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

THEWAR'SEND 221

Also,thefanaticalpan-TuranianambitionsofEnverPashaand
TalaatPasha-whichweresymbolizedbytheOttomanattackon
Transcaucasia-lessenedtheYoungTurks'interestinholdingPales-
tineandSyriaagainsttheBritishandinrespondingtoGermanwishes
thattheyreachasettlementwiththeArabs!Niedermayer,theGer-
manofficerassignedtoPalestinewithorderstobribetherebelArab
leader,Faysal,torejointheTurks,recognizedthegrowinginterestof
bothTurkeyandGermanyinAsia. BecauseofthePorte'span-
Turanismand"theethnographicsituationinCentralAsia," hewrote
inamemoafterreturningtoGermany,"we areforcedtocooperate
withtheTurks,forwhomwemustproducesubstitutesforthemany
lossesinEuropeandArabia."!
DespitethisrelativelackofinterestofConstantinopleinitsArab
provinces,stiffTurkishandGermanresistancestoppedaseriesof
Anglo-AraboffensivesintoTransjordan.TheattacksaimedatAmman
andMaanontheHijazrailway;Allenby,thecommanderoftheBrit-
ishEEF,hopedtodestroytherailroadandleavetheOttomangarri-
soninMedinaisolatedandincapableofinterveninginthefighting
tothenorth.However,theBritishWarCabinetorderedAllenbyto
transfersomeofhisbestunits,totalingsixtythousandtroops,to
France;untilSeptemberthislossrestrictedtheEEFtoonlyminor
operations.
Meanwhile,theArabarmyledbyFaysalremainedaconstantdrain
ontheTurks.InTransjordantherebels,assistedby T. E.Lawrence
andotherBritishofficersas well as bysmallBritisharmoredcarunits
andlightguns,increasedtheirdestructiveraidsontheHijazrail-
road.Theykeptmorethantwenty-twothousandTurkishtroops
pinneddownatMedina,Maan,andotherpostsnorthalongtherail-
way. InMarchtheTurkstriedandfailedtoevacuateMedina;bythen
theircasualtiesfromtheArabrevoltnumbered4,800killed,1,600
wounded,andeightthousandcaptured.'
TheTurksandGermansseemedunabletoreversetheincreasingly
favorableAnglo-Arabposition.TheyreplacedFalkenhayn,thesu-
premecommanderofArmyGroupF("Yilderim"),withLimanvon
Sanders,whohadledthesuccessfuldefenseoftheDardanelles.But
Liman'seffectiveness,muchlikethatofhispredecessor,washurtby