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

BRITAINASWARTIME"REVOLUTIONARY" 191

DuringApril aGermanfact-findingmissionheadedbyFreiherr
WolffvonTodenwarthlandedbysubmarineneartheportof'[ahudie
onthecoastofCyrenaica;theboatalsohadonboardacacheofmuni-
tionsandsuppliesfortheGermanagentMannesmann.Todenwarth
learnedquicklythatBedouinsofthenewSanussishaykh,Muhammad
Idris,hadmurderedMannesmanntoseizemoneyhecarriedandthat
thesituationinCyrenaicahadworsenedsubstantiallyfor theGer-
mansandTurks.ReturningtoGermanyin May,Todenwarthreported
bitterresentmentbetweentheSanussisandtheirTurkishadvisers,
includingNuriPasha.Todenwarthproposedanattempttoallywith
Idris,theapparentnewleaderoftheSanussis,andconstructa wire-
lessstationinLibya,'?'In July,againinLibya, heobservedjusthow
tenserelationswerebetweenIdrisandNuriPasha.'?'
TodenwarthalsolearnedoftheanimositybetweenIdrisand
Ahmad,ofIdris'srefusaltojoinNuriinattackingEgypt,andofIdris's
negotiationswiththeBritishandItalians.Inmid-Octoberheboarded
anothersubmarine,whichcarriedhimwesttotheTripolitanianport
ofMisurata.There,atNuriPasha'surgingheunloadedmunitions
andtwo artillerypieces, notfor theSanussisbutfor theforces of
theirbitterenemy,Ramadanal-Suwayhli,andforSulaymanal-Barani,
thenewlyappointedTurkish"governor"ofTripoli,'?'
OnhisreturntoBerlininNovemberTodenwarthreemphasized
totheGeneralStaffandtheforeignministrytheSanussis'fervent
dislikeoftheTurks,theirdesireonlyforindependencefromboth
theTurksandItalians,andtheirlackofinterestintheholywar. He
heldNuriPasharesponsiblefortheanarchyandanti-Turkishatti-
tudesamongtheSanussis,'>ThereportdrewcriticismfromtheGer-
manembassyinConstantinople;inaddition,itledEnvertodiscour-
age evenmorethanpreviouslythedispatchofGermanagentsto Libya,
claimingthathedidnotwishtoriskanother"Mannesmannaffair."lOs
Bytheendof 1916 GermanpolicyinLibyahadfailedinitsobjec-
tiveofkeepingtheprincipalArabelementsonthesideofGermany
andTurkey.AlthoughGermansubmarinescontinuedtolandweap-
onsatMisuratafor Ramadanal-Suwayhliandal-Barani,bothof
whomfoughttheSanussisandItalians,theReich wasunabletore-
taincontactwiththenewSanussileaderorpreventhimfromunit-
ingwiththeBritishandmakingpeacewiththeItalians.':"