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

168 WARBYREVOLUTION

specialreconnaissanceunit,headedbyColonelRochusSchmidt,to
theSinaiPeninsulatoinvestigateutilizingArabiaandEgyptasbases
fortheannexations.v' StillotherGermans,includingsomeservingin
Turkey,believedinattackingEgyptforsimilarreasons.t-
SuchimperialistfantasieshadexistedamongnumerousGermans
beforethewar,andtheyhadgrownsteadilyasthefightingprogressed
anddiscussionsaboutwaraimsintensified.Bytheendof 1915 de-
mandsreacheda feverpitchamongthecolonialministryas well as
Germanpublicists,pan-Germans,andeconomicleadersthattheReich
usethewartoestablishacentralAfricanempire."
Despiteincidentsthatindicatedthefruitlessnessofshippingweap-
onsandsuppliesacrosstheRed Sea,whichBritishshipspatrolled,
thecolonialministrycontinuedtodevelopschemestoattackEast
Africa."Forinstance,theTurkishgovernmentapprovedaplanby
DukeAdolfFriedrichzuMecklenburgtousetheSomalisandtheir
chief,theSayyidMuhammadAbdullah,the"MadMullah,"longan
opponentofItalianandBritishcolonialism,toinvadeBritishEast
AfricaandUganda."AttheendofDecemberSolfpushedtheGen-
eralStafftosendamissiontosouthernArabiawiththeaimofestab-
lishingabaseforcommunicationswith,andsmugglingarmaments
to,EastAfrica. HeacknowledgedtoFalkenhaynthatthe"closingof
thetransportationroutes"toAfrica"hasmadeitnearlyimpossible
tosupportfromthemotherlandthetroopsdefendingtheremainder
oftheGermancolonies.t'"
AccordingtotheGermanadmiraltystaff,nochanceexistedfor
navaloperationstoassisttheGermanforcesinAfrica.Solftherefore
proposedrelievingGermanEastAfricabydivertingBritishtroops
fromthereandEgypttotheSudan.HeurgedthatGermanyincite
anti-BritishrevoltsbysmugglingweaponstotheSudanesethrough
neighboringAbyssinianandSomalibordertribes.Solfenvisioned
establishingaGermanheadquartersinsouthernArabia,fromwhich
Arabtraderscouldbeusedtotransportthearmamentsintoeastern
Africa.w
TheideahardlystruckFalkenhaynandtheGeneralStaffas novel.
SincethebeginningofthewartheGeneralStaffandtheforeignmin-
istryhadattemptedrepeatedly,andwitharemarkablelackofsuc-
cess, to raise theSudananditsneighboringcountriesinrebellion