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

218 WARBYREVOLUTION

theendofDecember, theForeignOfficedispatchedordersto SirHorace
Rumboldin Bern todeveloppeaceapproacheswiththeTurks."
BecauseoftheRussiancollapse,therewasinterestin peaceatthe
Porte,butitcenteredaroundtherelativelyweakfactionthatincluded
TalaatPashaandtheEntente-ophilejavidPasha.As early asJune
1917 TalaatsuggestedtotheCentralPowersthattheyofferanon-
annexationistpeace to alltheAlliedpowers.ButneitherBerlinnor
Viennaintendedtorenouncetheextensiveannexationstheyplanned;
moreover,each sawlittledangerthatTurkeywouldabandonit by
concludingaseparatepeacewiththeAllies,becauseoftheAllies'pub-
liclyannouncedplanstodismembertheOttomanEmpire.
DuringtheensuingmonthstheTurksandBritishengagedin se-
cret,butrarely serious,negotiations.In Geneva anagentofLloyd George
offeredanemissaryofEnverPashabribesforTurkeyto leavethewar
onBritain'sterms.OtherfeelersinvolvedTalaat.Thefirst was inJune,
in Geneva: aformerOttomaninteriorminister,RashidPasha, who
claimedconnectionstothegrandvizier,deliveredto Dr. H.Parodi,an
Anglo-EgyptianfunctionarysupervisingEgyptianstudentsin Switzer-
land,thepeaceprogramofthelocalpartyofTurkishexiles.Amonth
later,againinSwitzerland,NureddinBey, afriendofTalaat,tolda
Britishofficialthatthegrandvizierwishedtosendemissariesto Bern
todiscusspeace. InSmyrna,furthermore,thelocalTurkishgovernor
contactedaFrenchresidentaboutpeacenegotiations."
TheTurkishoverturesappealedtosomeintheBritishForeign
andWar officeswhostillbelievedthatBritain'slong-termimperial
interestsintheregionremainedsaferinthehandsofastrongTur-
keyratherthan-asothersinthegovernmenthopedfor-aclusterof
Arabsuccessorstates.However,theTurkishfeelers,becauseofthe
continuedweaknessofthepeacepartyinConstantinople,produced
no success.Theyaimedlessatconcludingaseparatepeacewiththe
AlliesthanatapplyingpressureontheGermansnottoconcludea
peaceoftheirownthatwouldviolateOttomansovereignty,territo-
rial ororherwise."
Forinstance,thePorteclaimedto BerlinthatBritainhadofferedit
peaceproposals,whereintheBritishsupposedlyagreedtoreturnto
Turkeyitsterritorypresentlyoccupiedby the Allies.TheForeignOffice,
in fact,immediatelyandfuriouslyrenouncedtheclaim. However, an