184 WARBYREVOLUTIONinMedinareachedfourteenthousand.Theircommander,Khairy Bey,
orderedfrequentsortiesaimedatrecapturingRabighontheRed Sea
coastandclearingtheway for amarchonMecca."TheGermans,
however,notonlyexercisedlittledirectmilitaryinfluenceonTurk-
ishoperationsintheHijazbutdisagreedamongthemselvesonother
aspectsofpolicytowardtherevolt.
AtleastoneGermanofficial,LoytvedHardegg,putfortharadical
setofproposalstohalttheArabuprising.He reportedto Wolff-
MetternichthatmanySyrianArabsexcusedtherevoltbecauseof]emal
Pasha'srecentpersecutionsofthem."Consequently,theDamascus
consulurged,GermanyshouldattempttoconciliatetheArabs by
distributingpro-Arabpropagandain Syriaandelsewhere,byestab-
lishingaconsulateatJidda(longdesiredbyGermany),andbyform-
ing apro-ArabpartythatGermanycoulduseagainsttheTurksin
publicmeetings,thepress,andparliament."Wolff-Metternichob-
jectedthatthiswouldangerthePorte."ForthesamereasonLossow,
themilitaryattacheinConstantinople,forbadethespreadofpropa-
gandaamongArabtroopsintheOttomanarmy.Nevertheless,the
Germanembassy'sbranchofficeoftheInformationService forthe
East,withtheDamascusconsulate'sapproval,diddistributethou-
sandsofArabbrochuresandleafletsin Syriathatemphasizedthe
economicstrengthofGermany."
InparttheconcernofLossowandwolff-Metternichnottoupset
theTurksovertheArabquestionresultedfrombittercriticismlev-
eledagainsttheGermansinOctoberbythegrandvizier,SaidHalim.
HecharacterizedasfailuresGermany'spoliticalandmilitaryopera-
tionsintheMiddleEastandaccusedBerlinofcharlatanismin orga-
nizingthem."
Despitethegrandvizier'sattack,othersignsattheendof 1916
indicatedagrowinginterestofbothTurkeyandGermanyinattempt-
ingtohaltthesharif'srevoltbyreconcilingwiththeArabs.On 29
DecemberLossow received arequestfromEnverPashafor£T200,000
permonthforpaymenttothesharifandotherBedouinchieftainsin
Syria,Arabia,andMesopotamia."Simultaneously,Oppenheim,who
hadreturnedtoBerlinfromhislongmissioninTurkey,soughtto
negotiatea peacewiththesharif,apparentlywiththePorte'spermis-