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

x WARBYREVOLUTION

imperialinterestsinIndia,Persia,andEgypt.'Muchofthisextensive
literatureprovidesthefoundationoftheBritishportionsofthe
presentstudy.
Nonetheless,suchinterpretations,whilenotincorrect,fail to ex-
plainfullythereasonsforBritain'swartimepolicyintheMiddleEast.
Whathasescapedthenoticeofscholarsisthesignificantinfluence
ofImperialGermanyinshapingBritain'sdecisions,bothbeforeand
duringthewar. Beforethewar, asthestudiesbyGregorSchollgen
andUlrichTrumpenerillustrateandthefirstchaptersofthisbook
affirm,GermanyreplacedFranceandRussiaasBritain'sleadingrival
intheregion.'
Also,boththeBritishandGermansseemedobsessedwithpan-
Islamism,anOttomandoctrinethatproclaimedthesultan-caliph's
religiousauthorityoverMuslimsall overtheworld.Thedoctrine
furthercalledonMuslimstodefendtheOttomanEmpireandca-
liphate,asthe"true"faith,againstothers,particularlytheWestern
infidel.Fordifferentreasons,LondonandBerlinsignificantlyover-
estimatedthepowerandunityofpan-Islamism,consideringitbe-
foreWorldWar I to bethegreatestthreattotheWestposedbythe
Muslimworld.'
SomeGermanleaders,includingtheemperor,WilhelmII,worked
toexpandtheReich'sinfluenceintheOttomanEmpireinthebelief
that,intheeventofafuturewaramongtheEuropeanpowers,Ger-
manycouldorganizeandexploitafanaticalandunifiedIslamfor
Berlin'swartimeaims.Theseaims,oncetheworldwarbegan,were
grandioseintheextremeandgenerallydirectedatrallyingtheGer-
manpopulacebehindthewareffort.Theyincludedstrengthening
Germany'spowerinEuropebydivertingelsewheretheresourcesof
itsGreatPowerrivals,Britain,France,andRussia,andweakeningor
destroyingtheiroverseas(orother)empires.TheBritishEmpirees-
peciallycontainedvastnumbersofMuslimsubjects,whointheview
ofWilhelmIIandotherGermanofficialsmightbeusedagainstBrit-
ain. In 1898 thekaiser,in avisittotheOttomanEmpire,proclaimed
himselftheprotector-friendoftheearth'sthreehundredmillionfol-
lowersofIslam.^6
Similarly,Britain'sprewarleaderstendedto believethattheworld
ofIslamwasmonolithic,thatittookits cues uniformlyfromthe
sultan-caliph.TheseBritishofficials,becauseoftheirlongtimepre-