WWI Germany attempted to start a muslim jihad, but failed.

Vastet
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WWI Germany attempted to start a muslim jihad, but failed.

I never heard of this before, despite it apparently being common knowledge at the time. I figured others here might be interested to see how Germany tried, and failed, to start a muslim assault on the British, French, and Russians close to a hundred years ago. The fact that the muslims weren't interested raises a pretty interesting counterargument to the idea that muslims warring in the middle east are motivated by religion alone.

Germany’s grand WW1 jihad experiment: Plot to recruit Muslim PoWs to the war effort involved luxurious camps, but ultimately failed
Florence Waters, The Telegraph | August 13, 2014 1:52 PM ET

Exerpt:
Muslim prisoners of war were used as pawns in the project right from the start. In early November, when the Sultan – by arrangement with Germany – announced Britain, France and Russia the enemies of Islam from a mosque in Constantinople, the German ambassador in the city -followed with a flamboyant announcement on the embassy balcony, flanked by 14 of Germany’s earliest Muslim prisoners, from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Their duty was to deliver scripted lines in Arabic and Turkish promising the crowds that they would take the German jihad to North Africa. Afterwards, they are said to have carried Karl Emil Schabinger von Schowingen, an ally of Oppenheim’s, in a chaise longue through the streets, encouraging demonstrators to loot and burn any shops owned by the French and English. So the story goes, the affair was crowned with a symbolic flourish when Schabinger’s entourage entered the lobby of his hotel and his police escort sent a single bullet into an English grandfather clock.

Full Article/Source:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/08/13/germanys-grand-ww1-jihad-experiment-plot-to-recruit-muslim-pows-to-the-war-effort-involved...


iwbiek
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wow, history is complicated.

wow, history is complicated. how about that? one would almost think it doesn't follow a script...


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XD

XD

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.


digitalbeachbum
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Sounds like a script for

Sounds like a script for Brad Pitt.


iwbiek
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digitalbeachbum wrote:Sounds

digitalbeachbum wrote:

Sounds like a script for Brad Pitt.




oh shit, please don't remind me of that asinine fucking movie...

"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson


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iwbiek wrote:digitalbeachbum

iwbiek wrote:
digitalbeachbum wrote:

Sounds like a script for Brad Pitt.


oh shit, please don't remind me of that asinine fucking movie...

LOL