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

150 WARBYREVOLUTION

Despitethesituation,Britaincontinuedtoresistpressurefrom
ItalytohelpforcetheshaykhtoconcludepeacewithItaly.TheFor-
eignOfficeinformedtheItaliangovernmenton 29 Septemberthat
"thegeneralsituationintheDardanellesis forthemomentexercis-
inganeffectinEgyptandNorthAfricagenerallywhichrendersit
mosthazardous"forBritain"totakeanyactionwhichtendstodrive
[the]Senoussiintoopenhostiliry.v"Instead,atthesuggestionofthe
BritishagentSnowandwithItalianapproval,CairopaidtheShaykh
al-SanussimoneytoremovetheTurkishofficersfromhiscampand
toavoidanopenrupture.v-
DuringthefirstweekofNovember,however,Germansubmarines
offthecoastofCyrenaicasankaBritishsteamerandtransportship,
whosecrews werelandedatPortSulaymanandwereimprisonedby
theSanussis.Theactivityofthesubmarinesapparentlyprovidedthe
finalencouragementfortheSayyidAhmadtoattacktheBritish.Be-
tween 17 and 19 NovembersmallnumbersofhistroopsshelledBrit-
ishoutpostsnearal-SallumandSidial-Barani,mannedbyonly 124
BritishandEgyptiantroops;duringtheskirmishes, 135 nativesofthe
EgyptiancoastguarddesertedtotheSanussis.Almostsimultaneously,
theshaykhdemandedsubstantiallymoremoneyfromtheBritish
andagreedinreturnonlytoremoveMannesmannfromhiscamp."!
ImmediatelytheBritishwithdrewtheirwesternEgyptianfrontier
poststoMersaMatruh,roughly 120 milesfurthereast,andreinforced
themwithtwothousandmotorizedandrelativelywell-armedAus-
tralian,Indian,NewZealand,Egyptian,andBritishtroops;the
Sanussisgathered2,500warriorssouthandwestofMatruh.TheBrit-
ishcounterattackedduring11-13and 25 December;amidthefight-
ing, theBritishsufferednumerouscasualties,whichincludedthe
deathoftheagentSnow.ManymoreBedouinswerekilled,however,
forcingmostofthosewhoremainedto fleetheirencampments.!"
DuringthefightingaGermansubmarinecarryingEdgarProbster,
aformerconsularofficial inMoroccowhospokefluentArabic,landed
atPortSulaymanalargesupplyofgoldmarks,militarydecorations,
andarmsfortheShaykhal-Sanussi.!"TheGermansintended
Probsrer'svisit toCyrenaicatoimpressontheSayyidAhmadGermany's
loyaltytohim.AftermeetingwithNuriPashaandtheshaykhon 19
December,theGermanemissaryproceededbacktoPortSulayman,