Leo Frobenius’ Secret Mission in Arabia and Eritrea (1914–1915)

Abstract

This article is devoted to study the mission undertaken by ethnologist Leo Frobenius (1873–1938), who, in 1914–1915 and as a member of a German research expedition, attempted to reach Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) through Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Eritrea, in order to liaise with the isolated German Legation in Addis Ababa and to spread revolution among the Muslim subjects of the British Empire in Arabia and in North Africa. The expedition, officially called “Fourth German Inner African Research Expedition”, was in truth a somewhat poorly organised political mission supported by the German and Turkish secret services, and in the end failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives.