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

THEGERMANTHREATONTHEPERIPHERY 145

hedidlittlemorethanallowNiedermayertohelpincreasetheeffi-
ciencyoftheAfghanarmy'sarsenal,variousfactories,andtroop
formations.
TheamircleverlyusedtheGermansas acounterweighttotheBrit-
ish,whoseviceroyinIndiahadsincelongbeforethewarpressured
AfghanistantosubordinateitselftoIndia.Further,theAfghanruler
apparentlywishedtowaitandseewhichsidewonthewar, inthe
hopethatAfghanistanwouldberepresentedatthepeaceconference
andrecognizedas asovereignstare.?? In May 1916 Niedermayerand
Hentig,frustratedbytheirlackofprogresswiththeamir,finallyleft
Afghanistan.Theformerreturnedto GermanythroughRussian
TurkestanandPersia,thelatterthroughChinaandtheUnitedStates."
As fortheIndianrevolutionariesaccompanyingtheGermanmission,
PrarapandBarkatullah,theyremainedbehindinKabulandintrigued
unsuccessfullyagainsttheBritishinIndia."
AlthoughtheGermanexpeditionstoKabulachievedlittletangible
result,theirpresenceneverthelesshelpedprompttheAnglo-Russians
inPersiatotakesubstantialmilitarycountermeasurestoisolatethe
GermansinAfghanistan.Inthespringof 1915 thetwo alliesdivided
amongthemselvesthecentralzoneinPersiathathadremainedneu-
tralaftertheirconventionof1907.Moreover,theRussians,whose
troopshadadvancedintowesternPersia,andtheBritishIndiangov-
ernmentincreasedthesizeoftheirrespectivemilitaryforces inthe
country,each by severalthousandmen.v'

Libya:TheSanussis'Attackon BritishPositions

TheBritishfoundthemselvesonthedefensiveduring 1915 inNorth
Africa,whereaGermanandTurkishcampaignincitedMuslims
againstBritishrulein Egypt. In Libya,wheretheItalianswere in-
volvedin asteadyguerrillawarwithBedouinswhoopposedItaly's
extensionofitscolonialrule,GermanandTurkishactivitiescontin-
uedtodamagerelationsbetweenBerlinandRome.MostBedouins
inCyrenaica,theeasternpartofthecountryalongtheMediterra-
neancoast,as well astribesmeninthewesterndesertofEgyptandin
theSudanwerefollowersofaMuslimreligioussectled by anomadic
chief,theSayyidAhmadal-Sharif(Shaykhal-Sanussi).