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

66 WARBYREVOLUTION

particularlyEnverPasha,andabouttheirpoortreatmentandknowl-
edgeoftheArabs."AlthoughMusilrankedasoneofEurope'spre-
miereexpertsonArabia,Enverdislikedhismission,arguingthatthe
ArabsprobablyknewthattheAustrianwas aCatholicpriestandthus
wouldnottoleratehim.Itseemedimpossiblethatthecaliphand
Turkishgovernmentwouldemploysuchapersontonegotiatewith
theArabs. Nevertheless,theOttomaninteriorministrypermitted
Musil'smission.ThreeweeksafterleavingDamascusandtraveling
south,theAustrianmetNuriibnShaalanandhisson,Nawwaf.Both
chieftainsdenouncedIbnRashidforusingweaponsandmoniesgiven
himbytheTurkstoattackNuriandothertribesloyal tothePorte
ratherthanusingsuchresourcesagainstTurkey'senemies.Also,Nuri
viewedIbnSaudasincreasinglypowerfuLFinally,aftermuchdiscus-
sionwithMusil,Nuriagreedto engageinnegotiationswithIbn
Rashidfor peacebetweenthetwo."?
AsMusilcontinuedtopreparefor hissojournincentralArabia,
thefloodofexpeditionssentbyGermanytotheMiddleEastinthe
fallof 1914 apparentlyevenconfusedtheGermansthemselves.Evi-
denceofthisis alengthymemorandumgiven byOppenheimatthe
endofOctobertoZimmermannatGeneralStaffheadquartersfor
transmissiontothekaiser. In itOppenheimdescribedthenumerous
uncoordinatedplansdevelopedbytheforeignministry,GeneralStaff,
andtheembassyandmilitarymissioninTurkey.Hefocusedonthe
importanceofstrikingablowagainstBritainbyraisingrevoltsin
EgyptandIndia.CrucialtothesuccessofGermany'srevolutionary
activities,hedeclared,wouldbeTurkishentryintotheworldwar
andthePorte'sproclamationofajihadagainstBritainandits allies.
Muchofthememoanalyzedthepotentialforrousingthedifferent
MuslimpeoplestoopposetheAllies,listingthemissionsalreadybe-
guntoinciterebellionsinEgypt,India(includingneighboringAf-
ghanistanandPersia),NorthAfrica,andcentralRussia.
TopromoteajihadaimedprincipallyagainstBritainheurgedthat
Germanyestablishapropagandacenterin theHijaz,makingthe
SharifofMeccaresponsibleforsuchactivities.Togatherintelligence
intheregionandtoshipweaponsandpropagandatotheSudanand
ultimatelyfromthereintoEgypt,OppenheimproposedthattheReich
establishaconsulateatJidda,aportontheRed SeacoastofArabia.