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

164 WARBYREVOLUTION

themomentontheRussianfront.Itwas ameasureofBerlin'sconfi-
denceinitspositionthattheGermansnowplannedtocapitalizeon
theiralliancewithTurkeyto seizethemilitaryinitiativeintheMiddle
EastandEastAfricabeforeBritaincouldrecoverfromitsdisasterat
Gallipoli.
Severaloldproblems,however,complicatedthisGermaneffort.
First,despitetheTurkishsuccessatGallipoli,theBritishstillretained
controloftheSuezCanal,theRed Sea,andthewaterssurrounding
Africa."AsecondissueburdeninganynewGermanenterprise,po-
liticalormilitary,intheMiddleEastandEastAfricacenteredaround
theintensificationofconflictbetweenYoungTurkandGermanlead-
ers.Dissensionhadcharacterizedtheirrelationshipfromthebegin-
ningofthewar.ThefirstmajorTurkishmilitarysuccess,thetriumph
atGallipoli,emboldenedtheYoungTurkstoresistGermandemands
onTurkeyevenmorethanpreviously."
AlsodifferencesstemmedfromthedeathattheendofOctober
1915 ofWangenheim,theGermanambassadoratConstantinople.He
hadacquiredtheconfidenceofhisYoungTurkhosts,particularly
thatofthepowerfulwarminister,EnverPasha,withwhoseopposi-
tionto GermanpoliticalenterprisesandinterventionintheOtto-
manEmpiretheambassadorhadagreedonnumerousoccasions.
RelationsbetweentheembassyandthePortecooledimmediatelywith
thearrivalinConstantinopleoftheelderlyWolff-Metternich.The
newambassadornotonlydefendedtheArmenianstoovigorously
againsttheTurkishpersecutionbuttreatedtheTurkswitharrogance
andchidedthemfortheirfinancialdemandsonGermany."
Difficultiescontinuedtofesteras wellbetweentheGermansand
jemalPasha,theYoungTurkgovernorofSyriaandcommanderof
theFourthArmy.AccordingtotheGermanforeignministry,jemal
heldmuchoftheresponsibilityforthestrongBritishpositionamong
suchleadingchieftainsinArabiaasIbnSaudintheNajdandthe
SharifofMecca.Despitejemal'sexecutionofArabnotablesinSyria
whomhesuspectedoftreason,theministrycriticizedwhatittermed
thegovernor'spermissivepolicytowardArabrelationswithBritish
andFrenchdiplomatsinSyria,questioninghisloyaltytothePorte.
jemal,claimedtheministry,hadallowedtheAnglo-Frenchofficials