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

130 WARBYREVOLUTION

severalfactorshadincreasedtheinfluenceoftheGeneralStaff,which
demandedamoreaggressiveGermanrole.TheseincludedTurkey's
recententryintothewar,thesteadyadvanceofGermanarmieson
theeasternfront,agrowingawarenessinBerlinofPersia'spotential
importanceinthewar,theGeneralStaff'sequippingofKlein'sexpe-
dition,andNiedermayer'srequestthathismissionbesubordinated
toGermanmilitaryauthoritiesinsteadofGermanandTurkishpo-
liticalones.
AmeetingoftheprincipalTurkishandGermanleaders inConstan-
tinopleonIIFebruaryreconfirmedEnverPasha'smilitaryplans,but
theGermanGeneralStaffopposedwhathadbeendecided.Nadolny
refusedtoaccepttheYoungTurkleader'spolicyofinvadingAzer-
baijan,onthegroundthatitwouldembitterthePersianstowardthe
TurksandGermans,anddelaytheentryoftheGermanexpeditions
intoPersia. HearguedthatthepresenceinPersiaofBritishtroopsin
thesouthandofRussianforces inthenorthhadlongviolatedPer-
sianneutrality,whichGermanycouldnottolerate.Hethereforeis-
suedordersdesignedtoclaimcontrolfromtheforeignministryover
boththeNiedermayerandKleinexpeditions,whoseobjectiveswere
to raise a largerebellionofthenativepeoplesinPersiaandAfghani-
stanagainsttheBritishandRussians.HedirectedNiedermayerto
separatehismissionfromtheTurkishoneandmoveimmediately
intoPersia,withouttheOttomans."Nadolnyalsodispatchedto
BaghdadandtheTurkish-PersianborderDr.FriedrichSarre, anoted
GermanarchaeologistandscholarofIslam,to act asthestaff'sliai-
sonofficerintheregion."
Duringtheensuingweeks severalsmallelementsofNiedermayer's
expeditionenteredPersiatoestablishsupplybases forthesupportof
notonlyhis missionto Afghanistanbutalso thatofPratapand
Hentig.Schuenemanntraveledto Kermanshah,PeterPaschento
Kurdistan,Seiler toIsfahan,andZugmayerandWalterGriesingerto
Kerman.WassmusshadlefttheexpeditioninJanuarytoadvancein-
dependentlyintosouthernPersia,aimingatcreatinga base inShiraz.>
Inandaroundeach citytheGermanagentsclaimedspecialprivi-
leges asconsulsandagitatedamongthelocalPersianpopulation-
Shiitereligiousleaders(ulamas),businessmen,governmentofficials,
thegendarmerie,andtriballeaders. To winthesupportofthesegroups