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

GERMANYASWARTIME"REVOLUTIONARY" 65

withhimorderstotheGermanministerinAddisAbaba,vonSyburg,
to use everymeanstoinducetheAbyssiniansto interveneagainst
BritainintheSudan.TheministryauthorizedSyburgtopromisethe
Abyssiniangovernment,intheeventitenteredthewarontheReich's
side,Germany'ssupportfor itsterritorialacquisitionsintheSudan
regionoftheBlue Nile.
Frobeniustookalongas well amessagefromthePortetotheAb-
yssiniangovernment,pledgingthatifAbyssiniaattackedsouthward
againstBritishEastAfricaandUganda,theAbyssinianswouldre-
ceive aharborontheRed Sea.NeithertheGermansnortheTurks
seemedconcernedthattheharborcouldonlybecarvedfromEritrea,
acolonyheldbyItalythatblockedAbyssinianaccess to thesea.^64
Thiscontradicted,however,theofficialGermanpolicyatthetimeof
keepingRomefromjoiningtheAlliedsideinthewar.Finally,atthe
beginningofJanuary1915,afternearlyfive weeksofconflictwiththe
Turksovermainlyfrivolousmatters,FrobeniusleftDamascus."
TheGermans,withAustrianassistance,alsoattemptedto unite
behindtheTurksintheattackonEgypttwoleadingtribalchieftains
inArabia,IbnSaudandIbnRashid.Thistaskfell to theAustrian
professorandOrientalistAloisMusil,whoseextensiveprewartravels
innorthernArabiahadenabledhimtoestablisha closerelationship
withtheparamountchiefoftheAnazatribe,theRuallashaykhNuri
ibnShaalan.On 13 OctoberMusilinformedtheGermanambassador
inVienna,Tschirschky,thattheAustro-Hungariangovernmenthad
approvedhisgoingtoArabia."MusilaskedforGermanbackingof
hismission,particularlywithmoney,weapons,andmunitionsfor
theArabtribesandwithhelpingtoassurehis"freedom"ofmove-
mentinArabia."Oppenheim,whenquestionedbytheGermanfor-
eignministryaboutMusil'strip,immediatelygave hisapproval.He
judgedIbnSaudpro-British,IbnRashidpro-Ottoman,andthe"very
energeticandcleverGrandSharifofMecca"pro-Turkish.Musil's
mission,Oppenheimconcluded,couldbeofgreatpoliticalsignifi-
canceforthefuture."
MusilleftConstantinopleon 8 November,arrivinginDamascus
ninedays later.Preparingfor hisentryintothedesert,hesoonlearned
ofthedifficultiesofhis task. HecomplainedtotheAustro-Hungarian
foreignministryaboutalackofcooperationfromtheYoungTurks,