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

BRITAINASWARTIME"REVOLUTIONARY" 183

anticipatedthemainTurkishthrust,andtheTurkssufferedfrom
thefatiguecausedbystiflingheatandscarcewater.Thedefenders
counterattackedwithwell-equippedcavalryforcesandheavy artil-
leryfromwarshipsinthenearbyMediterraneanSea; theTurks
quicklyretreatedintotheSinaiunderthecoverofdarkness.The
Britishhadwonaconsiderablevictory.Totalcasualtiesamongthe
Turksamountedtonearlyninethousand,amongtheirenemybarely
athousand.
ThebattleatRomanisignaledtheendofthelongTurkish-German
campaigntotakethecanalandEgyptfromBritain.wTheBritishnow
seizedtheinitiative;intheensuingmonthstheirforcessteadilyand
methodicallydrovetheTurkseastwardacrosstheSinaitotheEgyp-
tianfrontier,betweenal-ArishandGaza.
InArabia,bytheendof 1916 therevolthadlostmuchofitsinitial
momentum,andthesharif'sforceshadfailedto captureMedina.
NeverthelesstheyhadregisteredsignificantvictoriesovertheTurks.
Inthatyeartherebelscapturedjidda,Mecca,Yanbo,Rabigh,al-Wejh,
Kunfidha,andTaif. Also,theyseizedsixthousandprisonersofwar,
plusweaponsandmilitaryequipment;forcedtheTurkstoaddasub-
stantialnumberoftroopstotheirMedinagarrison;isolatedtheTurk-
ishdivisionsin AsirandYemenfromtheprincipalforce tothenorth;
andpreventedtheGermansandTurksfromspreadinghostilitiesto
Africa.Moreover,theyhadbegunthreateningtheHijazrailroadand
othercommunicationsbetweenDamascusandMedina?"
Whiletheinsurrectionremainedforsometimeaminoraffairmili-
tarily,Germanleadersrecognizedstraightawayitspotentialforun-
derminingtheTurkishandGermanwar effortintheMiddleEast.
Thisrealization,inpart,resultedfromBerlin's(andthePorte's)failed
campaignsince1914 to wage asimilarwarbyrevolution-toincite
theArabsandotherMuslimsoftheregiontojointhesultan-caliph's
holywaragainsttheBritish.Notcoincidentally,inNovember1916,
theGermansbeganpublishinginBerlina weeklypan-Islamicjour-
nal, DieIslamischeWelt,editedbythefieryEgyptianpan-Islamist
Shaykhjawish."
AstherevolutionintheHijazbegan,mostGermanleaderssup-
portedtheTurkishmilitarystrategyofdefendingMedinaandhold-
ingtheHijazfront.Inthefall of1916thenumberofTurkishtroops