I realize that questions about World War I are numerous, and I have read through the popular questions on its acceleration and on Germany's role in its exacerbation into a Global Conflict. However, I have a question specifically on Wilhelm II's ways and means for subduing his rival states (Russia, Great Britain, France, and the United States).
Michael Lind states in a 2014 article in The National Interest that "Wilhelm and his officers sought to cripple Britain and France, by stirring up a global Muslim jihad..."
Unlike his actions towards the US (the Zimmerman Telegram) and against Russia (supporting Lenin in 1917 and taking Russia out of the war with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918), I haven't ever seen evidence of the actions given by Lind that Kaiser Wilhelm II ever tried to incite a "global Muslim jihad", nor can imagine why this would damage Britain and France explicitly.
So, I suppose I should actually ask a question now. Is there evidence to support Lind's claim that Kaiser Wilhelm II attempted to, or planned to, incite a global Muslim jihad to subdue France and Britain in World War I? If so, what were the implications of this strategy? If not, what were his methods for subduing Britain (I know the Schlieffen Plan was in place to take care of France) to allow for Germany to rise as a global superpower?
Thanks in advance, I know this is a long question with lots of little bits in it.
Is there evidence to support Lind's claim that Kaiser Wilhelm II attempted to, or planned to, incite a global Muslim jihad to subdue France and Britain in World War I?
The sultan (little more than a puppet of the Young Turks really) did in fact declare a Jihad on the Entente, although the focus seems to have been on Russia and Britain's Muslim subjects. The Kaiser certainly supported this, commenting in his diary that "Britain shall at least lose India," though it certainly wasn't solely the work of the Kaiser, or even the Germans. The Young Turks wanted to incite Muslim opinion against the Entente, or at least some did, and so there was also support from within the Ottoman Empire for the declaration of Jihad.
If so, what were the implications of this strategy? If not, what were his methods for subduing Britain (I know the Schlieffen Plan was in place to take care of France) to allow for Germany to rise as a global superpower?
Adrian Gregory indicates in [this] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYJid8vcQ0k) lecture that the effects of the declaration appear to have been substantially less than hoped for. Aside from one mutiny at Singapore of Muslim Indian Army soldiers, and some disturbances among France's North African colonies, there was little to show for. However, the Germans did support other insurrectionary plans, such as the Easter Rising in Ireland and the failed 'Hindu Conspiracy' in India, to distract and weaken the British and their Empire. None of these, however, had much success. They did, however, have a role to play in Imperial German war aims, as indicated by Fritz Fischer in his 1961 classic "German War Aims in the First World War."