapsed between 1861 and 1917. More than two- 
 thirds of Lettish lands are in the hands of the 
 German nobility even now, although the nobles 
 
LETTONIA 149 
 
 comprise only four and a half per cent, of the 
 population. They maintained their feudal grip 
 in spite of the growth of civilization, the expan- 
 sion of commerce, the development of cities, the 
 rise of a large middle-class in Lettonia during the 
 past half century. 
 
 In Courland two-fifths of all private lands are 
 owned by 25 barons' families. Some of these es- 
 tates are larger than the state of New Jersey or 
 Massachusetts. There are families that own 
 about a quarter of a million of acres. In Livonia 
 conditions are even worse. Sixty-five per cent, of 
 all the land there is owned by 740 estates. There 
 is one landowner, Count von Wolf, who owns half 
 a million acres ! There are only about 50,000 small 
 farms in Lettonia. ''All farmers depend entirely 
 on the landlords," writes J. Klawa. "Woods, 
 waters, the rights of hunting and fishing (on the 
 farmer's own land, no matter if it is paid for), are 
 privileges of the barons only. The establishment 
 of industries in the country and commerce are the 
 rights of the barons. But that is not all. The 
 farmers are obliged to bear all burdens of the com- 
 monwealth, such as repairing the roads, keeping 
 up the schools, paying the wages of school-teach- 
 ers, etc. The barons pay nothing." 
 
 Lettonia took a most prominent part in the Eus- 
 sian Revolution in 1905. Because of the cruel con- 
 dition of the masses, the outbreak was more sweep- 
 ing there than in the rest of the empire. It was a 
 
150 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 rising, not only against Tsarism, but mainly 
 against the Teuton barons. For a while the peo- 
 ple were on top. The foreign masters that had 
 dominated them for seven centuries were driven 
 out of the country. But they soon returned with 
 a Russian force, commanded by General Orlov, 
 one of the most execrable hangmen of the Tsar. 
 There followed a frightful series of massacres, 
 executions and devastating deeds, unparalleled 
 even in Russia during that period of repression. 
 There were thousands of executions, many more 
 thousands of arrests and banishments to Siberia. 
 Hundreds of peasants' homes were burned. 
 
 During the World War Lettonia suffered ter- 
 ribly, being in the path of the great contending 
 armies. With the permission of the Duma in 
 July, 1915, the Letts organized and equipped a 
 legion of their own and in the autumn of that year 
 they took the tield to defend their native land. On 
 the other hand, the German barons welcomed the 
 Prussian invaders. Many thousands of the inhabi- 
 tants left their homes and moved eastward, fear- 
 ing subjection by the Germans. When the Revolu- 
 tion broke out in March, 1917, it quickly rever- 
 berated in Lettonia. The Letts were ardent revo- 
 lutionists and they were spiritually united with 
 the Russian democracy. They proceeded to or- 
 ganize an autonomous government in those parts 
 of their country that were unoccupied by the Prus- 
 sian army. Around the Lettish legion rallied many 
 
LETTONIA 151 
 
 Letts that served in Russian regiments and the 
 Lettish force became one of the bulwarks of the 
 Russian Revolution. During Kereinsky's fight 
 against General Kornilov, the Lettish legions 
 played a very important part in suppressing the 
 rebel general. The same contingents went over 
 to the Bolsheviki after the fall of Kerensky, and 
 remained one of the mainstays of their rule. 
 
 In May, 1917, a congress of the Lettish socialist 
 party, the chief political organization among the 
 Letts, resolved that Lettonia should become an 
 autonomous part of a federated Russia. When 
 Russia concluded a separate peace at Brest- 
 Litovsk with the Central Powers, Germany, insti- 
 gated by the Teutonic barons, claimed the greater 
 part of Lettonia, to be set up under her protection, 
 and she got it. The Letts were to be divided 
 among Germany, Russia and perhaps Poland and 
 Lithuania. The various Lettish parties then 
 united and formed a national council, which issued 
 the following remarkably vigorous proclamation, 
 setting forth Lettonia 's claims and rights : 
 
 "The Lettish nation, trusting in the victory of 
 human justice and right, has paid a heavy sacri- 
 fice in blood and treasure in its tenacious struggle 
 against German attempts at the conquest and en- 
 slavement of nations. Notwithstanding all this, 
 the enemy troops succeeded, in February, 1918, in 
 occupying the whole of Latvia (Lettonia). Her 
 virile economic progress has been ruthlessly im- 
 
152 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 peded, her vigorous intellectual life interrupted, 
 and her productive farms and rich cities laid waste 
 by fire. 
 
 ' ' About 70 per cent, of the inhabitants of Latvia 
 have left their homes either voluntarily or under 
 compulsion, and they are now, for the most part, 
 living in the vastnesses of Russia as refugees. Of 
 the 800,000 inhabitants of Courland alone only 
 210,000 are still in territory temporarily in Ger- 
 man occupation, and of the 550,000 inhabitants of 
 Riga only 200,000 remain under the German yoke. 
 
 "The Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty dealt a still 
 heavier blow to Latvia. In accordance with this 
 so-called peace treaty, Courland and Riga, to- 
 gether with its district, have been constituted Ger- 
 man protectorates ; the remaining parts of Livonia 
 inhabited by Letts — that is, the districts of Wen- 
 den, Wolmar and Walk — are to be subject to Ger- 
 man occupation until peace and order are restored 
 in agreement with the wishes of the local popula- 
 tion, whilst the Lettish province of Patgale has 
 been separated from those cited above. Thus, the 
 Lettish countries, peopled by one nation and pos- 
 sessing a common civilization and similar political 
 and economic aims, are split up into three separate 
 parts, between two different States, and are sub- 
 jected to two totally different political regimes. 
 The Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty is an outrageous 
 act of violence which directly threatens and aims 
 at threatening the national, political and economic 
 
 i 
 
LETTONIA 153 
 
 existence oi" Latvia, and is one of the greatest 
 crimes against civilization. Further, it is in direct 
 contradiction to the principles of democracy and 
 the right of self-determination as proclaimed by 
 Germany herself before the conclusion of the 
 treaty. 
 
 *' Latvia has no political or national aims, no 
 economic or cultural interests in common with 
 Germany. Belying solely on their present mili- 
 tary strength, the occupying authorities are doing 
 everything in their power to impose upon Latvia 
 German imperialism and militarism, and Latvia 
 is already threatened with the fate of Posen and 
 Alsace-Lorraine. Neither the Letts who have re- 
 mained at home nor those who have returned to 
 their country, or are still war refugees in chaotic 
 Eussia, have the slightest desire for annexation of 
 Latvia by Germany. 
 
 ''With the object of giving to their acts of vio- 
 lence an appearance of legality and morality the 
 German authorities immediately set about the cre- 
 ation of the so-called Landesrats for each of these 
 provinces of Latvia. Their members consist of 
 chairmen of rural district councils and mayors ap- 
 pointed by the Germans, and of representatives of 
 the German nobility. These bodies lay claim truly 
 to represent and speak on behalf of Lettish politi- 
 cal aspirations when making their decisions. The 
 Landesrats are usurping the rights of the inhabi- 
 tants of Latvia and speak solely in their own 
 
154 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 names when they favor the annexation of Latvia 
 to Germany. The Landesrats created by the oc- 
 cupational authorities have neither moral nor legal 
 right to speak of or to decide questions concern- 
 ing Latvia in the name of the Lettish nation. The 
 Letts foi*m eighty per cent, of the inhabitants of 
 Latvia as compared with seven per cent, of Ger- 
 mans, and yet the Letts have a very small number 
 of representatives in the Landesrats, fully two- 
 thirds of the members of which are of German 
 nationality, and of this two- thirds majority by 
 far the greater number belong to the German no- 
 bility, which is also the landed proprietor class. 
 As an instance of the respect which the Landes- 
 rats of the German nobility pay to Latvia's inter- 
 ests and aspirations may be cited their resolution 
 to hand over Courland with all her treasure, and 
 after all the sacrifices and blood of her sons, to 
 the uses of German imperialism, while an instance 
 of what understanding they have of the needs of 
 the toiling people is afforded by a speech made in 
 Berlin by the Reverend Bernewitz, a member of 
 the Courland Landesrat and Superintendent of the 
 Church of Courland, who stated that the soil of 
 Courland was crying out for German colonists. 
 At the present time 70 per cent, of Latvia's rural 
 population are deprived of their own holdings for 
 which they have long been, and are still, strug- 
 gling. 
 
 ' ' On 8 March, 1918, the Landesrat of Courland 
 
LETTONIA 155 
 
 resolved to re-establish the Duchy of Courland 
 and offered her crown to the Hohenzollem 
 dynasty. On 12 April the representatives of Riga, 
 together with the united Landesrats of Livonia, 
 Esthonia and the Island of Oesel, resolved to 
 create a Baltic monarchy, and again, in this in- 
 stance, her crown was offered to the German Em- 
 peror, who, in his capacity of King of Prussia, was 
 to create a personal union between the kingdom 
 of Prussia and the Baltic State. The German Gov- 
 ernment has now issued orders for a military and 
 economic convention to be concluded between Ger- 
 many and the Duchy of Courland. 
 
 ''The geographical position of Latvia on the 
 shores of the Baltic renders the question of Latvia 
 one of international importance. It has not been 
 solved by the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, and it 
 cannot be solved by the Landesrats set up by the 
 German authorities. It will have to be solved in 
 conjunction with the Lettish nation and in ac- 
 cordance with the interests of present-day civiliza- 
 tion at the General Peace Conference. 
 
 ''On 4 April the Lettish National Council, which 
 unites all the Lettish political parties, central com- 
 munal institutions and public organizations, with 
 the exception of the extreme Bolsheviks and a 
 handful of Germanophile monarchists, addressed 
 an energetic protest to the German Imperial 
 Chancellor, Count Hertling. A similar protest 
 was sent to Count Hertling and to the Commander 
 
156 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 of the 8th German Army by the Provincial Council 
 of Livonia, but so far the German Government has 
 chosen to maintain silence with regard to the mat- 
 ter. 
 
 **A11 Lettish political parties without exception 
 are united in the irreducible demand for the in- 
 tegrity and indivisibility of the territories of Lat- 
 via. At this fateful moment the Lettish National 
 Council considers it to be its sacred duty to ad- 
 dress to all nations and their governments its 
 energetic protest against any attempt to partition 
 Latvia's territories and against all the forgeries 
 committed by the Landesrats. Simultaneously the 
 Lettish National Council respectfully submits the 
 following resolutions passed by it to all Allied 
 and neutral governments : — 
 
 ''(1) The Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty of 3 
 March, 1918, by which an attempt was made to par- 
 tition Latvia, represents an act of violence against 
 the right of nations to self-determination (which 
 right was recognized in Germany as a basis of the 
 said treaty prior to its conclusion), and the said 
 treaty must therefore be declared null and void. 
 
 *'(2) The Lettish National Council denounces 
 the decisions of the Landesrats as acts of political 
 forgery.. 
 
 **(3) The Lettish National Council is opposed 
 to the annexation of Latvia to Germany, and also 
 to any personal union with the kingdom of Prus- 
 sia. 
 
LETTONIA 157 
 
 *'(4) The Lettish National Council announces 
 that any military and economic conventions, if any 
 such be concluded between Germany and the 
 Landesrats in Latvia, are hereby declared null 
 and void by Latvia and the Letts. 
 
 ''(5) The Lettish National Council protests 
 against the curtailment of the freedom of the 
 press, the right of free speech, of assemblies and 
 all kinds of communication, of the suspension of 
 personal rights and the illegal appointment by 
 the occupational authorities of magistrates both 
 in town and country districts throughout the whole 
 of Latvia. 
 
 " (6) The Lettish National Council considers it- 
 self as the supreme representative authority for 
 Latvia until war refugees have returned, and un- 
 til the political constitution of Latvia is finally de- 
 cided. 
 
 '' (7) The Lettish National Council demands an 
 independent and integral State of Latvia, to in- 
 clude all Lettish countries, secured by interna- 
 tional guarantees. ' ' 
 
 The above-quoted document shows exactly 
 where the Lettish people stood in their relation 
 to Germany. And yet upon the collapse of the lat- 
 ter, the efforts made by the Letts to regain their 
 land were thwarted for a time by the Allies, un- 
 doubtedly because of a misunderstanding of the 
 Lettish problem. The government of the German 
 barons, which had been sustained up to November 
 
158 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 11, 1918, by Prussian bayonets, appealed to the 
 Allies for support. Unfortunately Great Britain 
 sent a fleet to Riga in response to their appeals. 
 This threw the Lettish people straight into the 
 arms of Bolshevist Russia, and with the co-opera- 
 tion of Russian forces they drove the foreigners 
 out of their country and occupied Riga. 
 
 It would be nothing short of a moral disaster 
 for the Allies to lend aid to the small group of 
 Teuton landowners who had exploited Lettonia 
 for centuries. Whatever the political views of the 
 Letts, they are entitled to their country and cannot 
 conceivably be turned over again to their oppres- 
 sors. The Lettish peasants should, by all means, 
 be provided with sufficient land to allow them to 
 live and develop as freemen. As to the future in- 
 ternational status of Lettonia, there are several 
 possible solutions. There is a Polish clique which 
 aims to create a union of all the small Baltic states, 
 to be dominated by a Greater Poland, for the sake 
 of cutting Russia off from the Baltic. The Teu- 
 tonic nobility of Lettonia would place the country 
 under the protectorate of an imperial Prussia. A 
 section of Lettish opinion favors a union with 
 Lithuania. Another section favors the establish- 
 ment of an independent, sovereign Lettish state. 
 However, the majority of the Letts were for mak- 
 ing Lettonia an autonomous unit of an all-Russian 
 democratic federation, realizing that the powerful 
 
LETTONIA 159 
 
 Russian nation to the east was badly in need of 
 the Baltic ports and would ultimately regain them 
 by force if not given access to it by their holders, 
 chiefly the Letts and the Esths. 
 
^TOCKHOLM ^0lP 
 
 ^0 
 )THLAND 
 
 [Lake 
 ?eipus 
 
 ,f^ 
 
 t( 
 
 tiB>*l/'*(CM_ii_ii_i(_ii_irii'" 
 
 
 1 \? 
 
 ethnographic boundaries of Lithuania, Lettonia, Esthonia and Finland. 
 
VIII 
 ESTHONIA 
 
 The Esths inhabit the former Russian province 
 of Esthland and the northern part of the province 
 of Livonia, as well as the islands of the Moon 
 Sound and some adjoining sections of the prov- 
 inces of Petrograd and Pskov. Esthonia, there- 
 fore, lies on the Baltic, its northern boundary be- 
 ing the Gulf of Finland. In the south it adjoins 
 Lettonia. In the east it touches the western side 
 of Lake Peipus. The population of Esthonia is 
 approximately a million and a half. Nine-tenths 
 of the inhabitants are Esthonians. 
 
 The Esthonians, or Esths, are of Mongolian ori- 
 gin and belong to the Finnish family. By religion 
 they are closely connected with the Letts, both na- 
 tionalities professing Lutheranism. They differ, 
 however, from their southern neighbors in every- 
 thing else, language, physical appearance and cul- 
 ture. The Esthonians and their northern kindred, 
 the Finns, have much in common historically and 
 physically. Their forefathers were a race of war- 
 riors of whom the Baltic seamen were afraid. In 
 the twelfth century a Danish king attempted to 
 
 163 
 
164 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 subdue them. He invaded their country and 
 forced them to adopt Christianity. They resumed 
 their heathenism, however, as soon as the Scandi- 
 navian invaders departed. In 1219 another Danish 
 king, Waldemar II, was more successful in intro- 
 ducing Christianity into Esthonia, but after his 
 death the Esths revolted and caused his successors 
 so miich trouble that Denmark sold the conquered 
 portion of Esthonia to the Livonian Order of the 
 Knights of the Sword who had already conquered 
 Lettonia and the southern section of Esthonia. 
 
 After that the fate of the Esthonians was very 
 similar to that of the Letts. Both were subjected 
 by the Teutons and oppressed cruelly. It was this 
 brotherhood in bondage that created the ties of in- 
 timate relationship now existing between the Letts 
 and Esths, in spite of their racial difference. The 
 two underwent the same treatment at the hands of 
 the German nobility who form even now only two 
 and a half per cent, of the Esthonian population. 
 They reduced the peasants to a condition of virtual 
 serfdom by controlling nearly all of the tillable 
 land. In 1521 Esthonia came under Sweden's rule, 
 which stimulated the development of the country 
 and improved the condition of the peasants. Two 
 hundred years later, in 1721, Esthonia was ceded 
 to Russia by the Peace of Nystad. Alexander I 
 abolished, in 1817, the institution of serfdom, guar- 
 anteeing the peasants the right of property, but 
 
ESTHONIA 165 
 
 the German landlords distorted the law and re- 
 duced it to nothing. 
 
 The clergy, which is related by blood to the Teu- 
 tonic aristocracy, cooperated with the latter in 
 keeping the Esthonians in a state of submission. 
 ''If you are made a slave," read a typical proc- 
 lamation of the priests to the Esthonian peasants 
 in 1816, ' ' serve with pleasure, and remember that 
 it is not for everybody to be a master. One has 
 received a great honor, another quite a small one. 
 Do not be ashamed of rendering forced labor. 
 When you do what you are commanded to do, you 
 get honor enough from so doing. Remember 
 Jesus, who obeyed and humbled himself even unto 
 death. Do not despise your superiors, and when 
 they are mistaken, remember that they, too, are 
 men. Perform your forced labor and pay your 
 taxes willingly." 
 
 But the oppression of the masters was so merci- 
 less that the Esthonians revolted in 1859. The 
 rising was suppressed and the German landlords 
 continued to exploit, with the help of the Russian 
 authorities, the peasants. These Germans were 
 the embodiment of all that was cruel in both the 
 Teuton and Russian governing classes. Of them 
 Bismarck said in 1867: ''It is a generally recog- 
 nized truth that the German who has become a 
 Russian is worse than the Russian himself. The 
 Russian steals because of immediate necessity, but 
 when the German steals, he thinks of the future. ' ' 
 
166 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 In the last forty years a campaign of Russifica- 
 tion was inaugurated and carried on in Esthonia 
 by the Tsar's government. Having clung to their 
 tongue for more than six centuries under the Teu- 
 tonic barons, the Esths were not to be Russified so 
 easily. The efforts of the Russian authorities only 
 stimulated them to revive their own language, pos- 
 sessed of literary and poetical qualities, and cul- 
 tivate it more assiduously than ever. ' ' They have 
 a decided love of poetry, ' ' writes Prince Peter A. 
 Kropotkin, ''and exhibit great facility in impro- 
 vising verses and poems on all occasions, and they 
 sing everywhere from morning till night. Like the 
 Finns, they possess rich stores of national songs." 
 The latter were collected and published under the 
 name of "Kalevi Poeg," bearing a striking re- 
 semblance to Finland 's great national epic, the Ka- 
 levala. 
 
 The Esthonian literary revival entailed, of 
 course, the growth of a national movement. The 
 commercial development of the region, which as- 
 sumed considerable importance as a gateway from 
 Russia to the West, made for prosperity and the 
 rise of a middle-class. Like Lettonia, Esthonia 
 was the scene of a violent revolutionary outbreak 
 in 1905, due to the same causes and resulting in 
 the same fearful measures of repression. After 
 the successful revolution of 1917, Esthonia was 
 granted by the Russian Provisional Government 
 a national diet, which was elected in July of that 
 
ESTHONIA 167 
 
 year by universal suffrage and on the basis of 
 proportional representation. It met in Keval and 
 after a short struggle succeeded in wresting pow- 
 er from the baronial Landtags. After the over- 
 throw of the Provisional Government by the Bol- 
 sheviki the diet proclaimed Esthonia's indepen- 
 dence. A National Assembly met in January, 
 1918, and declared Esthonia a neutral country. 
 It rejected the proposal of the Teutonic nobility 
 to ask for German protection in the following reso- 
 lution : 
 
 ''AH the political parties of Esthonia affirm that 
 the Esthonian people in its entirety is opposed 
 to the occupation of Esthonia by German troops 
 and sees in such occupation a most cruel violation 
 of its national sovereign rights. At the same time 
 the whole nation wishes that all foreign troops 
 be at once removed from Esthonian territory. ' ' 
 
 However, the nobles knew that their end was 
 certain, unless the Germans came to their sup- 
 port. They therefore addressed a petition to Ger- 
 many, inviting it to occupy Esthonia. The invita- 
 tion was promptly accepted, the diet and Estho- 
 nian Provisional Government were suppressed, 
 the reforms that were inaugurated were revoked, 
 and the small group of Junkers, leaning on Ger- 
 man troops, proceeded to restore the cruel rule of 
 the days of Tsarism. The Esthonian language 
 was prohibited, the press crushed, political activity 
 suppressed. German mayors and governors were 
 
168 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 appointed in place of those elected by the Estho- 
 nians. The nobility even started a reign of White 
 Terror against the revolutionary working classes. 
 
 "The representatives of the Esthonian Provi- 
 sioial Government in Stockholm on July 3, 1918, is- 
 sued a strongly-worded protest against the bar- 
 baric German oppression," according to A. Piip. 
 "This was not the first protest published by the 
 Esthonians, as protests were issued against the 
 right of the German barons to appeal for German 
 troops to occupy the country, and also repudiating 
 the right of the Landtags of nobility to speak on 
 behalf of the Esthonian people. Protest was fur- 
 ther made against the decision of the United 
 Landesrat to ask for personal union with Prussia. 
 The Esthonians have nothing in common, politic- 
 ally, with Germany; they desire neither annexa- 
 tion nor personal union ; they claim their right to 
 be independent, to be free of German domination, 
 and also to be dissociated from the anarchic policy 
 of the Great-Russians, Esthonia strongly pro- 
 tests against the violation of international laws, 
 and even the restrictions of the Brest-Litovsk 
 Treaty are ignored." 
 
 The Esthonian Provisional Government ap- 
 pealed for recognition to the Allies in the spring 
 of 1918. The British Secretary of State for For- 
 eign Affairs, Arthur J. Balfour, replied on May 3, 
 as follows : 
 
ESTHONIA 169 
 
 "His Majesty's Government greet with sympa- 
 thy the aspirations of the Esthonian people, and 
 are glad to reaffirm their readiness to grant pro- 
 visional recognition to the Esthonian National 
 Council as a de facto independent body until the 
 Peace Conference, when the future status of Estho- 
 nia ought to be settled as far as possible in accord- 
 ance with the wishes of the population. It would 
 obviously be impossible for His Majesty's govern- 
 ment at the present time to guarantee to Estho- 
 nia the right to participate at the Peace Confer- 
 ence, but at any such conference His Majesty's 
 government will do their utmost to secure that the 
 above principle is applied to Esthonia. ' ' 
 
 Recognition was also extended to the Esthonian 
 National Council by the French and Italian gov- 
 ernments. While this was occurring, Esthonia, it 
 should be remembered, was under the control of 
 a German force. The National Council and its 
 representatives in the Allied countries had no 
 power in Esthonia. Besides, it was elected during 
 Iverensky's rule and represented an alignment of 
 forces which, according to the claims of Estho- 
 nian labor leaders, underwent a great change in 
 subsequent months. 
 
 When Germany surrendered to the Allies, the 
 Esthonian nobility was confronted with the same 
 situation as the Lettonian aristocracy. Both were 
 of Teutonic origin. But there were two added ele- 
 ments in the Esthonian problem. First, its racial 
 
170 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 community with Finland, where a semi-military 
 government fmictioned. Second, the bonds that 
 existed between Sweden and certain elements of 
 the Esthonian middle and upper class. The Es- 
 thonian people were anxious to free themselves 
 of their yoke, but discovered that the Allies had 
 asked Germany to keep its troops in the Baltic 
 provinces as a police force. This was a shock to 
 the Esths, and many of them swung toward Bol- 
 shevist Russia, asking Moscow for support. On 
 the other hand, the upper and middle classes sent 
 out urgent appeals for aid to the Allies, to Swe- 
 den and the Finnish government. England sent a 
 few warships to Reval, the Esthonian port, while 
 Sweden and Finland despatched military expedi- 
 tions to help the Esthonian bourgeoisie in its fight 
 against the Esthonian proletariat which had ob- 
 tained Bolshevist support. 
 
 The outcome of the struggle will depend on what | 
 will have transpired in Lettonia and Finland. The 
 former had early in January, 1919, been captured 
 by the Lettish-Bolshevist forces. If Finland's mil- 
 itary government were to meet the same fate as 
 that of the German baronial government of Let- 
 tonia, then Esthonia would be unable to maintain 
 its middle-class government. Such a solution 
 would place Esthonia 's international status in the 
 same position as that of Lettonia, i.e., autonomous 
 national existence within the ranks of an all-Rus- 
 
ESTHONIA 171 
 
 sian federation of states. Otherwise, it is con- 
 ceivable that Esthonia would conclude an alliance 
 with either Sweden or Finland, or both, and sever 
 all connections with Russia. 
 
IX 
 
 FINLAND 
 
 Finland was one of the few subject countries 
 in Europe before the outbreak of the Great War 
 in 1914 which always attracted considerable at- 
 tention abroad. In a very large measure it was 
 due to Finland 's high state of culture and its con- 
 stitutional rights. The civilized world was aware 
 that historically, ethnically and culturally Finland 
 was a national entity for itself, entitled to the 
 free development of its spiritual and economic 
 resources. 
 
 Because of Finland's geographical position 
 mainly, there is a mistaken general belief that the 
 Finns are racially related to the Scandinavian 
 peoples. The fact is that the Finns are a branch 
 of the Mongolian race, and belong to the Finno- 
 Ugrian linguistic family. There are numerous 
 Finno-Ugrian tribes all over northern Russia. 
 Large numbers of these Finns have been assimi- 
 lated by the Russians. However, the inhabitants 
 of Finland developed along individual lines, in- 
 dependent of their eastern relatives. As early 
 as the seventh century the ancestors of the present 
 
 172 
 
FINLAND 173 
 
 Finns invaded the peninsular Baltic territory 
 which is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Fin- 
 land and on the west by the Gulf of Bothnia. It 
 was a marshy land, dotted with innumerable lakes. 
 From the nature of the country the Finns got 
 their native name — Suomilaiset — which translated 
 into English means — ''the people of the fens." 
 
 Christianity was first introduced into Finland 
 about 1157, when King Eric IX of Sweden in- 
 vaded the country, accompanied by a bishop and a 
 number of priests, who remained in Finland to 
 convert its inhabitants to Christianity. However, 
 the Finlanders did not take quickly to the new 
 faith and Sweden had to conquer the country again 
 in the thirteenth century, in the course of which 
 the Finns were Christianized and Finland com- 
 pletely subjugated by the Swedes. In 1293 the 
 Swedish ruler, Porgils Knutsson, extended his 
 power as far east as Viborg, which he founded. 
 This brought him into conflict with the Russians. 
 Later the Swedes pushed on farther eastward, but 
 were unable to retain their hold. In the fourteenth 
 century Finland was recognized as a dominion 
 of Sweden, and the latter set itself to civili^ie the 
 Finns. The Swedish language and Swedish laws 
 and arts were introduced into the country, but the 
 Finns were treated as equals by the Swedes, so 
 that Finland really owes to Sweden its high state 
 of civilization. A court of appeal was established 
 in Finland in 1623 and a university founded in 
 
174 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 1640. The justice with which Sweden governed 
 Finland led to happy relations between the two 
 peoples. Intermarriage was free, resulting in the 
 course of many centuries in a considerable blend- 
 ing of both races. Yet, nevertheless, the Finnish 
 peasants continued to speak their own tongue, al- 
 though the upper classes and all the governmental 
 institutions used Swedish. Early in the sixteenth 
 century the Lutheran Church was established in 
 Finland and in the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century Gustavus Adolphus granted a diet to the 
 Finns, composed of representatives of four es- 
 tates, nobility, clergy, townsmen and peasants. 
 Learning was encouraged and printing was fos- 
 tered by the Swedish governors. Thus, when the 
 university was founded by Governor Per Brahe, 
 he urged Swedish professors to study Finnish, 
 which, he said, ''does not lack a certain elegance 
 in its construction and does honor to the coun- 
 try." 
 
 In the course of the seventeenth century Fin- 
 land was visited by terrible pestilences, accom- 
 panied by famine. The country had been impov- 
 erished during the Thirty Years' War, and with 
 the subsequent decline of Sweden, it became the 
 battlefield for contending armies. Already Peter 
 the Great, who built St. Petersburg, launched his 
 policy of Russian expansion along the Baltic. 
 From 1710 to 1721 the Russian armies gradually 
 penetrated and occupied aU Finland, By the 
 
FINLAND 175 
 
 Peace of Nystad, of 1721, Sweden ceded to Russia 
 the southeastern corner of Finland. When the 
 Russians withdrew and the refugees began to re- 
 turn, they found, according to one historian, ''the 
 roads destroyed, the bridges broken, no horses, 
 no food, the whole country a desert. The houses 
 were either burned down or roofless and window- 
 less, their contents sacked; the wells were filled 
 up with earth, the ploughlands were overgrown 
 with forests, birds had their nests in the aban- 
 doned churches. The university was closed be- 
 tween 1710 and 1722, and other important institu- 
 tions suffered acutely during the same period." 
 
 Finland's recuperative powers were, however, 
 so great as to restore normal conditions in a brief 
 time. Peace did not last long in Finland after 
 1721. The Swedes made an effort to regain the 
 territory conquered by Peter the Great, but failed 
 miserably, so that they were even compelled to 
 cede some more Finnish territory to Russia in 
 1743. This dismemberment of Finland, due to 
 Sw^edish weakness, roused in the Finns a national 
 spirit. It was natural for them to develop a sense 
 of independence, as the power of Sweden de- 
 creased and that of Russia grew. The Finnish 
 national movement may therefore be said to date 
 from the eighteenth century, although it did not 
 attain its climax till a centuiy later. This move- 
 ment first aimed at the liberation of the Finns 
 from the cultural Swedish domination. The Fin- 
 
176 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 nish language, which is totally foreign to the 
 Swedish, but which had been suppressed, was now 
 revived and propagated. The first known writer 
 in Finnish was Michael Agricola, who published a 
 number of books, including the first Finnish trans- 
 lation of the New Testament, about the middle of 
 the sixteenth century. For two hundred years 
 afterwards Swedish was the dominant literary 
 tongue of the country. However, toward the end 
 of the eighteenth century a Finnish scholar, Hen- 
 rik Porthan, initiated a movement for the study 
 of Finnish history and philology, inspiring several 
 young followers to lead in the resurrection of Fin- 
 nish culture. 
 
 The Swedish monarchs fought for the recon- 
 quest of the parts of Finland captured by Russia. 
 They were not successful in their attempts, suc- 
 ceeding only in devastating and impoverishing 
 Finnish lands. In 1808-9, a great struggle between 
 Sweden and Russia developed. The Finns, recog- 
 nizing Sweden's impotence, accepted the offer 
 made by Alexander I of Russia to enter the Rus- 
 sian empire as an autonomous grand duchy. A 
 diet met in Finland to pass upon the proposal, 
 and agreed to become part of Russia on condition 
 that Alexander I solemnly recognize the Finnish 
 Constitution, and pledge himself to preserve Fin- 
 land's religion, laws and liberties. The Russian 
 emperor personally attended the diet and con- 
 firmed the Finnish Constitution. He was greeted 
 
FINLAND 177 
 
 as the Grand Duke of Finland and won the grati- 
 tude of the Finns. The Russians created a Fin- 
 nish Senate, for administrative and judicial pur- 
 poses. A Eussian Secretary of State for Finland 
 was appointed by Alexander. The secretary was 
 Russia's famous Liberal statesman of that time, 
 Speransky. On March 15-27, 1809, Alexander is- 
 sued, while at Borga, the following proclamation, 
 which, together with another manifesto issued 
 later, formed the charter of Finland's autonomy: 
 
 * ' We, Alexander the First, by the Grace of God 
 Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russians, etc., do 
 make known : — 
 
 ''That Providence having placed us in posses- 
 sion of the Grand Duchy of Finland, we have de- 
 sired hereby to confirm and ratify the religion 
 and fundamental Laws of the Land as well as the 
 privileges and rights which each class in the said 
 Grand Duchy in particular, and all the inhabitants 
 in general, be their position high or low, have 
 hitherto enjoyed according to the Constitution. 
 We promise to maintain all these benefits and 
 laws firm and unshakable in their full force. In 
 confirmation whereof we have signed this Act of 
 Assurance with Our own hand." 
 
 When Russia took over Finland, the province of 
 Viborg, previously annexed by Russia, was re- 
 united with its mother-country. Speransky or- 
 ganized the Grand Duchy, writing to the Emperor 
 at the conclusion of his labors: "Finland is a 
 
178 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 State, not a province." Up to 1863 Finland's diet 
 was not convoked again, its constitution making 
 no provision for the regular meeting of the as- 
 sembly. It was Alexander II, the Liberator, who 
 summoned the representatives of the Finnish Es- 
 tates. It was also he who promulgated a separate 
 money system for Finland. When in 1873 Russia 
 adopted the universal military service law, at- 
 tempts were made by its sponsors to include the 
 Finns in the Russian Army. However, Alexander 
 
 II held that it was for the Finnish diet to make 
 provisions for an army in Finland, which it did. 
 
 With the accession to the throne of Alexander 
 
 III the reactionary and extreme nationalist Rus- 
 sian elements had their sway, and they found de- 
 tached Finland a stumbling-block in their Pan- 
 Slavic plans. Finland had to be Russified, such 
 Avas the view of those imperialists. A campaign 
 was begun by the Russian government in 1890, in- 
 tended to wipe out gradually the autonomous Fin- 
 nish departments. Many ordinances were passed 
 suspending Finnish laws. Finally a crisis was 
 reached in 1899, when Governor-General Bobrikov, 
 in addressing the Finnish diet on behalf of the 
 Tsar, spoke of the Finns as of Russian subjects 
 and denied the diet's right to legislate for Finland. 
 A new military law was proposed, whereby the 
 Finnish army was to be dissolved and the Fin- 
 nish soldiers incorporated in Russian units. Of 
 course, the diet was unwilling to give its consent 
 
FINLAND 179 
 
 to the bill. General Bobrikov then produced a 
 manifesto from the Tsar, which in etfect nullified 
 Finland's constitution wherever the empire's in- 
 terests were concerned. 
 
 As Finland's struggle for its constitutional 
 rights was opening with this notorious manifesto, 
 it may be pertinent to review the internal social 
 activities of the country during the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. When Finland entered the Russian empire 
 in 1809, it also entered upon a century of peace, 
 prosperity and intense cultural development. 
 Having freed itself from the Swedish governmen- 
 tal domination through its joining of Russia, the 
 Finns still found themselves in the grip of Swedish 
 rule. All the administrative offices were held by 
 Swedes or Finns who had become Swedes; all 
 business was transacted in the Swedish language, 
 the literature of the country was Swedish. The na- 
 tional movement therefore raised the banner of 
 the revival of the Finnish language. ' ^ We are not 
 Swedes, we don't want to become Russians, let us 
 then be Finns," was the motto devised by a Fin- 
 nish publicist. It was taken up by a group of 
 young intellectuals, who became enamored of 
 their country's "singularly rich and beauitiful 
 tongue, " as a student of Finland puts it ; " doctors 
 and professors, visiting the people in lonely set- 
 tlements, far up the lakes, or on the fringe of 
 the vast Karelian forests, found them in posses- 
 sion of a wide store of legends, the strangest myth- 
 
180 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ology, and a fine and complex poetical form. The 
 Finnish people began to think of their country as 
 'Suomi,' something utterly distinct from Sweden 
 or Russia, having a language of its own." 
 
 However, the Fimiish language was so back- 
 ward a vehicle for expression in the early part of 
 the eighteenth century that the first ideas of 
 Finnish nationalism met with scorn and ridicule 
 on the part of the educated classes. ' ' To the aris- 
 tocratic Swede, living the life of a country gentle- 
 man, ' ' writes Arthur Reade, * ' the talk of Finnish 
 nationalists seemed at first utterly absurd and 
 later on almost impious. The idea that the stolid- 
 looking and rather unkempt Finn who worked on 
 his estate and spoke a barbarous-sounding lan- 
 guage should aspire to a practical equality with a 
 race boasting a polished and ancient culture and 
 an honorable name in history seemed preposter- 
 ous. The Finns were regarded as ugly and stupid. 
 When they desired Finnish to be the language of 
 instruction in the schools, the Swedes replied that 
 one simply could not imagine instruction being 
 conveyed in so gross a tongue. The idea of a 
 literature in Finnish seemed equally grotesque. 
 No educated person would ever employ such a lan- 
 guage. As to Finnish being used as the official 
 language, this was pure madness." 
 
 To a considerable degree this was true a century 
 ago. The man mostly. responsible for the evolu- 
 tion of a Finnish literary tongue, thus furnishing 
 
FINLAND 181 
 
 the backbone for the nationalist movement, was 
 Elias Lonnrot. Born in 1802, a poet by nature, he 
 early devoted himself to the collection of Finnish 
 folk-poetry. For nearly twenty years he jour- 
 neyed into the remotest corners of his country, 
 gathering material for a national epic. The fruit 
 of his labors was the famous "Kalevala," Fin- 
 land 's Homer, and one of the finest poetical treas- 
 ures in the literature of the world. Around Lonn- 
 rot gathered the leaders of the rising generation. 
 In 1854 he was prevailed upon to become profes- 
 sor of Finnish at the Helsingf ors University. Ten 
 years previous, however, the first Finnish periodi- 
 cal had already made its appearance, laying the 
 foundation for the Fennoman (Finnish-Finn), as 
 opposed to the Svekoman (Swedish-Finn), party. 
 The country was thus divided into two camps. 
 The Fennoman element had a hard uphill fight to 
 make, as it was feared that the cultural isolation 
 of Finland from both Eussia and Sweden would 
 prove harmful to it. But the nationalists soon 
 obtained the support of Russia. Alexander II, 
 after having received the leader of the Fennoman 
 movement, Snellman, issued a rescript which made 
 Finnish the equal of the Swedish language. This 
 was really interference with the prerogatives of 
 the Finnish diet, but it was brought about by the 
 Finns themselves. 
 
 The language-conflict, however, was more than 
 that. It was not only a racial and cultural strug- 
 
182 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 gle between Finns and Swedes, but also an eco- 
 nomic struggle between the labor class, almost ex- 
 clusively Finnish, and the commercial and aris- 
 tocratic classes, largely Swedish. This is why the 
 imperial rescript of Alexander II did not settle 
 the contest, as economic conditions were favorable 
 toward its perpetuation. However, the Finns ob- 
 tained the upper hand, mainly because the major- 
 ity of the people were pure Finns. 
 
 When Russia embarked upon its policy of Rus- 
 sification in Finland, the Fennoman and Svekoman 
 elements united to oppose the designs of Tsarism. 
 Governor-General Bobrikov initiated a cam- 
 paign of terrorization which reduced Finland's 
 autonomy virtually to nothing. A Russian bu- 
 reaucracy was planted and cultivated by Bobrikov 
 and the Russian language was foisted on the em- 
 bittered Finns. All the petitions and protests of 
 the oppressed race were in vain. A national ad- 
 dress to the emperor was secretly got up, to urge 
 upon the Tsar the restoration of the constitution. 
 It was an amazing revelation of Finnish national 
 solidarity. More than half a million signatures 
 were collected in ten days, every adult citizen, ir- 
 respective of sex, being permitted to sign. This 
 enormous collection is still preserved. A deputa- 
 tion was quietly sent with the address to present 
 it to the Tsar, but he refused to grant an audience. 
 
 While thus striving legally to regain their con- 
 stitutional rights, the Finns also embarked upon 
 
FINLAND 183 
 
 a clandestine revolutionary movement which, of 
 course, was confined to the working and intellec- 
 tual classes only. The first Socialist party ap- 
 peared in Finland in 1899. It fought not only for 
 freedom from Russian autocratic domination, but 
 also for internal reforms. The assassination in 
 1903 of Governor Bobrikov was an act which natur- 
 ally met with the approval of nearly all the popu- 
 lar elements of the country. The conservatives, 
 however, did not look with favor upon the agita- 
 tion of the Finnish Socialists for the revision of 
 the Constitution, — an antiquated bill of rights of 
 Swedish origin, antedating the French Revolution. 
 The Finnish diet was still based on the four es- 
 tates, being in fact a combination of a house of 
 nobility, a house of clergy, a house of burghers, 
 and a house of landed peasantry. The laborers, 
 whether in town or country, had no representation 
 in it. 
 
 The revolutionary year of 1905, which shook all 
 Russia, stirred Finland profoundly. A general 
 strike, simultaneous with the great Russian strike, 
 gripped Finland in the fall of that year. It was a 
 purely revolutionary affair. All public life was 
 paralyzed. All means of communication, includ- 
 ing postal and telegraph service, were suspended. 
 The cities were without electricity. Shops, faC' 
 tories, schools were universally closed, with the ex- 
 ception of food stores. The Tsar, bowing before 
 the spontaneous demonstration of popular feeling, 
 
184 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 restored the Constitution and repealed all the il- 
 legal ordinances. With the external yoke re- 
 moved, class strife assumed larger proportions 
 and a deeper meaning. The labor element won the 
 fight for a new constitution and an electoral system 
 was promulgated which provided for universal 
 adult suffrage, regardless of sex, and for propor- 
 tional representation. The first popular diet met 
 in 1907. There were eighty Socialists in this as-' 
 sembly, which comprised a total of two hundred 
 deputies. There were nineteen women members. 
 The extent of Socialist influence came as a rev- 
 elation to the middle and upper classes. These 
 clung to their places in the governmental ma- 
 chineiy, especially since the municipal forms of 
 government had not been modernized. The old 
 fight between Fennoman and Svekoman was re- 
 newed as a struggle between labor and capital. In 
 spite of this Finland prospered, progressing politi- 
 cally, economically and spiritually. 
 
 But reaction meanwhile raised its head in Rus- 
 sia. Following the revolution of 1905, the Russian 
 autocracy resumed its policy of terrorization of its 
 subject nationalities. There began in Finland 
 what has been called ''the second period of Rus- 
 sianization. " Indeed, for a while it seemed in- 
 congruous that within a few miles from the seat 
 of Tsardom, there should function an autonomous 
 democracy so radical in its convictions. The Rus- 
 sian bureaucrats could get along with the Finnish 
 
FINLAND 185 
 
 bureaucracy, as their identity of interests had been 
 emphasized by the events of 1905 ; but how could 
 they ever tolerate a diet virtually dominated by 
 Socialists? Besides, Russia was entertaining de- 
 signs on some Scandinavian warm- water port, as 
 those of Eussia were frozen the greater part of 
 the year. It was necessary to Russianize Finland 
 in order to lay the groundwork for a railway sys- 
 tem there, pointing menacingly toward some Nor- 
 wegian harbor. The Finnish diet became the first 
 target of the Tsar's authorities. It was dissolved 
 several times, and the emperor consistently vetoed 
 all its bills, thus rendering them void. Every new 
 election yielded a larger Socialist force in the 
 Diet, provoking the imperial government further. 
 In 1908 Premier Stolypin, later assassinated in a 
 theatre in the presence of the Tsar, proclaimed be- 
 fore the Duma that Finland's autonomy was not 
 legislative, but local. He then proceeded to get 
 the Tsar's assent to a proposal to empower the 
 Russian Council of Ministers to pass upon all 
 Finnish legislative and administrative affairs. 
 Finland's protests were in vain. On the recom- 
 mendation of the Russian Cabinet, the Tsar re- 
 jected practically all the laws promulgated by 
 the Finnish Diet. In 1910 the Russian Council of 
 Ministers appointed a commission which drew up 
 a proposal that virtually abolished the authority 
 of the Finnish Diet, making it a mere shell of a 
 legislative institution. This "program" was ac- 
 
186 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 cepted by the reactionary Duma and later made 
 permanent. Western Europe was greatly agitated 
 over the Russian treatment of Finland. Large 
 sections of the British, French, German, Italian, 
 Belgian and Dutch parliaments addressed memo- 
 rials to the Duma, pointing out that the rights of 
 Finland's constitution were historical and indis- 
 putable. The imperial ''program" for Finland 
 was not pressed in its entirety, mainly because of 
 the commotion in Europe. A conference of inter- 
 national jurisconsults was held in 1910 ''to ex- 
 amine the relations between Finland and Russia." 
 It resolved that ' ' Finland has the right to demand 
 that the Russian empire should respect her con- 
 stitution." It had the effect of consolidating 
 European public opinion in favor of Finland. 
 
 It was not unnatural for the Finns to assume a 
 pro-German attitude upon the outbreak of the 
 Great War. They saw in the destruction or de- 
 feat of Russia their own deliverance. Unfortu- 
 nately, the Entente powers did not try to influence 
 the Tsar 's government to relax its oppressive hold 
 on the little northern country. The result was 
 that the middle and upper classes began to look 
 to Germany for the restoration of Finnish inde- 
 pendence. Thousands of them emigrated to Ger- 
 many and many thousands more entered the ranks 
 of the German armies to fight against Russia, pre- 
 paring the nucleus for a German-Finnish force to 
 attack the Russians from the rear. This alliance 
 
FINLAND 187 
 
 between the Finnisli aristocracy and Germany 
 proved of very portentous significance after the 
 Russian Revolution. 
 
 In 1916 an election was held for the diet which 
 resulted in the Socialists gaining a majority over 
 the parties of the middle and upper classes. The 
 spread of Socialism in Finland was extraordinary, 
 embracing in its folds not only the industrial, but 
 also the agricultural workers. The Trade Union 
 membership alone reached seventy thousand, and 
 this in a country whose entire population hardly 
 approximated three million. Fourteen daily and 
 fifty other journals voiced the demands of Finnish 
 labor. 
 
 With the Russian Revolution came the revival 
 of Finnish nationalist and socialist activities. The 
 diet met in July, 1917, and declared itself in favor 
 of an independent Finland. The upper classes, 
 seeing in the establishment of Finnish independ- 
 ence a menace of socialism, assumed a pro-Russian 
 attitude and induced the Provisional Government 
 of Kerensky, who looked with apprehension at 
 Finland's declaration of independence at a time 
 when Russia was engaged in a life-and-death 
 struggle, to dissolve the diet by force. A provi- 
 sional government was then formed in Finland 
 opposed to the Socialists, but it was overthrown 
 by a rising of the workers, who were aided by the 
 Russian Bolsheviki, in January, 1918. Then fol- 
 lowed a bloody civil struggle between the hard 
 
188 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 pressed White Guard and the victorious Red 
 Guard. The former appealed for help to Sweden 
 and then to Germany. ' ' The greatest aid the Ger- 
 mans gave us," read the statement of a Finnish 
 White Guard envoy in the United States, ''was in 
 scaring the Russian Bolsheviki. German inter- 
 vention gave our General Mannerheim the price- 
 less opportunity of organizing our armies, and 
 we were supplied with enough munitions. We 
 would never have appealed to the Germans if 
 Sweden had not turned us down when we asked 
 that country for arms. However, private firms in 
 Sweden did supply us with rifles and munitions." 
 The civil strife turned into a reign of hideous 
 terror on both sides. The Socialist government 
 was forced to flee into Russia. A part of its forces 
 joined the Allied expedition in the north, hojjing 
 in view of their opposition to the Finnish-German 
 rule to induce the Allies to intervene on their be- 
 half in Finland. Another part of the Socialists, 
 the more radical element, fled into Bolshevik Rus- 
 sia, pleading for Lenine's support. Meanwhile 
 the terror practiced by the White Guard in con- 
 junction with the Germans, ostensibly in retalia- 
 tion for the preceding reign of the Red Guard, at- 
 tracted world-wide attention. The bitterness of 
 the White Terror must be ascribed not only to the 
 Germans, but also to the fact that the ruling class 
 in Finland is of foreign, Swedish origin. Accord- 
 ing to the Scandinavian correspondent of the Chi- 
 
FINLAND 189 
 
 cago Daily News, the Whites adopted the German 
 exploitation of war prisoners as slaves, ''with the 
 difference that the Finns were penalizing their 
 own fellow-countrymen, a proceeding without pre- 
 cedent in modern times. ' ' More than seven thou- 
 sand Reds were tried in the Tammerfors Court 
 and, branded as criminals, they were offered at 
 wholesale to any farmer or contractor who applied 
 for them. Many more thousands of Finnish work- 
 ers were exported to Germany. The Finnish 
 White government even went as far as inviting 
 a German Prince to become King of Finland. But 
 German fortunes in the war suddenly took a dis- 
 astrous turn. The Whites thereupon proceeded to 
 flirt with the Allies and delegated their com- 
 mander, Mannerheim, to establish friendly rela- 
 tions with them. Both the Red and White govern- 
 ments established embassies abroad, attracting 
 public attention to their opposite claims. After 
 the collapse of the Central Powers, General Man- 
 nerheim succeeded in gaining British unofficial 
 recognition of the White Guard government. The 
 United States undertook to feed Finland. 
 
 The issue of the internal struggle in Finland 
 and the ultimate form of government there can- 
 not be doubted in view of the established fact that 
 more than half of Finland's population is iden- 
 tified with labor and socialistic movements. To- 
 ward the close of 1918 a national congress of Fin- 
 nish Socialists, excluding the Bolshevist faction, 
 
190 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 urged that Finland should be a republic with all 
 legislative powers in the hands of a diet and with 
 a president elected by the diet every third year. 
 
 There can be no question as to the fitness of the 
 Finnish people to govern themslves. Finland has 
 the history of a parliamentary democracy back of 
 it. More than ninety per cent, of the Finns are 
 literate, and Finland boasts of a literature that is 
 second to none. By habit, outlook and aspiration, 
 the Finn is a cultured European, although of 
 Asiatic blood. Finland's natural resources are ex- 
 tensive. Sixty-three per cent, of its surface area 
 is covered with forests, and thanks to the coun- 
 try's numberless lakes and other waterways, Fin- 
 land should develop an enormous timber industry. 
 The reserves of granite in Finland are unparal- 
 leled in any other country. Finally, Finland is 
 beautiful, in fact the most beautiful northern coun- 
 try in the world, which in times of peace and pros- 
 perity ought to attract a large tourist trade. 
 
Pakt II 
 
 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 IN ASIA 
 
ARABIA 
 
 Early in 1916 the world was startled by the re- 
 port that the Arabs, led by the Grand Shereef of 
 Mecca, revolted against the Turks and cleared the 
 northern part of the Arabian Red Sea littoral of 
 Ottoman troops. This was followed by reports 
 of a wide national movement in Arabia. A dec- 
 laration of independence was issued by the Grand 
 Shereef, proclaiming Arabia's separation from 
 Turkey. Then, when General Allenby undertook 
 his expedition into Syria, it became known that 
 an Arab force cooperated with the British army, 
 contributing considerably to the Turkish rout. 
 
 The Arabs of the fallen Turkish Empire inhabit 
 the vast territory lying between the Tigris and 
 the Persian Gulf on the east ; the Red Sea and the 
 Mediterranean on the west; the Arabian Sea on 
 the south, and Armenia and Kurdistan on the 
 north. About twelve million Arabs, divided into 
 innumerable tribes and sects, live here. Only 
 three sections of this territory have developed 
 sufficiently to claim national rights ; they are Syria, 
 Mesopotamia, and the Hejaz. Arabian national- 
 
 }93 
 
194 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ism first manifested itself in Syria toward the end 
 of the nineteenth century in the form of a Pan- 
 Arabian movement. In 1895 an Arabian National 
 Committee, formed in Paris, issued a manifesto 
 which said, in part : 
 
 ''The Arabs . . . are awakened to their his- 
 torical national and ethnographical homogeneous- 
 ness, and aim to separate themselves from the 
 Ottoman body and form an independent state. 
 This new Arabian state will be confined to its 
 natural boundaries, from the Tigris and the 
 Euphrates to the Suez Canal, and from the Medi- 
 terranean Sea to the Sea of Oman. It will be gov- 
 erned by a liberal constitutional monarchy of an 
 Arabian Sultan." 
 
 Various forces prevented the successful propa- 
 gation of Pan- Arabian nationalism. The policies 
 of the Great Powers in the Near East tended to 
 erect separate spheres of influence in the lands 
 populated by the Arab. France was interested in 
 Syria, especially in the Lebanon. Zionism strove 
 to restore Palestine to the Jews. Great Britain 
 was seeking to extend its influence over Mesopo- 
 tamia, in order to secure its Indian possessions 
 from German aggression by the way of the Ber- 
 lin-to-Bagdad railroad. The movement for an in- 
 dependent Arabia was thus confined to the isolated 
 province of the Hejaz, in which the holy cities of 
 Mecca and Medina are located. It was here that 
 rebellion against Turkey finally raised its head 
 
ARABIA 195 
 
 and brought the problem of Arabia forcefully be- 
 fore the court of world opinion. 
 
 Premier Lloyd George announced on January 
 5th, 1918, a solution of the problem of nationality 
 in Turkey which explicitly recognized the claims 
 of the Arabs in West Arabia, Mesopotamia and 
 Syria. He said: "While we do not challenge the 
 maintenance of the Turkish Empire in the home- 
 lands of the Turkish race with its capital at Con- 
 stantinople — the passage between the Mediter- 
 ranean and the Black Sea being internationalized 
 and neutralized — Arabia, Armenia, Mesopotamia, 
 Syria and Palestine are in our judgment entitled 
 to a recognition of their separate national con- 
 ditions." This statement of the British Prime 
 Minister defined Arabia as a political term, com- 
 prehending the Hejaz and the adjoining provinces 
 only, and excluding Palestine, Syria and Meso- 
 potamia. And it is in this narrow sense that the 
 word Arabia is employed in these pages. 
 
 The Arabs are Semites, and their land is said 
 to have been the cradle of the Semitic race. It is 
 from Arabia that the early settlers of Babylonia, 
 Assyria and Palestine came. A thousand years 
 before the Christian era several kingdoms were 
 established in Arabia. At the time of the rise of 
 Islam the various Arabian lands were governed 
 by numerous chiefs. Many of the Arab tribes were 
 nomadic, wandering from one part of the country 
 to another. A number of Jewish tribes, appar- 
 
196 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ently immigrants from Palestine, were found in 
 Arabia as early as the sixth century. 
 
 Mohammed appeared more than thirteen cen- 
 turies ago. He was bom in Mecca, but made his 
 capital Medina. It was from there that he started 
 the movement to introduce his creed into all 
 Arabian and non-Arabian lands. It is not gen- 
 erally realized that Mohammed's religious teach- 
 ing was closely identified with Arabian national- 
 ism. Arabia for the Arabs, was the watchword of 
 the Prophet. Around him gathered a party of 
 adherents who adopted his religion as well as his 
 national idea. He succeeded in capturing Mecca, 
 and this helped him greatly in extending his rule 
 over the neighboring lands. At his death Arabia 
 was a united country. 
 
 Mohammed's successor, Abu Bekr, was the first 
 to assume the title of Caliph. As such he continued 
 the Prophet's policy of spreading Islam and im- 
 posing it on the neighboring states, Persia and 
 Byzantium. At the same time, his domestic rule 
 was such as to consolidate the various tribes under 
 the banner of the Caliphate. By diverting their 
 attention to foreign lands he succeeded in pre- 
 serving peace among themselves. Omar, who fol- 
 lowed Abu Bekr, was perhaps the best tj'^pification 
 of a nationalist Caliph. Indeed, it was the main 
 task of his great career to establish a system of 
 government based on justice and to strengthen 
 the internal bonds that made for a strong Arabia. 
 
ARABIA 197 
 
 Omar was, however, not only a brilliant ruler of 
 his country, but extremely successful as a Caliph, 
 carrying the wars that his predecessors had 
 launched to victorious conclusions. In his war 
 against the Byzantine Empire he invaded Syria, 
 capturing Damascus in 635 and Jerusalem in 636. 
 Four years later his armies conquered Egypt and 
 took Alexandria. Persia was completely overrun 
 by the Moslems during his rule. He even dis- 
 patched a fleet to the Abyssinian coast, to protect 
 the followers of Islam there, but it was wrecked, 
 and Omar never tried to build another in its 
 stead, although his successors did create an 
 Arabian navy. 
 
 The united Arabian state did not last long. 
 Arabia's sons spread out in every direction, build- 
 ing new cities and states in Egypt, Syria, Meso- 
 potamia, Persia, where they acquired wealth and 
 power. Wherever they settled, they established 
 Mohammedanism, sometimes after prolonged 
 struggles. While this was going on, feuds de- 
 veloped in Arabia proper, which weakened its 
 position as an active force in the propagation of 
 Mohammedanism. The center of Moslem life 
 shifted from Mecca and Medina, which w^ere too 
 remote from the then existing civilized world, to 
 various places in the conquered lands, as they at- 
 tained in turn their maximum of power. The Cali- 
 phate went where Islam flourished, changing in the 
 course of centuries several seats. Arabia still re- 
 
198 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 mained the holy land, the birthplace and grave of 
 the Prophet, and as such it attracted enormous 
 numbers of pilgrims annually, who brought with 
 them wealth to the country. But Arabia ceased to 
 be a living power in Islam. It lost its prestige as 
 a strong national entity, and gradually declined as 
 a state. Protection, however, had to be accorded 
 the vast gatherings from all over the world that 
 poured into the sacred Mohammedan cities. It 
 was this that gave birth to the Shereefate of 
 Mecca. There were numerous descendants of the 
 Prophet in Mecca and Medina. This posterity be- 
 came a sort of nobility, the head of each family 
 bearing the name of ' ' Sharif, ' ' which, in Arabian, 
 means "the noble." Several of these families be- 
 came powerful about 1000 A. D., and from 1200 
 one house of descendants from Ali, the nephew of 
 Mohammed, managed to keep itself in office. The 
 ruling Shereef is addressed by his people, "Our 
 Master," and is virtually a king, provided he is 
 capable of extending his domain over the turbu- 
 lent tribes in the vicinity. The Shereefs have not 
 always been able to control Medina, to safeguard 
 the routes along which the pilgrims came to the 
 holy land, or to suppress the various claimants to 
 the Shereefate. 
 
 The international status of the Shereefate was 
 never clearly defined. The Caliphs of the newly 
 arisen Moslem powers "neither expressly recog- 
 nized nor expressly objected to the Shereefate as 
 
ARABIA 199 
 
 unlawful," observes Professor C. Snouck Hur- 
 gronje ; ''its century-long existence attained more- 
 over a sort of virtual legitimacy through its ac- 
 ceptance by many Moslem tribes, who were rep- 
 resented in the holy city by the annual deputations 
 of pilgrims. These visitors were constantly ex- 
 posed to ill-treatment on the part of the Shereef. 
 Yet, in spite of that, they held to a belief that 
 domination over the Holy City belonged right- 
 fully to a branch of the Holy Family. The fact 
 was simply accepted as irrefutable." 
 
 Religiously, the holy land was, of course, sub- 
 ject to the Caliphate. When two Caliphs appeared 
 in Islam, the one of Mecca having moved to Da- 
 mascus and finally to Bagdad, and the so-called 
 heretical Caliphate established in Egypt, the 
 Shereef of Mecca had a hard time of it. The two 
 were soon wiped out by the Mongols and the Sul- 
 tans took over their spiritual position. Begin- 
 ning with the thirteenth century the Egyptian Sul- 
 tans exercised a virtual protectorate over the 
 Hejaz, their rule lasting until the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. The conquest of Egypt by the Turks passed 
 the protectorate over the Shereefate to the Otto- 
 man Sultans. When the Turks became the most 
 powerful nation in Islam, their rulers adopted the 
 title of Caliph. Having conquered practically the 
 entire Middle East, the Turks allowed the pashas 
 of their subjugated lands to exercise almost dic- 
 tatorial rights. The governors of Syria, Mesopo- 
 
200 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 tamia and Egypt all aimed to win the protectorate 
 over the holy land. This led to deep discon- 
 tent among the Wahhabis of Central Arabia, zeal- 
 ous Moslems, who considered that the Turks and 
 their governors had dishonored Islam by making 
 the holy cities the bone of contention. They de- 
 clared a Jihad (holy war) against the Turks, 
 which was so popular that for a time the Hejaz 
 was freed from Turkish domination and the Sher- 
 eefs compelled to recognize the rebels' authority. 
 It was after tremendous exertions that the Turks, 
 through the Pasha of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, suc- 
 ceeded in recapturing the holy land. The Shereef 
 was then deposed and exiled for countenancing 
 the Wahhabis and a new Shereef appointed. This 
 was accomplished in 1813. 
 
 iThe Shereefate continued to exist under the 
 Sultan's suzerainty, and the Egyptian Khedive's 
 immediate protection. The former tightened his 
 grip on the Hejaz, trying to convert it into a regu- J 
 lar province. The Shereefate 's rights were grad- 
 ually abrogated and there developed a conflict 
 which did not end until 1880. Even after that 
 year the exact administrative and sovereign rights 
 of the Shereef and the Sultan in the holy land 
 were not clearly fixed. The authority of each de- i 
 pended on the character of the Turkish governor, \ 
 on the one hand, and the Shereef, on the other. | 
 Sometimes one attained the mastery, sometimes | 
 the other. In 1908, with the Turkish Revolution, j 
 
ARABIA 201 
 
 both the Turkish governor and the Shereef were 
 swept out of office, and compelled to go into exile. 
 
 For awhile it seemed as if Turkey was to give its 
 subject nationalities an opportunity to develop 
 along autonomous lines. The Arabs were among 
 those who had expected great things from the 
 Revolution. They had a considerable representa- 
 tion in the Turkish parliament, where they or- 
 ganized the Arabian Club, which included those 
 elements among the Arabs who were imbued with 
 nationalism. However, the Young Turks turned 
 their power against cultural autonomy for the 
 races making up Turkey. They embarked upon 
 the notorious policy of Ottomanization which 
 quickly and rudely awakened these races to a real- 
 ization of their condition. The Armenians, the 
 Arabs and others resumed their nationalist agi- 
 tation. The Hejaz became a center of discontent, 
 which found its opportunity after Turkey's entry 
 into the w^ar on the side of the Central Powers. 
 
 Perhaps the chief cause of the rebellious spirit 
 in the Hejaz after 1914 was not so much spiritual 
 as material. The holy land extracted its living 
 from the annual streams of pilgrims, coming from 
 Africa, India, Russia, and Turkey itself. The 
 Great War dried up these sources of revenue, 
 which was a mighty weapon in the hands of She- 
 reef Husein, Emir of Mecca, and his AVesternized 
 sons who had been identified with the Pan- Arabian 
 national movement. When the Central Powers 
 
202 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 induced the Turkish government to make use of 
 the Sultan's authority as Caliph, and declare a 
 holy war against the Allies, they only promoted 
 the decline of Turkey in Islam. The fact is that 
 the Sultan 's claim to the Caliphate has never been 
 fully acknowledged by the Arabs, nor by the Mos- 
 lems of India and Russia. When the Young Turks 
 appeared in the saddle in 1908 and initiated a 
 number of measures tending to modernize social 
 life in Turkey, they inevitably antagonized the 
 religious authorities. Especially was this an- 
 tagonism manifest in the holy land, giving an 
 added reason to the Shereef to militate against 
 Constantinople. Young Turkish rule, therefore, 
 weakened enormously the Sultan's authority as 
 Caliph over Islam. The Jihad thus fell flat. It 
 stimulated the Grand Shereef, however, to renew 
 his never-pressed claim as a descendant of Moham- 
 med to the Caliphate. With the Turkish armies 
 engaged on the European and Caucasian battle- 
 fields, the stage was set for Arabia's revolution. 
 Under the immediate command of the three sons 
 of the Shereef, military operations were begun 
 against Turkey. Mecca was cleared of Ottoman 
 troops and officials, and Medina besieged. Jeddah, 
 Arabia's main port on the Red Sea, and Kinfuda, 
 another port further south, were captured by the 
 rebels. The roadbed of the Hejaz railway was 
 destroyed for a distance of a hundred miles, in 
 order to render it difficult for Turkey to send an 
 
ARABIA 203 
 
 army to combat the revolutionists. The Turks 
 were too busy on other fronts to suppress the 
 rebels of Hejaz, giving them an opportunity to 
 consolidate and increase their forces. For once the 
 surrounding tribes sank their differences and ral- 
 lied to the banners of the revolution. Even more 
 remarkable was the response of the remote and 
 semi-independent Arabian kingdoms to the She- 
 reef's call. A wave of patriotism united the 
 Arabs, a thing which had not happened since the 
 days of Mohammed and his immediate successors. 
 The Grand Shereef then found his opportunity to 
 declare Arabia's independence, in a remarkable 
 document which read partly as follows: 
 
 ''In the name of Grod, the Merciful, the Compas- 
 sionate, this is our general proclamation to all 
 our Moslem brothers. God, judge between us 
 and our people in truth ; Thou art the Judge. 
 
 "The world knoweth that the first of all Mos- 
 lem princes and rulers to acknowledge the Turk- 
 ish Government w^ere the Emirs of Mecca the 
 Blessed. . . . For, in truth, they were one with 
 the Government until the Committee of Union and 
 Progress rose up, and strengthened itself, and 
 laid its hands on power. Consider how since then 
 ruin has overtaken the State, and its possessions 
 have been torn from it, and its place in the world 
 has been lost, and now it has been drawn into this 
 last and most fatal war. 
 
 "All this they have done, being led away by 
 
204 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 shameful appetites, which are not for me to set 
 forth, but which are public and a cause for sorrow 
 to the Moslems of the whole world, who have seen 
 this greatest and most noble Moslem Power broken 
 in pieces and led down to ruin and utter destruc- 
 tion. Our lament is also for so many of its sub- 
 jects, Moslems and others alike, whose lives have 
 been sacrificed without any fault of their own. 
 Some have been treacherously put to death, others 
 cruelly driven from their homes, as though the 
 calamities of war were not enough. Of these 
 calamities the heaviest share has fallen upon the 
 holy land. The poor, and even families of sub- 
 stance, have been made to sell their doors and 
 windows, yea, even the wooden frames of their 
 houses, for bread, after they had lost their furni- 
 ture and all their goods. Not even so was the lust 
 of the Union and Progress fulfilled. They laid 
 bare all the measure of their wicked design, and 
 broke the only bond that endured between them 
 and the true followers of Islam. They departed 
 from their obedience to the precepts of the Book. 
 "For this it has been clearly our part and our 
 necessary duty to separate ourselves from them 
 and renounce them and their obedience. Yet we 
 would not believe their wickedness, and tried to 
 think that they were the imaginings of evil-doers 
 to make a division between us and the Govern- 
 ment. We bore with them until it was apparent 
 to all men that the rulers of Turkey were Enver 
 
ARABIA 205 
 
 Pasha, Jemal Pasha, and Tallaat Bey, who were 
 doing whatsoever they pleased. They made their 
 guilt manifest when they wrote to the Judge of 
 the Sacred Court in Mecca traducing the verses 
 in the Surah of the Cow, and laying upon him to 
 reject the evidence of believers outside the Court 
 and to consider only the deeds and contracts en- 
 grossed within the Court. They also showed their 
 guilt when they hanged in one day twenty-one of 
 the most honorable and enlightened of the Mos- 
 lems. ... To destroy so many, even of cattle, 
 at one time would be hard for men void of all 
 natural affection or mercy. And if we suppose 
 they had some excuse for this evil deed, by what 
 right did they carry away to strange countries the 
 innocent and most miserable families of those ill- 
 fated men? Children, old men, and delicate 
 women bereft of their natural protectors were sub- 
 jected in exile to all foul usages and even to tor- 
 tures, as though the woes they had already 
 suffered were not chastisement enough. . . . 
 
 ''We leave the judgment of these misdeeds, 
 which we have touched upon so briefly, to the 
 world in general and to Moslems in particular. 
 What stronger proof can we desire of the faith- 
 lessness of their inmost hearts to the Religion, 
 and of their feelings towards the Arabs, than their 
 bombardment of that ancient House, which God 
 has chosen for His House, saying, 'Keep My 
 House pure for all who come to it' — a House so 
 
206 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 venerated by all Moslems'? From their fort of 
 Jyad, when the revolt began, they shelled it. . . . 
 We leave all this to the Moslem world for judg- 
 ment. 
 
 *' Yes, we can leave the judgment to the Moslem 
 world ; but we may not leave our religion and our 
 existence as a nation to be a plaything of the 
 Unionists. God has made open for us the attain- 
 ment of freedom and independence and has shown 
 us a way of victory to cut off the hand of the 
 oppressors, and to cast out their garrison from 
 our midst. We have attained independence, an 
 independence of the rest of the Ottoman Empire, 
 which is still groaning under the tyranny of our 
 enemy. Our independence is complete, absolute, 
 not to be laid hands on by any foreign influence or 
 aggression, and our aim is the preservation of 
 Islam and the uplifting of its standard in the 
 world. We fortify ourselves on the noble religion 
 which is our only guide and advocate in the prin- 
 ciples of administration and justice. We are 
 ready to accept all things in harmony with the 
 Faith and all that leads to the Mountain of Islam, 
 and in particular to uplift the mind and the 
 spirit of all classes of the people in so far as we 
 have strength and ability." 
 
 One of the first acts of the new Arabian king- 
 dom was to establish diplomatic relations with the 
 Allied governments. France sent a delegation to 
 Mecca to congratulate the Grrand Shereef on the 
 
ARABIA 207 
 
 liberation of his country, and England and France 
 recognized his government. A modern council of 
 ministers was set up and the holy land, for the 
 first time in centuries, found itself under a decent 
 administration. Mecca was thoroughly cleaned, 
 a newspaper was established there, schools were 
 founded and a modern army organized. Arabian 
 forces helped Great Britain in its campaign in 
 Mesopotamia. Even Arabian aviators fought the 
 Turks. When Baghdad was captured by the 
 British the Emir of Mecca sent a congratulatory 
 message to the British High Commissioner in 
 Egypt, praying that God grant ''victory and suc- 
 cess to all those who are defending justice, civili- 
 zation and the liberty of nations." 
 
 Shereef Feisul, the third son of Emir Husein of 
 Mecca, commanded the Arab force which operated 
 in the rear of the Turks east of the Jordan, and 
 occupied Damascus before General Allenby 
 reached it. It is quite possible that without the 
 Arab army outflanking it, the Ottoman army's 
 debacle in Syria would not have occurred. Gen- 
 eral Feisul was sent by his government to Paris 
 and London, to present his people 's claims to the 
 Allies and the United States. It is the hope and 
 aim of the government of the Hejaz to become a 
 nucleus for a united Arabian state, including 
 Mesopotamia and Syria. "The Arabs ardently 
 desire national independence," a correspondent 
 quoted the Shereef Feisul, and added : ' ' Owing to 
 
208 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 the existence of an Anglo-Frencli agreement, made 
 long before the importance of the Arabs as a mili- 
 tary factor was realized, they fear that their 
 nationalistic longings may not receive that con- 
 sideration in the peace settlement to which they 
 think they are entitled. Feisul therefore pins his 
 hopes on Mr. Wilson. Surely, the Great War 
 which has revealed so many strange things wit- 
 nessed nothing else so epoch-making and so un- 
 expected as the spectacle of a great Arab chief- 
 tain who traces his lineage directly back to the 
 Moslem Prophet, waiting in Western Europe for 
 the President of the United States, who is now 
 looked upon by the Arab nation as their friend 
 and protector." 
 
 According to the understanding reached early 
 in 1915 between France and Great Britain, the in- 
 dependence of the Arabian kingdom of the Hejaz 
 was recognized by both countries, but Mesopota- 
 mia was placed under British control and Syria 
 under French. Arabian nationalism, however, 
 aims at the creation of a united Arabian state, 
 wherein it comes in conflict with the interests of 
 the French government and the aspirations of a 
 portion of the inhabitants of Syria. The Mos- 
 lems of Syria are in sympathy with the Pan- 
 Arabian movement, and are supported by Great 
 Britain. On the other hand, the majority of the 
 Christian Syrians, especially in the Lebanon, de- 
 sire autonomy under a French protectorate. 
 
ARABIA 209 
 
 * The relations between the new Arabia and the 
 Zionists of Palestine are very friendly. While the 
 Christian Syrians are generally opposed to a 
 Jewish Palestine, the Arabs of the Hejaz are in 
 full accord with the Zionist leaders. An entente 
 was even concluded between Dr. Weitzman, the 
 head of the Zionist Commission in Palestine, and 
 Prince Feisul, representing the Arab government, 
 in June, 1918. Even more cordial relations 
 were established between the Arabs and Arme- 
 nians. The former, operating east of the Jordan, 
 rescued a number of Armenian refugees, men, 
 women, and children, deported by the Turks to 
 the Syrian desert. Boghos Nubar Pasha, head of 
 the Armenian Delegation, sent the following mes- 
 sage to Shereef Feisul: 
 
 **To the noble born Emir Feisul, — We have just 
 learned of the rescue of our unfortunate fellow- 
 countrymen through the efforts of your gallant 
 troops in Southern Syria. May God bless and 
 prosper the progress of your arms. The chival- 
 rous act of the noble Moslems who fight under 
 your banners adds fresh luster to the annals of 
 the Arab race. Every Armenian throughout the 
 world is to-day an ally of the Arab movement; 
 the praises of your clemency and the justice of 
 your cause shall be known wherever we can make 
 our voices heard." 
 
 The Lord Mayor of London and the English 
 Friends of Armenia also sent congratulatory mes- 
 
210 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 sages to Emir Feisul. A reply was received from 
 the King of the Hejaz which, coming from the 
 chief religious authority in Mecca, throws a new 
 light on Mohammedanism as practiced in the new 
 Arabia. It read: 
 
 ''Your kind message to Feisul, of which I have 
 heard, is a proof of good will and affection. We 
 pray God to make us worthy of your kind thoughts. 
 Feisul, in assisting the oppressed, has only per- 
 formed one of the first duties of our religion and 
 of the Arabs' faith. I say with confidence and 
 pride that the Armenian race and other races in 
 similar plight are regarded by us as partners in 
 our fortunes in weal and woe. We ask God be- 
 fore everything to give us strength to enable us 
 to do them helpful service by which to prove to 
 the world the true feelings of Islam, whose watch- 
 word is freedom. May God preserve you in health 
 and bring your desires to a successful attainment 
 by His help and favor. ' ' 
 
II 
 
 PALESTINE 
 
 The Jews are unique among the resurrected 
 nationalities of the world. They are the only 
 race not in physical possession of its motherland 
 to rise to nationhood. Scattered all over the 
 earth, inhabiting every country of the Old and 
 New World, the Jews have retained their racial 
 characteristics in all foreign environments. Since 
 the day they went into exile, more than eighteen 
 centuries ago, they never ceased to pray for their 
 return to the Land of Israel. Although regarded 
 by the nations among whom they lived as a relig- 
 ious sect, the Jews, in fact, were always a people 
 with distinct national aspirations. It is only in 
 recent years that portions of the Jewish race in 
 the West began to abandon their nationalism and 
 keep their identity as a religious group only. But 
 of the twelve million Jews in the world, there are 
 hardly more than a million who have completely 
 assimilated themselves with their adopted coun- 
 tries. The rest may not aU be ardent nationalists 
 anxious to return to Palestine, but they are all 
 
 211 
 
212 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Jewish nationals by nature, being exiles in spirit 
 and strangers wherever they live or go. 
 
 The preservation of the Jew in exile will always 
 remain one of the marvels of history. The last 
 Jewish state disappeared in A. D. 70, when the 
 Roman general Titus captured Jerusalem, but 
 the end of Jewish political hopes did not come till 
 sixty-five years later. In 132 the Jews of Pales- 
 tine rebelled against Rome under the leadership 
 of Bar Cochba, who was declared to be the Mes- 
 siah by the leading rabbi of the time. The rebel- 
 lion was at first successful, Jerusalem was freed, 
 the Temple partly restored, and many of the 
 Jews who had left the Holy Land rallied around 
 the banner of Bar Cochba. However, his rule did 
 not last more than three and a half years. A 
 powerful Roman army finally defeated the rebels 
 in 135, after desperate resistance, in which six 
 hundred thousand Jews perished in battle. 
 
 The Dispersion reaUy began with the destruc- 
 tion of this last Jewish political government, al- 
 though large colonies of Jews were already scat- 
 tered throughout the Roman Empire. Jerusalem 
 became a forbidden city, where no Jew was al- 
 lowed. The remnant of the Palestinian Jewry 
 erected several centers of learning north of the 
 capital. The task of these rabbinical schools was 
 to evolve a set of laws interpreting the Old Testa- 
 ment which would keep the Jews from losing their 
 faith and national aspirations in Dispersion. A 
 
PALESTINE 213 
 
 similar seat of learning came into existence in 
 Babjdonia, then a Persian dominion. A large 
 Jewish colony there for a time attained self-gov- 
 ernment under the leadership of the exilarch, who 
 claimed descent from the house of David. The 
 Babylonian Jews, like those of Palestine, devoted 
 themselves to the study of jurisprudence. The re- 
 sult was two sets of the Law, or Talmud, one called 
 the Jerusalem and the other the Babylonian 
 edition. 
 
 While the religious-national force created by the 
 rabbis undoubtedly was a great factor in preserv- 
 ing the Jews in Dispersion, especially in the first 
 centuries of our era, an economic torce soon de- 
 veloped which contributed greatly to the same ef- 
 fect. Tom from their soil, persecuted and driven 
 from place to place, the Jews were compelled to 
 turn to trading as a means for daily existence. 
 Thus developed the Jewish aptitude for business. 
 It was encouraged by the conditions which the 
 Christian communities among whom the Jews 
 lived imposed upon them. The segregation of the 
 Jews, the creation of certain quarters in the 
 ancient cities for this wandering race, naturally 
 promoted their seclusion and their cohesion, as 
 well as their devotion to traditions and prejudices 
 which in other circumstances would have gradu- 
 ally vanished. 
 
 The Jews spread westward, to Byzantium, 
 Eome, France, Spain. The rise of Mohammedan- 
 
214 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ism and the Arabian tide gave strong impetus to 
 the Jewish Dispersion, although the Jews fared 
 much better under the Arabs than among the 
 Christians. The Arabs overran, and settled in, 
 the surrounding countries. Palestine, Syria, 
 Mesopotamia, Egypt, Morocco, Spain became 
 Arab dominions. The Jews in Mesopotamia con- 
 tributed greatly to the magnificent civilization 
 which arose in Baghdad, under the caliphate, in 
 the Middle Ages. In science and in trade they 
 were among the leaders, and their brethren in 
 Spain achieved even greater success. "The dis- 
 tinctive feature of the Spanish- Jewish culture," 
 writes Israel Abrahams, "was its comprehensive- 
 ness. Literature and affairs, science and state- 
 craft, poetry and medicine, these various expres- 
 sions of human nature and activity were so har- 
 moniously balanced that they might be found in 
 the possession of one and the same individual. 
 The Jews of Spain attained to high places in the 
 service of the state from the time of the Moorish 
 conquest, in 711. . . . So, too, the greatest Jew 
 of the Middle Ages, Maimonides, was a Spaniard. 
 In him culminates the Jewish expression of the 
 Spanish-Moorish culture; his writings had an 
 influence on European scholasticism and contrib- 
 uted significant elements to the philosophy oft 
 Spinoza." (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) 
 
 Christian persecution of the Jews assumed am 
 organized form during the Crusades. In France, , 
 
PALESTINE 215 
 
 Germany and England colonies of Jews had been 
 established early and were the sole agents of trade 
 between the East and the West. The Crusades 
 not only resulted in hundreds of eJewish massa- 
 cres, due to the religious frenzy of the Christians, 
 but also brought with them economic ruin to the 
 Jews. A class of traders sprang up among the 
 Christians which soon found itself in competition 
 with the Jewish settlers. This economic cause was 
 one of the leading forces responsible for the suffer- 
 ing of the Jews in Dispersion in the past thousand 
 years. The Jew came to a country and was en- 
 couraged by its rulers to engage in trade. After 
 playing the role of the commercial pioneer, he 
 found himself sooner or later surrounded by na- 
 tives who had learned to compete with him. Then 
 the Christian traders would resort to all means to 
 bring about the persecution or expulsion of the 
 Jew from their midst. 
 
 Not infrequently the Jews would be expelled 
 from a country and soon afterward invited again 
 by its rulers. The latter were always in need of 
 money. The Church, by prohibiting Christians to 
 engage in money-lending and restricting the occu- 
 pations open to the Jews, forced the Jews to turn 
 to usury. In some countries this was the only 
 trade they were allowed to engage in, so that the 
 reigning houses utilized the Jews for the purpose 
 of extracting from their subjects the funds neces- 
 sary to sustain their courts. The money that the 
 
216 THE EESURHECTED NATIONS 
 
 Jew accumulated by usury went to the royal fam- 
 ily, but tlie stigma of usurer and the hatred of 
 the populace were fastened upon him. 
 
 Where the Jew was given a free opportunity to 
 live, he soon proved a builder of commercial 
 empires. Baghdad reached its powerful position 
 in civilization under the rule of the tolerant 
 caliphs, when the Jews enjoyed full liberty of 
 conscience and action. Portugal and Spain be- 
 came great civilized empires when the center of 
 Jewish life shifted there. The Inquisition, which 
 resulted in the expulsion of hundreds of thou- 
 sands of Jews and the death of tens of thousands 
 more, was the greatest blow to Spain and Portugal 
 themselves. The Jewish rabbis anathematized the 
 two countries, and to this day no orthodox Jew 
 will step on their soil. With the departure of the 
 Jews, many of whom had been forcibly baptized, 
 the decline of Portugal and Spain set in, so that 
 to-day these two countries are the most impover- 
 ished in Europe. All the recent efforts of the 
 Spanish government to cause an influx of Jews 
 into Spain proved futile, so deep-seated is the 
 Jewish memory of the Inquisition. 
 
 From Portugal and Spain the Jew went in 
 large numbers to Holland, France, Italy, Germany, 
 Austria, Poland, Turkey. With the arrival of the 
 Jews, welcomed by the Dutch government, the 
 Netherlands rapidly rose to the first maritime 
 power in the world, superseding Portugal and 
 
PALESTINE 217 
 
 Spain. England, after having expelled the Jews 
 in the fifteenth century, now adopted a friendly 
 attitude, and in 1655 Cromwell reached an agree- 
 ment with the leading rabbi of Amsterdam, Man- 
 asseh ben Israel, whereby the Jews were permitted 
 to return to Great Britain. The Spanish and Por- 
 tuguese Jews who settled in England contributed 
 no small share to the building of the British Em- 
 pire. Meanwhile the Jews in the East were suffer- 
 ing persecution. They were herded in ghettos and 
 restricted in the commonest rights. Their only 
 means of existence in such countries as Poland 
 and Germany, for instance, was to buy the favor 
 of the various ruling princes and magnates. Hated 
 by the people, despised by their royal and feudal 
 protectors, the Jew had to rely on his wits and 
 developed certain traits of character which have, 
 not entirely disappeared yet in those countries, 
 such as Rumania, Poland, Russia, where he is 
 still smarting under religious, political or eco- 
 nomic disabilities. 
 
 The emancipation of the Jew really began to- 
 ward the end of the eighteenth century, although 
 in such countries as England, Holland, Italy and 
 especially Turkey the Jew had previously enjoyed 
 much freedom. The American Revolution gave 
 considerable impetus to the movement. A Jew, 
 Robert Morris, played a leading role in the found- 
 ing of this Republic, as financier of the War of 
 Independence. It was due to loans secured by 
 
218 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 him from the French and to money advanced by 
 himself and borrowed on his credit that Wash- 
 ington was enabled to transfer his army from 
 Dobbs Ferry to Yorktown in 1781. In the same 
 year, in distant Austria, Emperor Joseph removed 
 many of the disabilities binding the Jews, allow- 
 ing them to learn handicrafts, to study arts and 
 sciences, and to some extent even to engage in 
 agriculture. 
 
 Then came the French Revolution. In 1807 
 Napoleon summoned a Jewish Assembly in Paris. 
 The revolutionary movement throughout Europe 
 in 1848 resulted in the complete emancipation of 
 the Italian, Austrian and Scandinavian Jews. 
 Only in Russia, where the bulk of the Jews found 
 themselves after the amiexation of the greater 
 part of Poland by the Tsars, and in Rumania, 
 were the Jews deprived of elementary rights and 
 allowed to live only in certain limited areas. Dur- 
 ing the reign of Nicholas I, the ' ' Iron Tsar, ' ' cruel 
 attempts were made to Russify the Jews by force. 
 Their children were abducted and entrusted to 
 special organizations to be raised as Christians. 
 There was a breathing space for the Russian Jews 
 during the rule of Alexander II, the liberator of 
 the serfs in 1861. In 1878, by the Treaty of Ber- 
 lin, the Rumanian Jews were emancipated. But 
 this was never more than a paper emancipation. 
 In 1881, with the accession to the Russian throne 
 of Alexander III, one of the blackest periods of 
 
PALESTINE 219 
 
 Jewish history was begun. The era of pogroms, 
 expulsions and restrictive laws began. It soon 
 produced several very important effects. First, a 
 stream of emigrants commenced to flow from the 
 East to the United States, Canada, South America, 
 England, South Africa. It grew in volume as the 
 persecutions and the pogroms multiplied, so that 
 toward the end of the first decade of the present 
 century the volume of Jewish emigration from 
 Russia, Poland and Rumania reached an annual 
 figure of a quarter of a million. Second, the Rus- 
 sian-Polish Jews identified themselves with the 
 various revolutionary movements, playing leading 
 parts in all of them. Third, the modern Zionist 
 movement, aiming at the restoration of the Jewish 
 nation in Palestine, was bom. 
 
 In the course of centuries of wandering the Jew 
 never stopped hoping for the appearance of the 
 Messiah, who would lead all the scattered sons of 
 Israel back to the Holy Land. At various times, 
 in response to the innermost Jewish aspirations, 
 false Messiahs appeared, quickly gathering about 
 them large followings. Thus in the 8th, 12th and 
 16th centuries the Jews were misled by impostors, 
 and in the 17th century the whole Jewish world 
 was profoundly shaken by the rise of one Sabbatai 
 Zevi, who declared that he was the long-awaited 
 Messiah. But the movement born in Russia in 
 1882 was a modern effort essentially. Groups of 
 Jewish students and enthusiastic nationalists 
 
220 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 raised the banner of a Jewish homeland in Pales- 
 tine and went there to till the soil and found colo- 
 nies. These pioneers revived the ancient Hebrew 
 and proclaimed it as the tongue of the coming 
 Jewish state. The difficulties they encountered 
 were many. But, supported by organizations of 
 "Lovers of Zion," formed in Russia, they grad- 
 ually made progress. 
 
 Meanwhile in Western Europe, where the Jew 
 by virtue of his enjoyment of equal rights pene- 
 trated into every branch of trade and industiy and 
 climbed to the very top of the financial, political 
 and learned world, the anti-Semitic movement was 
 born. It started in Germany and reverberated 
 powerfully in France. The ancient ritual murder 
 accusation, which originated in the early days of 
 Christianity, when it was leveled against the 
 Christians, was revived, and made much use of in 
 Austria, Rumania and Russia. This gave rise to 
 national sentiments among the Western Jews. In 
 1896 there appeared a pamphlet, called ' ' The Jew- 
 ish State," in German, English and French. Its 
 author was a Vienna journalist, Theodore Herzl. 
 It made a great sensation, and was rapidly trans- 
 lated into many other languages. Dr. Herzl, a 
 fiery personality, advocated the departure of the 
 Jews from Europe and their formation in Pales- 
 tine, under Turkish suzerainty, of a republic. The 
 response to Dr. Herzl 's project was universal and 
 instantaneous. In 1897 there met in Basel, 
 
PALESTINE 221 
 
 Switzerland, the first Jewish congress, represent- 
 ing Jews from all over the world, of all classes 
 and beliefs. It laid the foundations of political 
 Zionism, adopting as its official aim the *^ estab- 
 lishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally 
 assured home in Palestine. ' ' 
 
 The Zionist movement made great headway 
 among the Russian, Polish and Rumanian Jews. 
 Dr. Herzl had audiences with Sultan Abdul 
 Hamid, the Pope, British and Russian ministers, 
 but failed to secure a ' ' charter ' ' of Jewish auton- 
 omy in Palestine from Turkey. The British gov- 
 ernment offered to him a section of East Africa 
 for Jewish colonization. Dr. Herzl favored the 
 acceptance of the proposal, but the Eastern Zion- 
 ists, who were in the majority, rejected it. In 
 1904 Dr. Herzl died, and for some years the Zionist 
 movement was in confusion. Meanwhile Jewish 
 colonies were being founded in Palestine and the 
 Hebrew language, mainly through the efforts of 
 Ben Yehuda, a philologist who devoted his life to 
 the task, became the spoken tongue of thousands 
 of Jews everywhere. Newspapers and magazines 
 were published in Hebrew, and modern poets and 
 novelists and dramatists infused a new spirit into 
 the tongue of the Prophets. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Great War there were 
 more than twelve million Jews in the world. In 
 Russia alone, including Russian Poland, there 
 were six million Jews. In the United States there 
 
222 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 were three million. In Austria-Hungary and Ger- 
 many there were another two million. The rest 
 were scattered all over the earth. In the recon- 
 structed Europe the majority of the Jews will be 
 found in Poland, less than four million. The 
 Jewish problem in Russia is thus transferred to 
 Poland, where the relations between the Jews and 
 the Poles are unfortunately strained. 
 
 The war caused untold suffering to the Jew. 
 Three-quarters of a million of Jewish soldiers 
 were impressed into the Tsar's armies. Hundreds 
 of thousands of Jewish homes were wiped out and 
 millions of old men, women and children set wan- 
 dering. While the Russian, German and Austro- 
 Hungarian revolutions brought at first new free- 
 dom to the Jews, the class-struggle which broke 
 out in those countries proved ruinous to the 
 middle classes, where the majority of the Jews 
 belong. All this stimulated Jewish nationalism. 
 The collapse of Turkey gave even a more violent 
 impetus to Zionism. Early in the war a Jewish 
 volunteer unit cooperated with the British in the 
 Gallipoli campaign. Later a Jewish Legion was 
 recruited in the United States and Great Britain, 
 and participated in General AUenby's Palestinian 
 campaign. On November 2, 1917, Arthur J. Bal- 
 four, British Secretary of State for Foreign Af- 
 fairs, addressed a note to Lord Rothschild in which 
 he made the following declaration on behalf of the 
 British government: 
 
PALESTINE 223 
 
 ''His Majesty's govermnent view with favor 
 the establishment in Palestine of a national home 
 for the Jewish people, and will use their best en- 
 deavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, 
 it being clearly understood that nothing shall be 
 done which may prejudice the civil and religious 
 rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Pal- 
 estine, or the rights and political status enjoyed 
 by Jews in any other country." 
 
 Similar assurances were made by the govern- 
 ments of France, Italy, Greece, Serbia, Holland, 
 Siam, and finally by President Wilson, although 
 the United States was not at war with Turkey. 
 Then followed a remarkable demonstration of 
 unanimity on the part of all Jews in favor of a 
 home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Those 
 Jews who had completely identified themselves 
 with their adopted countries, as well as those in- 
 tellectual and laboring elements who believed only 
 in proletarian internationalism, recognized that 
 half of the Jews in Europe were in such an 
 economic, political and cultural state as to welcome 
 a return to Palestine and the establishment there 
 of a Jewish national home. The overwhelming 
 majority of the Zionists, however, feel that such 
 a state cannot be evolved in a short period, and 
 favor British protection and guidance. One of 
 the greatest diflSculties ahead of the Zionists is 
 to be found in the Arab population of the Holy 
 Land. These Arabs have no national conscious- 
 
224 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ness, but their rights cannot be ignored. The 
 Zionists have therefore concluded an entente with 
 the King of the Hejaz, the new Arabian state. 
 However, the Syrians will not recognize the Jew- 
 ish claims to Palestine. The situation is compli- 
 cated by the fact that the Syrian claim to hege- 
 mony over the Palestinian Arabs is denied by the 
 Arabian kingdom of the Hejaz. 
 
 Nahum Sokolov, one of the Zionist leaders, 
 thus defined the territorial aspirations of Zion- 
 ism: "We ask not for the greater Palestine of 
 Solomon, but simply for the tract of country be- 
 tween our ancient boundaries and Beersheba, or, 
 in modern terms, from the River Kishon to El 
 Arish. Westward our limit will be the sea. East- 
 ward it may well be that the new Arabian king- 
 dom will preclude our extension beyond the River 
 Jordan, which would thus form our eastern boun- 
 dary. ' ' 
 
Ill 
 
 SYRIA 
 
 Syria in Arabic means the ' * Regent of the Sun. ' ' 
 In the European languages Syria is employed to 
 designate several things. Thus, the geographical 
 definition of Syria comprehends a strip of terri- 
 toiy, a hundred and fifty miles wide, on the eastern 
 coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the northern 
 boundary of which is the Taurus range, the south- 
 ern limits — the Sinai Peninsula, and the eastern 
 border — Mesopotamia and the Syrian Desert. 
 This territory includes Palestine and the Lebanon. 
 But Syria politically is a very loose term. The 
 Syrian nationalists seek to define it along geo- 
 graphical lines. Premier Lloyd George divided it 
 into two separate domains when he announced on 
 January 5, 1918, that ''Arabia, Armenia, Meso- 
 potamia, Syria and Palestine are in our judgment 
 entitled to a recognition of their separate national 
 conditions. ' ' Foreign Minister Pichon, of France, 
 divided it into three political realms when he de- 
 clared on December 29, 1918, that ' ' our rights are 
 incontestable in Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, and 
 
 227 
 
228 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Palestine." The term Syria employed in these 
 pages excludes Palestine. 
 
 The difficulty of determining Syria's political 
 boundaries is primarily due to the fact that Syria's 
 population is not an ethnic unit. The two and a 
 half milhon inhabitants of Syria are extremely 
 heterogeneous. What we call Syrians are, ethni- 
 cally speaking, Arabs, Turks, Kurds, Greeks, 
 Druses, Hebrews, Assyrians, Circassians, and 
 people combining the blood of these various ele- 
 ments. The larger part of the Syrian population 
 is Arabian in origin and Mohammedan in religion. 
 The Syrian Arabs are the most enlightened rep- 
 resentatives of their race, and among the most 
 advanced Moslems in the world. 
 
 The number of religions in Syria is almost as 
 diversified as that of its races. The Moslems are 
 in the majority, but the Christians are a strong 
 minority. The Greek Orthodox and Roman 
 Catholic Churches have large f ollowings, with the 
 latter predominating. There are some non-Chris- 
 tian and non-Moslem sects in Syria, of whom the 
 most notable is that of the Druses. Among the 
 Catholics the most powerful and progressive ele- 
 ment is that of the Maronites, of Assyrian origin, 
 who form the vanguard of Syrian nationalism. 
 
 The first great power to rise in Syria was Phoe- 
 nicia, which nearly five thousand years ago built 
 the cities of Tyre and Sidon and grew so rich that 
 the Egyptians invaded it repeatedly for plunder. 
 
SYEIA 229 
 
 The Phoenicians were great navigators and car- 
 ried on extensive commerce with the West, found- 
 ing many colonies. South of Phoenicia the Philis- 
 tines, from whom the name Palestine is derived, 
 established themselves, and were followed by the 
 Hebrews, who maintained friendly relations with 
 Phoenicia. Syria was in turn invaded and con- 
 quered by the Assyrians and Babylonians and 
 Persians. Alexander the Great invaded it next 
 and many Greeks settled in the country, giving 
 birth to a strong civilization, centering around 
 Antioch. Then Syria was conquered by Tigranes, 
 King of Armenia, and with his fall came Roman 
 rule and subsequently that of Byzantium. Chris- 
 tianity, originating in Palestine, spread early to 
 all Syria. But the rise of Islam in the seventh 
 century nearly wiped it all out. The Arabs in- 
 vaded and conquered the country, settling there in 
 large numbers. "When the title of the caliphate 
 was assumed by the Ottoman rulers, Syria passed 
 into the possession of Turkey. But the country 
 retained its Arabian civilization, so that Arabic 
 is the spoken and written tongue of most Syrians. 
 During the Crusades the Christians in Syria came 
 in touch with the Roman Church. The Maronites, 
 who number about half a million and live largely 
 in the Lebanon, resisted at first Rome's efforts to 
 dominate them. At the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century Louis XIV established French influence 
 over the Maronites. In 1736 the Pope Clement 
 
230 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 XII recognized the Maronite Church, which has 
 since remained an individual institution. In 1860, 
 as a result of feuds between the Maronites and 
 Druses, France was instrumental in obtaining 
 autonomy for the Lebanon, to be exercised in 
 agreement with the wishes of the western powers. 
 Although the separation of the Church from the 
 State in France led to a weakening of the French 
 influence in Syria, new forces appeared to take 
 the place of the official Catholic missionaries, — 
 economic forces as well as cultural and political. 
 The Syrians educated in French schools had pro- 
 duced a number of gifted leaders who began to 
 preach the doctrine of Syrian nationalism. They 
 were naturally Francophile and France encour- 
 aged their activity. At the same time France ini- 
 tiated a policy of economic penetration into Syria. 
 She constructed there hundreds of miles of rail- 
 road. The number of French schools in the 
 country was equal to that of all the other nations 
 combined. At the outbreak of the war hundreds 
 of Syrians volunteered their services to France. 
 The progressive elements in Syria are mainly 
 recruited from the students of the Greek Ortho- 
 dox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and 
 Presbyterian schools. But the Moslems in Syria 
 have also made considerable progress. A na- 
 tional consciousness has manifested itself among 
 all Syrians, regardless of faith. Thousands of 
 Moslems, for instance, who had emigrated to 
 
SYRIA 231 
 
 America to accumulate some money, returned 
 later to their native villages and cities. These 
 would invariably bring with them a higher state 
 of civilization and a realization of international 
 conditions, contributing greatly to the spread of 
 Syrian nationalism at home. While the Syrian 
 Christians produced several brilliant nationalist 
 leaders the Moslems did not lag much. One of 
 them. Sheikh Abdul-Hamid Zehrawi, played an 
 important role in the Syrian nationalist movement. 
 He was executed by the Turks in 1915 in Damas- 
 cus, together with nineteen other prominent Syr- 
 ians including officers, magistrates and journal- 
 ists, for instigating an insurrection against the 
 Ottoman government. 
 
 The Turkish misrule in Syria forced hundreds 
 of thousands of Syrians to leave their country. 
 About three hundred thousand of them came to 
 the United States and Mexico. Nearly half a mil- 
 lion are said to have settled in South America, 
 especially in Brazil. They support a large num- 
 ber of native publications, as well as numerous 
 churches. Young Syria, at home and abroad, pro- 
 duced a large number of literary persons, and 
 Syrian poetry has achieved both great beauty 
 and depth. 
 
 Syria was martyred by the Turks in the course 
 of the Great War. Court martials established at 
 Aleppo, Damascus and Beyrout sentenced to death 
 thousands and to terms of imprisonment tens of 
 
232 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 thousands. As in the case of the other oppressed 
 nationalities, these persecutions only solidified 
 national feeling among the Syrians. A central 
 committee was created in Paris, aiming at the 
 complete severance of Syria from the Ottoman 
 Empire and her erection into a distinct national 
 entity under French protection. However, while i 
 the Syrians are all agreed as to the idea of sep- 
 arate national existence, while they are almost 
 unanimous in the belief that their country is not 
 yet in a condition to function as an independent 
 state, they are by no means agreed as to the power 
 under whose aegis Syria should be placed. Per- 
 haps the majority of the active Syrian nationalists 
 are for a French protectorate. However, there are 
 those who would like to see Great Britain assume 
 control of Syria. Another faction, largely hail- 
 ing from the United States, is clamoring for an 
 American protectorate. In a speech delivered to 
 the Central Syrian Committee in Paris, several 
 months before the British occupation of Syria and 
 the collapse of Turkey, Sir Mark Sykes, the noted 
 authority on the Near East, said : 
 
 "Now suppose that the Turks are ejected from 
 Syria, suppose that the Allies have saved Syria, 
 but that the people are not united (I mean the 
 intellectual leaders of the people), what mil hap- 
 pen then? If you are not united some sort of 
 a Government will have to be imposed upon you, 
 and a Government which is imposed has neither 
 
SYEIA 233 
 
 the strength nor the stability of a Government 
 which is desired by the people. I see Syria start- 
 ing on a life with a Government which is not 
 congenial, with agitation and discontent at the 
 root of everything. It is therefore of the great- 
 est importance that there should be a firm will 
 and a policy for unity among Syrians. You are 
 dispersed among the nations, many of you live 
 in Paris, others at Marseilles, yet others in Lon- 
 don and others in Manchester. Many of you have 
 made your homes in the towns of America, and 
 there is a large Syrian colony in Egypt. Unite 
 yourselves and you will become a powerful politi- 
 cal force, and if you want a program I will dic- 
 tate one to you. In the first place, you must do 
 away with the negative policy of the Turks ; that 
 which is intolerable in Armenia is equally intoler- 
 able in Syria. In the second place, you must 
 look to France for her indispensable aid, that aid 
 which a people which has for so long been op- 
 pressed needs before it is capable of standing 
 alone. You must also demand the guarantees 
 of the powerful countries of the world, so that 
 you may not again be subjected to the tyranny of 
 the Turks, which has reduced you to poverty and 
 to discord. I imagine that all the religions and 
 all the races of Syria can unite on such a pro- 
 gram. As to you Syrians who have your full lib- 
 erty, I assure you that you have an enormous 
 responsibility with regard to those of your com- 
 
234 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 patriots, Moslems, Christians, or Druses, who are 
 still in Syria, for these latter are unable to ex- 
 press themselves or to organize." 
 
 However, the ending of the Great War still 
 found the Syrians divided. The successful British 
 campaign in Syria, in cooperation with the forces 
 of the Arabian kingdom of the Hejaz, introduced 
 some new factors into the problem. The Syrian 
 Mohammedans always preferred the British to 
 the French. With the Arabs of Mecca advanc- 
 ing with the British into Syria, British influence 
 rose even higher. The son of the E^ng of the 
 Hejaz, Shereef Feisul, came to Europe, after help- 
 ing to rout the Turks from Syria, to press for 
 the union of Syria with the Arabian kingdom of 
 the Hejaz. It was even reported that Great Brit- 
 ain favored such a solution of the Syrian prob- 
 lem, as it would place Arabia, Palestine, Syria, 
 Mesopotamia — the entire Arabian population of 
 Turkey — under its influence. However, France 
 proclaimed her ''incontestable rights" in Syria 
 and the Lebanon. 
 
 In January, 1919, the Syrians held a congress 
 in Paris, and were addressed by M. Franklin- 
 Bouillon, vice-president of the Foreig-n Affairs 
 Committee of the French Chamber of Deputies. 
 He appealed for unanimous support in ''defence 
 of Syrian interests and the maintenance of French 
 prestige in the Orient, where France for centuries 
 has not ceased to work for the emancipation of 
 
SYRIA 235 
 
 humanity." A strong pro-British current, how- 
 ever, developed among the Syrians. A leader of 
 this current stated his views as follows in the sec- 
 ond year of the war, before the Arabian revolu- 
 tion and the establishment of a national state in 
 the Hejaz occurred, to Vladimir Jabotinsky, as 
 quoted in his '* Turkey and the War" : 
 
 ''Before the war broke out it had always been 
 an axiom with us that England did not want Syria. 
 So the only alternative to Turkish rule, for those 
 who did not believe in independence, was France. 
 The Turkish menace to Egypt changed the whole 
 situation. My friends from Cairo write me that 
 now on all sides the conviction is growing that 
 England will not be able to remain indifferent to 
 the future of Syria. They think England will 
 claim for herself the southern part of the Syrian 
 coast, if not the whole of it. If it is true, then 
 we Arabs have to reconsider our attitude. If we 
 really have a choice between France and Eng- 
 land, many of us would prefer England. We do 
 not feel any particular love for either; as a mat- 
 ter of feeling, our instinctive sympathy goes 
 rather to the French than to the English. But 
 the French rule is centralistic and tends to im- 
 pose on the native population the French language 
 and customs. England is incomparably more 
 liberal. We have two examples before our eyes: 
 Tunis and Egypt were occupied at the same time. 
 Tunis has been completely 'Frenchified' in every- 
 
236 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 thing — administration, tribunals, schools, even re- 
 ligious education; whilst in Egypt our national 
 language plays a prominent role in schools and 
 public life. This difference is eloquent enough. 
 Besides, there is another consideration of no less 
 importance. The population of the southern and 
 eastern Mediterranean coasts who all speak Arab 
 dialects and could form in the future a great 
 united nation, have been cut up into sections un- 
 der different rule: Morocco, Algeria and Tunis 
 are French, Tripoli is Italian, Egypt is British, 
 and now they are speaking of Syria about to be- 
 come French. I think it is trop de morcellement. 
 Many of us will certainly prefer Egypt and Syria 
 to be one, under the same rule, and so consti- 
 tute a powerful nucleus of Arab nationhood." 
 
 The roads open before Syria are many. Some 
 of them lead to autonomy under French, British, 
 or even American protection. One proposal, 
 emanating from Syrians in the United States, is 
 to place Syria under the joint suzerainty of these 
 three powers. Another proposal, sponsored by 
 the Shereef of Mecca and many Pan- Arabian na- 
 tionalists, is to unite Syria with the Hejaz. Still 
 another plan would divide Syria into two parts, 
 the Lebanon and Syria proper, putting the former 
 under French and the latter under British guid- 
 ance. Finally, there is the proposal to have a 
 league of nations take charge of Syria and all 
 similar countries. The Syrians all over the world 
 
SYRIA 237 
 
 are agreed, however, on the need for ''the com- 
 plete and permanent elimination of Turkish rule 
 from Syria" and the introduction of self-govern- 
 ment there imder some friendly guardianship. 
 
IV 
 
 MESOPOTAMIA 
 
 Mesopotamia occupies a central position in the 
 Middle East. As a geographical term it embraces 
 the territory through which the Tigris and Eu- 
 phrates flow. As a political term it is somewhat 
 narrower. It is bounded on the north by Kurdis- 
 tan and Assyria, on the west by Syria, on the 
 east by Persia, and on the south by the desert. 
 
 It was in Mesopotamia that the great empires of 
 Assyria and Babylon were founded. Persia, 
 Greece and Parthia conquered it, ruling over it in 
 turn till the rise of Rome. In the third century 
 the Roman armies invaded Mesopotamia and for 
 three centuries afterwards struggled with Persia 
 for control over the land. Every wave of invad- 
 ers left its traces in the blood of the population. 
 Already in the first centuries of the present era 
 large Arab colonies were established in Mesopo- 
 tamia. Christianity spread early among the As- 
 syrians, Arabs, and Jews, but it was of a kind 
 which did not harmonize with the Roman Church, 
 so that a split followed between these and the 
 western Christians. 
 
 238 
 
MESOPOTAMIA 239 
 
 Mesopotamia was in a state of ruin as a result 
 of bitter strife when in the seventh century the 
 Moslem Arabs overran it, spreading the new faith 
 of Islam. Since then Mesopotamia has been Arab- 
 ized to such an extent that the history of the coun- 
 try in the years preceding the Arabian invasion 
 still remains very obscure. In 762 the city of 
 Baghdad was founded by the caliph Mansur on 
 the west bank of the Tigris. It was built in a 
 circle and became known as the round city. It 
 grew so rapidly that in less than a century it con- 
 tained a population of two million, becoming the 
 greatest city in the world. The Arabian Caliphate 
 of Baghdad became the leading civilized center 
 not only in Islam, but in all Asia and Europe. 
 
 Arts and science, commerce and trade attained 
 nnpreceJented heights under the early Baghdad 
 caliphs, and to the present day that Arabian civi- 
 lization constitutes one of the marvels of history. 
 What put an end to it was the arrival of the Turk. 
 At first the Mongol invaders only destroyed the 
 political power of the caliphate. As the religious 
 capital in Islam Baghdad still continued till the 
 thirteenth century to play an important part in 
 the East. But then came the Tartars, and with 
 them the end of the caliphate in Mesopotamia. 
 
 Beginning with the sixteenth century Persia 
 and Turkey struggled for control of Mesopota- 
 mia. Baghdad changed hands several times, till 
 it fell into the hands of Sultan Murat IV, in 1638, 
 
240 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 and central Mesopotamia thus came definitely 
 under the domination of the Ottoman government. 
 However, a century later it was turned by one of 
 the Turkish governors into an autonomous king- 
 dom. Persia then made an unsuccessful effort to 
 recapture Baghdad. 
 
 Central and Lower Mesopotamia were occupied 
 by the British-Indian forces during the Great War. 
 When the British entered Baghdad, they an- 
 nounced that they would grant self-government to 
 the population. The Mesopotamian Arabs, while 
 strong bonds unite them with their brethren in 
 Syria and the Hejaz, have not developed any con- 
 siderable national movement as yet. However, 
 many Arab chiefs in Mesopotamia soon allied 
 themselves with the British against the Turks. 
 
 Undoubtedly the greatest British accomplish- 
 ment in Mesopotamia during the war was that of 
 the Irrigation Department. From Basra to 
 Baghdad the British carried out an extensive irri- 
 gation scheme which redeemed hundreds of thou- 
 sands of acres of land and won for them the last- 
 ing friendship of the natives. The Political De- 
 partment of the British Expeditionary Force was 
 just as active. Speaking of its achievements in 
 July, 1918, in the House of Commons, Lord Robert 
 Cecil said: 
 
 ''Very satisfactory progress is being made in 
 redeeming the country from the state of ruin into 
 which it had fallen under the Turks. Thirteen 
 
MESOPOTAMIA 24^ 
 
 Government primary schools, four municipal 
 State-aided schools, a teachers' training school, 
 and a survey school have been opened; extension 
 classes in agriculture have also been started. The 
 local demand for education is very insistent, and 
 is being met as rapidly as the supply of teachers 
 will permit. Large tracts of land hitherto untilled 
 have been brought under the plow through the 
 combined efforts of the people and the Political 
 Administration ; use has been made of mechanical 
 tractors and artillery horses, which have supple- 
 mented the ordinary means of cultivation. The 
 opening up of the country by road, rail, and im- 
 proved water transport, and the establishment 
 of security on the highways, have resulted in an 
 increase of trade and a lowering of prices of com- 
 modities. The contrast between the improved con- 
 dition of Mesopotamia and that of the neighbor- 
 ing country occupied by the Turks, where disorder 
 and famine are chronic, has not failed to impress 
 the population and its leaders, the local notables, 
 and tribal chiefs. The relations between our 
 troops and the people are excellent, and a spirit 
 of harmony and co-operation prevails. The opin- 
 ion is frequently expressed that the British peo- 
 ple mean well by the Arab race. Turning to the 
 operations of the forces of our Ally, the King of 
 the Hejaz, the casualties inflicted on the Turks by 
 the Arab armies along the line between Dera'a and 
 Ma 'an amount to about 2,000, in addition to which 
 
242 THE RESURR'ECTED NATIONS 
 
 two locomotives have been destroyed, 122 culverts 
 and bridges demolished, and railway communica- 
 tion between those two points permanently inter- 
 rupted. In the interior, five Turkish convoys, ag- 
 gregating 1,500 camels, have been captured by the 
 Shereef Ali, and a severe defeat has been inflicted 
 on the Emir of Hail by the Shereef Abdulla. ' ' 
 
 In the subsequent operations of Arabian forces 
 in Palestine and Syria, in conjunction with the 
 movement of General Allenby, Mesopotamian 
 Arabs participated. This linked them more 
 closely with the Arabs of the Hejaz, whose aspira- 
 tion is a union of all their nationals under the 
 aegis of the Shereef of Mecca. However, the Brit- 
 ish program, as announced by Lloyd George in 
 January, 1918, called for a separate Arabian gov- 
 ernment, under British protection, in Mesopota- 
 mia. 
 
 *'The Arabs," according to a British writer, 
 ' ' though torn by tribal dissensions, have a strong 
 feeling of kinship and are united by their oconomic 
 interests. Nomad chiefs who own land in the 
 Tigris and Euphrates valleys are naturally pre- 
 disposed to a British occupation which makes their 
 property more secure, and therefore more val- 
 uable. One nomad who feels that he has gained 
 by our advent is likely to impress the fact on the 
 others, and we may be sure that all Arabia has 
 by now a shrewd idea of the superiority of British 
 control over the misrule of the Turk. These con- 
 
MESOPOTAMIA 243 
 
 siderations are greatly strengthened by the in- 
 nate antagonism between Turk and Arab, and by 
 the Hejaz revolt, which has shown that the Turk, 
 although a Moslem, can be lawfully fought by 
 other Moslems. It will be seen, then, that the 
 British armies in Palestine and Mesopotamia 
 have already exerted a marked influence over the 
 whole of that vast region which separates their 
 fields of action, and that there is nothing fantas- 
 tic in the program of freeing the Arabs which 
 General Maude announced in Baghdad." 
 
 Four solutions of the Mesopotamian problem 
 have been suggested. The first is contained in 
 the understanding between England and France, 
 whereby the former was to set up an autonomous 
 native administration in Mesopotamia under Brit- 
 ish protection. The second is to be found in the 
 effort of the kingdom of the Hejaz to incorporate 
 Mesopotamia with Western Arabia under the 
 Shereef of Mecca. The third is the claim of some 
 Syrians that Mesopotamia and Syria be united, 
 in view of their geographical and economic inter- 
 dependence. The fourth is the proposal to estab- 
 lish a native government in Mesopotamia under 
 the immediate guidance and protection of a league 
 of nations. If there ever was any sentiment in 
 Mesopotamia for re-union with Turkey, it van- 
 ished with the surrender of the Ottoman govern- 
 ment to the Allies. There are no physical or 
 spiritual ties between the Turks and Arabs. 
 
244 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Syria and Armenia divide Turkey from Mesopota- 
 mia. The Arabs realized that their stagnation in 
 the past several centuries was due to Turkish rule 
 and saw in the removal of this rule the beginning 
 of a new epoch in their history. 
 
ASSYRIA 
 
 The Assyrians are the descendants of the 
 ancient race which thousands of years ago built 
 the mighty empires of Assyria and Babylon on 
 the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. Only a 
 handful of the Assyrians remain. They inhabit 
 the Zorgas highlands, where the Great Zab, a 
 tributary of the Tigris, has its source, as well as 
 the cities of Urumia and Mosul. The present 
 homeland of the Assyrians may be defined as the 
 triangle between Urumia (on the lake of the same 
 name), Mosul, and the southern extremity of Lake 
 Van. 
 
 Only those Christian Assyrians who are known 
 to the civilized world as Nestorians have become 
 identified as Assyrian nationals in the West. But 
 there are in Assyria a number of half -Moslem and 
 half-Christian sects who are usually regarded by 
 foreigners as Arabs or Kurds, but who really are 
 Assyrians. In addition there are the Jacobites, 
 another Christian Assyrian sect living in Syria 
 and Armenia, and a large Assyrian colony in In- 
 dia. All these various elements of the Assyrian 
 
 245 
 
246 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 race have up to 1914 manifested no concerted 
 national consciousness. However, in the course 
 of the Great War a remarkable movement origi- 
 nated among the Assyrian immigrants in the 
 United States, where they number about twenty- 
 five thousand. They organized societies, founded 
 some periodicals, and began to press their histori- 
 cal claims, seeking autonomy under the protection 
 of the Great Powers. 
 
 Before the World War broke out there were not 
 more than three-quarters of a million of Assyrians 
 of all descriptions in Turkey, Persia, and Russia, 
 of whom more than two hundred thousand were 
 Nestorians. Nearly three-quarters of a million 
 more are said to inhabit the Malabar Coast of In- 
 dia. With these distant brothers included, the 
 Assyrians number not more than a million and 
 a half, the remainder of a once-powerful nation. 
 
 There is no question that historically the Assy- 
 rians have a perfect claim to the land they inhabit. 
 Forty-five hundred years ago their forefathers 
 lived in it and from it spread out and conquered 
 many kingdoms and peoples. The Bible records 
 the deeds of the Assyrian rulers. It was in 606 
 B. C. that Babylon and Media combined to over- 
 throw Assyria. However, it maintained a semi- 
 independent state until Persia overran it. Then 
 came the Roman, Byzantine and Persian empires. 
 The Assyrians first embraced Christianity during 
 the Apostolic period, and were gradually convert- 
 
ASSYRIA 247 
 
 ed in the course of tlie first centuries. The new re- 
 ligion brought upon them the ire of the Persians, 
 who considered it a challenge to their own faith, 
 Zoroastrianism, or fire-worship. At the close of 
 the third century the Persians began to persecute 
 the Christians under them. The Assyrians were 
 massacred in large numbers. In one district alone 
 a hundred and sixty thousand Christians suffered 
 martyrdom. Hundreds of thousands migrated to 
 India. In the fourth century a Persian Emperor, 
 seeing the obstinacy with which the Christians 
 stuck to their faith, decreed that ' ' the Christians, 
 unless they would consent to worship the Persian 
 deities, should be required to pay an invariable 
 tax levied on each individual." At the beginning 
 of the fifth century the Christians in Persia en- 
 joyed a period of rest under the leadership of 
 Bishop Maruthas, who rendered valuable service 
 to the Persian Emperor by carrying on successful 
 negotiations with the Roman Emperors. 
 
 From the sixth to the eighth century the Assy- 
 rians converted many Asiatic races to the Nesto- 
 rian Church, exercising wide influence until the 
 rise of the Caliphate of Baghdad, which was estab- 
 lished by the followers of the new religion of Is- 
 lam. The Baghdad Caliphate was the center of 
 Arabian civilization for several centuries, and the 
 Assyrians enjoyed its protection, although their 
 church lost its power and decayed. In the thir- 
 teenth century the Mongol hordes emerged from 
 
248 THE EESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 the East, wrecking Arabian civilization and sack- 
 ing Baghdad. The Assyrians fled to the Zogras 
 Mountains and established a patriarchal seat at 
 Julamerk. Under their patriarchs the Nestorians 
 have maintained not only rehgious but also a cer- 
 tain amount of political autonomy. 
 
 In 1834 the American Presbyterians sent the 
 Eev. Justin Perkins to do missionary work among 
 the Nestorians. An American mission, consisting 
 of a college and a hospital, was later established 
 in Urumia. The American missionaries were fol- 
 lowed by an Anglican mission sent by the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and by some Russian Ortho- 
 dox workers. The last were more political in- 
 triguers than missionaries. By promises of 
 special Russian protection to the Nestorians, they 
 won many of them over to the Orthodox Church. 
 
 The war brought terrible disaster to the Assy- 
 rians. At first the relations between the Kurds 
 and the Assyrians were undisturbed, and in the 
 winter of 1914-15 there was peace in the Taurus 
 highlands, although in January, 1915, the Turks 
 had captured the Persian city of Urumia and held 
 it for several months. * ' Then, in March, ' ' accord- 
 ing to Philips Price, ' ' two Assyrians arrived with 
 news from Russia at Kochanes, the village of the 
 Patriarch. Russia, they said, would come and 
 take the Assyrian highlands, and liberate the 
 Christians groaning under the tyranny of the 
 Turk. The Cossacks would be here any time now; 
 
ASSYRIA 249 
 
 guns, ammunition, money, all would be forthcom- 
 ing; only let them rise up now against the com- 
 mon enemy of Christendom." The Assyrians 
 were undecided. Then Turkish agents appeared 
 among the Kurds and urged them to rise to the 
 defense of the Sultan. The Kurds also hesitated. 
 ' * If we go to the Turks they will take us and make 
 us serve in Europe and Gallipoli. Let us rather 
 stay in our homes, or if we must fight, then let us 
 fight our neighbors and get all the loot we can." 
 This they proceeded to do as soon as some of the 
 Assyrian tribes went to join the Russians, and 
 war was thus declared by the Kurds against the 
 Assyrians. 
 
 Meanwhile the Turkish army under HaHl Bey, 
 which held Urumia, was defeated by a Russian 
 force at Salmas, Persia, and retreated, which 
 made it possible for the Russians to re-enter 
 Urumia in May. What followed was thus de- 
 scribed by a correspondent of ''The Near East" 
 in April, 1918 : 
 
 "The next Turkish offensive, in June, was an 
 attack, led by the Vali of Mosul, against the high- 
 landers of the Mar Shimun (the Assyrian Patri- 
 arch). The latter defended their narrow valley 
 against the invaders with the utmost valor. But 
 the Turks had with them some mountain artillery, 
 so that they were able to battle down the resist- 
 ance offered by the castles and churches; and at 
 length the Assyrians were forced to abandon their 
 
250 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 valleys and to take refuge for three months in the 
 fastnesses of almost inaccessible mountains. Here, 
 amid the clouds, they preserved their freedom, but 
 they ran short of supplies. With a handful of 
 trusty warriors their brave Patriarch betook him- 
 self through untold perils to the Russian lines at 
 Salmas, Persia, to secure assistance. The fall of 
 Warsaw, however, had so weakened the Russians 
 that for the moment they were unable to render 
 effective aid; consequently Mar Shimun was 
 forced in November, 1915, to lead his needy flock 
 down to the plateau of northwestern Persia. 
 They scattered throughout the plains of Salmas 
 and Urumia; but here they did not find food 
 enough to go round; and they also lacked houses 
 and winter clothing. In those high altitudes, 
 where snow is plentiful, their sufferings were in- 
 tense, and within three months fifteen per cent, 
 of the refugees had died of disease or of starva- 
 tion. 
 
 ''In January, 1916, Mar Shimun visited the 
 Grand Duke Nicholas, Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Russian Army of the Caucasus, who received him 
 with the honors due to the head of a Church and 
 of a nationality. The Russians requested the As- 
 syrian Highlanders to help defend the border 
 against the Turks and Kurds. As late as October, 
 1917, the Assyrians held the Castle of Chal, only 
 fifty miles from Mosul. But the withdrawal of 
 the Russian forces has brought great disaster to 
 
ASSYRIA 251 
 
 the Assyrians, and thousands of women and chil- 
 dren are threatened with extermination." 
 
 From America and England large sums of 
 money were transmitted to Urumia to succor the 
 many thousands of ruined and hungry Assyrians. 
 But even more noble were the indefatigable efforts 
 of the American missionaries, Dr. Shedd and Dr. 
 Packard, who literally saved thousands of lives 
 through their influence with the Kurds. "Dr. 
 Packard," writes Philips Price, ''is six feet tall, 
 with the eye of an eagle and the courage of a lion. 
 He has traveled during the past thirteen years in 
 every remote valley of this wild Turco-Persian 
 borderland ; he is intimately acquainted with every 
 tribal chief of the Kurds, and can go among the 
 fiercest and most intractable of them, such is his 
 moral hold over these men, his medical skill, and 
 the confidence which they place in a man who is 
 not engaged in political intrigue." 
 
 A typical instance of the American missionary 's 
 work occurred early in 1915, when the Kurds fell 
 upon the Assyrian Christians after the Russian 
 evacuation of Urumia and massacred and plun- 
 dered thousands of them. Two thousand Assyr- 
 ians were besieged in one village by the Kurds. 
 Dr. Packard, at the risk of his life, ''went straight 
 to the Kurdish chief commanding the besiegers, 
 and begged him in the name of humanity to spare 
 the Christians, telling him that Mahommed had 
 never countenanced cruelty, and had always taught 
 
252 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 his disciples to be kind and merciful. The effect 
 of a personal appeal for mercy from one who in- 
 spires confidence even in a wild mountaineer was 
 instantaneous. The Christians were liberated on 
 condition of giving up their arms." 
 
 The Assyrians sustained a great loss when the 
 head of their Church, Benjamin Mar Shimun, was 
 killed in March, 1918. However, a successor was 
 promptly elected and, under him, they made an 
 effort to effect a junction mth the British forces 
 in Mesopotamia. 
 
 The numerical weakness of the Assyrians neces- 
 sarily renders their problem small and easy of 
 solution. The crying Assyrian need is security 
 against attacks from the Kurds, Persians, Tar- 
 tars and Turks. But neither do the Assyrians 
 wish to be incorporated in the new Armenia, as 
 some Armenian nationalists desire. The Rev. 
 Joel Werda, President of the Assyrian National 
 Association in the United States, referring to the 
 movement for an Armenian- As Syrian union, said : 
 
 ''It is needless to say that this will be an utter 
 impossibility. The Assyrians have no imperial 
 dreams, nor the thought of conquest. What the 
 Assyrians desire is a portion of their own land, 
 it matters not how small, with an outlet to the 
 sea. The mountains of Kurdistan (the so-called 
 Assyrian highlands), together with the plains of 
 the province of Mosul, with the Tigris giving us 
 
 I 
 
ASSYRIA 253 
 
 an outlet to the sea, and a guarantee that we 
 would be protected from persecution and further 
 atrocities, would be sufficient to satisfy the rea- 
 sonable desire of the Assyrian nation. ' ' 
 
VI ^ 
 KURDISTAN 
 
 KuEDisTAN, the land of the Kurds, comprises 
 mainly the Taurus mountain range which divides 
 Armenia from Mesopotamia. West of Kurdistan 
 is Cilicia, to the oast of it is the Persian province 
 of Azerbaijan. Of the two million Kurds that 
 lived in Turkey in 1914, more than half inhabited 
 the Taurus highlands. Another million were sub- 
 jects of Persia and Russia. 
 
 The Kurds are considered the original inliabi- 
 tants of Kurdistan, having inhabited the Taurus 
 mountains since the dawn of history. Already in 
 the days of the Assyrian empire they led a sepa- 
 rate national existence. Ancient Media was 
 largely a Kurdish power. Later they fell under 
 Persian influence, and absorbed much of the Per- 
 sian culture. The Kurds, although converted to 
 Islam, resisted the domination of the Baghdad 
 Caliphs in the ninth and tenth centuries. Kurdis- 
 tan reached its height under Saladin in the twelfth 
 century, when it became a vast kingdom extending 
 as far as Egypt and Yemen in the south and the 
 Black Sea in the north. 
 
 254 
 
KUEDISTAN 255 
 
 With the arrival of the Turks in Middle Asia, 
 the larger portion of the Kurds fell under their 
 sway. However, they retained till the nineteenth 
 century virtual tribal independence. Eussia's 
 victorious pressure in Transcaucasia encouraged 
 them to revolt, but Turkey subdued them in 1834 
 and placed them under Turkish administrators. 
 Nevertheless Kurdistan still remained an autono- 
 mous country, ruled by Bedr Khan Bey, a power- 
 ful chief. In 1843 Bedr Khan Bey made an effort, 
 at the head of a large force, to drive the Turkish 
 administration out and set up in Kurdistan and 
 the adjoining Armenian districts an entirely in- 
 dependent kingdom. He failed, but his movement 
 was the beginning of modem Kurdish nationalism. 
 
 What gave a strong impetus to Kurdish nation- 
 alism was Armenian nationalism. The latter was 
 encouraged by Eussia during and after the war of 
 1877-78, Turkey therefore proceeded to encour- 
 age the Kurdish chief, Sheikh Obeidulla, to set up 
 a Kurdish principality and to propagate Kurdish 
 nationalism, so as to create hatred between the. 
 two races, in which alone was there safety for the 
 Ottoman hold on the Kurdish- Armenian lands. It 
 is an established fact that up to 1877 the Kurds 
 and the Armenians got along well together. But 
 after the race animosity had been aroused, Turkey 
 resumed its oppression of the Kurds, even as Eus- 
 sia had suspended its pro-Armenian policy and 
 began to persecute its Armenian subjects. 
 
256 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 After the Turkish Revolution of 1908 an agree- 
 ment was reached between the Armenians and the 
 Kurds to support the Young Turkish government. 
 It is significant that the Kurds were the first to go 
 over to the opposition when the Young Turks 
 adopted the pohcy of Ottomanization for all the 
 races of the empire. Shortly before the outbreak 
 of the war in 1914 the Turkish authorities hanged 
 in Bitlis one of the last semi-independent chiefs 
 in Kurdistan, Sheikh Seyid Ali of Khizan, for 
 fomenting revolution. 
 
 When early in 1915 Turkish emissaries came to 
 the Kurds to incite them against the Christians, 
 they held out to them again many attractive prom- 
 ises. The Kurdish invasion of the plains of Uru- 
 mia, in which the Assyrians suffered so much, 
 was perpetrated, writes Philips Price, ''partly 
 with a view to loot, but also, as far as the tribal 
 chiefs were concerned, with the idea of creating a 
 large Kurdish kingdom, with themselves as the 
 rulers. It was undoubtedly a quite spontaneous 
 movement, called forth by the steady growth of 
 nationalism among the Kurds during the last 
 thirty years; but it is curious that it coincided 
 with the plan of Enver Pasha and the Young 
 Turks, set forth at the Erzerum Conference of 
 September, 1914, to create a chain of buffer states 
 under Ottoman suzerainty between Russia and 
 Turkey. Religious fanaticism probably played a 
 much smaller part in the movement than in previ- 
 
KURDISTAN 257 
 
 ous years. The governing factor throughout 
 seems to have been nationality. It was in fact the 
 desire on the part of the Kurds to realize them- 
 selves as a unit in human affairs; and that idea 
 was far more powerful than the idea of Jihad 
 (Holy War)." 
 
 Mr. Price is probably the only European writer 
 with an up-to-date knowledge of the Kurdish prob- 
 lem. In his observations in ''War and Revolution 
 in Asiatic Russia" he continues as follows on the 
 subject of the Kurds : "Their chief mode of life is 
 cattle and horse-raising, for which abundant moun- 
 tain pasturage is necessary ; so a very large part 
 of them live as nomads, taking their flocks up to 
 the alpine meadows for the Summer, and retiring 
 in Winter to sheltered valleys in the foothills. 
 Being a strong and virile race, their numbers are 
 continually increasing, the pressure of population 
 and the insufficiency of pasturage thus making it 
 necessary for them to expand. The deserts of 
 Mesopotamia do not attract them, owing to the 
 absence under Turkish rule of any development of 
 irrigation in the basins of the lower Tigris and 
 Euphrates. On the other hand, to the north in 
 Armenia they find upland plateaux, where indus- 
 trious Armenian peasants grow corn, while on the 
 Persian table-land fertile oases abound, where 
 rice and the vine flourish. Everything at- 
 tracts them northward, and this is one of the 
 prime causes of political disorders in Greater Ar- 
 
258 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 menia and northwest Persia, and can only be dealt 
 with by development of the irrigated lands of Mes- 
 opotamia, so as to give the Kurds a chance to 
 migrate south. . . . This necessity of the Kurds 
 for expansion is one of the most potent causes of 
 their national unrest. It is the absence of a guid- 
 ing and controlling hand that has turned this 
 natural movement into undesirable channels. 
 
 ''It is customary in Europe to look upon the 
 Kurd as cruel and bloodthirsty by nature, and 
 given to creating disturbances for sheer deviltry's 
 sake. But when a race is situated in a countiy 
 lying between two greedy empires, both contin- 
 ually intriguing, bribing, threatening, invading, 
 and always thinking more of their own selfish 
 imperial interests than of the interests of the 
 people they are dealing with, is it likely that such 
 a race will fail to develop the character of fickle- 
 ness toward foreigners'? There is only one way 
 to secure the peace and development of Kurdis- 
 tan, and that is by the exercise of a little honesty, 
 that quality so rare in diplomacy. If the govern- 
 ing power deals fairly with the natives, improves 
 roads, irrigates the land, and builds schools, the 
 object of which is not merely to teach the children 
 garbled history about their own country, the 
 natives will then become confident, and turn their 
 activities to works of production rather than of 
 destruction. ' ' 
 
 Tlie creation of an autonomous Armenia would 
 
KURDISTAN 259 
 
 cut Kurdistan off from Turkey. The collapse of 
 the Russian empire and the establishment of au- 
 tonomous Georgian and Tartar republics in Trans- 
 caucasia abolished the Russian sphere of influence 
 in Persia. To unite resurgent Kurdistan with weak 
 Persia would be a sure sign of future wars in the 
 Middle East. To let the newly created Armenian 
 state rule Kurdistan would doom Armenia to 
 quick internal destruction. Armenia as it is, 
 drawn along strictly ethnographic lines, would 
 include a large number of Kurds. The incorpora- 
 tion of Kurdistan in it, would mean the creation 
 of an Armenian state in which there were two 
 Kurds to one Armenian. There remains the so- 
 lution of creating a united Kurdish government 
 in Kurdistan, under the protection, and with the 
 aid, of the Great Powers. Such a solution would 
 stabilize the new Armenia, it would give the 
 Kurds their rights, and would insure the develop- 
 ment of a civilization in Kurdistan. 
 
VII 
 ARMENIA 
 
 The word Armenia, to which the Armenians owe 
 their name, is said to have been derived from the 
 two words ar (land) and meni (mountain) — the 
 land of mountains. Strictly speaking, however, 
 Armenia is a plateau, with an elevation of about 
 six thousand feet, lying between the Taurus moun- 
 tain range in the south and Anti-Taurus range in 
 the north. The Armenian plateau, running from 
 the east to the west, is easily accessible from Asia 
 and Europe, forming a sort of a highway in times 
 past between Central Asia and Greece. 
 
 Above the Armenian tableland rises the cele- 
 brated Mount Ararat, on which, according to the 
 Old Testament, Noah's ark rested. ''When Noah 
 stood on Ararat, ' ' picturesquely observes Edward 
 C. Little, "the great plateau of Armenia lay all 
 about him. To the northeast he could see the 
 fertile and beautiful valley of Araxes running 150 
 miles to the salt waters of the Caspian Sea. To 
 the southwest were the f ountainheads of the Tigris 
 and the Euphrates, and the hills and valleys and 
 the plateaux extending to the waters of the Medi- 
 
 263 
 
264 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 terranean in the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. To 
 the northwest was the Black Sea, and later the 
 famous city of Trebizond, while Persia lay to the 
 southeast." 
 
 Before the outbreak of the Great War, Armenia 
 was divided among Russia, Turkey, and Persia. 
 On the east the Armenians are bounded by Per- 
 sians and Tartars ; on the north by Georgians and 
 their Moslem half-brothers, the Lazes ; on the west 
 by Turks and Greeks and Anatolians; on the 
 south by Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians. These are 
 only the main ethnic boundaries of Armenia. 
 
 The real origin of the Armenians is shrouded in 
 the haze of the early history of mankind. The 
 Bible is replete with references to Armenia. It 
 is not yet fully established whether the Armenians 
 were the first inhabitants of Armenia or were an 
 Aryan race that invaded the region of Ararat and 
 assimilated its original population. According to 
 Alexander Polyhistor, 175 B. C, the Armenians 
 fought the Phoenicians twenty centuries before 
 Christ, and conquered them. An Irish publicist is 
 quoted to the effect that at the time of Phoenician 
 commerce with the West, Armenian traders were 
 among them, — that every Irish name one meets 
 ending in an, such as Brian, O'Callaghan, Sheri- 
 dan, as well as the Cornish names of Trevelyan, 
 Tresillian, and others, are but the remains of the 
 Armenian termination ian. 
 
 When Armenia emerges from the zone of doubt 
 
ARMENIA 265 
 
 we find her a subject territory of Persia. Four 
 liundred and eighty years before Christ an Ar- 
 menian force was included in the hordes of Xer- 
 xes when he w^arred against Greece. Alexander 
 the Great, in his conquest of Persia, acquired Ar- 
 menia and made it a Macedonian province, ap- 
 pointing a Persian as its Governor. Upon the 
 death of Alexander the Great, when his huge em- 
 pire was divided, one of his generals, Neoptole- 
 mus, took possession of Armenia, in 323 B. C. 
 This was the beginning of the political indepen- 
 dence of the Armenians. With few interregnums, 
 the Kingdom of Armenia had more than seven- 
 teen centuries of existence. 
 
 The golden age of Armenian history was the 
 reign of Tigranes the Great, 94-56 B. C. He ex- 
 panded his dominions in every direction, conquer- 
 ing the neighboring kingdoms. At the zenith of 
 his career Armenia had a population of about 
 thirty million. Tigranes became known, accord- 
 ing to his coins, as King of Kings, and was the 
 mightiest monarch in Asia. His power, however, 
 came in conflict with the ambitions of Rome. 
 ''Tigranes made the Republic of Rome tremble 
 before his prowess," wrote Cicero. Rome sent an 
 army to conquer Armenia and subdue Tigranes. 
 The gTeat Armenian ruler was defeated and made 
 a vassal of Rome. Upon his death he was suc- 
 ceeded by his son. At about the same time Parthia 
 became Rome's rival and Armenia was turned into 
 
266 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 the field upon which East and West struggled for 
 supremacy. Later, in 226 A. D., the Persians con- 
 quered Parthia, and Annenia reverted to Persia. 
 
 The earliest nation in the world to adopt Chris- 
 tianity as a state religion was Armenia. The al- 
 most instantaneous conversion to Christianity of 
 the Armenian people occurred in 301 A. D., when 
 King Tiridates of Armenia was converted to the 
 new faith by Gregory the Parthian, called the 
 Illuminator, after having been miraculously 
 healed by him while suffering from a grave dis- 
 ease. The king then proclaimed Christianity as 
 the state religion. 
 
 The life of Armenia as a Christian state was one 
 of great service to the spread of Christianity in 
 the world. Its newly adopted religion almost im- 
 mediately provoked the hostility of the dominant 
 power, Persia, which finally involved the Christian 
 Emperor of Rome, Constantino the Great, in a 
 struggle against Persia. The result, however, was 
 the partition of Armenia, in 387 A. D. The Per- 
 sians persecuted the Armenians for their faith. 
 The Armenians resisted with all the fervor of 
 their primitive religion, and developed through it 
 that cohesion which bound them together into an 
 unprecedented national unit. Nothing could re- 
 duce the Armenians to a degenerative stage. 
 Neither the hordes of the Persians nor the fanati- 
 cism of the Mohammedan Arabs and Turks could 
 destroy their spirit. During the Armenian 
 
ARMENIA 267 
 
 struggle against the Persians, the latter attempted 
 to induce them to give up Christianity and em- 
 brace Zoroastrianism (fire-worship), to which the 
 Armenians replied: 
 
 ^'From this faith, no force can move us, — 
 neither angels nor men; neither sword, nor fire, 
 nor water, nor any deadly punishment. ... If 
 you leave us our faith, we shall accept no other 
 lord in place of you; but we shall accept no God 
 in place of Christ. If after this great confession, 
 you ask anything more of us, lo ! our lives are in 
 your power. From you, torments; from us, sub- 
 mission ; your sword, our necks. We are no better 
 than those who have gone before us, who sacrificed 
 their wealth and their lives for this testimony ! ' ' 
 
 The crisis in the Persian-Armenian struggle 
 was reached in 451 A. D., when in the battle of 
 Avarair sixty-six thousand Armenians defeated 
 two hundred and twenty thousand Persians. This 
 won for them religious liberty. Although still 
 politically autonomous for two centuries after its 
 partition, Armenia owed its preservation mainly 
 to its Church. Already in the year 404 an Ar- 
 menian alphabet had been devised, and in 433 the 
 Bible was first rendered into Armenian from the 
 Greek. That translation is still known as the 
 '* Queen of Versions." The Church fostered Ar- 
 menian letters breathing a national spirit, which 
 contributed enormously to the preservation of the 
 race. 
 
268 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 The first Arab wave to reach Armenia came in 
 636, immediately after the death of the Prophet. 
 Armenia passed swiftly into the hands of the 
 Caliphs, who appointed Arab and native gover- 
 nors to rule the country. In the ninth century one 
 such governor, Bagratid Ashot, of Jewish origin, 
 succeeded in consolidating part of Armenia into 
 the Kingdom of Ani, of which he was crowned king 
 by the Caliph Motamid in 885. Thus was founded 
 the small but progressive Armenian state of the 
 Middle Ages. 
 
 In the tenth century Armenia underwent fright- 
 ful treatment at the hands of the Arabs. The 
 Christian nations were afraid of the Moslem 
 hordes and did not come to the succor of Armenia. 
 The country was desolated and the Armenians 
 decimated. Hardly had it recovered from the 
 Arabs when a new invasion, that of the Seljuk 
 Turks, overran the Armenian lands. These bar- 
 barians plundered the cities and villages, putting 
 their inhabitants to the sword. Internal strife and 
 warfare against the Georgians and the Greeks 
 weakened the Armenian resistance, and finally the 
 Kingdom of Ani succumbed to Toghrul Bey, the 
 leader of the Seljuks, in 1064. The massacre of 
 the helpless population of Ani was one of the 
 bloodiest in human history. The ruins of the city 
 of Ani still stand. Luigi Villari, who visited them 
 in 1904, writes: 
 
 *'l took leave of this mai-velous city. It shows 
 
ARMENIA 269 
 
 evidence of a building power and architectural 
 skill on the part of the ancient Armenians of the 
 highest order, and enables us to realize that this 
 people, in spite of the lamentable history of the 
 last six centuries, is a nation with a noble past. 
 To-day this spot, where proud kings once dwelt in 
 splendid courts and held sway over prosperous 
 lands and civilized subjects, where public life was 
 active and vigorous, is a crying wilderness. . . . 
 Is the state of Ani symbolical of that of the Ar- 
 menian nation, and are they destined at last to 
 disappear or be absorbed into other races, other 
 religions! I do not think so, for with all the suf- 
 fering and persecution they have undergone, they 
 still preserve a vigorous national life. ' ' 
 
 During the invasions the Armenians migrated 
 to distant parts of Europe and Asia. Thousands 
 flew to the mountains to escape being butchered. 
 The wealthier and more enterprising elements 
 went to Byzantium, to the northern shores of the 
 Caspian Sea, to the Crimea, to Poland and to 
 Moldavia. It was a dispersal from which Arme- 
 nia has never recovered. The marvel of this 
 period of martyrdom for the Armenian people was 
 that any of them were left alive in their own 
 country and able to perpetuate their national ex- 
 istence. "For more than three centuries after 
 the appearance of the Seljuk," observes a writer, 
 ''Armenia was traversed by a long succession of 
 nomad tribes, whose one aim was to secure good 
 
270 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 pasturage for their flocks on their way to the 
 richer lands of Asia Minor. The cultivators were 
 driven from the plains, agriculture was destroyed 
 and the country was seriously impoverished when 
 the ruin was completed by the wholesale butcheries 
 of Timur (Tamerlane)." 
 
 Among the emigrants toward the end of the 
 eleventh century was one Eupen, a relation of the 
 last king of Ani. He founded a colony of Arme- 
 nians in 1080 in the Cilician Taurus which devel- 
 oped later into the kingdom of Cilicia and became 
 known as Lesser Armenia. The first Holy Cru- 
 sade was decreed by Pope Urban II in the year 
 1095. Lesser Armenia, already waging defensive 
 warfare against the Seljuks, generously co- 
 operated with the Crusaders, for which her king, 
 Gostandin, was knighted and subsequently created 
 a marquis. Cilicia was ever ready to assist the 
 Western Christians in their wars for the Holy 
 Land. Had Lesser Armenia been supported by 
 the Christian states in its strenuous efforts to re- 
 sist the Ottoman movement westward, the Turk 
 might never have played the role he did. Unfor- 
 tunately the Byzantine Empire was unfriendly, 
 even hostile to the Armenians, being desirous of 
 absorbing the Armenian Church. The Armenians 
 resisted domination by the Greek Church, as well 
 as that of the Roman Church, which adopted a 
 similar attitude, demanding the submission of the 
 
ARMENIA 271 
 
 Armenian Episcopate to the rule of the Supreme 
 Pontiff. 
 
 "It may be said with absolute truth," writes 
 W. L. Williams, ''that the chief difficulty en- 
 countered by this tiny Christian State, this out- 
 post of the Christian Church, during its whole 
 career, arose from the determination of the two 
 Christian organizations in the East and West to 
 absorb this national Church which clung so obsti- 
 nately to its own creed and to its separate and in- 
 dependent existence. When after 300 years of 
 struggle against foes within and without the 
 Lesser Kingdom of Armenia disappeared and the 
 political existence of this people vanished, it was 
 in a large measure owing to the ecclesiastical in- 
 trigues incessantly carried on by the Roman and 
 Greek Churches. They weakened and rendered 
 impotent the State at a moment when unity was 
 called for, and the whole strength of the people 
 was needed to meet their Moslem foes thundering 
 at their gates." 
 
 The Cilician kingdom was through the Cru- 
 sades brought into close relations with France, 
 and its kings even married into French nobility. 
 After many vicissitudes the life of Lesser Arme- 
 nia was ingloriously terminated. In 1375 she was 
 invaded by the Mamelukes of Egypt and her king, 
 Leo the Sixth, was taken into captivity. After a 
 prolonged imprisonment he was released, came to 
 Europe an exile a-nd died in 1393 in Paris, where 
 
272 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 he lies buried in the Abbey of St. Denis. Thus 
 did the last vestige of Armenian independence 
 pass away. 
 
 The Tartar hordes were next to sweep over Ar- 
 menia. In 1401 Tamerlane had left Asia Minor 
 a frightful wreck. The Ottoman Turks followed 
 the Tartars. Armenia was the first to suffer at 
 the hands of the savage invaders that rushed 
 from Central Asia toward Christian Europe. And 
 still Armenia persisted in existing. If anything, 
 the horrible ordeals which she underwent made 
 her more invulnerable and fuller of vitality. As 
 soon as an invader had passed, the Armenians 
 would emerge from mountain crags and hidden 
 valleys by the thousand to perpetuate their kind, 
 to revive and restore their land, only to be again 
 slaughtered and devastated by a new tide of in- 
 vasion. For several centuries the Turks and the 
 Persians battled on the fields of Armenia, soak- 
 ing her soil with their blood and that of its in- 
 habitants. In the seventeenth century a Persian 
 king, retreating before the Turks, and fearing 
 lest the latter should rescue the Armenians and 
 use them against the Persians, decided to trans- 
 fer the Armenian population to Persia. Hundreds 
 of thousands of them were driven in front of the 
 Persian army till they reached the River Araxes, 
 over which there was no bridge. The Turkish army 
 was rapidly moving against the Persians. The 
 Commander of the latter. Shah Abbas, therefore 
 
ARMENIA 273 
 
 ordered Ms forces to drive the Armenian multi- 
 tude into the river, thus affording an opportunity 
 to those who were able to swim to save their lives. 
 
 In 1639 a treaty between Persia and Turkey 
 transferred the eastern part of Armenia to the 
 latter power. In that part was located the prov- 
 ince of Erivan, the chief city of which, Etchmiad- 
 zin, is the ecclesiastical and cultural center of 
 the country. This section was in 1828 handed over 
 by Turkey to Russia, whose interest in Armenia 
 and the Armenians dated from 1722, when Peter 
 the Great sent an expedition into Transcaucasia 
 to capture Baku. Persecuted by the Moslems, the 
 Armenians, through their patriarch, applied to 
 Peter for permission to settle in the Russian do- 
 minions. Since then Russia steadily pressed 
 southward against Turkey and Persia, and the 
 Armenians moved northward just as steadily, so 
 that at the outbreak of the Great War there were 
 more than a million and a half Armenians in 
 Transcaucasia, a considerable portion of whom 
 settled in Georgia and the Tartar districts in the 
 vicinity of Baku. The differences among the Ar- 
 menians, Georgians and Tartars in the Caucasus 
 spring mainly from the peaceful Armenian con- 
 quest of the region, just as the differences between 
 the Armenians and their southern neighbors, the 
 Kurds, are due to the pressure of the latter north- 
 ward. 
 
 When Russia acquired Georgia at the beginning 
 
274 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS J 
 
 of the nineteenth century, it annexed a large Ar- 
 menian population. In 1813 it occupied the Per- 
 sian province of Karabagh and in 1829 the Turk- 
 ish province of Akhaltsykh, both of which con- 
 tained many Armenian communities. With the 
 acquisition of the province of Kars from Turkey, 
 in 1878, Russia's interest in the Armenians as- 
 sumed definite form. The modern Armenian prob- 
 lem may be said to date from that year. 
 
 The Russo-Turkish treaty of San Stefano, 
 which terminated the war of 1877-78, provided that 
 Turkey should ' ' carry into effect, without further 
 delay, the improvements and reforms demanded 
 by local requirements in the provinces inhabited 
 by Armenians and guarantee their security from 
 the Kurds and Circassians." A Russian army of 
 occupation was to see to it that this provision was 
 carried out. However, Turkish diplomacy, sup- 
 ported by Western powers, succeeded in annulling 
 the treaty of San Stefano, and substituted that of 
 Berlin. It was at the time a blow to Russia and a 
 diplomatic triumph for Great Britain. ''Great 
 Britain went further," according to the British 
 publicist, W. L. Williams. ' ' By the secret Cyprus 
 Convention (June 4, 1878), the Sultan promised 
 to introduce necessary reforms ' for the protection 
 of Christians and other subjects of the Porte' in 
 Asia Minor. As the price for guaranteeing the 
 integrity of Turkish territory in Asia Minor, 
 Cyprus was ceded to Great Britain. Time and 
 
ARMENIA 275 
 
 events have shown it to be one of the gravest 
 political blunders in our annals. But what were 
 its immediate practical effects 1 It encouraged the 
 Armenians to look to the European Powers and 
 not to Russia alone for protection; and the Con- 
 vention, which did not mention the Armenians, 
 was regarded as placing them under the special 
 protection of Great Britain. It was a betrayal of 
 the Armenians by the Power to which they were 
 bidden to look for deliverance from the basest 
 and cruelest tyranny." 
 
 The protection given by Russia to the Arme- 
 nians proved harmful to them. Already during 
 the war of 1877-78 the Ottoman authorities insti- 
 gated massacres of Armenians in Turkey who 
 were suspected, not without reason, of being pro- 
 Russian. A national movement was born among 
 the Armenians. Secret organizations and connnit- 
 tees were established in the large cities of Arme- 
 nia, which were under the influence of nationalist 
 societies formed in Paris, Geneva, and Tiflis. Rus- 
 sia at first encouraged this Armenian movement, 
 which was anti-Turkish, but not for long. During 
 the reign of Alexander III the reactionary policy 
 of the Tsar for Russia was gradually extended to 
 all the dominions of the empire. The Caucasus 
 did not escape the new era, and the Armenians 
 were among the first victims, their schools and 
 Church suffering from governmental persecution. 
 The Armenians soon found themselves between 
 
276 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 two fires. Abandoned by their erstwhile protec- 
 tor, the Armenians became an easier prey to the 
 Turkish government, which executed a series of 
 bloody massacres in 1894-96 that cost about one 
 hundred thousand Armenian lives. i 
 
 A large emigration from Armenia proper began 
 in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Tens 
 of thousands of Armenians left for foreign coun- 
 tries, while many more thousands migrated to 
 European Turkey and Russia, where they adapted 
 themselves quickly to new conditions and led in 
 every field of endeavor. Writing in 1905, Luigi 
 Villari called attention to the rise of a wealthy 
 Armenian middle class. "We find them (Arme- 
 nians)," he observed, "as bankers, merchants, 
 shopkeepers, manufacturers, lawyers, doctors, 
 teachers, engineers, and officials all over the Cau- 
 casus, and even in European Russia. The Baku 
 oil industry is largely due to Armenian enterprise ; 
 at Tiflis, the ancient capital of Georgia, the Ar- 
 menians form over a third of the population, have 
 practically all the business of the town in their 
 hands, own most of the house property, and con- 
 stitute 80 per cent, of the town council. Even in 
 the Russian army Armenians occupied high posi- 
 tions; the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian 
 forces in the Asiatic campaign of 1877 was Gen- 
 eral Loris Melikoff, an Armenian from Lori, and 
 one of his ablest lieutenants was General Ter- 
 Gukassoff, also an Armenian. The same Loris 
 
ARMENIA 277 
 
 Melikoff afterward became chief minister to Al- 
 exander II ; he was all-powerful for a time, and is 
 believed to have drawn np a constitution which 
 would have been promulgated had not the Tsar 
 been assassinated in 1881." 
 
 Even in Turkey, in spite of all the persecutions, 
 Armenians attained the highest places and hon- 
 ors. According to Arshag Madhesian, the first 
 newspaper ever published in Turkey was an Ar- 
 menian periodical. The introduction of Turkish 
 printing and the establishment of theaters were 
 accomplished by Armenians. It was due to the 
 collaboration of two great Armenian statesmen 
 that the Turkish constitution was framed by Mid- 
 hat Pasha. Armenian philologists evolved the 
 Turkish grammar, while for many years the chief 
 directors of the Turkish arsenals and government 
 mint were Armenians. The fine stuffs, the em- 
 broideries, the tapestry and the jewelry admired 
 in Europe as Turkish products are declared to 
 be almost exclusively manufactured by Armenians. 
 
 The rise of a large Armenian bourgeoisie in 
 Transcaucasia could not have occurred without 
 the appearance of a proletariat there. The latter 
 was, however, not entirely Armenian. The Tar- 
 tars and other slow races of the Caucasus made 
 up a large part of the labor class which became 
 especially strong in the oil region around Baku. 
 The racial difference between the Tartars and Ar- 
 menians, accentuated by their religious difference. 
 
278 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 was therefore, broadly speaking, further empha- 
 sized by an economic cleavage. The Russian 
 bureaucrats knew how to make use of these differ- 
 ences when the Armenians in Transcaucasia, 
 thanks to numerous repressive measures carried 
 out against them by Tsarism in 1896-1901, had 
 been turned into active revolutionists. Race 
 hatred was aroused by secret agents and Black 
 Hundreds in the industrial centers, especially 
 Baku, which resulted in the notorious pogroms of 
 1905, when the Tartars fell upon the Armenians 
 in southeastern Transcaucasia and massacred 
 many of them under the very eyes of the Russian 
 officials. Millions of dollars' worth of property 
 was destroyed and thousands of lives were lost 
 that year in the Armenian-Tartar fights. It was 
 only in 1906 and afterward, when Georgian, Tartar 
 and Armenian alike were subjected to Tsaris- 
 tic oppression, that the Tartars realized that they 
 had been used by the Russians to suppress the 
 Transcaucasian revolutionary movement and 
 strengthen the yoke of the Russian autocracy. 
 
 The unsuccessful revolution of October, 1905, 
 aroused among the Tartars a new outlook on life, 
 while the Armenians found themselves more 
 closely in sympathy with the struggling Russian 
 people. In Turkey it embittered further the Ar- 
 menian opposition toward the Ottoman govern- 
 ment. But before long, in 1908, Turkey was trans- 
 formed from a despotic autocracy into a consti- 
 
ARMENIA 279 
 
 tutional monarchy. Abdul Hamid was deposed 
 and the Young Turks were at the hehn. Naturally 
 the Armenians turned toward Constantinople, 
 hoping for a new era from the seemingly rejuve- 
 nated Porte. The Turkish Armenians, mostly 
 peasants and traders, arrived at a friendly under- 
 standing with the Kurds, both parties agreeing 
 to support the new government in the Turkish 
 parliament. But the Young Turks, instead of sat- 
 isfying the legitimate local demands of the various 
 nationalities of the empire, embarked upon their 
 disastrous policy of centralization and Ottomani- 
 zation. The result was the alienation of the sub- 
 ject races, the Arabs, the Syrians, the Kurds, and 
 the Armenians. Many of the latter turned to Rus- 
 sia, believing justly that sooner or later a free 
 Russia would emerge, and that it would liberate 
 the oppressed nationalities of the empire. 
 
 Then came the Great War. The Armenians 
 were about equally divided between Turkey and 
 Russia. What happened in those early days of the 
 world struggle has been told as follows by the 
 only foreign observer in the Caucasus during the 
 war, M. Philips Price, in his ' ' War and Revolution 
 in Asiatic Russia": 
 
 ''Early in August, 1914, the Tiflis Armenians 
 seem to have decided that a Russo-Turkish war 
 was inevitable, and thereupon the Dashnakist (of 
 the great Armenian party, Dashnaktsution) lead- 
 ers there at once offered 25,000 volunteers to 
 
280 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 assist the Russians in conquering the Armenian 
 vilayets. This offer was made before the out- 
 break of the war with Turkey, and in the interval 
 the volunteers were busy training and forming at 
 the various centers in the Caucasus. At the end 
 of October, when Turkey came into the war, prepa- 
 rations had been so far advanced that Andranik, 
 the famous revolutionary leader from Turkey, at 
 the head of the first battalion, took part with the 
 Russians in the advance through northwest Per- 
 sia, capturing Serai early in November. Mean- 
 while five more battalions had been formed and 
 were ready to leave for the front, as soon as they 
 could get rifles and equipment. Fifty per cent, 
 of these volunteers were Armenians who had left 
 Turkey, Bulgaria and Rumania since the out- 
 break of the European war, and had come to the 
 Caucasus to offer their services." 
 
 The Ottoman government became anxious to ar- 
 rive at an understanding with its Armenian sub- 
 jects. Enver Pasha delegated three representa- 
 tives to Erzerum, who proposed that Armenia stay^ 
 neutral and that the Armenians remain loyal toi 
 their respective governments, those of Russia and 
 Turkey. The Erzerum Armenians agreed, but a; 
 few days later the Turkish delegation made an- 
 other proposal, intended to win all the Armenians 
 over to the Ottoman side. They produced a 
 scheme for the conquest of Transcaucasia and thei 
 erection of a united autonomous Armenia, pro- 
 
ARMENIA 281 
 
 vlded the Armenians allied themselves with the 
 Porte. The skeptical Armenians refused to con- 
 clude such a pact. The Young Turks then de- 
 manded that the Armenians keep from going over 
 to Russia and form anti-Turkish units there. But 
 the Turkish Armenians were not influential 
 enough to stop the activities of their Russian 
 brethren in Tiflis, who claimed to have obtained a 
 verbal promise of Armenian autonomy from the 
 Russian government. It was this promise that 
 made thousands of Armenians desert from Turkey 
 and join the volunteers in Russia, which in turn 
 formed the foundation for the series of unparal- 
 leled atrocities perpetrated by the Turkish govern- 
 ment upon its Armenian population. 
 I The Turks resorted to the old method of insti- 
 gating race hatred. The Kurds, who formed a 
 very considerable portion of the population of 
 Armenia, were, together with the Turks and other 
 Moslems, incited against the Armenians. In 1915 
 the Turkish and Russian armies executed several 
 important movements on the Transcaucasian 
 front, resulting in the destruction of many Ar- 
 menian settlements when the Turks retreated and 
 the wiping out of large Kurdish communities by 
 the revengeful Armenians and Russians upon their 
 advance. It was in 1915, therefore, that the Ar- 
 menian-Kurdish struggle assumed a definite form. 
 It grew so relentless in the following years that 
 the two races simply waged a campaign of mutual 
 
282 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 exteiinination. Of course, the Armenians had 
 against them the Ottoman government, which soon 
 initiated, organized and carried out the systematic 
 deportation and murder of entire Armenian com- 
 munities. ''Homes were literally uprooted," 
 wrote Henry Morgenthau, United States Ambas- 
 sador to Turkey, of the persecutions. "Families 
 were separated, men killed, women and girls vio- 
 lated daily. Children were thrown into the rivers 
 or sold to strangers by their mothers to save them 
 from starvation. The facts contained in the re- 
 ports received at the Embassy from absolutely 
 trustworthy eye-witnesses surpass the most 
 beastly and diabolical cruelties ever before per- 
 petrated or imagined in the history of the world." 
 The estimates of the number of victims differ 
 greatly. It would, however, seem that not less 
 than half a million and probably three-quarters 
 of a million of non-combatant Armenians perished 
 as a result of the Turkish-Kurdish massacres and 
 persecutions. In retaliation probably a quarter of 
 a million of civilian Kurds and Turks were exter- 
 minated by the Russians and Armenians in their 
 victorious advances of 1915 and 1916. Two years 
 after the outbreak of the war, there were only 
 800,000 Armenians left in Turkish Armenia out of 
 a total of 1,800,000. Only 250,000 Kui-ds out of 
 a total of 900,000 inhabiting the vilayets of Van, 
 Bitlis, Erzerum and Kharput remained. Hun- 
 dreds of thousands of the former saved themselves 
 
 I 
 
AEMENIA 283 
 
 by moving into Transcaucasia, while similar num- 
 bers of the latter were saved by migrating into 
 Anatolia and Kurdistan. Nevertheless, the loss of 
 human life in Armenia was appalling on both 
 sides. 
 
 Meanwhile the Armenians in Russia not only 
 failed to receive autonomy from the Tsar's gov- 
 ernment, but were subjected to the reactionary 
 measures from which all Russia suffered in 1916. 
 This oppression created the ground for an under- 
 standing among the Armenians, the Tartars and 
 the Georgians. All the three nationalities of 
 Transcaucasia were now opposed to the govern- 
 ment and engaged in secret revolutionary activi- 
 ties. When the Revolution finally came, in March, 
 1917, the Caucasus was ripe for it. The old gov- 
 ernors and officials were swept away with the first 
 tide, and Grand Duke Nicholas, the Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Caucasus armies, soon followed 
 them into oblivion. The oppressed nationalities 
 awoke to a new life. Revolutionary councils of 
 soldiers, workmen and peasants sprang up 
 throughout Transcaucasia. A joint executive 
 council met in Tiflis. It supported the Russian 
 Provisional Government until the rise of the Bol- 
 shevik! to power in November, 1917, when the 
 Russian army abandoned the Transcaucasian 
 front and the Armenians were left to defend 
 themselves. 
 
 In January, 1918, there met in Tiflis elected rep- 
 
284 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 resentatives of the Georgians, Tartars and Ar- 
 menians, and constituted themselves into a 
 supreme Transcaucasian Diet. This did not pre- 
 vent each of the three races from developing its 
 own institutions and national autonomy. On Jan- 
 uary 31 delegates representing most of the Ar- 
 menian provinces met in Erzerum, where the Ar- 
 menian legions were concentrated, and declared 
 Armenian independence. Meanwhile Turkey had 
 concluded a peace with the Bolshevist government 
 at Brest-Litovsk by which Russia was compelled 
 to cede to Turkey parts of the provinces of Batum, 
 Kars and Ardahan, while the Ukrainian troops 
 which occupied Trebizond retired as soon as their 
 government concluded a separate peace with the 
 Central Powers. Armenia and Georgia were 
 directly affected by the pacts. A verbal agree- 
 ment was reached between the Armenians and 
 Georgians according to which the former were to 
 defend the Erzerum line and the latter the Trebi- 
 zond front. When the Turks advanced, how- 
 ever, the Georgians did not show up at Trebizond 
 and the Armenians were left alone to fight the 
 Turks. They offered heroic resistance, but in 
 March Erzerum fell and the Ottoman forces moved 
 to occupy the provinces ceded to them at Brest- 
 Litovsk. 
 
 A crisis was soon reached in the life of the 
 Transcaucasian Diet. The Tartars were not dis- 
 posed to fight the Turks who had encouraged the 
 
AKMENIA 285 
 
 Tartar national movement. The Georgians took 
 the view that Transcaucasia was not in a condition 
 to oppose the Turkish realization of the Brest- 
 Litovsk provisions and the Armenians were ad- 
 vised by Ghegechkori, President of the Diet, to 
 drop all resistance. This advice was not followed 
 by all the Eussian Armenians, who together with 
 their Turkish brethren continued to harass the 
 Ottoman invaders. The latter continued to ad- 
 vance, occupying territory which had never been 
 legally surrendered to them. This finally brought 
 the Turks into conflict with the Diet, which ad- 
 dressed to them a request for peace. The Turks 
 demanded as a preliminary condition for peace 
 negotiations "that the Diet should declare the 
 secession of Transcaucasia from Russia and pro- 
 claim the independence of the Caucasus, " so as to 
 enable them to negotiate with sovereign peoples. 
 The Diet agreed to do so against the protests of 
 the Armenians, who thereupon left it in a body. 
 In spite of the terrible ravages of forty months 
 of war, the Armenians were able to offer such vio- 
 lent resistance to the Turks that the Ottoman gov- 
 ernment, in July, 1918, consented to sign a peace 
 with the Armenians, recognizing the "Armenian 
 Independent Republic of Ararat," with its capital 
 at Erivan. 
 
 Then, in October, Turkey surrendered to the 
 Allies. The armistice provision calling for Allied 
 occupation of the six Armenian vilayets in Turkey 
 
286 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 in case of disorder did not satisfy the Armenian 
 nationalists as radical enough. They dispatched 
 a military mission to the Allied countries, headed 
 by General Torcom, who issued on November 12, 
 at Archangel, before departing for western 
 Europe, the following remarkable manifesto: 
 
 "In December, 1917, the Russian armies of the 
 Caucasus abandoned the Armenian front. On 
 January 31, 1918, although having at our disposal 
 only very limited forces, owing to the fact that the 
 state of anarchy prevailing did not allow us to 
 employ all our soldiers, but in full possession of 
 a large part of Armenian territories, we solemnly 
 proclaimed at Erzerum, in the presence of troops, 
 the population, and the provincial Armenian dele- 
 gates, the independence of Armenia, which in- 
 cludes Greater Armenia, Lesser Armenia, and 
 Cilician Armenia. 
 
 "We placed these countries under the protec- 
 tion of four Allied powers. Great Britain, the 
 United States, France, and Italy. Deserted by the 
 Russians, betrayed by the Georgians, and attacked 
 on all sides by the Turco-German forces, Kurds, 
 Tartars, and twenty other races intent on our ex- 
 termination, we have fought with a handful of gal- 
 lant soldiers for the independence of our country. 
 We were away from our great western Allies, and 
 were without the least possibility of receiving help. 
 However, our faith in the final triumph of our 
 cause, which was also the cause of all peoples out- 
 
ARMENIA 287 
 
 raged by the barbaric Teutons, never failed 
 us. . . . 
 
 '*At the cost of innumerable difficulties I have 
 crossed the vast Russian territory, which is seeth- 
 ing with unrest. I now come to you charged with 
 a sacred trust and mission. I bring to you the 
 Armenian flag. My mission is to gather round this 
 flag, which has become the emblem of our suffer- 
 ing, our faith, and our burning thirst for liberty, 
 an Armenian army of 100,000 men. We must help 
 our glorious Allies to take possession from the 
 Mediterranean to the Black Sea, of all Armenian 
 countries, where our martyrs are to be counted by 
 hundreds of thousands. 
 
 ''Armenians, I come to ask you to make the 
 supreme effort. . . . Armenia does not wish to 
 die. She wishes to become great, powerful, and 
 respected. She desires, at least, to take her place, 
 which has been so dearly bought, among civilized 
 peoples. In order to bring to a successful end the 
 work of attaining independence for Armenia 
 amidst a ruined country, Armenia wishes every 
 one of yon to do your duty. After having been for 
 so long a sorrow-stricken witness of Armenia's 
 martyrdom, the hour has at last struck when the 
 entire world will look with admiration on the re- 
 birth of Armenia." 
 
 On December 4, 1918, the Armenian National 
 Delegation, formed in Paris, under the presidency 
 of Boghos Nubar, declared the independence of 
 
288 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 integral Armenia and Cilicia under the collective 
 protection of the Allies and the United States. On 
 December 29, Foreign Minister Pichon, of 
 France, announced: "Our rights are incontest- 
 able in Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. 
 They are based on historic conventions and on 
 more recent contracts. ' ' These contracts were the 
 secret treaties and understandings concluded 
 among the Allies in 1915-17, whereby France was 
 ' ' to guide the affairs ' ' of Armenia, Syria and the 
 Lebanon. Pichon 's announcement occasioned a 
 great stir among the Armenians, who protested 
 strongly against being put, without their knowl- 
 edge, under the protection of a single European 
 Power. 
 
 The Armenians realize that without outside help 
 they cannot expect to set up a durable government, 
 but they wish it to come from international author- 
 ity. However, even with the aid of the Allies and 
 the United States it would be a most difficult task 
 to define Armenia's exact boundaries ethnographi- 
 cally. If Armenia should be reconstituted on his- 
 toric lines, then against three million Armenians 
 it would comprise at least five millions of Kurds, 
 Turks, Greeks, Persians, and other races. It is 
 possible to carve out an ethnographic Armenia in 
 which the Armenians would be in the majority, 
 but in order to do so successfully the Armenians 
 would have to forget their historical claims and 
 to consent to the creation of an autonomous Kurd- 
 
ARMENIA 289 
 
 ish state in Kurdistan. As the Kurds in Armenia 
 are still largely nomadic, the erection of an auton- 
 omous Kurdistan would reabsorb the Kurds who 
 migrated from there to settle on the Armenian 
 plateau. An ethnographic Armenia would in- 
 clude those parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan, 
 where the Armenians predominate, although his- 
 torically these parts are not Armenian; it would 
 necessarily fail to include certain historical sec- 
 tions of Armenia where the Kurds now predomi- 
 nate. 
 
 Historic justice and a powerful national con- 
 sciousness are the strongest arguments for Ar- 
 menian independence. Culturally, the Armenians 
 are unquestionably fit to lead in the development 
 of the Middle East. Valery Brusov, the Russian 
 poet, who has studied the Armenian literature and 
 history, says that in spite of the horrors they have 
 undergone in the course of their long history, the 
 Armenians have created an original culture and 
 have given to the world one of the richest liter- 
 atures, unfortunately not sufficiently studied. 
 "The greatest worth of the Armenian literature," 
 he adds, ''lies perhaps in its lyrical poetry of the 
 Middle Ages — a magnificent synthesis of sober 
 Greek harmony and Oriental exuberance and 
 splendor. There is no doubt that when it is 
 brought to the knowledge of the great public, the 
 lyrical poetry of Mediaeval Armenia will be rec- 
 ognized as one of the treasures of humanity." 
 
290 THE RESUERECTED NATIONS 
 
 The Armenian national will finds its strongest 
 expression in Armenia's poetry and press. All 
 over the world Armenian apostles of independence 
 have carried the message of their people to the 
 civilized nations. The passionate love for their 
 country is the keynote of most of the modern Ar- 
 menian poets. A fine example of this is presented 
 by the following poem, from the pen of Khorene 
 Nar Bey de Lusignan, a descendant of the last 
 Armenian kings, and rendered into English by 
 Alice Stone Blackwell: 
 
 If a sceptre of diamond, a glittering crown, 
 Were mine, at thy feet I would lay them both down. 
 Queen of queens, Armenia! 
 
 If a mantle of purple were given to me, 
 A mantle for kings, I would wrap it round thee, 
 Poor Armenia, my mother! 
 
 If the fire of my youth and its sinews of steel 
 Could return, I would offer its rapture and zeal 
 All to thee, my Armenia! 
 
 Had a lifetime of ages been granted to me, 
 I had given it gladly and freely to thee, 
 my life, my Armenia! 
 
 Were I offered the love of a maid lily-fair, 
 I would choose thee alone for my joy and my care, 
 My one love, my Armenia! 
 
 Were I given a crown of rich pearls, I should prize, 
 Far more than their beauty, one tear from thine eyes, 
 my weeping Armenia ! 
 
ARMENIA 291 
 
 If freedom unbounded were proffered to me, 
 I would choose still to share thy sublime slavery, 
 O my mother, Armenia! 
 
 Were I offered proud Europe, to take or refuse. 
 Thee alone, with thy griefs on thy head, would I choose 
 For my country, Armenia! 
 
 Might I choose from the world where my dwelling 
 
 should be, 
 I would say. Still thy ruins are Eden to me, 
 My beloved Armenia ! 
 
 Were I given a seraph's celestial lyre, 
 I would sing with my soul, to its chords of pure fire, 
 Thy dear name, my Armenia ! 
 
VIII 
 
 GEORGIA 
 
 It is only a little more than a century since the 
 kingdom of Georgia lost its independence and was 
 made a virtual province of the Russian Empire, 
 and yet Georgia is a terra incognita to the West- 
 em peoples. Among the minor races of the former 
 Russian state the Georgians were one of the most 
 progressive and vigorous national units. The 
 Georgians are a people with rich traditions, a 
 keen national consciousness, and a high state of 
 culture. 
 
 The home of the Georgians is western Transcau- 
 casia. They and their kindred races practically 
 occupy the entire Transcaucasian coast on the 
 Black Sea. In the south they adjoin the Arme- 
 nians. In the east their neighbors are the Tar- 
 tars. The Caucasus range is north of them. There 
 are nearly two and a half million Georgians of 
 all descriptions in Transcaucasia. The various 
 Georgian tribes, speaking diverse dialects, have 
 in recent years been fusing together and adopting 
 one literary language. 
 
 The Georgians belong to the Arj^an family. 
 
 292 ^ 
 
GEORGIA 293 
 
 They settled in their present country thousands of 
 years ago, arriving from the great Iranian pla- 
 teau. Their civilization is the oldest in the Cauca- 
 sus, if not in the entire world. Physically they are 
 the finest typification of the white race. The men 
 are athletic and handsome, the women beautiful. 
 
 The history of Georgia as an independent state 
 goes back to biblical times. According to Geor- 
 gian tradition, their kingdom was founded by a 
 descendant of Noah. It was only during the third 
 century B. C, however, that Georgia became iden- 
 tified with recorded history. Alexander the Great 
 conquered it and left one of his generals to rule 
 it. This foreign government was overthrown by 
 a national rising under the leadership of the popu- 
 lar hero, Pharmabazes, who founded the first 
 Georgian dynasty. In the second century B. C, 
 his descendant was overthrown and the throne 
 passed into the hands of an Armenian prince. The 
 union with Armenia embroiled Georgia in a war 
 with Rome. General Pompey invaded Georgia and 
 subdued it, but not for long. Nearly two centuries 
 later Rome w^aged another campaign against 
 Georgia. In the third century a Persian prince, 
 Miriam, by marriage succeeded the Armenian dy- 
 nasty and established the Sasanid ruling house. 
 It was during his rule that Georgia first received 
 the Christian missionary named Nina. The 
 Greek emperor sent a delegation of priests to bap- 
 tize the Georgian king and people. Christianity 
 
294 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 was then introduced into Georgia, dividing its 
 many tribes into Christian and non-Christian fac- 
 tions. The latter came under the influence of Zo- 
 roastrianism. With the support of Persia these 
 waged bitter warfare against their Christian 
 brethren, overrunning Georgia. It was a Persian 
 general who founded, in 379, the city of Tiflis. In 
 time the Christians gained ascendancy, and to- 
 ward the end of the fifth century the fire-wor- 
 shipers were subdued and Christianity firmly 
 established. King Vakhtang Gurgaslan, the Wolf- 
 Lion, 446-499, made Georgia a great power. He 
 established a patriarchate at Mtzkhet, which was 
 recognized by Emperor Justinian of Byzantium 
 as an independent Church. 
 
 Georgia was again menaced by Persia during 
 the sixth century. The people appealed to Byzan- 
 tium for help, which was furnished in the person 
 of an Armenian prince named Guaram, who gov- 
 erned Georgia as a Byzantine viceroy. He was the 
 founder of the dynasty of Bagratids, which ended 
 with the passing away of Georgian independence. 
 Beginning with the seventh century Georgia was 
 in turn invaded by Arabs, Turks, and Tartars. 
 The country was split into many principalities. 
 Until the year 1000 the Arabs dominated Georgia. 
 It was freed and reunited by Kings David and 
 Bagrat in the eleventh century, but was soon con- 
 quered and devastated by the Turks, who were 
 finally driven out in 1080 and a powerful Georgian 
 
GEORGIA 295 
 
 state, embracing practically entire Transcaucasia, 
 was erected by King David the Renovator. He 
 laid the foundations of Georgian civilization, 
 building churches, founding schools, encouraging 
 arts and learning. His successor expanded 
 the kingdom's boundaries. Georgia reached its 
 height of prosperity and civilization under Queen 
 Thamara, who ascended the throne in 1184. Her 
 name is ''still venerated as a glorious, if half- 
 legendary tradition wherever the Georgian tongue 
 is spoken," writes Luigi Villari; ''almost every 
 church and every castle is attributed to her, and 
 a whole host of legends has gathered about her 
 personality. . . . She waged war successfully 
 against both the Turks and the Greeks, and after 
 the fall of the Byzantine Empire at the hands of 
 the Crusaders she helped to form the empire of 
 Trebizond. But at her death, in 1212, the edifice, 
 laboriously raised, crumbled once more." 
 
 The Mongols appeared on the scene. The 
 hordes of Genghiz Khan laid the country waste. 
 Early in the fourteenth century Georgia recovered 
 and prospered. But again the Mongols, under 
 Tamerlane, swept over the land, devastating it 
 with fire and sword. In the fifteenth century the 
 Mongols were expelled by King Alexander I, who, 
 at his death, in 1442, divided his kingdom among 
 his three sons. One of these principalities, Kakhe- 
 tia, applied to the Muscovite Tsar, Ivan III, for 
 protection, in 1492, when the Turks and the Per- 
 
296 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 sians were playing havoc with Georgia. The Per- 
 sians finally gained control and ruled through 
 local princes. Early in the eighteenth century the 
 Georgian king, Vakhtaug VI, reigning by the 
 grace of the Persians, established close relations 
 with Russia, hoping to free Georgia from the for- 
 eign yoke and save his people from the fanatical 
 Moslems. Vakhtang concluded an alliance with 
 Peter the Great in 1722, declared his independence 
 of Persia, and sent an army of thirty thousand to 
 cooperate with the Russians against the Persians. 
 Peter the Great betrayed the Georgians by making 
 a separate peace with Persia in 1724, recognizing 
 her suzerainty over Georgia, with an eye to the 
 ultimate absorption of Georgia by Russia. The 
 Turks, gaining power while the Persians were 
 busy elsewhere, penetrated Georgia and compeUed 
 Vakhtang to abdicate. However, shortly after- 
 ward, the Persians expelled the Turks and placed 
 Irakli II on the Georgian throne. This ruler was 
 the last to raise his country again to a high state 
 of prosperity. He is described as ' ' one of the most 
 remarkable men of his time, who excited the ad- 
 miration of all Europe; under him Georgia re- 
 vived and prospered, and became for the last time 
 a powerful and independent state. Culture and 
 civilization spread, order and unity were achieved, 
 and the neighboring Tartar khanates reduced to 
 vassalage. ' ' 
 
 He declared Georgia's complete independence 
 
GEORGIA 297 
 
 when Persia collapsed. The Turkish danger, how- 
 ever, compelled him to seek support in Europe. He 
 sent two missions to Austria, but failed to obtain 
 aid. He was compelled to turn to Russia, in 1769. 
 Russia's policy toward Georgia was formulated 
 by Catherine the Great as follows in her instruc- 
 tions to the Russian representatives in the Cau- 
 casus : ' ' Do nothing likely to strengthen Georgia. ' ' 
 Following these instructions the Russians, having 
 allied themselves with the Georgians against the 
 Turks, deserted the former on the battlefield. 
 After valiant fighting, with varying fortune, 
 Georgia was at the mercy of the Turks and Per- 
 sians. Tiflis, the capital, was captured in 1795 
 and burned. Irakli died heart-broken in 1798, 
 leaving a feeble kingdom to his son George, who 
 was compelled to enter into negotiations with Tsar 
 Paul, placing Georgia under Russian protection. 
 A treaty was drawn up in 1799, providing for the 
 transfer of Georgia to the Russian Empire, on 
 condition that "the crown" was to be vested in 
 George and his heirs, who were to retain the chief 
 authority in the country, but without legislative 
 powers; the people were to enjoy immunity from 
 taxation for twelve years ; the number of Russian 
 troops in Georgia was not to exceed six thousand, 
 and military service for the Georgians was to take 
 the form of a national militia; the Georgian 
 Church was to be independent, and Georgian was 
 
298 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 to remain the official and educational language." 
 (Luigi Villari.) 
 
 The treaty was utterly disregarded by Russia 
 and in 1802 Georgia was by military force turned 
 into a Russian province. There was discontent 
 and rebellion, but the imperial policy was carried 
 out in typical fashion. Arrests, persecutions, ban- 
 ishments followed. In time even the Georgian 
 Church and its funds were put in charge of the 
 Russian Holy Synod. The Russification of 
 Georgia was systematically carried on by the 
 Tsar's authorities. Nevertheless, Georgia pros- 
 pered under Russian rule. Many of its sons rose 
 high in the councils of the Empire, distinguishing 
 themselves in diplomacy, military leadership and 
 literature. 
 
 Georgian nationalism, however, was not sup- 
 pressed by the Russian policy. With the growth 
 of a revolutionary movement throughout Russia 
 there also developed one in Georgia. At first it 
 took a national turn only, fostered by the aristo- 
 cratic classes. The latter are highly educated, 
 and even among the common people illiteracy is 
 low. It has been said that proportionately the 
 Georgian nation has more men of letters, journal- 
 ists, poets and dramatists than any other race in 
 the world. Toward the end of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury Socialism began to spread in Georgia, making 
 remarkable headway. It aimed primarily at the 
 semi-feudal landlords, as well as the limited in- 
 
GEORGIA 299 
 
 dustrial plants which had developed in Georgia 
 in recent years. The Socialists became a great 
 force in Georgia, embracing in their ranks the 
 peasants, workers and intellectuals. 
 
 Owing to the fact that the Georgian middle- 
 class is small and the aristocracy naturally in the 
 minority, the Socialist elements practically con- 
 trolled the destinies of the country during the rev- 
 olutionary year of 1905. The former strove for 
 separation from Russia, advocating complete in- 
 dependence for Georgia. However, the Social- 
 ists stood for union with democratic Russia, some 
 of them claiming autonomy in an all-Russian fed- 
 eration. All Georgians were united in their oppo- 
 sition to monarchism. All desired the republican 
 form of government. It was from the midst of 
 the Socialists that there sprang into being the 
 so-called Gurian Republic, which attracted inter- 
 national attention in the year of 1905. The 
 Gurians are described as "the bravest and most 
 warlike, most chivalrous, most handsome, most 
 hospitable, most educated, although not the most 
 unpractical of the Georgians." They were pro- 
 foundly stirred by the Socialist doctrine and de- 
 termined to put it into practice in their district, 
 Guria, in the province of Kutais. They began with 
 refusing to pay their annual taxes to the Russian 
 authorities; they proceeded to boycott the gov- 
 ernment officials and set up a communistic admin- 
 istration ; they established native schools in which 
 
300 THE RESURRECTED NATIOKS 
 
 Socialism was taught and introduced popular 
 tribunals in place of the corrupt Russian courts. 
 The whole economic, political and social status of 
 the race was modeled after the latest socialistic i 
 theories. In the fall of 1905, when Tsarism was 
 baffled by the revolutionary movement, a radical 
 was appointed to the governorship of Kutais. 
 However, he was removed when the tide of re- 
 action followed, and even arrested and accused of 
 high treason. The ' ' Gurian Republic ' ' became the 
 target of the reactionary government. Cossacks 
 and infantry were sent to suppress it, causing 
 terrible bloodshed. It was finally wiped out and 
 thousands of Georgians were jailed and exiled. 
 
 The revolution of 1917 occurred almost simul- 
 taneously in Petrograd and the Caucasus, while 
 preparations had been made for a general strike. 
 These were not carried out because of the swift- 
 ness of developments in the Russian capital. The 
 imperial authorities in the Caucasus fell two days 
 after the abdication of the Tsar. 
 
 Although before the Revolution Georgian 
 nationalism was being encouraged by the Russian 
 governors for the purpose of maintaining the dif- 
 ferences existing among the three nationalities of 
 Transcaucasia, the Georgians, Tartars and Arme- 
 nians, March 18, 1917, saw one of the most wonder- 
 ful manifestations of international brotherhood 
 in Tiflis. All the tribes, races and classes of 
 Transcaucasia united in celebrating the great 
 
GEORGIA 301 
 
 freedom, sinking all past quarrels. The Georgians, 
 the most advanced and civilized national elements 
 there, led in the formation of a Transcaucasian 
 federation. The councils of workmen and peasants 
 that sprang up everywhere, from Baku to Batum, 
 gave birth to a central provisional government — 
 the ^^Commissariat." The Georgians were the 
 guiding spirit of it, and they were for a union with 
 a federated Russian Republic. In the Provisional 
 Government during the Lvov-Kerensky period and 
 in the then moderate Soviets, several gifted 
 Georgians labored incessantly to stay the tide of 
 Bolshevism and create a democratic Russian state 
 founded on the principle of federation. 
 
 When the Russian Provisional Government was 
 overthrown by the Bolsheviki in November, 1917, 
 the Transcaucasian "Commissariat" decided to 
 strengthen the Georgian-Armenian-Tartar union 
 by convoking a Diet or general assembly. It met 
 in January, 1918, at Tiflis, and comprised about 
 120 members, representing all the racial groups of 
 Transcaucasia. However, it soon faced a crisis. 
 The surrender of Russia at Brest-Litovsk, by 
 which Turkey obtained parts of the provinces of 
 Batum, Kars and Ardahan, introduced the element 
 of dispute in the Diet. The Armenians wanted to 
 fight the Turks. The Tartars declared that their 
 ethnical and spiritual relations with the Turks 
 were such as to welcome them as friends. The 
 Georgians, while hostile to Turkish encroach- 
 
302 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 ments, considered that the best way out was to 
 wait for the ending of the Great War. Some 
 Georgians, however, did promise the Armenians 
 military aid in a campaign against the Turks, but 
 the Armenians never received it. 
 
 The Turks then invaded Transcaucasia. The 
 Diet sought to conclude peace with them, but the 
 Ottoman command replied that it would deal only 
 with sovereign nations, separately or jointly. The 
 Diet then voted on April 27 to declare Transcau- 
 casian independence, against the protests of the 
 Armenians, Russians and several Georgians. The 
 Armenians thereupon left the Diet. On May 25 
 it declared the establishment of the independent 
 republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan, and the fol- 
 lowing day it dissolved. 
 
 But the Turks continued to press on, and the 
 Georgians were compelled to seek protection in 
 Berlin. Perhaps it was due to Germany's in- 
 fluence that Turkey finally consented to conclude 
 peace with Georgia. The Turkish-Georgian treaty 
 was a direct violation of the Brest-Litovsk pact. 
 Turkey, in addition to the territory obtained by 
 the latter agreement, now wrested from weak 
 Georgia the Achalkalaki district of the Tiflis prov- 
 ince. 
 
IX 
 AZERBAIJAN 
 
 Azerbaijan is the name of the Tartar Republic 
 set up in Transcaucasia in May, 1918. It extends 
 along the lower part of the western Caspian coast 
 from the Caucasus range to the Persian province 
 of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan forms a state of about 
 30,000 square miles, including the Russian prov- 
 inces of Baku, Elizavetpol and Daghestan, and 
 some Persian territory to the south, with a popu- 
 lation of more than 3,000,000. 
 
 There are several million Tartars in Russia, 
 scattered in the Crimea, the Volga basin, Siberia 
 and Transcaucasia. The Tartars of the latter ter- 
 ritory are the least entitled to bear that name. 
 They represent a mixture of races and tribes, with 
 Turkish blood predominating in their veins. Their 
 historical claims to the country they now inhabit 
 are as strong as Turkey's claims to Anatolia. The 
 Turks and Tartars occupied these regions in com- 
 paratively rec-ent times. The Persians have a 
 stronger historical claim to Azerbaijan. They 
 were there before Ghengiz Khan. They still have 
 there a considerable minority in the population. 
 
 303 
 
304 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 Because the Transcaucasian Tartars first 
 invaded the Persian province of Azerbaijan and 
 later moved northward to their present location, 
 they are described as Azerbaijan Tartars, and 
 hence the name of their Republic. However, the 
 Persians point to the signs of Persian culture ex- 
 isting among the original inhabitants of the Tar- 
 tar provinces before the arrival of the Mongols, 
 to support their claim to control them now. Thus, 
 they say, Zoroaster himself was a native of Azer- 
 baijan; some of the leading Persian poets in the 
 tenth and eleventh centuries hailed from there; 
 while from Baku to Tabriz monuments of Persian 
 architecture are scattered. 
 
 The Persians ' strongest claim is, however, their 
 possession of the Tartar lands up to the time 
 Russia became interested in Transcaucasia. There 
 are in fact nearly two hundred thousand people 
 in Azerbaijan, in the province of Baku, who are 
 of Iranian stock. These are the Tates, who speak 
 a Persian dialect. But in religion they are one 
 with the Tartars, being Shiah Mohammedans. Be- 
 sides, they have identified themselves with Tartar 
 nationalism, adopting even the latter 's language 
 and traditions. 
 
 Under Persian domination the Tartars enjoyed 
 self-government. Their land was divided into 
 eight klianates. The khans owned nearly aU the 
 land, so that they were in effect feudal princes, 
 paying tribute to Persia. Turkey and Persia 
 
AZERBAIJAN . 305 
 
 fought repeatedly over the Tartar provinces, caus- 
 ing terrible suffering to the Transcaucasian 
 Christians, the Armenians and the Georgians, who 
 finally appealed to Russia for help. It was in 
 1722 that Peter the Great sent an expedition to 
 conquer Baku and Derbent. Since then Russia's 
 penetration of Transcaucasia continued methodi- 
 cally and relentlessly. In 1813 the six northern 
 Tartar khanates definitely passed from Persia into 
 the possession of Russia. In 1828 Russia and 
 Persia again came to grips, and this time the last 
 two khanates of Erivan and Nakhchiva became 
 provinces of the Tsar's empire. The Russian con- 
 quest of the Tartars was accomplished largely 
 with the help of the Armenians, who had been op- 
 pressed by the khans. 
 
 "'After the Russian occupation," writes Luigi 
 Villari, ''this oppression ceased and some sort 
 of order and justice was established. Yet, al- 
 though deprived of political power, the khans and 
 begs still preserved great influence in the country, 
 and the Tartar peasantry looked upon them as 
 their hereditary chiefs, whom it was their duty 
 to obey. Nor were the Tartar estates touched ; on 
 the contrary, owing to the more settled state of 
 the country, they increased in value. Russian 
 nobility was conferred on the chiefs, who were 
 treated with every mark of respect, and often 
 given official positions in the army, the civil serv- 
 ice, and the local administration. But the Moslem, 
 
306 THE RESURRECTED NATIONS 
 
 oonununity could not forget that the loss of their 
 predominance was largely due to the Armenians, 
 for which they never forgave them. . . . 
 
 '*A more serious cause of hostility is the fact 
 that the Tartars have all, more or less, the instinct 
 of brigandage. From time immemorial they have 
 been raiders, and to this day many villages have 
 no other means of livelihood than plunder. The 
 khans themselves, especially in the mountains, are 
 often little better than robber barons, who keep 
 hosts of armed retainers to forage them. . . . 
 A large number of Tartars are still nomads, and 
 migrate annually from the mountains to the plains 
 and from the plains to the mountains with their 
 flocks and herds. In the course of these peregri- 
 nations they frequently come into armed conflict 
 with the sedentary Armenians, and murders, out- 
 rages, and abduction of cattle are the result. . . . 
 
 ''The Tartars are in every respect the opposite 
 of the Armenians. Their outward characteristics 
 are most sympathetic. They have a dignity of 
 bearing and a charm of manner which endear them 
 to all who come in contact with them. These qual- 
 ities are indeed common to most Mohammedans, 
 who have a chivalry and gentlemanliness which 
 makes us forget even serious faults, and disregard 
 the wrongs and sufferings which they inflict on less 
 attractive Christian peoples. They have been a 
 ruling military caste for centuries, and this has 
 made them an aristocracy of grands seigneurs. I 
 
AZERBAIJAN 307 
 
 have met Tartars whom, although I knew them 
 to be utter scoundrels, I could not help liking. 
 There is something magnificently mediaeval about 
 them which the virtuous but bourgeois Armenian 
 lacks. . . . 
 
 '^The Tartars are extraordinarily backward in 
 their development, and as ignorant and barbarous 
 as any race in Asia ; for this the Russian govern- 
 ment is largely to blame, as it has hitherto dis- 
 couraged education among them, whUe they them- 
 selves seldom trouble to provide schools of their 
 own. Until quite recently no Tartar newspapers 
 were permitted, except one at Bakhtchi Sarai in 
 the Crimea, the number of mullahs, the only 
 teachers for a large part of the people, has been 
 strictly limited, and the Moslem faith placed in 
 a position of tutelage under an officially appointed 
 Sheikh-ul-Islam. ' * 
 
 In 1905 the Tsar's agents in Transcaucasia 
 made use of the ignorance and backwardness of 
 the Tartars to incite them against the Armenians. 
 There followed numerous massacres and feuds, 
 resulting in great bloodshed, which played into 
 the hands of the Russian authorities. However, 
 in October, 1905, when the revolution seemed tri- 
 umphant and the Caucasus was swept by the hurri- 
 cane of freedom, new relations were established 
 between the Tartars and Armenians, especially the 
 workers of both races in the oil region. The re- 
 action that followed again fostered race hatred. 
 
308 THE RESUREECTED NATIONS 
 
 but the seeds of enlightenment sown by the Revo- 
 lution in October soon yielded fruit. 
 
 The Persian Revolution reverberated deeply 
 among the Tartars and the Turkish Revolution 
 stirred them even more profoundly. The Tartars 
 awoke to the call of civilization and nationalism. 
 They realized that the Russian autocracy was 
 their first and most dangerous enemy. The Young 
 Turks naturally encouraged the nationalist re- 
 vival among the Tartars, especially when the Pan- 
 Turkish, or Turanian, movement came into being 
 in the Ottoman Empire. In September, 1914, the 
 Turkish delegates who came to Erzerum to ask 
 Armenia's support of Turkey in the war with 
 Russia, indicated that the Ottoman government 
 planned to conquer aU Transcaucasia and set up 
 in its eastern part a Tartar Republic under the 
 suzerainty of the Porte. The Russian Revolution 
 of 1917, however, swung the Tartars at first to 
 the side of free Russia. They entered the Trans- 
 caucasian Diet, formed in January, 1918, with a 
 view to such a future orientation. But then came 
 Russia's collapse. Immediately the separatist 
 national sentiments of the Tartars, as well as of 
 the Georgians and Armenians, asserted them- 
 selves. When Turkey, the moral backer of Tartar 
 nationalism, invaded the Caucasus to carry out 
 the provisions of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, the Ar- 
 menians advocated resistance, the Georgians hesi- 
 
AZERBAIJAN 309 
 
 tated, while the Tartars took a friendly stand to- 
 ward Turkey. 
 
 The Diet dissolved after declaring Transcau- 
 casian independence and the creation of the sepa- 
 rate sovereign Republics of Azerbaijan and 
 Georgia. Since May 26, 1918, therefore, there has 
 been in existence a Tartar state, with its capital 
 at Baku. The friendly relations between Azerbai- 
 jan and Turkey placed the rich oil wells of the 
 country at the disposal of the Central Powers. 
 The Armenians and Russians united to take pos- 
 session of Baku, and with the reinforcement of a 
 small British contingent they held the city and its 
 vicinity till the Tartars, reinforced by a Turkish- 
 German army, succeeded, in the summer of 1918, 
 in capturing the capital of the Azerbaijan Repub- 
 lic. Shortly aftei'wards, however, the British and 
 Armenians, upon the withdrawal of Turks and 
 Germans, again occupied Baku and its vicinity. 
 
6 78 .a 
 

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