THE GERMAN PROPAGANDA
So passed the days of our training, swiftly, monotonously, until the
fateful December morning when the news came like a thunderbolt that
Turkey was about to join hands with Germany. We had had reports of the
war--of a kind. Copies of telegrams from Constantinople, printed in
Arabic, were circulated among us, giving accounts of endless German
victories. These, however, we had laughed at as fabrications of a
Prussophile press agency, and in our skepticism we had failed to give
the Teutons credit for the successes they had actually won. To us, born
and bred in the East as we were, the success of German propaganda in the
Turkish Empire could not come as an overwhelming surprise; but its
fullness amazed us.
It may be of timely interest to say a few words here regarding this
propaganda as I have seen it in Palestine, spreading under strong and
efficient organization for twenty years.
In order to realize her imperialistic dreams, Germany absolutely needed
Palestine. It was the key to the whole Oriental situation. No mere
coincidence brought the Kaiser to Damascus in November, 1898,--the same
month that Kitchener, in London, was hailed as Gordon's avenger,--when
he uttered his famous phrase at the tomb of Saladin: "Tell the three
hundred million Moslems of the world that I am their friend!" We have
all seen photographs of the imperial figure, draped in an amazing
burnous of his own designing (above which the Prussian _Pickelhaube_
rises supreme), as he moved from point to point in this portentous
visit: we may also have seen Caran d'Ache's celebrated cartoon (a
subject of diplomatic correspondence) representing this same imperial
figure, in its Oriental toggery, riding into Jerusalem on an ass.
The nations of Europe laughed at this visit and its transparent purpose,
but it was all part of the scheme which won for the Germans the
concessions for the Konia-Bagdad Railway, and made them owners of the
double valley of the Euphrates and Tigris. Through branch lines
projected through the firman, they are practically in control of both
the Syrian routes toward the Cypriotic Mediterranean and the Lebanon
valleys. They also control the three Armenian routes of Cappadocia, the
Black Sea, and the trans-Caucasian branch of Urfa, Marach, and Mardine.
(The fall of Erzerum has altered conditions respecting this last.) They
dominate the Persian routes toward Tauris and Teheran as well; and last,
but not least, the Gulf branch of Zobeir. These railways delivered into
German hands the control of Persia, whence the road to India may be made
easy: through Syria lies the route to the Suez Canal and Egypt, which
was used in February, 1915, and will probably be used again this year.
To make this Oriental dream a reality, the Germans have not relied on
their railway concessions alone. Their Government has done everything in
its power to encourage German colonization in Palestine. Scattered all
over the country are German mills that half of the time have nothing to
grind. German hotels have been opened in places seldom frequented by
tourists. German engineers appeared in force, surveying, sounding,
noting. All these colonists held gatherings in the Arab villages, when
the ignorant natives were told of the greatness of Germany, of her good
intentions, and of the evil machinations of other powers. What I state
here can be corroborated by any one who knows Palestine and has lived in
it.
About the time when we first knew that Turkey would join the Germanic
powers came the news that the "Capitulations" had been revoked. As is
generally known, foreigners formerly enjoyed the protection of their
respective consuls. The Turkish Government, under the terms of the
so-called Capitulations, or agreements, had no jurisdiction over an
American, for instance, or a Frenchman, who could not be arrested
without the consent of his consul. In the Ottoman Empire, where law and
justice are not at a premium, such protection was a wholesome and
necessary policy.
The revoking of the Capitulations was a terrible blow to all the
Europeans, meaning, as it did, the practical abolition of all their
rights. Upon the Arabs it acted like an intoxicant. Every boot-black or
boatman felt that he was the equal of the accursed Frank, who now had no
consul to protect him; and abuses began immediately. Moreover, as if by
magic, the whole country became Germanized. In all the mosques, Friday
prayers were ended with an invocation for the welfare of the Sultan and
"Hadji Wilhelm." The significance of this lies in the fact that the
title "Hadji" can be properly applied only to a Moslem who has made the
pilgrimage to Mecca and kissed the sacred stone of the Kaaba. Instant
death is the penalty paid by any Christian who is found within that
enclosure: yet Wilhelm II, head of the Lutheran faith, stepped forward
as "Hadji Wilhelm." His pictures were sold everywhere; German officers
appeared; and it seemed as if a wind of brutal mastery were blowing.
The dominant figure of this movement in Palestine was, without doubt,
the German Consul at Haifa, Leutweld von Hardegg. He traveled about the
country, making speeches, and distributing pamphlets in Arabic, in which
it was elaborately proved that Germans are not Christians, like the
French or English, but that they are descendants of the prophet
Mohammed. Passages from the Koran were quoted, prophesying the coming of
the Kaiser as the Savior of Islam.