File 3516/1914 Pt 9 'German War: Persia' [‎103v] (211/618)

fatuous tolerance which the Persian Government has up till now exhibited to the
Unfortunately, however, during the seven weeks m uhich the country , ithout
a Government the enemy has had a free hand and has made the most of it. The
German chief centre is at Ispahan. It is there that the large quantities of rifles and"
ammunition, machine guns, &c„ and money, &c„ smuggled m somewhere in the
vicinity of Kermanshah are stored, and it is thence that the numerous par ies of
emissaries start on their missions. It is difficult to say what the exact number of
Germans in the country now is, as fresh agents appear to be constantly coming via
Kermanshali, and there is every reason to believe that they are in some cases disguised
as Arabs ; and it is probable that Baron Oppenheim is already m 1 ersia, although so
far there has been no mention of the name m the reports I receive. L he few Indians
in German service also appear to come by this route, and 1 have evidence, which I
have sent on to the Government of India, that among them are soldiers tahen prisoners
in France The Austrians are, so far, escaped prisoners of war from the iranscaspian
provinces of Russia. There seems to be at least 200, and among them a few
officers, but of late the supplj" of men from this quarter seems to have been nearly
The Germans have had two main objectives, ie., to reach Afghanistan and to
rouse the tribes south of Shiraz to attack us at Bushire, and in both, thanks to the
criminally passive attitude of the Persian Government, they have succeeded.
I must admit that the anxiety as to Afghanistan exhibited by the Government of
India in their telegram No. 044* of the 8th July came as a distinct surprise. I had
received from them two telegrams which informed me that the Ameer had given
pledges of loyalty that were deemed satisfactory. I did not read in these messages
anything more than that it was believed that the Ameer himself could be relied on
to do his best to maintain peace. But what did largely mislead me as to what it now
appears was the real view of the Government of India was the series of telegrams
ending with No. 5195 of the 29th May, discussing what the consequences to us would
be and what action we should take should Persia be dragged into the war against us.
In those messages there is scarcely a bare allusion to Afghanistan, and it appeared to
me incredible that such an omission could have occurred had any misgiving existed
in the minds of its authors on so capital a point. My long service in Constantinople
had of course taught me that the Pan-Islamic missions sent thence to Afghanistan for
a considerable number of years past were always watched with something more than
interest in Calcutta, and I came to the conclusion that just as the apprehensions felt in
India as to the undesirable effect which an unfriendly policy towards Turkey might
have on the Indian Moslem opinion had been shown by the test of war to he
groundless, so, as regards Afghanistan, the Government of India had reason to be
convinced that Turco-German intrigues in Afghanistan would fall on barren ground.
The Russian Minister also had told me more than once that just before he left London
he was assured that no uneasiness w r as entertained by His Majesty’s Government on
the score of Afghanistan. I do not say that even with a full knowledge of the true
state of affairs we could have materially altered the course of events. On looking
back it seems to me clear enough that at the time nothing but the despatch of Russian
troops would have put sufficient heart into the Persian Government to take really
effective measures to stop the German bands, and the troops, as we know, were not
forthcoming.
But to revert to the Germans. As before remarked, they made the fullest use of
the abeyance of responsible authority in Persia. Parties aggregating something like
400 men in all were despatched to Afghanistan, agents were sent to Kerman, Wasmuss
redoubled his pernicious activities in Dashti and Tangistan, and large quantities of
arms, &c.—one convoy that reached Ispahan towards the end of July comprised over
200 mule-loads were poured in via Kermanshah. The sequel of these activities in
the east and south are so well known to you, Sir, through the channel of the India
Office that I need not even summarise them; but it is fitting that I should report that
the Bakhtiari Governor of Kerman, after a moment of weakness which gave the
German agents Zugmeyer and Friesinger a footing in the town itself, showed a vigour
which is in pleasing contrast with the passivity of" almost all his colleagues. For the
first three weeks or so after Ain-ed-Dowleh’s resignation it was impossible to get any
instructions sent by the permanent officials in any Department to local Governors to
take action against the German agents, ami I had to rely on appeals to our ancient
friendship with individual Governors even to prevent them from giving passive
tolerance to the Germans. My appeals were reinforced by other inducements, hut