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

MUSLIMUNRESTANDGERMANSUPPORT 29

AsreportsabouttheArabunrestandanti-Turkishactivitymounted,
Germanofficials,searchingforthecauses,seemedtodiscountArab
grievancestowardOttomanpolicies;insteadtheyblamedGermany's
Europeanarch rival,Britain.Forexample,theGermanmilitaryattache
attheConstantinopleembassy,MajorvonStrempel,accusedthe
BritishofincitingtherevoltinYemenagainsttheTurks,arevolt
thattheTurksendedonlyin19IIwiththeassistanceoftheSharifof
MeccaandotherArableaders."
Moreover,theGermanserroneouslyaccusedtheEgyptiankhedive,
AbbasHilmi,ofbeingaBritishtool.Theyhadobservedsince 1909
thatthekhediveonceagainentertainedtheideaofananti-Ottoman
allianceofall Arabs,withhimselfpreferablyitsleaderandnew ca-
liph.sMoreover,thethemeofBritish-supportedArabunrestappeared
intheGermanpress,asitdidinreportstoBerlinfromtheconsulate-
generalinCairo.As early asJune 1909 Oppenheimarguedthatthe
British,workingparticularlythroughtheirPersianGulfally, the
ShaykhofKuwait,weresupplyingweaponstokeepalivetheconflict
innorthernandcentralArabiabetweenthetwomainrivalchieftains,
IbnRashidandIbnSaud.>
During19IOand19IIHesse,theconsulinBaghdad,allegedthat
theBritishweresmugglingweaponsto ArabtribesincentralArabia.
Also,Britain,heasserted,wasencouragingananti-Turkishalliance
amongseveralchieftainsthatincludedIbnSaud,theshaykhsofKu-
waitandMuhammarah,andSadhunPasha,theMuntafiqleaderin
Mesopotamia.InAugust19II,thesonofashaykhfromtheprovince
ofal-HasaineasternArabiavisitedHesse;theArabdenouncedthe
OttomansandBritish,requestedGermanprotectionforlocalArabs,
andprophesiedthatArabattacksplunderingshippingandcaravans
inIraqandMesopotamiawouldcontinue.Hesselamentedthetur-
moil,andespeciallytheapparentunwillingnessoftheYoungTurks
tocontrolthesituation"
Forinstance,in]uly 1912 he evencriticizedthepro-GermanTurk-
ishgovernor(vali)ofBaghdad,]emalPasha,wholaterin 1913 seized
powerinConstantinopleaspartofaYoungTurktriumvirate.]emal,
accordingtoHesse,haddonenothingtoquietlocalArabunrestand
hadallowedanti-Europeansentimenttodevelopintheprovince.The
consul,furthermore,refusedGermaninvolvementwiththeArabsand