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

BRITAIN,GERMANY,ANDTHEMIDDLEEAST 7

Britain'sunhappinesswithGermanyinTurkeyfirstemergedin

themid-rscos.TheBritishdislikedBerlin'srefusaltoopposethe

Porte'smassacreoftheArmenians,as well asGermansupportofthe

OttomansintheTurkish-Greekwar overCretein1897.WhileTurkey

andGreecefought,MuslimsinIndiaconspicuouslydisplayedtheir

sympathyfortheTurks."

Furthermore,throughoutthe1890Stheamir(aMuslimruler)of

Afghanistanspreadanti-Britishpropagandaamongthepredomi-

nantlyMuslimtribesalongthenorthwestfrontierofIndia.He op-

posedanyextensionofBritishinfluenceacrosstheborderintohis

countryandincitedthetribesonbothsidesofthefrontierto rise in

revolt. Alsofrom 1898 to 1902 theamiremployedaGermancannon

makeroftheKruppcompanyatanarmamentsfactoryin Kabul.The

problemswithAfghanistanawakenedinBritainandtheGovernment

ofIndiarenewedanxietyaboutpan-Islamism(althoughinfactsuch

actionshadless to dowithfanaticalpan-Islamismthanwithnation-

alismandawishforindependenceonthepartofsomeIndianMus-

lims)."StillotherBritishfearsresultedfromthelongeffortinthe

SudanbyAnglo-Egyptianforces,whichfinallysucceededin 1898 in

defeatingthekhalifa)thesuccessortothemahdi(messengerofGod),

whohadruledthecountrysince 1883 byplayingontheMuslimfa-

naticismofthetribes."

OtherfactorsaddedtoBritain'sconcernaboutIndia,pan-Islamism,

andthegrowingGermanpresenceintheMiddleEast.Theseincluded

Britain'sclasheswithRussiaincentralAsiaandthefactthattheBrit-

ishnavy,whichwasbadlyovertaxedbydefendingBritain'sfar-flung

empire,couldnolongerprotecttheBlack SeastraitsfromaRussian

attack.Bytheendofthe1890SBritain'sconservativegovernment

underLordSalisburyevenbeganlesseningits role inConstantinople

in favorofbuildingupBritishstrengthin Egypt.2s

The Kaiser andthe"RedSultan"

Especiallydisturbing,however,toBritain-aswell as toFranceand
Russia-wastheinvolvementofGermanyin thepoliticsofpan-
Islamism.DuringOctoberandNovember 1898 WilhelmIIjourneyed