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

28 WARBYREVOLUTION

to it.ThefirstwastheintimatetieofGermanytotheOttomangov-
ernment.SecondwastheGermanattempt,particularlyafter19IIand
19I2,toachievearapprochementwithBritain,whichmeantdoing
nothingtoencouragetheoppositionofArabs toBritishinfluencein
theMiddleEast."
Asearlyas 1907 and 1908 GermanconsularofficialsinSyria,
Mesopotamia,andEgypthadreportedamultitudeofanti-Turkish
actionsby Arabs.Theofficialsstressedtheseriousnatureofthere-
voltinYemenagainsttheOttomans;theplunderingby Arabtribes
ofTurkishandBritishcommerceinMesopotamia;thehatredfor
theTurksofShiitesinKarbala,Najaf,andSamarra;andtheseizure
byBedouinsinMedinaofatraincarryingMuslimpilgrimsonthe
Hijazrailroad."
InSeptember 1910 theGermanconsulinBeirut,WilhelmPadel,
reportedto theforeignministrythelocalArabunhappinesswith
GermanpressclaimsthattheOttomansmustdominatethepeoples
oftheMiddleEast.Padeldiscussedwhathecalled"anArab ques-
tion"andemphasizedthattheArabsformedamajorityintheOtto-
manEmpireYYet hediscountedanyseriousthreatfromtheArabs
toOttomanhegemony,arguingthatArabs were"considerablyinfe-
rior"to theOttomans"morallyas well asintellectually,"andthat
ArabattacksagainsttheOttomanswereonlyofalocalcharacterand
withoutanyreligioussignificance."
TheGermanconsulinBaghdad,Dr. W. G. Hesse,viewedwith
greaterconcerntheanti-OttomanunrestofArabtribesinMesopo-
tamia,includingattacksonlocalTurkishgarrisonsandtrade."The
situationcouldbecomedangerous,"hewarned,apparentlyreferring
totheShiite-Sunniconflictintheregion,"assoonas areligiousevent
unitesthepreviouslydividedtribes."49OnanotheroccasionHesse
declared,"Whethertherewill belargerevoltswilldependsignificantly
onwhetheraleaderisfoundwho, bytheforceofhispersonality,can
carrytheBedouinsawaywithhimandunderstandstheexploitation
ofreligiousmotivestoholdtogetherthetribeshostiletoonean-
other.">Hesse,moreover,observedtheexpandinginfluenceinBasra
oftheSayyidTalibal-Naqib,thelocalArabrepresentativetotheOt-
tomanparliamentandamemberofthemostpowerfulnoblefamily
andIslamicreligiousauthorityinthecity."