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

MUSLIMUNRESTANDGERMANSUPPORT 31

neithertheBritishnortheTurksrealizeduntilmuchlaterthatlead-
ingSyrianandMesopotamianArabshadstartedtoformclandestine
secretsocietiesanddevelopexplicitlynationalisticideas.Through
theanti-TurkishSyriansexiled in Egypt,theBritishResidencyin Cairo
wassomewhatbetterinformed,yetitsofficialstoohadlittleideaof
thedepthofArab feelingsoroftheextentofthesecretAraborgani-
zations."
InFebruary19II,Gorst,theBritishresident,reportedto Greythat
Egyptiannationalistssuspectedoneofthebest-knownadvocatesof
theArabcauseandofpan-IslamisminCairo,ShaykhMuhammad
RashidRida,andalsolocalSyrianexilesofbusilyintriguinginthe
HijazandYemenagainsttheTurks.Theirefforts,Gorstadded,"are
inspiredoraidedbytheAnglo-EgyptianGovernment."?'Apparently
thekhedive,AbbasHilmi,cooperatedwithRidaaspartofthe
khedive'saspirationtoestablishan Arabcaliphate-politically,an
empirethatwouldincludeEgypt,Syria,andArabia.ThatRidahad
foundedafter 1910 oneoftheArabsecretsocieties,whosemember-
shipincludedAbdullah,theSharifofMecca'sson,remainedunknown
totheBritish."
Britain'sresponseto theArabquestionwas alsocoloredby
London'sfearoftheactivitiesofitsmainEuropeanrival intheMiddle
East,Germany.Since 1906 theBritishGeneralStaffhadstudiedex-
tensivelythepossibilityofaTurkish-GermaninvasionofEgypt. Grey's
remarksinParliamentontheimportancetoBritainofArabiasparked
aBritishpressattackonTurkisheconomicconcessionstoGermany,
concessionsthat,warnedonepaper,could"bringGermaninterests
as amilitantpossibilityintoArabia-ontheflankofEgyptandthe
BritishroutetotheEasr."?
InEgyptsuchopinionswerecommonplacebytheendof19IIand
1912 amongtheofficialsoftheBritishResidency.Theywereshared
bytheirnew chief,LordKitchener,theconqueroroftheSudanin
1898 andthegreatestlivingherooftheBritishEmpire.Influenced
bytheYoungTurkdefeatsatthehandsofItalyandtheBalkan
states,suchofficialsarguedthattheOttomanEmpirecouldno
longermaintainitself.OnlywithpowerfulGermansupportofthe
empire,Kitchenerbelieved,couldTurkeypreservethestatusquo.In
his view,BritainshouldnotassisttheTurkstopreservethemselves;