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

228 WARBYREVOLUTION

BySeptember 1919 theWeimargovernmentwaspayingsubsidies

toatleastfiftyOrientals,mostofthemlivinginSwitzerland.Adolf

Muller,Romberg'ssuccessorasGermanministerin Bern,urgingthe

foreignministrytocontinuesupportingtherefugees,explainedthe

rationaleforthepolicy:"Althoughitappearsatthemomentthatthe

entireOrientisfinallylostforGermany,thingscanchangein a few

years/'"

ATriumphfortheImperiumBritannicum?
HowimportantwasBritain'svictoryinthe"warbyrevolution"it
wagedwithitsGermanrival intheMiddleEastbetween 1914 and
1918?HistorianshavecriticizedGermany'swartimealliancewithTur-
key forfailingtotriggerananti-British,pan-Islamicrevolutionin
EgyptandIndia.MoststudentsofthewarintheMiddleEast,how-
ever, haveconcludedthattheAlliedtriumphtheredidnotdepend
ontheBritish-sponsoredArab revolt.CertainlytheArabmilitary
operationsinTransjordanin thesummerandfallof 1918 contrib-
utedsignificantlytoBritain'svictoryoverTurkey;Britain,however,
wouldhavedefeatedtheTurkswithouttheArabcampaign.
Wouldthereverse havebeentrue?CouldBritainandits allies have
triumphedhadArabsfollowedthecallofthesultan-caliphandwaged
jihadagainsttheEntente?Theanswermustbepureconjecture;not-
withstanding,andasthisstudyhasshown,theBritishbeforeand
duringtheworldwargreatlyfearedpan-Islamismandthepossibility
ofaholywardirectedagainstthem.TheBritishpromotedtheArab
revoltprincipallybecausetheywereworriedby 1915 thattheTurks,
assistedby apowerfulGermany,wereabouttoraisetheMuslimworld
fromNorthAfrica toAfghanistanin afanaticalinsurrectionagainst
Britain.Evenbeforetheworldwar,visionsofpan-Islamisminciting
widespreadnativeandanti-BritishrevoltsinEgypt,thePersianGulf,
andIndiahadhorrifiedBritishofficials.Thisanxiety,heightened
duringthewar bythedisastrousBritishcampaignsattheDardanelles
andinMesopotamia,forcedBritainto keepnearlyahalf-million
troopsintheMiddleEastthroughoutmuchofthewar.t"Onecan
onlyspeculateontheimpacttheseforces mighthavehadonthe
courseofthefightinginFrance.