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

210 WARBYREVOLUTION

andaSyrianpartyagainsttheOttomansbutthatnow,becausethe
Britishowedhimmoneyandhadtriedto forcehimto go toFrance,
hewishedtojoinTurkeyandassistit inpersuadingtheArabs to
returntotheOttomanfold.
Wesendonk,also in Switzerlandatthetime,andPruferatthe
embassyinConstantinoplesuspected"Maurice"ofbeingaLebanese
orSyrianspy forBritain;"however,thenewGermanambassadorin
Constantinople,Bernstorff(whohadreplacedKuhlmannwhenthe
latterreturnedtoBerlinasforeignminister)believedhimto be well
informedonArabtribesinMesopotamiaandnorthernArabia. In
mid-SeptemberthePorte,agreeingwithitsministerinSwitzerland,
FuadSelim,concludedthat"Maurice"possessedimportantinfor-
mationonBritishcontactsinandplansforTurkey,anddirectedthe
GermanstosendhimtoConstantinople."
Onhis way toTurkeytheBritishspystoppedinBerlin,whereoffi-
cials intheGeneralStaff,as well asKuhlmann,questionedhimabout
Britishintentionsin SyriaandMesopotamiaandabouttheArab re-
volt. Hewished,thespy said, fortheGermanstoconvincetheTurks
tograntautonomytotheArabs.«WhenhearrivedinConstantinople,
"Maurice"metanddiscussedtheArabquestionwithbothTalaat
PashaandEnverPasha.WhytheYoungTurkstreatedhimso well is
uncertain,unlesstheyweregenuinelyinterestedinusinghimagainst
theBritishandtoinfluenceArabs in Syria toremainloyal toTur-
key."UponreachingDamascus"Maurice"hadanaudiencewithJemal
Pasha,whoemphasizedthathehadrepeatedlywrittentoboththe
sharifandFaysalurgingtheirreconciliationwiththeTurksbutthat
theyhadnotreplied.HedidnotreturntoCairoandrelatehisstory
totheBritishuntilJanuary1918,but"Maurice"neverthelessprovided
Britishintelligencewithoccasionalreportsduringhismission."

Mesopotamiaand Palestine:

DecliningFortunesoftheTurksandGermans

Britaintookas asignofitsenemies'competitionfor Arabsupport
theintenseGermanefforttorecruithungryanddestitutetribesin
MesopotamiaagainsttheAnglo-Indianarmy.Formuchofthewar
GermanagentsinMesopotamiahadassiduouslycourtedAjaimi,the