Fig. 55—Export wheat ready to be loaded at Odessa.
Russian influence in Turkey differs signally from the control exerted by its three western competitors. British, German and French encroachments on Turkish sovereignty have increased in proportion to the amount of capital expended by each of these countries for the development of Turkish resources. In this respect Russia, which is not a country of financiers, stood at a disadvantage. To overcome this handicap Russians resorted to borrowing from France and England, mainly the former, and invested the funds thus obtained in Turkey. Such transactions have in reality been the means of strengthening French and British ascendancy in the Ottoman land. The northeastern region of Anatolia, which, owing to its contiguity to Russia, was regarded as a sphere of Russian influence, has lately been looked upon often as a zone of French interests, owing to the participation of French capital in its development. But from a geographical standpoint this French zone is artificial. Its dependence on Russia cannot be altered as long as its position on the map remains unchanged.
France’s natural sphere of interest in Turkey will be found in the Syrian vilayets. This is not due to the financing of Syrian public utilities and industries by French capitalists as is often alleged. It is the offspring of the Mediterranean which, since the dawn of history, has connected the southern French coast to Syrian harbors. Phœnician oversea trade in the first millennium before the Christian era had reached the coasts of Provence and Languedoc. Marseilles, a city born of this intercourse, has maintained commercial relations with Syria uninterruptedly down to the present time.
Fig. 56—French states in Syria at the
time of the Crusades. Scale, 1:11,500,000.
Based on Pl. 68, Historical Atlas, by W. R.
Shepherd, Holt, New York, 1911.
Franco-Syrian ties were strengthened considerably during the Crusades. The conquest of Syria and Palestine by the Arabs diverted the thoughts of Christendom from the economic importance of these lands to their religious appeal. France, “the eldest daughter of the Church,” took the lead in the attempt to wrest the Holy Land from its Mohammedan conquerors,—“Gesta Dei per Francos.” Many of the petty states founded by noblemen who took part in the Crusades were ruled by Frenchmen. Antioch and Tripoli had French princes, Jerusalem a French king. The title of Protector of Oriental Christians conferred by the Papacy on French kings had its origin in the active part played by France in the Crusades.
France has exercised a dominant intellectual influence in the Levant for at least seven centuries. Turks bestow the appellation “Frank” on Europeans without discrimination of nationality. Western ideas which have trickled down to Turkish soil are French in character. French schools in Turkey are more numerous than any other. The civilizing power of French culture showed its strength by the readiness with which it asserted itself in the midst of uncongenial Turkish thought. France’s hold on Turkey is thus of a high moral order. It differs in this respect from the material claims of the other European powers.
At the same time through the investments of French capitalists a well-defined zone of French interests has been created in Syria. Excepting the Hejaz line every railroad in the province has been financed in France. The silk factories of the Lebanon, around which the whole industrial life of Syria clusters, were started by French citizens. Their annual product, usually estimated at half a million kilograms of silk, is exported to France. Syrian silk farmers in need of funds for the annual purchase of cocoons raise their loans exclusively among the banking houses of Lyons. French interests are not confined to Syria alone; fully one-half of the amount of one billion dollars representing Turkey’s official debt to Europe has been advanced by French financial institutions.