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

THEGERMANTHREATONTHEPERIPHERY 151

whereheremaineduntilhisreturntoEurope,againbysubmarine,
inFebruary1916.
ProbsteralsocarriedordersfromNadolnytoMannesmann,di-
rectingthelattertoleavetheSanussicamp,movewestacrossLibya,
andjoinGermanagentsinTunisia,Algeria,andMoroccoinattempt-
ingtoraiselocalBerberandArabtribesagainsttheFrench.!"Butthe
mainreasonfortheremovalofMannesmannwas EnverPasha'sre-
peatedaccusationsthattheGerman'spresenceamongtheSanussis
underminedtheinfluenceofNuriPashaandtheTurks. Both
Falkenhayn,thechiefofstaffoftheGermanhighcommand,and
ZimmermanntriedunsuccessfullytoallayEnver'smistrustofGer-
manpoliticalambitionsin LibyaandEgypt,goalsthat,thewar min-
isterbelieved,conflictedwithTurkey'sgoalofreacquiringcontrol
overbothlands.NordidEnveraccepttheGermanforeignministry's
claimthatGermany'sallegedpopularityamongtheArabs in Libya
andelsewhereprovidedanadvantageforthePortebyhelpinglessen
ArabhostilitytowardtheTurks."?
Duringthehostilities,theBritishremainedincontactwiththe
Shaykhal-SanussithroughBedouinmessengers,whoreportedto
CairoMannesmann'sdeparturewestwardforTunisia."?Bytheend
ofDecembertheBritishmilitaryoperationsaroundMersaMatruh
hadleftmanyoftheSayyidAhmad'sforces retreatingwestwardin
confusionandhadcausedseveredamagetotheprestigeoftheirleader.
FortheBritish,itonlyremainedto clinchtheirsuccess;hadtheir
cavalryinterceptedthemainbodyoftheenemyon 25 December,as
was tohappenamonthlater,thecampaignmighthaveendedthere,
withtheSanussis'defeat.