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

20 WARBYREVOLUTION

itunsuccessfullywiththestatesecretaryintheGermanforeignmin-
istry,HeinrichvonTschirschky,"
Indeed,thereexistedlittleproofofGermany'sconnectionwith
theAqabatroubles;infacttheGermanambassadorinConstan-
tinople,MarschallvonBieberstein,usedhisinfluencewiththeTurks
to achieve asettlementofthedispute.Nevertheless,Londonaccepted
inlargemeasureCromer'sinterpretationofthequestion.Whilethe
BritishGeneralStaffdownplayedthethreattoEgyptofamajorTurk-
ishpresenceintheSinaiPeninsula,theforeignsecretary,SirEdward
Grey,agreedwithCromeranddeclaredthatpossessionoftheSinai
wasessentialtothesecurityofEgypt,thecanal,andRedSea."
IntheAqabacrisisBritainforcedthesultantoacceptaTurkish-
Egyptianborderhehadpreviouslyopposed,butevenafterwardthe
HijazrailroadcontinuedtoconcerntheForeignOfficeandGeneral
Staff. As early asJuly 1906 theCommitteeofImperialDefencecon-
cludedthattheTurks,ifsupportedbytheGermans,couldmove
enoughtroopsacrosstheEgyptianbordertothreatentheSuez Ca-
nal.Thearmycontinuedtoworkonplans,whichitsenttotheprime
minister,forthedefenseofthecanalandfor aBritishcounterattack
againsttherearofaTurkishforce, by wayofalandingin Syria. A
GeneralStaffmemorandumarguedinJuly 1907 thatthepresenceof
alargeBritishforce in Syriawouldpromptlocaluprisingsofanti-
OttomanArabsagainsttheTurkishrearandforcetheOttomansto
recalltheirarmyinvadingEgypt.IO
Cromer,however,nowseemedmoreworriedaboutthepolitical
situationinsideEgypt. Hedislikedthehostileandhighlyagitated
toneoftheEgyptiannationalistpress,whichdenouncedBritain's
role inboththeAqabacrisisandDinshawaiincident.Inthelatter
theresidenthadorderedtwentyEgyptianpeasantsexecutedor im-
prisonedforshootingaBritishsoldier.Cromerespeciallydisparaged
Egyptiannationalistswho, likeMustafaKamil,identifiedthemselves
withtheTurksandpan-Islamicdoctrineandagitatedinnewspapers
andschoolsfortheremovaloftheBritishoccupation.Theresident
blamedtheoppositiontoBritainonwhathecalled"hatredofthe
MoslemfortheChristian.'?'
InLondon,Greyagreed.Theforeignsecretarycommentedin Par-
liamentupontheoccupationbyBritainandFranceoflandsbelong-