War by Revolution

War by Revolution is the first comprehensive study of the World War I rivalry between Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East. Donald M. McKale examines how other countries waged "war by revolution," attempting to incite native peoples to revolt against the other. German leaders believed that in the event of a war among European powers, they could organize and exploit a unified Islam. In addition to assisting the Ottomans militarily in the war, they collaborated with the Turks in appealing to pan-Islamism, a doctrine that proclaimed the sultan-caliph's religious authority over all the world's Muslims, to stoke the fire of native Muslim revolts against the British in Egypt and India, and they inflamed anti-British passions in the Turkish provinces of Arabia and Mesopotamia and in Libya, Abyssinia, Persia and Afghanistan. Key British leaders panicked after defeats at Gallipoli and in Mesopotamia. They feared pan-Islamism and a "holy war" directed against Britain's control of Muslim lands and its rule in India. With the help of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), they assisted the Arab Revolt of 1916 that contributed to the defeat of Turkey. At the war's end, Britain (and France) purposely destroyed the Turkish empire and divided its former lands among themselves and the Arabs. In the long term, however, McKale concludes that the German war in the Middle East helped to weaken Britain's global empire.