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

180 WARBYREVOLUTION

thenpermittedFaysalto leave fortheHijaz,accompaniedbytwenty
TurkishofficersandcarryingagifttoHusaynoffivethousandpounds
ingold,toleadtheunittotheTurks.ButscarcelyhadFaysalandthe
TurkishofficersreachedMeccawhenthesharif'sfollowersseized
themoneyandforcedtheofficerstoreturntoSyria."
Atlast,Wolff-Metternichcontinued,"thePorteisconvincedthat
itshouldnolongertrusttheassurancesofloyaltyfromHusaynPa-
shaandhissons."AccordinglytheTurksnowdeposedHusayn,the
"oldmasteroftheartofOrientaldeception,"andreplacedhimwith
hisuncle,AliHaidar,whoresidedinConstantinople."Iaskmyself,"
theambassadorconcluded,launchingintoanangryattackonthe
Turks'failedArab policy,"whether[thePorte]arrivedatthisinsight
tooIare."> NoGermanofficial,eitherinTurkeyorinGermany,took
eventheslightestblamefortheArabrevolt,althoughrepeatedques-
tionsabourthesharif'sloyaltytothePortehadbeenraisedby Ger-
managentssince1914.
OnrjulytheDamascusconsulateinstructedtheembassythatthe
sharifhaddeclaredhisautonomyandthattheHijazportcityof]idda
hadfallentoArabandBritishforces.»A few weekslaterWeber,the
dragomanattheembassy,wasagreeingwiththepro-YoungTurk
Tunisian,ShaykhSalih,inascribingtherevolttotheTurkishperse-
cutionofArabsinSyria.Salihbeggedhimrepeatedly,Weberobserved
inamemorandum,nottoallowGermanytotaketherevoltlightly.54
InGermanythepressgrudginglymentionedtherevoltbuttermedit
insignificant,accusingHusaynofsellingouttoBritishgoldandthe
BritishofplanningtodismemberanddestroyTurkey."
Butprivatelytherevoltcausedimmediateandwidespreadcon-
cernamongGermanofficials.Oneofthefirstresponsescamefrom
theGermanagentinSyria,Prufer:hejoinedasmallairplaneunitof
theGerman"Pasha"corpspreparingwiththeTurkishforces inthe
Sinaidesertto attackEgypt.OftheArabrebellion,Pruferfirst
scribbledinhisdiaryon 9 June:"TherevoltintheHijazgrows. I was
righttowarnaboutthesharif."Amonthlaterherecorded,"TheArab
revoltis verybadfortheTurks.TheamirofMeccahasdeclaredhis
independence.t'"
Germanmilitaryleadersseemedequallydisturbed.Limanvon
Sanders,thecommanderoftheTurkishFifthArmy,whichhadsue-