Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

42 HISTORY OF THE WAR.

short breaks, and the roads of the Central Anatolian plateau were suitable in dry weather for motor transport. From Aleppo the Syrian and Hedjaz railways would carry troops to within a short distance of the Egyptian frontier. Was not von Mackensen’s force known in Germany as the “ Army of Egypt”? She could also—though here the transport problem was more difficult—send assistance to the hard-pressed Bagdad corps in Mesopotamia. These things were conceivable, but they involved a great effort, and at the time it was hard to believe that Germany, compelled in common wisdom to husband her strength, would regard such an effort as worth making. The approach to the Suez Canal was the most difficult conceivable, and Britain, with her command of the sea, could strengthen the defences of Egypt long before the threat materialized. Again, even if reinforcements were sent to Bagdad, all that would happen would be that Sir John Nixon’s advance would be stayed. The British there had the river and the sea behind them, and no immediate cause to be anxious about their communications. It seemed, therefore, fair to conclude that the German threat to Egypt and the road to India was a threat rather than a plan. She hoped to make Britain anxious for her Imperial communications, and thereby to distract her effort in more vital theatres. Too much, perhaps, was made at the time of the danger of Germany in Constantinople to our Eastern prestige. Germany had in substance been for a year on the Bosphorus. The situation so far as that was concerned was in no way changed. All the prestige that she could gain from an alliance with the Sultan of Roum had already been