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

222 WARBYREVOLUTION

bitterdifferenceswithTurkishmilitaryleaders,byinsufficienttroops,
weapons,andfood,andbythediversionbytheTurksofbothtroops
andsuppliesfromthePalestineandSyrianfrontstoTranscaucasia.'
In May,theArabarmyexpandeditsattacksinTransjordan,and
pressuremountedonthePortetorespond,butneitherJemalPasha,
theYoungTurkleaderwhohadthemostcontactwiththeArab rebels,
norEnverPashawaspersuadedthatTurkeyneededtobringtheAr-
abs totheirside.Forexample,FranzvonPapen,theGermanchiefof
staffoftheTurkishFourthArmyinSyriaandformermilitaryattache
intheUnitedStates,informedBernstorffthatwhilejemalfavoreda
policyofconciliationintheArabquestion,heandEnverPashacould
notmakeuptheirmindsaboutconcessionstotheArabs."Jemal,said
Papen,believeditenoughtogranttheSharifofMeccaanautono-
mouspositionintheHijaz,withoutsettlingthecaliphatequestion.
Papenconcludedthatthe"[Arab]questionpressesfor asolutionfrom
every side,"inasmuchastheFourthArmywas"fightingwithitsfront
towardstheEnglish,anddefendingitsrearwithhalf-heartedand
inadequatemeasuresagainstamovementofrevoltthatgrowsmore
andmoremenacing."HeurgedtheambassadortoconvincethePorte
toadoptapro-Arabpolicy?Bernstorffseemedhelplessinthemat-
ter; herepliedon 14 Junethatin hismeetingswithCUPleadershe
nevermissedachance"topreachreconciliationbetweenTurksand
Arabs."?
Foramoment,however,several weekslater,theGermansthought
theenemymightprovidetheneededimpetusforanagreement.Papen
reported,clearlysurprised,thatFaysalhadproposednegotiations
betweenhimandtheTurks.?Faysal'sactionmayhavearisenfrom
theangerofhisfather,Husayn,whohadnowlearnedofboththe
Sykes-PicotAgreementandtheBalfourDeclaration.Buttheinter-
pretationofpostwarhistoriansthatHusayn'sunhappinessoverthe
matter,coupledwiththegrowinghostilitybetweenhimandIbnSaud,
theamirofNajd,causedWidespreadanxietyinCairoandLondon
seemsoverdrawn."
AsearlyasJanuary1918,theArabBureauinCairohadreceived
wordthatHusaynhadinstructedFaysalnottocorrespondfurther
withtheTurks."StillotherevidencemakesproblematicalFaysal's
approachtotheenemy,especiallytheissueofwhetherherepresented