The Intelligence Bureau for the East was a German intelligence organisation established on the eve of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 dedicated to promoting and sustaining subversive and nationalist agitations in the British Indian Empire and the Persian and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian satellite states. Attached to the Auswartiges Amt, it was headed by Archaeologist Baron

Baron

Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

 Max von Oppenheim

Max von Oppenheim

Max Freiherr von Oppenheim was a German ancient historian, and archaeologist, "the last of the great amateur archaeological explorers of the Near East."....

 and, during the war, worked intricately with the deposed Khedive

Khedive

The term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire...

 Abbas II of Egypt

Abbas II of Egypt

HH Abbas II Hilmi Bey was the last Khedive of Egypt and Sudan .-Early life:...

, and Indian revolutionary organisations including the Berlin Committee

Berlin Committee

The Berlin Committee, later known as the Indian Independence Committee after 1915, was an organisation formed in Germany in 1914 during World War I by Indian students and political activists residing in the country. The purpose of the Committee was to promote the cause of Indian Independence...

, Jugantar

Jugantar

Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...

, the Ghadar Party

Ghadar Party

The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians, in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule...

, as well as with prominent Muslim socialists including Maulavi Barkatullah

Maulavi Barkatullah

Maulavi Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah or Maulana Barkatullah was a staunch anti-British Indian revolutionary with sympathy for the Pan-Islamic movement. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itwra Mohalla Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, India...

. Aside from Oppenheim himself, recruits to the Bureau included Franz von Papen

Franz von Papen

Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen was a German nobleman, Roman Catholic monarchist politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934...

, later briefly the Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, Wilhelm Wassmuss

Wilhelm Wassmuss

Wilhelm Wassmuss was a German diplomat, also known as the "Wassmuss of Persia". He attempted to foment trouble for the British in the Persian Gulf in the First World War.- Birth and schooling :...

 (sometimes referred to as the German Lawrence), Gunther von Wesendonck, Ernst Sekunna and others.

The bureau was intricately involved in almost all the events that ultimately came to be called the Hindu-German Conspiracy, including the Annie Larsen plot, Ghadar Conspiracy

Ghadar Conspiracy

The Ghadar Conspiracy was a conspiracy for a pan-Indian mutiny in the British Indian Army in February 1915 formulated by the Ghadar Party...

, Siam-Burma plan, attempts in Bengal as well as other lesser known plots in the Near east including of the western borders of British India and in Afghanistan.

In addition to its subversive wors against British possessions in India, it also attempted to instigate instability in British possessions in the Muslims in India as well as around the world in the Middle east and in Egypt. It was involved in early Turkish plans for war and the Caliph's decision to declare Jihad. The bureau was involved in intelligence and subversive missions to Persia and to Afghanistan, and also attempted, along with the Berlin Committee, to recruit Indian soldiers in Mesopotamia. Its Persia operations were led by Wilhelm Wassmuss.