After watching Downfall last night (amazing movie, btw), I was reminded of the following excerpt from Ferguson’s Empire which details Germany’s WWI strategy to sponsor jihad against Britain:
Concious of their own vulnerability in the war on two fronts in Europe, the Germans sought to globalize the conflict — and divert British resources away from Europe — by undermining their rule in India. The true fulcrum of this new imperial war was supposed to be not Flanders but the Middle East.
John Buchan’s wartime thriller Greenmantle is an apparently far-fetched yarn about a German plot to subvert the British Empire by stirring up an Islamic holy war. …Yet Buchan was basing his plot on genuine intelligence reports, to which he had privileged access. [he served at HQ in France, and was Director of Intel at one point] Subsequent research has confirmed that the Germans did indeed aim to sponsor an Islamic jihad against British imperialism. …
In November 1914 the Turkish sultan, the spiritual head of all Sunni Muslims, duly responded to German prompting by declaring a holy war on Britain and her allies. … the British responded to the Turkish threat by diverting men and materiel away from the Western Front to Mesopotamia …
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Comments to this entry
Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace
August 22, 2005
12:06 am
Buchan was an interesting character who wrote great thrillers of his era, most notably "The 39 steps", which became a Hitchock movie, perhaps his best...
J.Kende
August 22, 2005
6:03 am
Chirol
August 22, 2005
12:41 pm
maskull
August 22, 2005
2:05 pm
Download a good freeware eText reader, I like Tom's or yBook, and dig in ...
http://pws.prserv.net/Fellner/Software/eTR.htm
http://www.spacejock.com/yBook.html
Buchan served in intelligence during WW I, though speculation is his service did not end with the war. Supposedly, Hannay's character is drawn from the real life experiences of Edmund Ironside.
In spite of the discomfiture occasioned today by his perceived political correctness (some refer to Buchan as a propagandist) ... he's enjoyed a resergence in popularity. Gosh, how curious ...
Mutantfrog
August 22, 2005
2:09 pm
Why do people keep using the word 'fascist' to describe these terrorists? Fascism is a strong, nationalist police state closely allied with capitalist/industrialist cronies, it has absolutely nothing to do with Islamic terrorism. Just because they're both very bad doesn't mean people should go around confusing terminology.
J.Kende
August 23, 2005
9:44 pm
In sum: I said fascist with a small f. The terminology is flexible. Focus isn't so much on the economics. Focus is more on the means of control -- brownshirt style violence and intimidation. There is a historical connection between the Nazi movement and the violent political and religious ideologies of the modern threats both from Islamists proper and from the tyrannies that nuture them or give them reason to exist.
Chief Wiggum
August 24, 2005
10:55 pm
The Germans attempted to enlist Mexico as an ally, including "an understanding...that Mexico is to re-conquer the lost territories in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona."
The German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmerman, incredibly sent the telegram to his ambassador in Mexico via the State Department's own cable system, as well as two others. The Brits intercepted and decoded the cable, and passed it on to the United States. Some people opine that this telegram was the tipping point that made President Wilson abandon his policy of neutrality.
J.Kende
August 25, 2005
1:46 am
Chirol
August 25, 2005
12:23 pm