The Rise and Glory of the Ottoman Empire
This verse should be linked with ch. 9:14-21, where the development of the Turkish Empire is foreshadowed. The decree is proclaimed: "Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates." After due preparation these four messengers of doom were loosed upon eastern Europe, bringing political death to the Byzantine Empire when its capital at Constantinople (today known as Istanbul) was conquered in 1453, the then remaining remnant of the once mighty Roman Empire (see v. 18).

These four "angels" answer to the four divisions among the Turks: the Seljuks, Moguls, Tartars and Ottomans, which, in successive waves, devastated eastern Europe. Originally "bound," or restrained, by the river Euphrates, they are represented as overflowing its banks, and flooding the adjacent countries with their devastating "waters".

So successful were the Turks that ultimately they developed into one of the most powerful nations on earth. Even as late as 170 years ago, Turkey was still considered as one of the great powers of the nations. Her conquests extended over three areas: Europe, Asia and Africa, and reached from Poland in the north, to Algiers in the south.

Her empire included the whole of the Middle East. She desolated Palestine, and refused Jews to enter the area. She dominated Hungary, the Balkan States and Greece. Her territory extended deep into southern Russia.

Her ruler had the pompous title of "Emperor of Powerful Emperors; Refuge of Sovereigns; Distributor of Crowns to the Kings of the Earth; Keeper of the Two Very Holy Cities; Governor of the Holy, City of Jerusalem; Master of Europe, Asia and Africa; High King of the Two Seas; the Shadow of God upon Earth." At the height of its power, Turkey was dreaded, feared and hated by the civilized world for its ruthlessness.

But today. Turkey is a weak nation, clinging precariously to the remnants of her once mighty empire. And even this shadow of her previous glory exists only in sufferance. It would have be swept into the political abyss if America and Britain had not given their support in past years.

When "the River Dried Up"
The prophecy of Revelation 16:12 indicates the significance of the decline of Turkey which commenced in 1820. Notice that the Bible speaks of the empire "drying up," not being destroyed in an avalanche. There would be no sudden overthrow of the Turkish Empire, such as has happened to other nations, but a gradual decline of her resources in every facet - territorial, military, naval and financial -- so that today it is hard to realize how powerful this country once was. When it is remembered that Vienna was besieged by the Turks in 1697, and that the Ottoman Empire possessed a large part of southern Russia until the middle of the eighteenth century, some idea can be formed of the enormous changes that have taken place.

Turkey's Decline Anticipated
Lest the reader should imagine that the interpretation of the scripture before us is a matter of the moment, and that we are merely bending the Bible to conform to current developments, we point out that the gradual decline of Turkey has been anticipated by Bible students for centuries. In 1643, an expositor, Mede, published his Key to the Revelation, and commented on the 16th chapter: "The great river Euphrates we interpret to mean the Turks. . . therefore by this sixth vial this power shall be dried up. " He explained that the Jews would return at that epoch, and went on to refer to the "horrible and unheard-of preparation for war" described by this vial.

Another commentator, Tillinghast, wrote in 1670: "By the river Euphrates we are to understand the Ottoman or Turkish Empire. It is called the great river because of the multitude of people and nations therein. The people who at present are of all others accounted the greatest are the Turks; who, therefore, and no other, are here to be understood . . ."

A further comment on the same matter was made by a Christadelphian Bible student. John Thomas, in 1856, who wrote: "The water of the great river Euphrates, in like manner, represents the military power of the Turkish Empire; which is to be dissipated by a process of evaporation, a drying up, a gradual exhaustion, so as to leave the channel of the river empty and devoid of all power to impede or interfere" with the political developments of the last days. He quotes another writer as saying: "By what means the Turkish empire shall be reduced to this helpless state (an empire formerly distinguished for its enthusiastic, loyalty, ferocity, and valor; and which is even at this day - 1802 - as populous as any other upon earth, the Chinese excepted) is not intimated in this verse; and will perhaps remain concealed until the events themselves shall remove the veil . . ." (Eureka, vol. 5, p. 178, 190).

The Dramatic Decline of Turkey
The year 1820 saw the commencement of this "drying up" process in a series of disasters that irreparably weakened the Turkish nation. In that year, Greece rebelled against the Turks, and seven years later gained independence. In 1828, Wallachia and Moldavia were annexed and Serbia threw off the Turkish yoke. The following year France occupied Algiers in North Africa, and commenced to "dry up" the Turkish Empire from that direction.

By now Turkey was called "the sick man of Europe," and its approaching eclipse was anticipated. But Britain and France feared that Russia might fill the political vacuum which would be thus created, and sought to revive the dying empire. Thus, when Egypt revolted in 1832, and Mehemet Ali drove the Turkish forces back almost to the Euphrates, the revolt was quelled, not by Turkey, but by a combination of great powers headed by Britain. And in the constant attacks that Turkey now experienced from Russia, she found that she could rely upon Britain as her ally, and that British forces were always there to hold the enemy at bay.

But the "drying up" process continued. Massacre, civil war. famine. earthquake, military invasion, a constant succession of reverses within and without, weakened and dissipated the empire. Though reformers from within and allies from without attempted to stem the drift, they found themselves powerless to do so. They were fighting destiny. The years saw Turkey gradually, but inevitably, declining towards ruinous regression.