camels, suited as are no other animals for work in the desert. In
thousands, they had been collected at Hadj, the cooperation of the
Arab Bedouins being specially valuable in this work. The consideration
of these events in the campaign which begins in February, 1915, will
be found in Volume III of this work.

CHAPTER III

FAILURE OF "HOLY WAR" PROPAGANDA

One of the most interesting of the various phases of the war, so far
as the participation of Turkey was concerned, was the religious
development. Countless pages of learned speculation had been written
for years before the struggle in an attempt to forecast the outcome of
exactly the conditions that had arisen. It must be said at once that
in the first six months of the war reality failed to live up to
prophecy. The cataclysm that was expected by many to involve the
revolt of millions and a vast change in the political color of much of
the earth's surface did not appear. Any change that took place
operated so quietly and on so comparatively small a scale that it was
lost to view beside the greater interest of the struggle on the battle
fields of France and Poland.

It is desirable, however, that the situation be examined. Abbas II,
Khedive of Egypt, had early in the war openly shown his lack of
sympathy with the British in Egypt. By his actions he left no doubt
regarding his attitude. He not only vehemently expressed his adherence
to Constantinople but left Cairo, and journeyed to Turkey, safe from
British official pressure or persuasion. Whereupon the British
Government called upon him to return, threatened him with deposition,
and finally took that extreme step, setting up another in his place on
December 18, 1914.

Furthermore, the day before, Great Britain declared Egypt a British
protectorate independent of Constantinople. In this action Great
Britain relied not upon any legal right to take such action, but
merely upon the right of actual possession. Since Great Britain had
taken over the government of Egypt in 1883, she had acknowledged the
sultan's rights of suzerainty and had countenanced the payment to that
ruler of certain considerable yearly sums from the Egyptian exchequer.

Indeed, Great Britain was in Egypt merely by virtue of an
international understanding and on a definite agreement to release her
control of the country when certain conditions of political and
financial stability had been restored. The other nations had,
willingly, or