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

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politicalprisoners,setupadecentralizedTurkishregimein Syriaand
Iraq,recognizeHusayn'sruleintheHijazashereditary,andconfirm
thesharifiate'straditionalstatusandprivileges.>Duringthefirst
weeksofApril,JemalPasha-inconnectionwithanannouncement
toHusaynthataspecialTurkisharmyunitnumbering3,500troops
wouldtravelwiththeStotzingenpartytoYemen-rejectedthesharif's
demandsandeventhreatenedthesafetyofFaysal,whowasstillin
Damascus.AttheendofthemonththeTurkishunitarrivedin
Medina,clearlyposingathreattothesharifandhisauthority;by 2
MayStotzingenandNeufeldhadleftDamascusfortheRed Sea.^36
Husayn'sangertowardtheTurksincreasedwhenFaysalreported
fromSyriaJemalPasha'scontinuedarrestsandexecutionsoflocal
Arabnationalists,whichwereelicitingapprovalfromatleastsome
Germans.ThismeantthattheplannedArabrevoltcouldnotdepend
onSyria, asoriginallythought,butmustbebasedintheHijaz.These
eventsalsoconvincedHusaynthathisrevoltshouldbeginmuch
soonerthanhehadintended.Inmid-MayJemalpermittedFaysalto
returntotheHijaz,ostensiblytohelporganizethevolunteercorps
orderedtojointheTurksintheSinaiPeninsula."
Apparently,however,anddespitehisrecentthreatagainstFaysal's
safety,JemaltrustedtheArabchiefintheHijazmorethantheGer-
mans.On 25 MayjemaldenouncedtoLoytvedHardegg,theReich's
consulinDamascus,thecontinueddistributionofGermanpropa-
gandainArabia.Todemonstratehisangerheclosedareadingcenter
inMedinathathadbeenestablishedbyOppenheim."
DuringtheensuingdaystensionmountedattheGermanconsu-
lateinDamascus,whichservedasGermany'smainoutpostandob-
servatoryonthefringeofArabia.On 3 JuneLoytvedHardeggtele-
graphedtheembassyinConstantinoplenewsofunrestamong
BedouinsaroundMedinaandalongtheHijazrailroad.>Twodays
laterheadvisedthattheArabshadreportedlycapturedStotzingen,
thatfightingbetweentheTurksandthesharif'sforceshaderupted
southofMedina,andthattheBritishhadblockedtheArabcoastof
theRed Sea.^40 Thesameday, in yetanothertelegramtotheembassy
theconsulrelayedwithirritationJemalPasha'sclaimtohimthatthe
governorhadallowedFaysal toreturntotheHijazonlytotestthe
Arab'sloyaltytotheTurks."Itoldhimpolitely,"theconsuldeclared,