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

172 WARBYREVOLUTION

toldMcMahon,"orderus toexpeditethejourneyofagroupofGer-

manstothecoastsofAfrica(IthinktheshoresoftheRed Sea)and

werepliedconsentingwithallreadiness."However,Husayncontin-

ued,"upontheirarrivalhere we willinformyoubysomesecretmeans,

explainingwhatisnecessaryabouttheirjourneyanditsdestination.?"

HusaynhadlearnedoftheGermanmissionfromhissonFaysal.

Thesharifhadsenthimto Syria to allayTurkishsuspicionsofHusayn

and,ifpossible,organizearevoltthereofArabdivisionsoftheTurk-

isharmy,whichwouldattackfromtherearshouldthearmyadvance

onEgypt.WhileinDamascus,FaysalheardfromtheGermanmili-

taryofficerinchargeoftheReich'smissiontotheAfricancoast"that,

fromtheYemen,armsandammunitionwere to beshippedacrossto

Abyssinia,andananti-foreignwarbeguninthatcountry."Theof-

ficer "wasgoingafterwardstoGermanEastAfrica.'?'

TheStotzingenMission
TheGermanwithwhomFaysalspokewas MajorOthmarvon
Stotzingen,aseniorofficerintheGermanXII ArmyCorpsin
Wiirttemberg.Stotzingenhadtraveledwidelybeforethewarin Af-
ricaandreceivedarecommendationfor hismissiontoArabiain 1916
fromthewifeofAlfredCountvonSchlieffen,theformerchiefofthe
GeneralStaff."Ironically,becauseofStotzingen'sindiscretionto
FaysaltheSharifofMeccaknewoftheplannedGermanmissionto
ArabiaalmostbeforetheGermansreceivedpermissionfromtheTurks
tocarryitout.Husaynworriedmuchmore,however,aboutthein-
tentionsofthelargedetachmentofTurkishtroopsassignedbythe
PortetoaccompanytheGermans.
TheStotzingenmissionarosefromseveralfactors,whichthisstudy
hasalreadydiscussed.Theseincludedthelonghistoryoffailedwar-
timeGermanexpeditionstotheRed Seaandtherecentmilitaryde-
featssufferedbytheBritishintheMiddleEast,whichmadeBritain
seemmorevulnerabletoenemymilitaryaction.Inaddition,themis-
siongrewoutofthequestioningbyboththeGermansandTurksof
theloyaltyandsignificanceoftheSharifofMecca,andalsooutof
Berlin'splans,conceivedfirstatthecloseof1915,totakeadvantageof
Britain'spresentlyshakypositionintheMiddleEast.Finally,the