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

42 WARBYREVOLUTION

theAnglo-French-arequestthatHansvonMiquel,thenewconsul
generalinCairo,quicklyrefused."
Moreover,attheendof 1912 arepresentativeoftheyouthfultribal
chieftainatHailinnorth-centralArabia,Abd al-AzizibnRashid,con-
tactedtheGermanembassyinConstantinople,askingGermanyfor
protectionforhimselfandhisfollowers.Accordingtotheemissary,
RashidPasha,IbnRashidwasconvincedthattheOttomanEmpire
wouldsooncollapse,therebyallowingAnglo-Frenchinfluenceto ex-
pandintotheregion.RashidPashahadseveralmeetingsinJuneand
July 1913 withtheambassador,Wangenheim,as well aswithofficials
oftheBaghdadconsulate;theGermansrefusedtoprovideIbnRashid
withweapons,burtheyultimatelypersuadedtheYoungTurksto do
SO.100
OtherArableaderswhomistrustedtheBritishandcontactedthe
GermansforassistancehadorganizedreformcommitteesinBasra
andBeirutfavoringgreaterArabautonomy.TheBasraReform Com-
mittee,foundedinFebruary 1913 andled bytheSayyidTalibal-Naqib,
opposedcentralizedTurkishrule over, in thesayyid'swords,"the
oppressedArabnation,"butthecommittee'sgreaterfear wasBritish
expansioninMesopotamia.MembersoftheSayyidTalib'sfamily
approachedtheGermanconsulateinBaghdadrequestingprotection
fromtheReich forthemandtheirleader;theGermansrefusedand
eventooktheunprecedentedstepofinformingBritainofthedeci-
sion.'?' InBeiruttheGermanconsulatewatchedcloselythelocalArab
reformcommittee;theofficeinstructedBerlinin May 1913 thatcom-
mitteemembershadties totheArabcongressthenmeetingin Paris.'?'
Bythebeginningof 1914 theArabquestionclearlyworriedGer-
manofficials; above all,theysuspectedthatBritainplayeda role in it.
Inaddition,theyrealizedtheissue'spotentialforunderminingBerlin's
attemptsatanagreementwithLondonontheBaghdadrailroadand
onmuchlargermattersinEurope.InJanuarytheGermanembassy
inConstantinopleshowedgreateralarmthandidtheYoungTurks
whenKitchenerdispatchedtheBritishmission,disguisedas an ar-
chaeologicalexpedition,tosouthernPalestinetosurveytheareaand
theEgyptianborder.A few weekslatertheforeignministryaskedits
embassiesinLondonandConstantinopleiftheyhadheardabouta
secretmeetingofArabchieftainsinArabia.Theallegedmeeting,said