Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE SECRET TREATIES BEFORE discussing the attitude of the various Italian parties towards the question of the territorial gains which Italy might obtain from the war, we should consider the agreement made by the Entente Allies with Italy. In the early part of the war, public opinion was determined much by the necessity of maintaining the balance of power in Europe. There were treaties between Russia and France in regard to the boundaries of Germany and in regard to the Dardanelles and Constantinople. Secret agreements were concluded by Russia, France, and England on the subject of Turkey. The texts x as published by Lenine after the Russian Revolution show that Russia was to have Constantinople, the Sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles, Southern Thrace to the Enos-Midia line, the shores of Asia Minor between the Bosphorus and the Sakaria River, and a point on the Gulf of Ismid, to be defined later; islands of the Sea of Marmora and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos. Special rights of France and Great Britain in these territories were to remain inviolate. Constantinople was recognized as a free port for the transit of merchandise other than that coming from or going to Russia and the free passage of the Straits for merchant vessels was assured. The rights of France and Britain in Asiatic Turkey were to be exactly determined by a special agreement. There was to be an independent Mohammedan control of Arabia and of the Mohammedan Holy Places. The Persian neutral zone, "New Europe," Vol. V, Supp., December 20, 1917. Full text of Anglo-French agreement of 1916 in New York Times, July 6, 1919. drawn in conformity with the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907, was to be included in the British sphere of influence. In 1915, further agreements as to the East were made....