By acquiring this trunk line the Germans succeeded in taking a first mortgage on Turkey. It was the first signal success of the policy of directing Teutonic ambitions into eastern channels which Bismarck had adopted immediately after the consolidation of the German Empire. He had a vision of an all-German line of traffic starting at Hamburg and crossing the Bosporus towards the Far East. In one direction German calculations miscarried. Germany was unable to finance the undertaking without the support of British and French capitalists. The international character of the line became more and more pronounced between the years 1908 and 1911. During this period a number of agreements were signed between Great Britain, France, Germany and Turkey in which a notable percentage of German interests passed over to the two rival countries, the Germans emerging out of the transaction with a bare control.
The project of an all-German route received another setback when England was awarded the final section of the Bagdad line. This successful stroke of British diplomacy consolidated British influence in the Persian Gulf. Koweit and the environing districts ruled by petty Arabian chiefs became British protectorates and the long-planned German through line merely butted against a solid wall raised by British ability.
The French have invested twice as much capital as the English in Turkish railroads. The lines they manage and own directly are the Syrian railroads and the Smyrna-Kassaba line. They are also interested in the construction of roads in the northeastern districts of the country where concessions have been awarded to Russians. Muscovite inability to provide capital is responsible for the transfer of the building and operating grants to Frenchmen.
The sphere of French influence comprising the Gediz valley and its adjacent territory to the Sea of Marmora lies entirely out of the beaten track of intercontinental travel. Its economic prosperity is therefore governed by purely regional influences. The valley of the Gediz river itself compares in fertility with that of its southern consort, the Meander. Tracts of arable land in its northern area and the occurrence of extensive mineral deposits, a few of which are among the most heavily exploited in Asia Minor, combined with genial climate and the accident of position which places the zone directly opposite the European mainland, all tend to impart elements of economic significance which have allured French enterprise.
As has been shown already, the zone of paramount French influence in Asiatic Turkey lies, south of Asia Minor, in Syria. “La France du Levant” is a term which is not uncommonly applied by Frenchmen to this Turkish province. The origin of this intercourse may be traced to the trade relations between Gaul and Syria in the fourth century B.C. During antiquity a widely traveled road, albeit of lesser importance than the peninsular highway of Anatolia, connected the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. This route started from Egypt and Syrian harbors and skirted the western and northern edges of the Arabian desert before assuming a southerly strike which led it through the Mesopotamian basin. The populous cities of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo lie on this ancient avenue of trade. Here, as in the case of the Anatolian cities mentioned, their present population is altogether out of proportion to their resources or activity. It can only be regarded as a sign of the importance they once had as stages in this southern east-west route. The Syrian littoral, described by Hogarth as the garden of Arabia,[211] must be regarded therefore as an intermediate region connecting Asia and the country lying west of its Mediterranean border. This influence of location prevailed throughout history.
The conquest of Syria by Frankish Crusaders gave renewed impetus to commercial relations between Syria and France. A regular trade route between Marseilles and Syrian ports was established. The treaty of alliance between the Sultan of Turkey and the King of France in the first half of the sixteenth century contributed to bind this province more firmly to France. At the end of the seventeenth century French trading-centers had been established in all the important cities of Syria. Napoleon’s invasion of this province as a result of the Egyptian campaign and French intervention in the Lebanon in 1859 likewise increased French prestige in the region. The confinement of this western hold to Syria can be ascribed to the influence exerted by the boundaries of the province. It forms with Palestine an excellent type of regional unit consisting of an elongated mountainous strip barely 50 miles wide. With the Mediterranean on the west, and deserts on the south and east, its only outlet to the world lay on the north.
French builders first undertook to connect the province of Lebanon with the sea by constructing the Beirut-Damascus line. The tracks were subsequently extended to Aleppo, a city whose greatness was founded on its situation along the natural road which connects the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf. As a railroad center Aleppo’s future looms bright, for the city lies also in the path of the tracks which will connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean.
In southern Syria, the outlook for French enterprise was dimmed for a few years by the construction of a Turkish line from Damascus southwards. Branch lines were carried to the sea. Harbor concessions, however, were granted to French firms. French interests thus retained a notable share of the control over the traffic in and out of Syria. Furthermore, a concession for a line from Rayak to connect with the Jaffa-Jerusalem road which they obtained in 1914 will enable them to compete with the Hejaz line.
The last railroad agreement between the French and Turkish governments was signed on April 9, 1914. Concessions on the part of the Turkish government are bestowed in return for French financial support. The lines granted will tap northern Anatolia and Armenia. Connection with the German lines will be made at Boli and at Argana. The area tributary to this line contains fertile plains and plateaus. It is known to be rich in mines, notably in copper. The advent of the railroad will undoubtedly brighten the outlook of the Turkish mining industry.