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

182 WARBYREVOLUTION

discussedpossibleBritishtreatieswithArabtribesalongtheEuphrates
RiverandencouragementbyBritishagentsofArabassaultsonthe
Turks.InNovemberanothermessagefromBaghdaddescribed"the
Arabquestion"as"stillverycritical."WhiletheAnglo-Indianarmyin
southernMesopotamiapreparedtoresumeitsadvancenorthward,
ShiiteArabslaunchedafuriousattackonTurkishtroopsalongthe
Euphrates,nearthevillageofHilla. 64
TheGermanconsulatesinPalestineandSyriaalsocarefullymoni-
toredtherevolt'simpactonlocalArabs.HeinrichBrode,theconsul
inJerusalem,emphasizedthedislikeofSyriansfortheTurksand
urgedthattheGermansnotidentifythemselvestoomuchwiththeir
allies."InDamascusLoytvedHardeggworriedthatthesharif'ssym-
pathizerswouldexploitrecentattacksbynearbybandsofHauran
ArabsonvillagesandgrainstationsalongtheHijazrailroadsouthto
Deraa."ReportsarrivinginBerlinfromoutsidetheMiddleEastadded
tothewarningsabouttheArabuprising.TheGermanembassyin
MadridquotedanexiledEgyptianprince,AzizHassan,thenlivingin
Spain,ascallingtherevolt"veryserious"andforeseeinga"widespread
effectnotonlyontheMuhammadanworldinAfrica,PersiaandIn-
dia,butaboveallinTurkeyitself'?"
TheGermantroublesinthisandotherrespectsonlyincreasedwhen
thelong-plannedsecondTurkishattackontheSuezCanal,ledby
KressvonKressenstein,finallybeganonthemorningof 4 August
1916.TheassaultdidnothingtodisrupteithertheArabrevoltorthe
extensionbytheBritishoftheirdefensesintotheSinaiPeninsula.
Beginninginthespringof 1916 thenewlyformedBritishEgyptian
ExpeditionaryForce(EEF)hadadvancedacrosstheSinaiPeninsula
towardtheOttomanborder.InMarch 1916 GeneralSirArchibald
Murray,Britain'snewcommander-in-chiefinEgypt,decidedto se-
curethedefenseofthecountrybyoccupyingal-ArishandKossaimi
onthesouthernborderofPalestine.To thenorthandeastofthe
SuezCanaltheEEFbeganbuildingarailroadandpushingcavalry
intothedesertbeyondit.^68
TheTurkishexpedition,whichtotaledeighteenthousandsoldiers
(includingtheGerman"Pasha"corps)andnearlyasmanycamels,
attackedthemainBritishoutpostatRomani,eastofthecanal.But
thefightingendedwithintheday. Britishairreconnaissancehad