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

FAILEDEXPECTATIONSONBOTHSIDES 109

WangenheimpreviousreportsfromseveralGermanagentsinTur-
keyallegingties betweenthesharifandBritain.Accordingtothe
under-secretary,thesharifshouldwelcome"as aspecialhonorthe
sendingofanImperialconsularrepresentativetoJidda."InJidda,
saidZimmermann,Probstershould"notonlyconstructanintelli-
genceservice,butsupervisetheGrandSharif,[and]counterEnglish
agitationinArabia,">
AlthoughTurkishoppositionpreventedrealizationoftheforeign
ministry'sschemefortheconsulate,Wangenheimapparentlysoothed
slightlyEnverPasha'sunhappinesswiththeGermanactivitiesinthe
OttomanEmpire.Heaskedthewarministertoassumepersonallead-
ershipofthemanyGermanexpeditionsoperatinginTurkey."Enver
thenagreedtopermitOppenheimtomeetwithFaysal.
DespitethegrowingevidencefromGermansources,evenstretch-
ingbackbeforethewar,thatunderscoredthepro-Britishsympathies
ofthesharif,OppenheimbelievedthatthemistrustoftheGermans
andYoungTurksofHusaynwasunjustified.Inparthebasedhis
viewonthepro-Husaynopinionsoftheex-khediveandShaykhSalih
al-Sharifal-Tunisi(aformerYoungTunisian,dedicatedpropagan-
distofpan-Islamism,andfavoriteofEnverPasha),whomOppenheim
metinConstantinople.Further,aninvestigationbyOppenheimcon-
vincedhimthattheintrigueatthePorteagainstHusayn,as well as
effortstheretoremovehimassharif,wereunwarranted. 56
To asignificantdegreeOppenheimevaluatedaccuratelythesitua-
tioninvolvingHusayn.To be sure,thesharifhadcontinuedhis ne-
gotiationswiththeBritish.Inaddition,thesecretArabnationalist
societiesin Syria,comprisingofficersintheTurkisharmy,hadap-
proachedHusayninJanuary 1915 aboutassumingleadershipofan
ArabrevoltagainsttheTurks.Butthesharifstillleanedtowardseek-
ingautonomyforhimselfandhisfamilywithintheOttomanEm-
pire.Perpetuatingthesharifatein hisdescendantswas asignificant
partofwhathesought.
ButinJanuaryanagentofthesharifhaddiscoveredinMedina
documentsofthelocalTurkishgovernor,WahibBey,thatoutlineda
plottodeposeHusaynandhisfamilyandendthespecialstatusof
theHijaz.TheoutbreakofthewarhadpreventedtheTurksfrom
actingontheirplan.ThesharifsentFaysal to Constantinopleto