World War I • 209But how could they react? Not since Muhammad's day had large num¬
bers of Arabic-speaking peoples mobilized politically to gain unity and
freedom. How could they oppose a government headed, at least in name,
by a sultan-caliph? What good would it do Syria's Arabs to overthrow Turk¬
ish rule, only to become, like Egypt, a dependency of a Christian power?
Few Syrians (other than some Maronites) sought French rule. Nor did Iraqi
Arabs want Basra to become (like Suez) a link in Britain's imperial trans¬
port and communications.
The result of these deliberations was a low-profile movement of a few
educated Arabs aimed not at separation but at greater local autonomy. It
included three different groups: ( 1 ) the Ottoman Decentralization Party,
founded in 1912 by Syrians living in Cairo and seeking Arab support for
more local autonomy instead of strong central control by the Ottoman gov¬
ernment; (2) al-Fatat (Youth), a secret society of young Arabs who were
students in European universities and who convoked an Arab Congress, held
in Paris in 1913, to demand equal rights and cultural autonomy for Arabs
within the Ottoman Empire; and (3) al-Ahd (Covenant), a secret society of
Arab officers in the Ottoman army, who proposed turning the Ottoman Em¬
pire into a Turco-Arab dual monarchy on the pattern of Austria-Hungary.
Each of these groups found backers among educated Arabs living in Istanbul,
other Ottoman cities (notably Damascus), and abroad.
But do not do not overestimate the strength of Arab nationalism before
World War I. Most Arabs were not yet Arab nationalists; they remained loyal
to the CUP, the Ottoman constitution that gave them parliamentary rep¬
resentation, and a government in which some Arabs served as ministers,
ambassadors, officials, or army officers. If Arab nationalism had led to sepa¬
ration from the Ottoman Empire, the Egyptian khédive or the British might
have gained more than the Arabs of Syria or Iraq. Even though Egypt was
prospering, Arabs elsewhere did not crave British rule, let alone a French
imperialist regime like the one that ruled in Algeria. The Jewish settlers in
Palestine, not yet numerous enough to threaten the Arab majority, might
later aspire to separate statehood (see Chapter 16), and Arab nationalists op¬
posed this potential threat even more strenuously than Turkish rule.
WORLD WAR IThe next turning point in the rise of Arab nationalism occurred when the
Ottoman Empire decided in August 1914 to enter World War I on the Ger¬
man side. The CUP, especially War Minister Enver, may have been influenced