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

MUSLIMUNRESTANDGERMANSUPPORT 43

theministry,hadaimedatseparatingtheArableadersfromtheOt-
tomanEmpireandestablishingan Arabcaliphate.On 9 MarchWang-
enheimrepliedfromConstantinoplethattheembassyhadnoknowl-
edgeofsuchameeting.'?'
Almostsimultaneously,MiguelinCairolearnedoftherecentvisit
ofAbdullah,theSharifofMecca'sson,totheEgyptiancapital.While
theconsulgeneralapparentlyknewnothingofAbdullah'smeeting
withKitchener,Miguelneverthelessreceivedinformationunwelcome
totheGermans:Abdullahhadmetthekhediveandcomplainedto
himaboutYoungTurkattemptstocentralizecontrolover hisfather's
domain,theHijaz,whichcontainedtheIslamicholyplaces.Further-
more,Miguellearned,Abdullahdidnotbelieveassurancesgivenhim
by theOttomancommissariatinCairothatthegovernmentin
Constantinople"was welldisposedtowardthesharif."?'
On 28 MarchWangenheimdispatchedareporttoBerlindescrib-
inginbleaktermsYoungTurkrelationstotheArabs. ApartofYemen
hadbeenlostto theOttomans,saidtheambassador;also, allthe
principalArabchieftainsinArabia,exceptforIbnRashid,despised
theTurks.TheSharifofMecca, forexample,haddemandedgreater
autonomyfromConstantinople.Wangenheimdiscountedforeign-
meaningBritish-influencein thematterbutconcludedthatthe
YoungTurksconsideredthesituationseriousenoughto have devel-
opedplansforarmedattacks,firstonthesharifandthenonYemen. 105
TwomonthslatertheambassadorinformedBerlinthatthe"Arab
movement"wasontheriseandthathefearedtheemergenceofa
popularleaderwhomightunitetheArabsagainsttheTurks.Sucha
person,hesuggested,couldbe Aziz Beyal-Masri,theformerEgyp-
tianofficerintheOttomanarmywhomtheTurkshadarrestedin
Februaryfortreasonbuthadrecentlyreleased(inpartbecauseofthe
intercessionofKitchenerandBritain).Wangenheim'swarningre-
sultedpartlyfromnewsthatan Arabnationalistgrouphademerged
forthefirsttimeinnorthernSyriaatAleppo.'?"
AsimilaralarmcamefromHesse,theconsulinBaghdad.On 16
July,amidthecrisis inEuropethatwouldsoonexplodeintoWorld
War I, heexpressedtotheforeignministrypessimismaboutthede-
clineofOttomancontroloverArabiaandBasra. In his viewthetur-
moilamongtheArabsintheregion,includingthearmedattacksof