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

162 WARBYREVOLUTION

claimedthattheTurksnowrealizedtheyhadaseriousproblemwith
thesharifandthattheyintendedtoconciliatehim."Rumors
aboundedtoothatOppenheimwouldaccompanythenextarmed
TurkishandGermanattackonEgypt."InLondontheForeignOf-
fice receivedrenewedreportsthroughRussiathatjemalPashawould
turnagainstthePorteiftheAlliesmetthedemandshehadfirstfloated
inOctober."Finally,evensomeintheIndiaOffice, atraditionalbas-
tionofoppositionrodestroyingtheOttomanEmpire,afterlearning
ofwidespreaddemandsofGermanprofessorsandwritersthatthe
ReichexpanditsinfluenceintoTurkey,expressedfearatthepros-
pectofitremainingintact."
SykesreturnedtoLondon,wherebymid-Decembermajordeci-
sionswerebeingmaderegardingwar policy.AlreadyBritainhadbe-
gunnegotiationswithFranceonthelatter'sclaimsnotonlyto Syria
butalso toPalestine.Sykesnowboreinmindtheprovisionsthathe
was toimplementin May 1916 inthecontroversialSykes-PicotAgree-
mentwithFrance.Intheagreement,unknownto thesharifuntil
November1917,SykesconcludedwiththeFrenchasecretdeal forthe
postwarcreationofaGreaterArabiafortheArabsandHusayn,but
withtheinterioroftheSyrianpartunderFrenchcontrol,andthe
BritishreceivingMesopotamia.Theagreement,moreover,madePal-
estineaninternationalzone."
SykesarrivedbackinLondona veryimportantfigure. Sincethe
beginningofhisjourneyinJunehehadtraveledfromtheBalkansto
India,witnessedwarfarefromtheDardanellestothePersianGulf,
andhadmeteveryimportantBritishofficerintheregion.Hisreturn
coincidedwiththeBritishwithdrawalfromGallipoli,theAllied re-
verses intheBalkans,andtheAnglo-IndiansetbackatCtesiphonin
Mesopotamia.HemetwithprimeministerAsquith'sWarCommit-
tee,thegovernment'sleadingpolicy-makingbody,andarguedthata
militaryoffensivefromEgyptagainsttheTurkswouldbringtheAr-
abs over totheAllies. Sykes alsourgedonthecommitteethecomple-
tionofthealliancewiththeSharifofMecca,theguardianoftheholy
places. HewarnedthattheTurksmightkillthesharifandreplace
himwiththeirownnominee,whichwouldresultin a"realJehad"
threateningtheBritishnotonlyinMesopotamiabutalso inEgypt,
Persia,Afghanistan,India,andtheSudan.Sykes'stestimonymadea