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

MUSLIMUNRESTANDGERMANSUPPORT 37

BothShakespearandLeachman,despiteoppositionfromtheFor-
eignOffice,whichfearedincurringthewrathoftheYoungTurks,
hopedtoaggravatethereligiousandpoliticaldifferencesbetween
IbnSaudandtheTurksandtoestablishfriendlyrelationswiththe
chief."OnthePersiansideoftheGulf,Britainhadby 1910 an ar-
rangementwiththeShaykhofMuhammarah,Khazal,thatresembled
theonewithKuwait.SourcesofoilonKhazal'sland,andtheleaseof
AbadanbytheAnglo-PersianOilCompanyfor alargeoilrefineryto
producefuel fortheBritishnavy'snewdreadnoughts,madefor an
agreementdoublyimportantforBritain."
SodidtheincreasedactivityoftheGermansintheGulfandsouth-
ernPersia. By 1906 theGermanshippingandpearltradingfirmof
WoenckhauspossessedbranchesthroughouttheGulf.Inaddition,
theHamburg-AmerikaLinehadestablishedaregularcommercial
servicefromEuropetotheGulfthatchargedlowerratesthanBritish
companies.Also,during1906-1907amini-crisiseruptedwhenWoen-
ckhausobtainedaconcessiontomineironoxideonthesmallGulf
islandofAbuMusa.Theconflictreachedthehighestlevels inBritish
andGermandiplomacy,andaBritishshipforciblyremovedfrom
AbuMusaArabminersemployedbytheGermans;theaffairremained
unresolveduntilWorldWarJ.84
InsouthernPersia,theGermanviceconsulateatBushire,particu-
larlyundertheleadershipduring1909-1910and1913-1914oftheGer-
managentWilhelmWassmuss,engagedincreasinglyinanti-British
activities,includingillegalgun-running,amongthesurroundingArab
andPersiantribes.TribesmenandpiratesoftheGulf,suppliedwith
German,Belgian,andFrenchweaponsthroughTurkeyandOman,
smuggledthearmstoBaluchistanandthentorebelshostiletoBrit-
aininAfghanistanandtheNorth-WestFrontierProvinceofIndia.
Wassmuss'sanimositytowardtheBritishandtheirresidentinthe
Gulf,Sir Percy Cox, ledtheGermanministerinTeheranin 1910 to
removeWassmussfor atimefromBushire."
Onanotherlevel as welltheexpansionbyGermanyofitsactivities
in Persia,whereBritaincontrolledthesouthandRussiathenorth,
alarmedtheBritish.GermanyhadincreaseditstradewithPersia, es-
tablishingabankinTeheranin1906,andsoonbeganurgingthat