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

FAILEDEXPECTATIONSONBOTHSIDES 117

audiencewiththeEmperorFranzJoseph,buttheGermansrefused
hisrequesttomeetwithWilhelmII.S6Oppenheim,whovisitedthe
ex-khediveinVienna,informedAbbasHilmithatmeetingthekaiser
mightdamagerelationsfurtherbetweenthePorteandtheex-khedive,
andeventhosebetweenthePorteandGermany."
TheTurkishfailureattheSuezCanaldealtnotonlyaseriousdis-
appointmenttothepersonalambitionsofAbbasHilmiandthePorte
to seizeEgyptfromBritain,butalso acrushingblowtothepan-
IslamismandjihadoftheTurks."DespitethesetbackinEgypt,how-
ever,theGermanscontinuedto believe inthevalueoftheex-khedive
fortheReich'spoliticalpoliciesbothintheMiddleEastandEurope.
Throughouttheremainderof 1915 theGermanambassadorin Vienna,
HeinrichvonTschirschky,workedunsuccessfullyfortherapproche-
mentoftheex-khediveandEgyptiannationalistswiththeOttomans."
Ironically,Germanymay havebeenresponsiblefortheex-khedive's
lackofprogressincomingtotermswiththePorte.DespiteEnver
Pasha'scontinueduneaseaboutAbbasHilmi'srelationshiptothe
Arabs,Oppenheimusedthecabinetchiefoftheex-khedive,Ahmad
SheffikPasha,toarrangeforandassistOppenheim'snegotiations
withthesharif'sson,Faysal.?"
Also,theGermansattemptedtousetheex-khedivefortheirpro-
pagandaactivitiesinEurope.DuringMarch,inZurich,AbbasHilmi
assistedMatthiasErzberger,aGermanparliament(Reichstag)deputy
andthechiefofhisgovernment'spropagandainneutralstates,in
payingforGermanyaFrenchdefeatistandAbbasHilmi'sfriendfrom
Egypt,BoloPasha,tenmillionfrancstoacquirefortheReichthe
newspaperLe Figaro.Theex-khedivealsoreceivedalargesumfrom
theGermanstopurchasenewspapersin Italy.However,theschemes
collapsed,becauseAbbasHilmiandhisagentsspentthemoneyun-
wisely,keepinglargeamountsofit forthemselves;"hereturnedonly
723,000francstotheGermans."
Bysummer'sendthepositionoftheex-khedivehadbecomein-
creasinglyuncertaintowardbothTurkeyandGermany.Heandhis
costlyentourageofservantsandagentssoonmovedtoneutralSwit-
zerland.Therethepossibilityexistedfor himnotonlytocontact
numerousOrientalsin exileandremainclose totheCentralPowers
butalso tocontactBritainaboutasettlementregardinghisEgyptian