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

226 WARBYREVOLUTION

andIndianrevolutionarycommitteesinBerlinandStockholmhad
collapsed.TheBerlincommittee,insultedattheendof 1917 by
Germany'srefusaltoissueapublicstatementsupportingIndia'sin-
dependence,believedthatamongthemajorEuropeanstatesonlythe
newBolshevikregimefavoredpostwarfreedomforIndiansandother
Asians."ButtheGermansrefusedto permitIndianagentstovisit
Russia,fearingthatto do sowouldbe, inWesendonk'swords,"clearly
dangerous."?
TheIndiansrespondedangrily,astheydidtotheunabashedim-
perialismoftheGermancolonialsecretary,Solf. Solf,echoingsimi-
lardemandsfromtheGermanhighcommandandstatementshe
hadmadepreviously,hadcalledinJanuary 1918 forGermanyto use
thewar toacquireacentralAfricanempireandpossessionsin Asia
andthePacificOcean.Theforeignministrytriedunsuccessfullyto
mendfenceswiththeIndiansbyclaimingthatSolfhadreferredonly
tocolonies"withinferiorpopulations,butnottoregionswithpar-
ticularlysuperiorculture,aswithIndiaorEgypt."30However,rela-
tionsbetweentheIndiansandGermangovernmentworsened."When
MahendraPratapSingh,theIndianprince-revolutionarywhohad
accompaniedtheHentigmissiontotheamirofAfghanistan,returned
toGermany,hechargedthattheforeignministryhadmistreatedhim
andthatHentighadbungledthemission.Prarap,liketheotherIn-
dianrevolutionaries,nowbelievedBolshevikRussiawouldbeIndia's
futuresalvationfromBritishrule."
ThustheremnantsofGermanimperialambitionslingered,but
thesurrenderofbothAustria-HungaryandBulgariainthefallof
1918 worsenedseriouslythesituationofGermanyandTurkey.The
routethroughtheBalkansnowlayopenfortheAllies,andanattack
onConstantinopleseemedapossibility.Nothingremainedfor the
OttomangovernmentandhighcommandbuttoacceptGermany's
suddendecision,forcedbythedefeatofitsexhaustedarmiesinFrance,
to sue forthecessationofhostilitiesandinitiatepeacetalks.Anew
TurkishregimereplacedtheCUPleadershipofEnver,Talaat,and
Jemal,whosepolicieshadledtotheTurkishdefeat.On 31 October,at
Mudros,thePortesignedthearmistice-anendingto thewar very
differentfromwhattheYoungTurkshadenvisionedinNovember
1914,whentheydeclaredthejihad."