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

THETHICKENINGPLOTANDHOLYWAR 91

districtsfortheEighthCorps,is anartificialone."Morespecifically,
hewarned,theSharifofMeccawas"inthepayoftheEnglish";pil-
grimsreturningfromtheHijazhadtoldhimthatthesharif'satti-
tudewas "verylukewarmattheleast."Also,saidPrufer,relations
seemedstrainedbetweenthesharifandOttomangovernorofMecca,
WahibBey,whohadsoughttobreakthelocalinfluenceofthesharif."
TheAustrianOrientalistMusilalsoportrayedableakpicturefor
ViennaandBerlinas he embarkedonhis missionintonorthern
Arabia.Therehehoped,withtheblessingoftheCentralPowersand
Porte,toreconcilethefeudingArabprinces-IbnRashid,IbnSaud,
andNuriibnShaalan-andpersuadethemtojointheholywar.Musil
complainedtoVienna,however,thatdespitehismeetingon 28 De-
cember 1914 withIbnShalaan,henowhadseriousdifficulties."The
tribesfleetherequisitionsofthe[Turkish]government,"hereported.
"IsearchedalonewithmysmallcaravanforNuri.Thereisnoenthu-
siasmforIslam.Thetribesarelittleinterestedinthewarbetween
BritainandTurkey.Britishagentsworkhardtopreparetheground."
IbnRashid,declaredMusil,hadrecentlyplunderedthetribesofNuri
andhisson,Nawwaf,thuspreventingthemfromsendingattheleast
fivethousandcamelridersneededtoassisttheTurksinattacking
Egypt.Despitesuchproblems,MusilleftNuri'scampatthebegin-
ningofJanuary 1915 forIbnRashid'sresidenceinHail,about 450
milessouthinthedesert.TherehehopedtopersuadeIbnRashidto
concludepeacewithNuriandNawwafas well aswithIbnSaud.?"

Britain'sResponse

TheproblemsexperiencedbytheGermansandTurksinunleashing
theholywarremainedalmostwhollyunknowntotheBritishand
theirallies.AmongtheAlliedpowers,Britainfeltmostacutelythe
dangerofaholywaranditspossibleconsequences.TheBritishEm-
pirepossessedmanymoremillionsofMuslimsubjectsthandidthe
imperialholdingsofFrance,Russia,andtherestofEuropecombined;
moreover,bothIndiaandEgyptlaygeographicallynearTurkey.In
India,theviceroyimmediatelymovedtokeepthesituationcalm,by
securingdeclarationsofallegiancefromthenativeprincesandother
notables."