Publisher's Synopsis
It is the waning years of the Nineteenth century and the Ottoman Empire finds itself in peril. It is heavily indebted to European banks. Its defeat to Russia in the Balkans and loss of the Balkan territories intensifies the appetite of the colonial powers to dismantle the Empire. They stand at the gates like conniving hungry wolves. But facing them is a formidable Sultan whose cunning and bravery frustrates all efforts to destroy his empire. This is Sultan Abdulhamid II, a highly educated and intelligent leader who begins a pan-Islamic movement under his Caliphate to counter the pan-Slavism of Russia and the ambitions of the European colonial powers. The Russian Bear, stirred by its triumphs in the Balkans is ready to pounce on Constantinople and move to control the strategic waterway of the Bosporus and Dardanelle. But this threatens Great Britain's interest in the Mediterranean. Some in Europe promote the idea of strengthening the Sultan's depleted army to counter the Russian threat. Others like British Prime-Minister Gascoigne-Cecil, his nephew Arthur Balfour Secretary of the Treasury, and the French Government prefer the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire to serve their own colonial agendas. But Abdulhamid stands fast thwarting their ambitions, with an intricate Spy network which baffles the enemy. Their dilemma is solved with the arrival of Theodor Herzl on the scene with his desire to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The colonial powers give the Zionists supporting lip service in order to pursue their own colonial ambitions... And the Colonialists PLOT begins to unfold...
