War by Revolution. Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

78 WARBYREVOLUTION

groupswere active intheBengalprovince,whilepolicepressurehad
forcedothersabroad.TheGhadrparty'soriginsin 1913 lay inthedis-
criminationsufferedbySikhpeasantsfromthePunjabwhohad
emigratedto thewestcoastoftheUnitedStatesandCanada.Al-
thoughtheparty'sinitialleaderswererevolutionaryexiles,theOx-
ford-educatedanarchistLalaHarDayalandapan-Islamistprofessor
MaulviBarkatullah,itsstrengthlay inthedevotedallegianceofthe
SikhpeasantemigrantsandthesupportGhadrleaderscouldpoten-
tiallyarouseinthevillagesandmilitaryregimentsofthePunjab."
OppenheimrecruitedintotheBerlincommitteemembersfrom
Switzerland(theBengaliactivistVirendranathChattopadhyayaand
an exilefromsouthernIndia,ChempakaramanPillai),Germany(the
MarxisthistorianBhupendranathDattaandHeidelbergstudent
MarthePrabhakar),theUnitedStates(theGhadrleadersBarkatullah
andTaraknathDas),andSyria (twobrotherslivinginBeirut,Abdal-
JabbarKheiryandAbdal-SattarKheiry).v
TheGermans,however,hadlesssuccessinrecruitingHarDayal,
themostnotoriousGhadrleader.FollowingarrestintheUnitedStates
inMarch 1914 foraninflammatoryspeechatananarchistmeetingin
SanFrancisco,hejumpedbailandfled toSwitzerland.Duringthe
fallHarDayaltraveledfortheGermanstoConstantinopletoassist
insendingIndianrevolutionariestoIndia.Buthesoonleftinanger,
apparentlymistrustedbytheYoungTurks,andsettledin Geneva.
Moreover,as afanaticalHinduhe denouncedtheemphasisby
OppenheimandotherGermansonpan-IslamismandIndianMus-
limsintheplansforIndia.t-Sowithinthefirsttwomonthsofthe
wartheGermansdiscoveredfirsthandaproblemamongtheIndian
revolutionariesthatwouldcontinuetounderminethelatters'work,
as well asthatofGermany,towardthegoalofdestroyingBritishrule
inIndia.
ThroughtheIndianIndependenceCommitteeinBerlinthefor-
eignministrycontactedIndianrevolutionariesintheUnitedStates.
Forthispurpose,andwiththefullcollaborationoftheambassador,
CountJohannHeinrichBernstorff,theministryturnedtheGerman
embassyinWashingtonintoacommunicationcenterformessages
betweentherevolutionaries,theministry,theGeneralStaff,andIn-
dianagentsintheMiddleandFar East.Theembassyalsoprovided