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

BRITAIN,GERMANY,ANDTHEMIDDLEEAST 13

hemetMuhammadAbduh,anotedEgyptianandIslamicreformer,
in1892.45
ForhissuperiorsinCairoandBerlinOppenheimwrotecountless
reportsaboutMuslimaffairsfrom MoroccoroChinaandthe
Caucasusto Yemen. He gavespecialattentiontothepoliticsofpan-
Islamism,whichheconsideredofmajorimportance."Hisopinions
inthisregardresultedfromtheresponseofsomeMuslimsto the
Turkish-GreekwarandfromhisacquaintancewithMuhammad
Abduh,whoseideasheerroneouslyinterpretedaswhollyanti-Brit-
ish."AccordingtoOppenheim,Islamwasundergoing"aregenera-
tionofpowerandvitality" thatwasproducinganincreaseinpan-
IslamicsentimentinEgypt,Russian centralAsia,andnorthwestIndia.
Herecommendedthattheforeignministryestablishacentraloffice
inCairofor"specialobservation"oftheMuslimworld."
ScholarsdisputehowmuchinfluenceOppenheimhadinshap-
ingGermany'sMiddleEasternpoliciesandstatements,likethoseof
WilhelmIIduringhisvisittoTurkeyin1898,promotingpan-
Islamism.vOtherGermanofficialsbeforeWorldWarIalsobelieved
intheusefulnessofpan-Islamismforthekaiser'snewWeltpolitik,
andtheyhelpeddisseminatetheideainthegovernment.Thesein-
cludedMarschallvonBieberstein,theambassadorinConstantinople
(1897-1912);AlfredvonKiderlen-Wachter,theforeignsecretary(1910-
1912);andArthurZimmermann,acounselorintheforeignministry's
politicaldepartment(1905-1910),latertheministry'sdirector(1910-
1911),andeventuallyitsunder-secretaryandsecretary.
Inthearmy,too,supportexistedformobilizingtheMuslimworld
againstBritain,particularlyamongofficerswhodidnotconsiderthe
Ottomanarmedforces sufficientlytrainedandequippedto make
muchofacontributioninamajorEuropeanwar.FieldMarshal
ColmarFreiherrvonderGoltz,amemberoftheGermanmilitary
missiontoConstantinoplefrom 1883 to1895,envisionedTurkeyas a
principalmeansofthreateningIndia.BythebeginningofWorldWar
I,GeneralHelmuthvonMoltketheYounger,thechiefofthearmy
highcommand(1906-1914),thoughtsimilarly. 50
However,thepoliticsofpan-Islamismdidnotappealtoeveryone
intheBerlingovernment.Someintheforeignministry,suchasthe