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

174 WARBYREVOLUTION

thePorte'sinterestinpersuadingAbyssiniato enterthewar.The
Abyssinianheir-designatetothethrone,Lij Iyasu,hadcultivatedIs-
lamandbefriendedtheGermanandTurkishdiplomatsinhiscoun-
try.FuadSeliminformedRomberg,theGermanministerinBern,
thatthePortehadagreedinprincipletotheconstructionofa wire-
lessstationinYemenfordailycontactwithAddisAbaba.'?
ShortlythereafterMajorGeneralOttovonLossow, aveteranof
service inTurkeywhomBerlinhadappointedmilitaryattacheatthe
embassyin]uly1915,returnedtoConstantinople.Lossowwas to se-
cureapprovalfromtherulingfactioninConstantinople,headedby
EnverPashaandTalaatPashaandsupportedbythenewforeignmin-
ister,KhalilBey, for asmallGermanmissionto go toYemen."On 3
FebruaryEnveragreedthatStotzingencouldtravelalongthecoast
ofwesternArabiatoYemenwithanassistant,theformerGerman
residentoftheSudan,KarlNeufeld,toArabia."
Meanwhile,theGermanGeneralStaffproducedelaborateplans
forStotzingentoconstructapropagandaandintelligenceoutpost
inYemen,anoutpostwithawirelessstationto contactnotonly
AbyssiniabutalsotheReich'sbesiegedtroopsinGermanEastAf-
rica.Theplansfurthercalledfor thenewoutposttosendNeufeld
andlocallyrecruitedArabagentstheshortdistanceacrosstheRed
Sea totheSudan.Theretheywoulddistributejihadpropaganda,and
bombcommunicationsandraillines,"
EnverPashaagreedtotheGermanproposal,butthewarminister
soughttheapprovalfor it alsofrom]emalPasha,thepowerfulgover-
norofSyria.SincepreparationshadbegunattheendOf1915for an-
otherTurkishattackagainstEgypt,]emalhadconductedextensive
negotiationswiththeSharifofMecca,whohadagaindispatchedhis
son,Faysal,to Syria.Thegovernorhadsentmoneyandarmsto
Husaynintheexpectationthathewouldassisttheholywar,pro-
claimedbythesultan-caliph,byproducingalargevolunteerBedouin
force toassisttheTurksagainstEgypt.Thesharif'smotivesinnego-
tiatingwere hiswishtolessenTurkishsuspicionabouthisloyalty
andtokeephisoptionopenfor afuturealliancewiththeYoung
TurksshouldhisdiscussionwiththeBritishfail."
On 12 FebruaryEnverembarkedonalengthyvisitto Syria,from
whereatthebeginningofMarchhetraveledfurthertoMedina;he