14 
Land & Water 
August I, 1918 
Prophet that is, shall constantly nourish in his spirit a hatred 
of th/3 infidel ; a "speech war"— with tongue and pen every 
Moslem shall spread this same hatred wherever Mohammedans 
live— and a war of deed, fighting and kilhng the inhdel 
wherever he shows his head. This latter conflict, says the 
pamphlet, is the "true war." There is to be a "little holy 
war" and a "great holv war" ; the first describes the battle 
which everv Mohammedan is to wage in his community 
against his Christian neighbours, and the second is the great 
world struggle which united Islam, in India, Arabia, Turkey, 
M. TochefF, Bulgarian Minister at Constantinople 
He was much disturbed at the "Holy War" which the Turlcs, .icling under 
German advice, decreed against Christians. He protested to the German 
Ambassador that any massacres might lose Germany the friendship of Bulgaria. 
.\frica, and other countries, is to wage against the infidel 
oppressors. "The Holy War," says this pamphlet, "will 
be of three forms. First the individual war, which consists 
of the individual personal deed. This may be with cutting, 
killing instruments, like the Holy War which one of the 
faithful made against Peter Galy, the infidel Enghsh Governor, 
like the slaying of the English chief of police in India, and like 
the killing of one of the officials arriving in Mecca by Abi 
Busir (may God be pleased with him)." The document gives 
several other instances of assassination which the faithful 
are enjoined to imitate. The believers are told to organise 
" bands," and to go forth and slay Christians. The most 
useful are those organised and operating in secret. " It is 
hoped that the Islamic world of to-day will profit very greatly 
from such secret bands." The third method is by " organised 
campaigns," that is, by trained armies. 
In all parts of this incentive to murder and assassination 
there are indications that a German hand has exercised an 
editorial supervision. Only those infidels are to be slain 
"who rule over us" — that is, those who have Mohammedan 
subjects. As Germany has no such subjects, this saving 
clause was expected to protect Germans from assault. The 
Germans, with their usual interest in their own well-being 
and their usual disregard of their ally, evidently overlooked 
the fact that Austria had many Mohammedans in Bosnia 
and Herzegovina. Moslems are instructed that they should 
form armies, "even though it may be necessary to intro- 
duce some foreign elements". — that is, bring in German 
instructors and German officers. " You must remember," 
— this is evidently intended as a blanket protection to Ger- 
mans everywhere — "that it is absolutely unlawful to oppose 
any of the peoples of other religions between whom and the 
Moslems there is a covenant or of those who have not mani- 
fested hostility to the seat of the Caliphate or those who have 
entered under the protection of the Moslems." 
Even though I had not had Wangenheim's personal state- 
ment that the Germans intended to arouse the Mohammedans 
everywhere against England, France, and Russia, these 
interpolations would clearly enough have indicated the real 
inspiration of this amazing document. At the time Wan- 
genheim discussed the matter with me, his chief idea seemed 
to be that a "Holy War" of this sort could be the quickest 
means of forcing England to make peace. According to this 
point of view, it was really a great peace offensive. At that 
time Wangenheim reflected the conviction, which was pre- 
valent in all official circles, that Germany had made a mistake 
in bringing England into the conflict and it was his idea 
now that if back fires could be started against England in 
India, Egypt, the Soudan, and other places, the British 
Empire would withdraw. Even if British Mohammedans 
refused to rise, Wangenheim beHeved that the mere threat 
of such an uprising would induce PIngland to abandon Bel- 
gium and France to their fate. The danger of spreading 
such incendiary Uterature among a wildly fanatical people 
is apparent. I'was not the only neutral diplomat who feared 
the most serious consequences. M. Tocheff, the Bulgarian 
Minister, one of the ablest members of the Diplomatic Corps, 
was much disturbed. At that time Bulgaria was neutral, 
and M. Tocheff used to teU me that his country hoped to 
maintain this neutraHty. Each side, he said, expected that 
Bulgaria would become its ally ; it was Bulgaria's policy 
to keep each side in this expectant frame of mind. Should 
Germany succeed in starting a "Holy War" and should 
massacres result, Bulgaria, added M. Tocheff; would certainly 
join forces with the Entente. We arranged that he should 
call upon Wangenheim and repeat this statement, and that 
1 should bring similar pressure to bear upon Enver. From 
the first, however, the "Holy War" proved a failure. The 
Mohammedans of such countries as India, Egypt, Algiers, 
and Morocco knew that they were getting far better treat- 
ment than they could obtain under any other conceivable 
conditions. Moreover, the simple-minded Mohammedans 
could not understand why they should prosecute a "Holy 
War" against Christians with Christian nations, such as 
Germany and Austria, as their partners. This association 
made the whole proposition ridiculous. The Koran, it is 
true, commands the slaughter of Christians, but it makes 
no exception in favour of the Germans. In the mind of the 
fanatical Mohammedan, a German rayah is as much Christian 
dirt as an Englishman or a Frenchman, and his massacre 
ii just as meritorious an act. The fine distinctions necessitated 
by European diplomacy, he understands about as completely 
as he understands the law of gravitation or the nebular 
hypothesis. The German failure to take this into account 
is only another evidence of the fundamental German clumsi- 
ness and real ignorance of the world situation. The only 
tangible fact that stands out clearly is the Kaiser's desire 
to let loose 300,000,000 Mohammedans in a gigantic St. 
Bartholomew massacre of Christians. 
Was there then no "Holy War" at all? Did Wangen- 
heim's "big thing" really fail? Whenever I think of this 
famous Jihad a particular scene in the American Embassy 
comes to my mind. On one side of the table sits Enver, 
most peacefully sipping tea" and eating cakes ; on the other 
side is "myself, engaged in the same unwarlike occupation. 
It is November 14th, the day after the Sultan declared his 
holy war ; there have been meetings at the mosques and 
other places, at which the declaration has been read and fiery 
speeches made. Enver assured me that absolutely no harm 
would come to Americans ; in fact, that there would be no 
massacres anyway. While he was talking, one of my secre- 
taries came in and told me that a little mob was making 
demonstrations against certain foreign establishments. It 
had assailed an Austrian shop which had unwisely kept up 
its sign saying that it had "English clothes" for sale. I 
asked Enver what this meant ; he answered that it was all 
a mistake ; there was no intention of attacking anybody. 
A httle while after he left, I was informed that the mob 
had attacked the Bon Marche, a French dry goods store, 
and was heading directly for the British Embassy. I at 
once called Enver on the telephone ; it was all right, he 
said, nothing would happen to the Embassy. A minute or 
two after, the mob immediately wheeled about and started 
for Tokatlians, the most important restaurant in Constanti- 
nople. The fact that this was conducted by an Armenian 
made it fair game. Six men who had poles, with hooks 
at the end, broke all the mirrors and windows, others 
took the marble tops of the tables and smashed them to 
bits. In a few minutes the place had been gutted. 
This demonstration comprised the "Holy War," so far as 
Constantinople understood it. Such was the inglorious end 
of Germany's attempt to arouse 300,000,000 Mohammedans 
against the Christian worid ! 
(To be continued) 
