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

GERMANYASWARTIME"REVOLUTIONARY" 61

atreachingEgypteitherdirectlythroughSyriaandtheMediterra-
neanorindirectlythroughwesternArabia,acrosstheRed Sea,and
intotheneighboringAnglo-EgyptianSudanandAbyssinia."
AsthecampaignagainstEgyptdeveloped,thenumberofGermans
enteringtheOttomanEmpire,mainlyasexpeditionmembersand
militaryadvisers,grew.Berlinseemedincreasinglyconcerned,par-
ticularlyassomemovedsouthtowardArabia,theSinaiPeninsula,
andtheRed Sea,abouthowtheArabsoftheempirerespondedto
theGerman-Turkishcalls forMuslimrebellionsagainsttheBritish.
Arabsupportfortherevoltswas anecessity;however,asnotedprevi-
ously,plentyofevidencebeforetheworldwarhadindicatedArab
unrestarisingfromdissatisfactionwithTurkishcontrol.Stillother
prewarinformationontheArabquestion,compiledbytheReich's
consulsandembassyinTurkey,suggestedthatmanyArabnational-
istsfearedBritishandFrenchdesignsontheirlands."
Duringthefallof 1914 thestaffofGermansservinginDamascus
withtheTurkishFourthArmy,preparingfortheassaultby its VIII
CorpsontheSuezCanal,experienceddifficultiesinrecruitingArabs
in SyriaandPalestinetoformanauxiliaryunitinthecorps.Unre-
latedtothiseffort,theGermanembassyandconsulatesinTurkey,
usingmainlyArabagents,distributedanti-Britishpropagandaleaflets
toMuslimpilgrimsinMeccaandMedina."
SincebeforethewarthekaiserandotherGermanofficialshad
suspectedthatBritainwasmakingeffortstogainthesupportofthe
influentialSharifofMecca,HusaynibnAli, byproclaiminghimca-
liphto replacetheOttomancaliphate.Inmid-September 1914
Oppenheimallegedthisto betrueandobviouslydangerousforthe
German-Ottomanalliance.Consequentlyhe flatlyrejectedasugges-
tionfromtheGermanministerinAthens,AlbertGrafvonQuadt,
thatTurkeycouldwin ArabsupportforanattackonEgyptifthe
PorteappointedHusaynShaykhal-Islam,thechiefmufti(alearned
exponentofIslamiclawwhoissueddecisionsoropinionsregarding
thelaw)andleaderofthereligioushierarchyinConstantinople.»
BytheendofOctoberconcernwasmountinginBerlinregarding
ArabsupportfortheplannedTurkishattackonEgypt.Information
arrivedattheforeignministryfromPruferinSyriaandanother
agent,theOrientalistBernhardMoritz,thatthetwoprincipaltribal