The stronger the
encroachments
of
foreign spirit, the better the chances for
a national movement.
foreign spirit, the better the chances for
a national movement.
Jabotinsky - 1917 - Turkey and the War
).
It would be sufficient to sink in the Canal
a medium-sized warship, or even a big
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? SYRIA AND PALESTINE
merchant vessel, to bar the road to trade
traffic, to military transports, and to other
men-of-war. The raising of a sunk ship
is always a hard job ; even in peace time
it would take a good twelve days to lift
up a big boat ; the work is very com-
plicated, you need a lot of dredges, barges,
working men and so on. All this is abso-
lutely impracticable when your enemy
holds the approaches and is able not only
to handicap the work, but even to sink
your dredges at the side of the first vic-
tim. . . . I heard from people who know
the Canal as their own pocket that a
clever and well-equipped enemy could em-
ploy in some places a simpler and more
effective method by blowing up a part of the
eastern bank, in order to upset enormous
masses of sand and stone into the water.
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
" Of course the Turk is not likely to
have at his disposal all the necessary
means to damage the Canal. But if some
day in the future Palestine should serve
as a base for a real great Power, equipped
with all the devilries of modern technique
-- then, believe me, it would be quite
another story.
" I asked your officers why they chose
the Canal as their first line of defence
instead of establishing this line just on
the frontier of Egypt, between El-Arish
and Akaba. The answer was : because
of the desert. If the defenders of Egypt
had met the enemy at El-Arish, they
would have the desert at their back.
They would suffer all the difficulties which
now paralyse the action of the Turks :
the remoteness from the base, the slow-
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? SYRIA AND PALESTINE
ness of transport service, the lack of
water, in one word -- the desert. Because
the desert does perhaps protect you a
little if it is before you, but it kills you
if it backs your positions. The least re-
coil, sometimes inevitable even in success-
ful campaigns, throws you then just in
the middle of sands where you get not one
tiny hamlet to give you a backing, while
your enemy has immediately behind him
a whole country full of men and supplies.
" The only logical conclusion of all that
is this : the military value of the desert
is rather negative in your case. The proper
defence of the Suez Canal cannot be
secured unless you put between this
precious strip of water and any future
enemy a strip of land, combining two
essential qualities : (i) It must be de-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
cently spacious, so as to permit large-scale
operations ; and (2) it must be inhabited
and cultivable, fit to supply necessaries
to an army of which it forms the back-
ground. This is an exact description of
Syria, or at least of Palestine. I think
it was Nelson who said of Tangiers : ' This
port must belong to England or to nobody. '
Palestine is to the Suez Canal exactly
what Tangiers is to Gibraltar/'
We think this long quotation from an
unpublished source will not seem super-
fluous. Of course " it has always been
British policy to avoid having land frontiers
coterminous with those of great military
States. " When practicable, this is the
wisest policy. The sea is an ideal frontier,
because it allows no encroachments. But
since the boundary between Egypt and
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? SYRIA AND PALESTINE
Syria is a " land frontier/ ' we cannot see
any advantage in its being a desert. Of all
possible frontiers a desert is the one which
makes encroachments easy, and more than
easy : it is a constant invitation to infringe.
It may be neighbour's land in theory, but
it looks too much like no man's land and
seems to repeat by its magnetic silence
the old dictum which expresses the psycho-
logy of all the colonial wars in history :
res nullius cedit primo occupanti. Let us
remember here what has been said before
of " the irresistible push towards culture-
less spaces/' and of the force of culture
which secures frontiers better than any wall
of bayonets.
Syria must become unquestionably
French. Palestine <an only fall within
the British sphere of influence. Luckily,
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
the line of demarcation between the two
zones has been distinctly drawn, at the
same time and in the same sense, by Nature
as well as by History. Both point at the
Lebanon. Geographically, it is the highest
elevation of the Syrian plateau, and it
cuts the coast in two like a sort of hedge.
Historically, it has been autonomous and
nearly independent since 1856 ; its in-
habitants -- Druses and Maronites -- are
distinct by race and creed from their
neighbours of both North and South, and
have developed distinct and higher stand-
ards of economic and social life. Accus-
tomed as they are to independence, they
might enjoy it still further under a treaty of
neutralization, keeping at the same time
the land-mark between French and British
dominions.
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? XIII-- THE ARABS
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? XIII
The Arabs
The Arab aspirations of national revival
and independence cannot be formulated
in a precise scheme. They are as vague
as the conception of an Arab nation, the
conception which forms their base. For
little Macchiavellis of the kind of Ned jib
Azouri, the author of " Le r6veil de la
nation arabe," the " Arab nation " means
only -- for the present at least -- the Arabs
of the Ottoman Empire. He does England
and France the courtesy of leaving Egypt
and Tunis out. But it is clear that genuine
Arab Nationalists do not stop at frontiers
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
established by foreigners, and for them
the Arab nation embraces all the peoples
speaking Arabic dialects from Morocco
to Bagdad. All these enthusiasts -- those
of Pan-Arabia as well as those of half-Pan
Arabia -- forget that mere resemblance of
languages does not form a united nation.
The mark and the tie of a nation " one
and indivisible " is consciousness of national
unity. This essential condition is far from
being fulfilled by the different tribes which
inhabit the northern coast of Africa and
Western Asia. No observer would have
the courage to affirm that people in Morocco
and Tunis, in Tripolitania and the Yemen,
Syria and the Irak, feel as members of the
same nation. So far those populations are
divided by deep distinctions of history and
custom ; left alone through some unex-
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? THE ARABS
pected withdrawal of their European pro-
tectors and Turkish rulers, they would
naturally form at least four or five States,
and even wars between them would not
be surprising. Of course the existence of
all these tribes, especially the fact that
they inhabit an uninterrupted strip of land
stretching from the Persian Gulf to the
Atlantic, might form one day the base for
an active propaganda of national unity.
This day, however, is still hidden in the mists
of the remotest future ; before it dawns
some of the members of the projected Pan-
Arabic nation will yet need to learn many
things which form the line between savagery
and the beginning of civilization. And to
learn them they will need European teachers
equipped with the necessary authority.
Certainly the different Arab agglomera-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
tions present different degrees of cultural
development -- or, perhaps, of cultural back-
wardness. A curious thing about them is
this : whilst in Europe intensity of civiliza-
tion augments gradually from east to
west, in the Arabic world it is exactly the
other way. If we take the word " oriental "
in its old traditional sense, i. e. , as the
opposite of modern western ideas and
customs, then real " oriental " life can
be found only in the extreme west :
in Morocco. The further eastwards from
Tangiers, the more western it looks. Tunis
is even more " European " than Algiers,
and Cairo still more than Tunis. We speak
of the aspect of capitals, but the same
applies to the peoples. Morocco can un-
questionably boast an idyllic percentage
of illiteracy : almost 100%. Algeria, which
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? THE ARABS
is much more enlightened, possessed in
1913, for a Moslem population of 4,500,000,
no more than 226 Mussulman primary
schools, while about 35,000 Moslem pupils
attended French establishments. Tunis,
with 1,730,000 Arabs, has 1,320 Mussulman
primary schools. The corresponding figure
for Egypt is somewhat lower in proportion
to population -- 3,799 " muktabs " in 1914;
but 100,000 Egyptian Moslems attend
various European schools, while in Tunis
about 5,000 only follow their example.
The same scale can be applied to the
religious and social conditions of these
countries. Morocco is the land of Moslem
orthodoxy, old-fashioned and undiluted ;
the conservative influence of religious
brotherhoods, which are omnipotent in
the Maghzen's dominions, permeates every-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
thing in family life, social relations, educa-
tion, and statecraft. The further east-
wards, the weaker become the brotherhoods,
the more pronounced the signs of beginning
modernization.
Algiers possesses already a small set of
what might be called Arab intelligentsia ;
but they are opposed on one side by the
so-called " Old Turbans," mostly rich land-
owners whose essential feature is dislike
of ideas, projects and all similar trouble ;
on the other hand, the " Young Algerians "
are estranged from the masses of the people
by their modern education and religious
liberalism ; they present only an isolated
handful of individuals without any actual
weight in the life.
Tunis is quite different. It has a
well-developed bourgeoisie, rich, organized,
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? THE ARABS
fairly educated for oriental standards,
sensible and conscious of its own dignity.
Here, too, the " Young Tunisians/' as a
party, are not very numerous, but they
have a milieu around them more or less
prepared for modern ideas. The two
academies of the Regency -- the ancient
" Olive Mosque " and the modern Khal-
dounia -- have a strong modernizing influ-
ence on thousands of students. The
vernacular press of Tunis is well edited
and well written ; but of course for leading
Nationalist inspirations the Young Tunis-
ians look to Egypt.
Egypt, whose conditions are too well
known in this country to need special
reference in this book, represents a further
step onwards in the scale.
The national aspirations along the
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
Southern Mediterranean coast follow the
same rule. Nationalism is a modern idea,
primitive peoples are not able to conceive
it ; their life is so full of genuine national
substance that they need no special pro-
grammes or parties to reaffirm their nation-
hood.
The stronger the encroachments of
foreign spirit, the better the chances for
a national movement. Thus Egypt pos-
sesses a Nationalist party whose influence
cannot be overlooked ; its programme
presents the essential features of the Euro-
pean racial aspirations, containing demands
for autonomy and for recognition of Arabic
as the only vehicle of all education. The
platform of the Young Tunisians is far less
explicit, especially in dealing with the
question of language : it seems that the
Tunisian Nationalists are rather in favour
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? THE ARABS
of bi-lingual education. The programme
of the Young Algerians as expounded by
a deputation which visited some parlia-
mentarians in Paris in ic)i2,is rather a simple
plea for equal rights for natives and better
education than a display of real nation-
alism. Morocco, in its patriarchal back-
wardness, is not the soil where such
plants as programmes or parties can thrive.
Of course this scale of ours is only
approximately exact. The gradual growth
of modern spirit from west to east is
interrupted by Tripolitania, a country
wilder even than Morocco ; and the ex-
treme east of the Arab world -- the {EBB
Yemen and Mesopotamia -- represents a still
lower stage of civilization. Not so Syria.
Its condition is peculiar : on one side,
Turkish rule paralyzed its progress, leaving
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
the country far behind Egypt, Tunisia,
and Algeria in every way ; and still, on
the other hand, the town population of
Syria can be regarded as the foremost
element of the whole Arab race. This may
be partially attributed to the competition
of European Powers which invaded that
country with hordes of religious and secular
missionaries. It may also be explained
by the presence of a considerable per-
centage of Christians among the native
people. But it seems that the main cause
of the superiority of the Syrian type is a
question of race, of the powerful admixture
of European blood which so many energetic
and conquering nations left on this coveted
coast. However it be, the national move-
ment in Syria is the vanguard of Arab-
ism, and many among the leaders of
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? THE ARABS
Egyptian Nationalists are men of Syrian
extraction.
We dwelt on these features of the Arab
world in and outside Turkey not only
because of the interest they may present
in themselves. They must be kept in
mind when we discuss Arab claims in
connection with Turkey's partition. They
clearly show that it is more than premature
to speak of Arabs as of one nation stretching
from Tangiers to Bagdad ; even the Arabs
of the Turkish Empire do not form a united
nation, as Syria, the Hedjaz, the Yemen
and Mesopotamia present radical differences
which exclude any possibility of common
self-assertion. At the same time it cannot
be denied that the Arab world shows some
essential conditions which might one day
develop into national unity.
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
This eventuality ought not to be over-
looked. Whether the formation of a united
Arab Empire in the remote future would
be a gain for the world's civilization is a
question which we are not prepared to dis-
cuss. But for Europe it would certainly
mean one of the greatest colonial disasters
ever known in history. France would lose
Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia ; Italy would
lose Tripolitania ; England would lose
Egypt ; and we do not think the losses
would stop there.
Many hundreds of pages could be written
to show that the European rule has
accomplished a great civilizing mission
in those countries, and that its liquidation
would prove a curse, not a blessing, to the
Arabs themselves. We prefer, however,
to leave this delicate matter untouched
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? THE ARABS
and to say simply that the Great Powers
do not want to be turned out of the
northern coasts of Africa, and, if they
succeed now in establishing their rule on
some parts of Asia Minor, they will not
want to be turned out from there either.
This unshakable resolve to keep the
whole Mediterranean Sea in European hands
forms the firm ground on which any Arab
claim must be discussed lest the discus-
sion be useless and fruitless. The vic-
torious Western Powers in dealing with
Arab aspirations will certainly be governed
by principles of justice and freedom, but
they will also conform to the general
interests of civilization and order ; and
above all they will obey the imperative
dictates of their own self-preservation.
They cannot be expected to suffer the
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
formation of any community which would
be likely to try, even in the remotest
future, the part of an Arab Piedmont.
" Piedmont " is a political term which
hardly needs explanation. We have only
to add that the sympathy one generally
pays to the role of Piedmont in the Italian
Risorgimento does not necessarily imply
that the world ought to hail the idea of
an Arab Piedmont with the same enthusi-
asm. The Italian revival held beautiful
promises which we miss, so far, in the case
of Pan-Arabia. Nor would there be any
probability of such a " Piedmont " suc-
ceeding in its endeavours to lead and
rally the Arabic-speaking tribes. It would
only -- and certainly -- succeed in forming
a permanent nest of agitation, intrigue and
trouble, and would hinder Europe in her
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? THE ARABS
peaceful leadership of the different Arab
countries towards progress.
These considerations force us to think
that the Arab claims can only have some
chance of success at this moment if they
are formulated with the utmost modera-
tion. The independence of Syria, for in-
stance, is clearly and hopelessly out of the
question. Such a project would not only
clash against the ancient and well-founded
claims of France, but it would also be
understood by France, Italy and Britain
alike as a most fateful attempt against the
security of their colonial empires. The
geographical position of Syria at the gates
of Egypt, and especially that peculiar
character of its population to which we have
alluded above, seem to suggest the role of
Piedmont with a tempting emphasis which
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
the Western Powers will be very careful
not to encourage. It does not exclude the
possibility, even the probability of some
concessions calculated to flatter the Arab
feeling -- as for instance the appointment
of an Arab Chief with hereditary dignity ;
but the principality formed in this way
would still have to be governed as a
Protectorate.
Quite different is the position of the
Hedjaz and the Yemen. The Hedjaz, the
country of the Holy Cities, Mecca and
Medina, is destined to play a leading part in
the future development of Islam as a reli-
gion ; but the national idea, being a product
of modern western thought, has so far no
ground for growth in this primitive region ;
nor does it seem likely that higher secular
education, which forms the condition and
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? THE ARABS
the basis of real nationalism, could make
quick progresses within sight of the Kaaba.
Geographically, the Hedjaz is isolated by
deserts and sea and has no immediate
contact either with Egypt or Syria. Its
independence would be politically harmless.
At the same time it would be a happy
concession to the Moslem world which
naturally shrinks from any idea of Euro-
peans interfering with the Holy Places of
Islam. Indeed, as far as we can gather
from many authoritative statements pub-
lished up to date, all the Allied Powers
are agreed on the principle of absolute
independence of the Hedjaz. We can only
add that, the question of the Holy Places
apart, the same reasons speak for the
independence of the Yemen.
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? XIV-- THE GERMAN CLAIM
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? XIV
The German Claim
In the emergency of Turkey's partition
Germany will find herself in a peculiar
position. Of all the Powers which ever
coveted Ottoman heritage, Germany had
the widest ambitions. English, French,
Russian claims were always limited to
certain portions of Turkish territory. But
it is almost impossible to find a corner
of Turkey that has not been mentioned
in some Pan-German pronouncement as
belonging to the future lot of " Deutsch-
lands Erbe. " Armenia and Mesopotamia,
Syria and Palestine were treated, and
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
sometimes by quite responsible writers,
as the natural ground for Teutonic expan-
sion and colonisation. This all-embracing
appetite gives Germany some right to
affirm that she was never in favour of the
dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire,
Of course she preferred the annexation o1
a united and indivisible Turkey. And we
must agree that this plan has virtually been
carried out by the present alliance between
the Central Empires and the Young Turks.
It is highly questionable, however, tc
what extent Germany would be able tc
earn the fruits of this policy, even if she
and her allies won the war. The Germar
crowd seems to take it for granted that a
common victory would attach Turkey fo]
ever to her Teutonic masters. But it is
hardly possible that this sanguine opinior
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? THE GERMAN CLAIM
be shared also by responsible men in
Germany who know too well what Turkey
is. Only one of three things can happen
to Turkey : the first is partition ; the second
-- such a complete victory which would
leave the Ottoman Empire strengthened
and able to exclude any foreign influence ;
the third -- the status quo ante, i. e. , the
old Turkish system of fictitiously accepting
the tutelage of all the leading Powers,
in order to counterbalance one with
another and to deceive them all. One
thing only can never happen : Turkey
will never surfer the exclusive predomi-
nance of one foreign Power. Those who
dream of it show their ignorance of the
A B C of Turkish history as well as of the
mentality of the Young Turkish leaders.
It is enough to have the slightest acquain-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
tance of men like Enver, Talaat, Hamil,
Djavid, Hussein-Djahid, to throw away
any illusion of this kind. Of course Turkey
will be very glad to accept Germany's
military services -- for instance, to admit
again German instructors in her army
and to allow the establishment of Krupp's
factories in Turkish cities. But this kind
of help, given by one State to another,
produces one peculiar consequence : it
obliges the State which gives far more than
the one which receives. The country which
is in need of these kind of services is never
forced to beg for them, to entreat, to
promise compensations in return. On the
contrary, that country would be over-
whelmed with offers and would only have
the pleasant embarrassment of choice.
And the happy winner would be very
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? THE GERMAN CLAIM
careful not to forfeit his privilege, and
would be compelled to make all sorts of
concessions to his " pupil/' lest the latter
should get tired and replace him by one
of his competitors. This will be exactly
the attitude Turkey will assume towards
Germany if the war ends with a victory
of the Central Empires.
It would be sufficient to sink in the Canal
a medium-sized warship, or even a big
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? SYRIA AND PALESTINE
merchant vessel, to bar the road to trade
traffic, to military transports, and to other
men-of-war. The raising of a sunk ship
is always a hard job ; even in peace time
it would take a good twelve days to lift
up a big boat ; the work is very com-
plicated, you need a lot of dredges, barges,
working men and so on. All this is abso-
lutely impracticable when your enemy
holds the approaches and is able not only
to handicap the work, but even to sink
your dredges at the side of the first vic-
tim. . . . I heard from people who know
the Canal as their own pocket that a
clever and well-equipped enemy could em-
ploy in some places a simpler and more
effective method by blowing up a part of the
eastern bank, in order to upset enormous
masses of sand and stone into the water.
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
" Of course the Turk is not likely to
have at his disposal all the necessary
means to damage the Canal. But if some
day in the future Palestine should serve
as a base for a real great Power, equipped
with all the devilries of modern technique
-- then, believe me, it would be quite
another story.
" I asked your officers why they chose
the Canal as their first line of defence
instead of establishing this line just on
the frontier of Egypt, between El-Arish
and Akaba. The answer was : because
of the desert. If the defenders of Egypt
had met the enemy at El-Arish, they
would have the desert at their back.
They would suffer all the difficulties which
now paralyse the action of the Turks :
the remoteness from the base, the slow-
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? SYRIA AND PALESTINE
ness of transport service, the lack of
water, in one word -- the desert. Because
the desert does perhaps protect you a
little if it is before you, but it kills you
if it backs your positions. The least re-
coil, sometimes inevitable even in success-
ful campaigns, throws you then just in
the middle of sands where you get not one
tiny hamlet to give you a backing, while
your enemy has immediately behind him
a whole country full of men and supplies.
" The only logical conclusion of all that
is this : the military value of the desert
is rather negative in your case. The proper
defence of the Suez Canal cannot be
secured unless you put between this
precious strip of water and any future
enemy a strip of land, combining two
essential qualities : (i) It must be de-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
cently spacious, so as to permit large-scale
operations ; and (2) it must be inhabited
and cultivable, fit to supply necessaries
to an army of which it forms the back-
ground. This is an exact description of
Syria, or at least of Palestine. I think
it was Nelson who said of Tangiers : ' This
port must belong to England or to nobody. '
Palestine is to the Suez Canal exactly
what Tangiers is to Gibraltar/'
We think this long quotation from an
unpublished source will not seem super-
fluous. Of course " it has always been
British policy to avoid having land frontiers
coterminous with those of great military
States. " When practicable, this is the
wisest policy. The sea is an ideal frontier,
because it allows no encroachments. But
since the boundary between Egypt and
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? SYRIA AND PALESTINE
Syria is a " land frontier/ ' we cannot see
any advantage in its being a desert. Of all
possible frontiers a desert is the one which
makes encroachments easy, and more than
easy : it is a constant invitation to infringe.
It may be neighbour's land in theory, but
it looks too much like no man's land and
seems to repeat by its magnetic silence
the old dictum which expresses the psycho-
logy of all the colonial wars in history :
res nullius cedit primo occupanti. Let us
remember here what has been said before
of " the irresistible push towards culture-
less spaces/' and of the force of culture
which secures frontiers better than any wall
of bayonets.
Syria must become unquestionably
French. Palestine <an only fall within
the British sphere of influence. Luckily,
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
the line of demarcation between the two
zones has been distinctly drawn, at the
same time and in the same sense, by Nature
as well as by History. Both point at the
Lebanon. Geographically, it is the highest
elevation of the Syrian plateau, and it
cuts the coast in two like a sort of hedge.
Historically, it has been autonomous and
nearly independent since 1856 ; its in-
habitants -- Druses and Maronites -- are
distinct by race and creed from their
neighbours of both North and South, and
have developed distinct and higher stand-
ards of economic and social life. Accus-
tomed as they are to independence, they
might enjoy it still further under a treaty of
neutralization, keeping at the same time
the land-mark between French and British
dominions.
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? XIII-- THE ARABS
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? XIII
The Arabs
The Arab aspirations of national revival
and independence cannot be formulated
in a precise scheme. They are as vague
as the conception of an Arab nation, the
conception which forms their base. For
little Macchiavellis of the kind of Ned jib
Azouri, the author of " Le r6veil de la
nation arabe," the " Arab nation " means
only -- for the present at least -- the Arabs
of the Ottoman Empire. He does England
and France the courtesy of leaving Egypt
and Tunis out. But it is clear that genuine
Arab Nationalists do not stop at frontiers
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
established by foreigners, and for them
the Arab nation embraces all the peoples
speaking Arabic dialects from Morocco
to Bagdad. All these enthusiasts -- those
of Pan-Arabia as well as those of half-Pan
Arabia -- forget that mere resemblance of
languages does not form a united nation.
The mark and the tie of a nation " one
and indivisible " is consciousness of national
unity. This essential condition is far from
being fulfilled by the different tribes which
inhabit the northern coast of Africa and
Western Asia. No observer would have
the courage to affirm that people in Morocco
and Tunis, in Tripolitania and the Yemen,
Syria and the Irak, feel as members of the
same nation. So far those populations are
divided by deep distinctions of history and
custom ; left alone through some unex-
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? THE ARABS
pected withdrawal of their European pro-
tectors and Turkish rulers, they would
naturally form at least four or five States,
and even wars between them would not
be surprising. Of course the existence of
all these tribes, especially the fact that
they inhabit an uninterrupted strip of land
stretching from the Persian Gulf to the
Atlantic, might form one day the base for
an active propaganda of national unity.
This day, however, is still hidden in the mists
of the remotest future ; before it dawns
some of the members of the projected Pan-
Arabic nation will yet need to learn many
things which form the line between savagery
and the beginning of civilization. And to
learn them they will need European teachers
equipped with the necessary authority.
Certainly the different Arab agglomera-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
tions present different degrees of cultural
development -- or, perhaps, of cultural back-
wardness. A curious thing about them is
this : whilst in Europe intensity of civiliza-
tion augments gradually from east to
west, in the Arabic world it is exactly the
other way. If we take the word " oriental "
in its old traditional sense, i. e. , as the
opposite of modern western ideas and
customs, then real " oriental " life can
be found only in the extreme west :
in Morocco. The further eastwards from
Tangiers, the more western it looks. Tunis
is even more " European " than Algiers,
and Cairo still more than Tunis. We speak
of the aspect of capitals, but the same
applies to the peoples. Morocco can un-
questionably boast an idyllic percentage
of illiteracy : almost 100%. Algeria, which
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? THE ARABS
is much more enlightened, possessed in
1913, for a Moslem population of 4,500,000,
no more than 226 Mussulman primary
schools, while about 35,000 Moslem pupils
attended French establishments. Tunis,
with 1,730,000 Arabs, has 1,320 Mussulman
primary schools. The corresponding figure
for Egypt is somewhat lower in proportion
to population -- 3,799 " muktabs " in 1914;
but 100,000 Egyptian Moslems attend
various European schools, while in Tunis
about 5,000 only follow their example.
The same scale can be applied to the
religious and social conditions of these
countries. Morocco is the land of Moslem
orthodoxy, old-fashioned and undiluted ;
the conservative influence of religious
brotherhoods, which are omnipotent in
the Maghzen's dominions, permeates every-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
thing in family life, social relations, educa-
tion, and statecraft. The further east-
wards, the weaker become the brotherhoods,
the more pronounced the signs of beginning
modernization.
Algiers possesses already a small set of
what might be called Arab intelligentsia ;
but they are opposed on one side by the
so-called " Old Turbans," mostly rich land-
owners whose essential feature is dislike
of ideas, projects and all similar trouble ;
on the other hand, the " Young Algerians "
are estranged from the masses of the people
by their modern education and religious
liberalism ; they present only an isolated
handful of individuals without any actual
weight in the life.
Tunis is quite different. It has a
well-developed bourgeoisie, rich, organized,
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? THE ARABS
fairly educated for oriental standards,
sensible and conscious of its own dignity.
Here, too, the " Young Tunisians/' as a
party, are not very numerous, but they
have a milieu around them more or less
prepared for modern ideas. The two
academies of the Regency -- the ancient
" Olive Mosque " and the modern Khal-
dounia -- have a strong modernizing influ-
ence on thousands of students. The
vernacular press of Tunis is well edited
and well written ; but of course for leading
Nationalist inspirations the Young Tunis-
ians look to Egypt.
Egypt, whose conditions are too well
known in this country to need special
reference in this book, represents a further
step onwards in the scale.
The national aspirations along the
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
Southern Mediterranean coast follow the
same rule. Nationalism is a modern idea,
primitive peoples are not able to conceive
it ; their life is so full of genuine national
substance that they need no special pro-
grammes or parties to reaffirm their nation-
hood.
The stronger the encroachments of
foreign spirit, the better the chances for
a national movement. Thus Egypt pos-
sesses a Nationalist party whose influence
cannot be overlooked ; its programme
presents the essential features of the Euro-
pean racial aspirations, containing demands
for autonomy and for recognition of Arabic
as the only vehicle of all education. The
platform of the Young Tunisians is far less
explicit, especially in dealing with the
question of language : it seems that the
Tunisian Nationalists are rather in favour
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? THE ARABS
of bi-lingual education. The programme
of the Young Algerians as expounded by
a deputation which visited some parlia-
mentarians in Paris in ic)i2,is rather a simple
plea for equal rights for natives and better
education than a display of real nation-
alism. Morocco, in its patriarchal back-
wardness, is not the soil where such
plants as programmes or parties can thrive.
Of course this scale of ours is only
approximately exact. The gradual growth
of modern spirit from west to east is
interrupted by Tripolitania, a country
wilder even than Morocco ; and the ex-
treme east of the Arab world -- the {EBB
Yemen and Mesopotamia -- represents a still
lower stage of civilization. Not so Syria.
Its condition is peculiar : on one side,
Turkish rule paralyzed its progress, leaving
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
the country far behind Egypt, Tunisia,
and Algeria in every way ; and still, on
the other hand, the town population of
Syria can be regarded as the foremost
element of the whole Arab race. This may
be partially attributed to the competition
of European Powers which invaded that
country with hordes of religious and secular
missionaries. It may also be explained
by the presence of a considerable per-
centage of Christians among the native
people. But it seems that the main cause
of the superiority of the Syrian type is a
question of race, of the powerful admixture
of European blood which so many energetic
and conquering nations left on this coveted
coast. However it be, the national move-
ment in Syria is the vanguard of Arab-
ism, and many among the leaders of
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? THE ARABS
Egyptian Nationalists are men of Syrian
extraction.
We dwelt on these features of the Arab
world in and outside Turkey not only
because of the interest they may present
in themselves. They must be kept in
mind when we discuss Arab claims in
connection with Turkey's partition. They
clearly show that it is more than premature
to speak of Arabs as of one nation stretching
from Tangiers to Bagdad ; even the Arabs
of the Turkish Empire do not form a united
nation, as Syria, the Hedjaz, the Yemen
and Mesopotamia present radical differences
which exclude any possibility of common
self-assertion. At the same time it cannot
be denied that the Arab world shows some
essential conditions which might one day
develop into national unity.
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
This eventuality ought not to be over-
looked. Whether the formation of a united
Arab Empire in the remote future would
be a gain for the world's civilization is a
question which we are not prepared to dis-
cuss. But for Europe it would certainly
mean one of the greatest colonial disasters
ever known in history. France would lose
Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia ; Italy would
lose Tripolitania ; England would lose
Egypt ; and we do not think the losses
would stop there.
Many hundreds of pages could be written
to show that the European rule has
accomplished a great civilizing mission
in those countries, and that its liquidation
would prove a curse, not a blessing, to the
Arabs themselves. We prefer, however,
to leave this delicate matter untouched
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? THE ARABS
and to say simply that the Great Powers
do not want to be turned out of the
northern coasts of Africa, and, if they
succeed now in establishing their rule on
some parts of Asia Minor, they will not
want to be turned out from there either.
This unshakable resolve to keep the
whole Mediterranean Sea in European hands
forms the firm ground on which any Arab
claim must be discussed lest the discus-
sion be useless and fruitless. The vic-
torious Western Powers in dealing with
Arab aspirations will certainly be governed
by principles of justice and freedom, but
they will also conform to the general
interests of civilization and order ; and
above all they will obey the imperative
dictates of their own self-preservation.
They cannot be expected to suffer the
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
formation of any community which would
be likely to try, even in the remotest
future, the part of an Arab Piedmont.
" Piedmont " is a political term which
hardly needs explanation. We have only
to add that the sympathy one generally
pays to the role of Piedmont in the Italian
Risorgimento does not necessarily imply
that the world ought to hail the idea of
an Arab Piedmont with the same enthusi-
asm. The Italian revival held beautiful
promises which we miss, so far, in the case
of Pan-Arabia. Nor would there be any
probability of such a " Piedmont " suc-
ceeding in its endeavours to lead and
rally the Arabic-speaking tribes. It would
only -- and certainly -- succeed in forming
a permanent nest of agitation, intrigue and
trouble, and would hinder Europe in her
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? THE ARABS
peaceful leadership of the different Arab
countries towards progress.
These considerations force us to think
that the Arab claims can only have some
chance of success at this moment if they
are formulated with the utmost modera-
tion. The independence of Syria, for in-
stance, is clearly and hopelessly out of the
question. Such a project would not only
clash against the ancient and well-founded
claims of France, but it would also be
understood by France, Italy and Britain
alike as a most fateful attempt against the
security of their colonial empires. The
geographical position of Syria at the gates
of Egypt, and especially that peculiar
character of its population to which we have
alluded above, seem to suggest the role of
Piedmont with a tempting emphasis which
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
the Western Powers will be very careful
not to encourage. It does not exclude the
possibility, even the probability of some
concessions calculated to flatter the Arab
feeling -- as for instance the appointment
of an Arab Chief with hereditary dignity ;
but the principality formed in this way
would still have to be governed as a
Protectorate.
Quite different is the position of the
Hedjaz and the Yemen. The Hedjaz, the
country of the Holy Cities, Mecca and
Medina, is destined to play a leading part in
the future development of Islam as a reli-
gion ; but the national idea, being a product
of modern western thought, has so far no
ground for growth in this primitive region ;
nor does it seem likely that higher secular
education, which forms the condition and
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? THE ARABS
the basis of real nationalism, could make
quick progresses within sight of the Kaaba.
Geographically, the Hedjaz is isolated by
deserts and sea and has no immediate
contact either with Egypt or Syria. Its
independence would be politically harmless.
At the same time it would be a happy
concession to the Moslem world which
naturally shrinks from any idea of Euro-
peans interfering with the Holy Places of
Islam. Indeed, as far as we can gather
from many authoritative statements pub-
lished up to date, all the Allied Powers
are agreed on the principle of absolute
independence of the Hedjaz. We can only
add that, the question of the Holy Places
apart, the same reasons speak for the
independence of the Yemen.
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? XIV-- THE GERMAN CLAIM
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? XIV
The German Claim
In the emergency of Turkey's partition
Germany will find herself in a peculiar
position. Of all the Powers which ever
coveted Ottoman heritage, Germany had
the widest ambitions. English, French,
Russian claims were always limited to
certain portions of Turkish territory. But
it is almost impossible to find a corner
of Turkey that has not been mentioned
in some Pan-German pronouncement as
belonging to the future lot of " Deutsch-
lands Erbe. " Armenia and Mesopotamia,
Syria and Palestine were treated, and
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
sometimes by quite responsible writers,
as the natural ground for Teutonic expan-
sion and colonisation. This all-embracing
appetite gives Germany some right to
affirm that she was never in favour of the
dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire,
Of course she preferred the annexation o1
a united and indivisible Turkey. And we
must agree that this plan has virtually been
carried out by the present alliance between
the Central Empires and the Young Turks.
It is highly questionable, however, tc
what extent Germany would be able tc
earn the fruits of this policy, even if she
and her allies won the war. The Germar
crowd seems to take it for granted that a
common victory would attach Turkey fo]
ever to her Teutonic masters. But it is
hardly possible that this sanguine opinior
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? THE GERMAN CLAIM
be shared also by responsible men in
Germany who know too well what Turkey
is. Only one of three things can happen
to Turkey : the first is partition ; the second
-- such a complete victory which would
leave the Ottoman Empire strengthened
and able to exclude any foreign influence ;
the third -- the status quo ante, i. e. , the
old Turkish system of fictitiously accepting
the tutelage of all the leading Powers,
in order to counterbalance one with
another and to deceive them all. One
thing only can never happen : Turkey
will never surfer the exclusive predomi-
nance of one foreign Power. Those who
dream of it show their ignorance of the
A B C of Turkish history as well as of the
mentality of the Young Turkish leaders.
It is enough to have the slightest acquain-
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? TURKEY AND THE WAR
tance of men like Enver, Talaat, Hamil,
Djavid, Hussein-Djahid, to throw away
any illusion of this kind. Of course Turkey
will be very glad to accept Germany's
military services -- for instance, to admit
again German instructors in her army
and to allow the establishment of Krupp's
factories in Turkish cities. But this kind
of help, given by one State to another,
produces one peculiar consequence : it
obliges the State which gives far more than
the one which receives. The country which
is in need of these kind of services is never
forced to beg for them, to entreat, to
promise compensations in return. On the
contrary, that country would be over-
whelmed with offers and would only have
the pleasant embarrassment of choice.
And the happy winner would be very
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? THE GERMAN CLAIM
careful not to forfeit his privilege, and
would be compelled to make all sorts of
concessions to his " pupil/' lest the latter
should get tired and replace him by one
of his competitors. This will be exactly
the attitude Turkey will assume towards
Germany if the war ends with a victory
of the Central Empires.
