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

94 WARBYREVOLUTION

AttheendofNovemberRoylemettwicewiththeshaykhatal-
Sallum.TheshaykhindicatedhisdispleasureatEgypt'snewfrontier
policyofcloselycheckingpersonsandprovisionspassingfromEgypt
intoLibya.ManySanussislived inwesternEgypt,tradedextensively
withtheirfellowtribesmeninLibya,andacknowledgedtheSayyid
Ahmad'sreligiousleadership.Althoughthesayyidhadno quarrel
withtheBritishandinthepasthadexpressedhimselffavorablydis-
posedtowardthem,Royle'svisitswiththeshaykhleftCairouneasy
aboutthesituation.Cheethamidentifiedacertainrestlessnesson
thepartoftheEgyptianBedouinsinthewesterndesert,withwhom
GermanandTurkishagents,hedeclared,"haveunquestionablybeen
intriguing."OntheLibyansideoftheborder,sometwothousand
armedmenhadgatheredatthesayyid'scampnearal-Sallum;this
force, heassuredtheBritish,wasdirectedsolelyagainsttheItalians.
Britainthoughtthisexplanationseemedreasonableenoughbutnev-
erthelessreinforceditstroopsinwesternEgypt.^99
ElsewhereintheMiddleEast,theBritishfoundeven lessreason
foroptimism.ByNovemberandDecembertheirintelligencesources
describedadistressingsituationinArabia.Pilgrimsattheholycities
andtheportof]iddasufferedfromnearstarvationbecausetheOtto-
mansrefusedtoshipfoodtotheHijaz,apparentlywishingtoblame
thepilgrims'conditiononBritain'scontroloftheRed Sea.Britain's
navalvesselspatrolledmuchofthelongsea-routefromSuez to Aden;
theyattackedTurkishshipping,blockadedArabianports,andseized
Arabiandhows(smallboats).Nevertheless,theBritishattemptedto
alleviatethefoodcrisis intheHijaz,shippingsuppliestothepilgrims
andlocalArabtribesthroughJidda.Inaddition,Britaindeclaredto
theArabsthatdespitethewarwithTurkey,theAllieswouldrespect
thesanctityandsafetyoftheholycities.'?"
Incontrast,however,theBritishlearnedthatinitial approachesby
theTurkstotribalchiefsinArabiahadfailedtoenlisttheirbacking
forthePorte.TheSharifofMecca, forexample,hadrefusedtheYoung
TurkrequestthathesupplyArabtroopsandcamelsfortheOtto-
manforces innearbyAsir. InsouthwesternArabia,thePortehadat-
temptedtoconvincetheImamYahya in Yemen, whoseassistance
theTurkshadtriedtosecurewithspecialprivilegesandsubsidies,
thatheshouldjointheholywaragainsttheChristianpowers.Brit-