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

BRITAINASWARTIME"REVOLUTIONARY" 175

wasaccompaniedby]emalPasha,severalTurkishofficers,andFaysal.

While inMedinaFaysalperformedceremonieschosentodemonstrate

hisfather'sloyaltytothePorte;theGermansapplaudedthevisit."

Also inMedinaEnver receivedlukewarmsupportfortheStotzingen

expeditionfrom]emalandlocalTurkishauthorities-lukewarmbe-

causetheydislikedtheideaofGermansinArabia,fearedthereaction

oftheshariftotheGermanpresence,andworriedthatthemission

wouldinterferewiththeTurkishplansforassaultingEgypr."

OnreturningtoConstantinopleEnverexpressedconcernforthe

survivalofStotzingen'sGermansanddemandedsafeguardsfortheir

protection.HeorderedthemtospeakonlyTurkish(inwhichneither

StotzingennorNeufeldwasfluent),travelaccompaniedby anOtto-

manarmyunit,andtosendNeufeld,whohadoncevisitedMedina

againstthewishesofbothTurksandArabs,notthroughtheHijaz

butalongtheRed Seashore."

StillanotherfactorencouragedtheTurksto agree totheStotzingen

mission.AmessagehadarrivedthroughYemenfromtheGerman

ministerin Abyssinia,Syburg,arguingthatasuccessfulGerman-

TurkishattackagainstEgyptwouldacceleratetheconclusionofa

German-AbyssinianallianceandthereafteranattackbyAbyssinia

ontheSudan.Syburgadded,"Thiscouldalsoprovideabreatherfor

ourEastAfricanprotectiveregionthatisthreatenedfromBritish

EastAfricaandtheBelgianCongo.''"Meanwhile,Germanconcern

overAbyssiniaintensifiedwhentheItalianpressreported,albeiter-

roneously,thatLijIyasu'sfather,RasMikail,hadarrivedinEgyptto

concludeanAnglo-Abyssinianagreement."

The FinalEncouragementsto Revolt

Bymid-MarchHusaynhadcompletednegotiationswiththeBritish.
Thelatterpromisedtodelivermoneyandwarsuppliestothesharif,
andHusaynplannedtobeginhisrevoltagainsttheTurkson16]une.
McMahoninCairourgedhimto delaytherisinguntilBritaincould
equiptheArab forces adequately;"otherwise,theBritishdidtheir
utmostduringthespringtourgeHusayntorevolt.
OnIOMarch,forexample,Cairoeagerlyreportedarecentvictory
inCyrenaicatotheSharifofMecca,reassuringHusaynwithabadly