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

GERMANYASWARTIME"REVOLUTIONARY" 47

bywhich toconfrontBritain.TheReich'smassiveprewarnaval
builduphadfailedeithertooffsetorout-producetheBritishRoyal
Navy.However,fewleadersinBerlin,exceptforAdmiralAlfredvon
Tirpitz,whohadbuilttheGermanfleet,realizedthelatterwas no-
wherenearreadyfor warwithBritain.'Thiswouldmakeevermore
problematic-nottomentionunrealistic-theGermanplanstoinsti-
gate,withthehelpofTurkey,anti-BritishrebellionsofMuslimsin
farawayEgypt,India,andelsewhere.
AnotherdifficultywiththeGermanprogramtostirupanti-Brit-
ishrevoltsintheMiddleEastin 1914 resultedfromtheReich'spre-
warpoliciesintheregion.ExceptinTurkey,theyhaddonelittleto
enhanceBerlin'sinfluencethere.InEgypt,Persia,andAfghanistana
Germanpresencebarelyexisted.Even intheOttomanEmpire,de-
spitethemajoradvancestheGermanshadmadesincethe1880s,the
otherEuropeanpowerseffectivelycounterbalancedGermany'seco-
nomicandfinancialpower.Britain'smilitarypositionintheempire
andrestoftheMiddleEastappearedasstrongas ever.'
Therefore,theYoungTurkscaughtBerlinbysurprisewhenduring
theJulycrisisof1914,asmallfactionamongthemproposedtothe
GermansthattheCentralPowersandTurkeyconcludeanalliance
directedagainstRussia. AmajorityoftheTurkishgovernmentknew
nothingoftheallianceuntilitsconclusion.Thegroupthatarranged
it,composedofthegrandvizier,SaidHalim,theinteriorminister,
TalaatPasha,andthewarminister,EnverPasha,wereworriedabout
theTurkishweaknessmadeobviousinthewarsof19IIand1912.
Thisminorityfactionalsobelievedthat,intheeventofaEuro-
peanwar,TurkeyhadmuchmoretofearfromRussiathanGermany.
Thepro-GermanEnver,whopresentedtheproposaltoGermanyon
22July, inparticularjudgedtheCentralPowers asthestrongestalli-
ance intheEuropeancrisisandthesidethatcouldwin a war.The
GermanambassadoratConstantinople,Wangenheim,quicklyre-
jectedthefeeler.WhileWangenheimmayhaveactedonpolicyorders
fromBerlin, he alsodoubted,asdidthechiefoftheGermanGeneral
Staff,GeneralHelmuthvonMoltke,theusefulnessoftheTurkish
armedforces forGermany.
Twodayslater,however,on 24 July,WilhelmIIintervened.Frus-
tratedovertherecentfailuresofGermanpolicyinTurkey,he over-