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

62 WARBYREVOLUTION

chieftainsofNajd,IbnSaudandIbnRashid,hadagaindeclaredwar
ononeanotherandthuscouldbeoflittleuse fortheTurksagainst
Egypt. BothMoritzandPrufer, moreover,believedthatIbnSaud
was inthepayoftheBritish,andalsotheSharifofMecca.Regard-
ingthesharif,however,PruferseemedconvincedthattheTurkish
governorofMecca,WahibBey,controlledHusayn;Oppenheim
agreed.>
Throughoutthefallof1914,therefore,awarenessoftheArab ques-
tionsteadilyincreasedinBerlin,andsodidthepressuretofoment
therebellionsinEgypt.Butemblematicofthepoorqualityofthe
missionstheGermanssenttoArabiaandtheRed Sea forsuchpur-
poseswasthatoftheGermanjournalistMax Roloff.SenttoEgypt
andthentoMeccadisguisedas aMuslimpilgrim,Roloffwas to re-
cruitMuslims,inreturnfor ahandsomesumofmoney,tosupport
Germanyinthewar.However,neitherOppenheimnoranyoneelse
intheforeignministryhadcheckedcarefullyRoloff'sbackground
orabilitytomakethetrip,andheturnedoutto be aswindler.Roloff
nevertraveledfurtherthanHolland;hethenreturnedtoGermany
andpublishedhissupposedexperiencesin Mecca.Thepublications
threatenedto damageGerman-Turkishrelations,withtheirclaim
thatanunbelieverdressedas aMuslimpilgrimhadenteredArabia
andtheholycitiesofIslam.TheforeignministryandGeneralStaff
orderedRoloffarrested,butheavoidedtrialthroughoutthewar,
becausethegovernmentdidnotwishto givehimpublicity.»
Inmid-SeptembertheembassyinConstantinoplesentaTurkish
agent,SamiBey,theformergovernoroftheOttomanprovinceof
Fezzanin Libya,firsttoEgypttogatherintelligenceinformation,and
thentotheSudan.Hisultimategoalwas Libya,wherehehopedto
incitetheSanussistoattacktheBritishinEgyptandtheFrenchcolo-
nies tothewest.TheItalians,however,arrestedhimas hetriedto
reachEgyptthroughItalyandTripolicarryingpropagandaleaflets
inArabic."
TheOrientalistMoritzleftDamascusdisguisedin Arabdressfor
Arabia,intendingfirsttoestablishforOppenheimaninformation
centerinMedina,andsecondtoreachtheSudanfromanArabport
ontheRed Sea.MoritzalsohadordersfromKressvonKressenstein,
theGermanchiefofstaffoftheOttomanVIIICorps,tocollectintel-