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

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againstBritainandtoestablishGermanconsulatesinJiddaand
Kunfidha.Falkenhayn,in his replytoSolf,blamedsuchfrustrations
on"theresistanceoftheTurkishauthorities,whobelievedtheymust
takeintoaccountthesensitivitiesoftheGrandShaykhofMecca."??
Nevertheless,FalkenhaynagreedfullywithSolf'splan.Thechiefof
staffnowbelieved"thattherelationshipbetweentheTurkishgov-
ernmentandtheGrandShaykhapparentlyhasbeensettled,"sothat
theReichshouldagainattemptreachingEastAfricabyestablishing
afootholdinArabiaandontheRed Sea. Heimmediatelyorderedthe
GeneralStafftocarryouttheproject."
In fact,however,theGermanaction(assistedbythePorte),based
as it wasonerroneousinformationabouttheattitudeoftheSharif
ofMecca,helpedtoprecipitateanarmedrevoltamongtheArabs
againsttheTurks.TheArabrebellionof 1916 resultedinpartfrom
Britain'swar-wagingpolicyofallyingwithandencouragingtheAr-
abs to rise inrevolutionagainsttheTurks.Itproduceda crisisthat
madeaGermanandTurkishvictoryintheMiddleEastmuchmore
difficult.