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

202 WARBYREVOLUTION

ThisemphasisonthenationalistnatureoftheReich'spropaganda
paralleledtheexpandingGermanmilitarypresenceinTurkey.The
advanceoftheBritishEEFandits Arab alliesintoPalestinepersuaded
thePortetotransferthereboththenewGermanArmyGroupFand
theOtromanSeventh Armyandtoshiftmuchofthepowerofcom-
mandinPalestinefromJemalPasha,thecommanderoftheOtto-
manFourthArmythereandin Syria, toFalkenhayn."
BothKressvonKressensteinandjemal,thelatteramuchgreater
pan-IslamistthanEnverorTalaat,warnedthegovernmentin
ConstantinoplenottoattempttodefendsimultaneouslyPalestine
andtheHijaz;insteadKressproposedthattheTurksabandonthe
HijazandYementotheArabsandfocusondefendingPalestine.Only
inthisway, heargued,couldtheTurksholdfirm,eventuallywinthe
waragainsttheadvancingBritishandArabs,andretainArabiaand
eventheprovinceofSyria intheirempire.ThePorte,however,re-
fusedKress'ssuggestion,fearingthepoliticalconsequencesofrelin-
quishingthelands."
WithintheYoungTurkregime,sharpdisagreementssurfacedover
thisandotheraspectsofOttomanwar policy. Afactionfriendlyto
theAlliesandledbyjavidBey,thenewlyreappointedfinanceminis-
ter,triedunsuccessfullytoassertitselfagainstEnverandTalaatby
opposingtheruptureofdiplomaticrelationswiththeUnitedStates."
RichardvonKuhlmann,thenewGermanambassadortothePorte,
emphasizedtotheforeignministrytheconflictintheCUPregime.
BothKuhlmannandhissuperiorsinBerlin,notwishingtoantago-
nizethePorteandrisklosingitto aseparatepeacewiththeAllies,
deferredto itonavarietyofissues,includingtheArabquestion."
HowmuchtheArabinsurrectionconcernedtheOttomansisunclear;
theGermandocumentssuggestthatthroughout 1917 Turkeydidlittle
tomakepeacewithHusaynandtherebels.Instead,untilthefallmuch
ofEnverPasha'sattentioncenteredonfurtheringhispan-Turanian
ambitionsby recapturingBaghdadfromtheBritish.Intheirap-
proachestotheshariftheYoungTurkslimitedthemselvestovague
suggestionsaboutgrantingtheArabsautonomy;moreover,itwas
JemalPasha,whohadorderedthebloodbathagainstArableadersin
Syria,whonowextendedsomeofthePorte'sfeelers tothesharifabout
endinghostilities,whichhardlyinspiredHusayn'strust."