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

188 WARBYREVOLUTION

hewroteinalengthymemorandum,"AsiaticTurkeyisthelastGer-
mancolony.Iftherevoltfailed,theTurksandGermanswouldsurely
triumph,withdisastrousresultsfor Britain."?McMahontoowor-
riedaboutwhatwouldhappenifBritaindidnotassistthesharif
adequately.AfterconsultingwithColonelC.E.Wilson,theBritish
representativeintheHijaz,hewrotetheForeignOfficeon 13 Septem-
berthatrecaptureofMeccabytheTurks,"apartfromgravedamage
whichwillensuetoourprestigethroughout[the]Moslemworldwill
openthewholeofArabiato [the]Turksandgivethemfree access to
[the]Easternshoresof[the] RedSea."88
Notwithstanding,inOctobertheWarCommitteeinLondon,the
GovernmentofIndia,andtheArabBureauandkeymilitaryleaders
inCairodisapprovedarequestfromMcMahonandWingatefor
troopsto besentto Arabia.Opponentsoftheplandislikedit for a
hostofreasons,foremostamongthemtheMuslimworld'sresponse
tothepresenceofChristianforcesintheHijaz.Someofficialswor-
riedthatsendingthetroopstoArabiawouldviolatethepledgegiven
byBritainofnon-interferenceintheIslamicholyplaces."
Stillthedebatecontinued,involvingeventheFrench,whoalarmed
theBritishbyconsideringthemselvessendinga force to Arabia.Mean-
whileHusayndeclaredhimself"kingoftheArabs"andrequested
thatbothBritainandFrancerecognizehimasruleroftheindepen-
dent"Arabnation."InDecemberbothLondonandParisgranted
Husaynthetitleof"kingoftheHijaz."??
InLondonthe"Westerners"andtheirleader,Robertson,thenew
ChiefoftheImperialGeneralStaff,turneddownallideasofdispatch-
ingtroopstoArabia,despitegainsmadebytheTurkssouthwestof
Medina,whichstrengthenedthethreatofaTurkishadvanceon
Mecca.Thesituationchangedlittlewiththearrivalofthenew Brit-
ish governmentledbyDavidLloydGeorgeandotherimperialists
eagerto usethewar toextendBritain'spowerintheMiddleEast.
Furthermore,thefactthatthesharifhimselfrefusedtorequestBrit-
ishtroopsinwritinghelpedtorpedotheproject.Onlya fewBritish
officers,chiefamongthemT. E.Lawrence,ayoungarchaeologistwho
hadbeenworkingintheArabBureauandGeneralStaffinCairo,
servedintheHijaz,asinstructorsandadvisorswiththesharif's
forces."