IOR/L/PS/18/B241

Confidential memorandum containing a list of chapters and translated extracts from the book Der Kampf um Arabien zwischen der Türkei und England [The Fight for Arabia between Turkey and England] by Dr Franz Stuhlmann of the Hamburgischen Kolonialinstitut [Hamburg Colonial Institute], and published by George Westermann in Hamburg, 1916. The extracts, which begin on the verso of folio 1, are preceded by a note, written by Arthur Hirtzel, Secretary to the Political Department of the India Office, and dated 31 October 1916, which draws attention to the academic credentials of Stuhlmann’s book.

The extracts from Stuhlmann’s book cover topics including: the province of Hejaz and the Hejaz railway; the Trans-Arabian railway; the University of Medina; Turkish reforms; Yemen and Asīr, including the railway from Hodeida [Al-Ḥudaydah] to Sanaa [Ṣanʻā']; English interests in southern Arabia; Muscat and Oman; Bahrein [Bahrain] and the Turkish province of El-Hasa [Al-Hasa]; the Wahabis [Wahhābīs] and their successors in Nejd [Najd]; Koweit [Kuwait]; oil deposits in Mohammerah [Khorramshahr]; navigation of the Tigris and Euphrates; Mesopotamia during the War; and extracts from Stuhlmann’s conclusion, which comments on the strategic importance to England of the Persian Gulf, and the importance to Turkey and Germany of the Shatt al-Arab.

An appendix to the memorandum, entitled ‘The importance to Germany of an open Persian Gulf’ is a review of an article that appeared in the journal Europäische Staats und Wirtschafts Zeitung, 18 August 1916, entitled ‘Der persische Golf und die Verkehrspolitik der Mittelmächte’ [The Persian Gulf and the Commercial Policy of the Central Powers], written by Professor Gerhard Schott of the Deutsche Seewarte [German Hydrographic Office].