Moltke expected diplomats to create pro-independence armies, as the Foreign Office pursued a pan-Islamic strategy, using the Ottoman Empire and its army as the means. The Ottomans entered the war to escape from European domination, rather than as a German proxy and had imperial ambitions in North Africa, Central Asia and the Near East. In October 1914, Enver Pasha devised a war plan which included a jihad and an invasion of Egypt. On 14 November 1914, Sheikh-ul-Islam declared holy war, called on all Muslims to fight the Entente and allied powers, but not Italy (which was neutral at the time), and excluded Muslims under the rule of Germany or Austria-Hungary. The Sheikh urged the peoples of the European colonial empires to join in, a message which reached North, East and West Africa. Enver ordered the "Teskilat-i Mahsusa" (Special Organisation) to conduct propaganda, subversion, terrorism and sabotage, based on the precedent of the war in Libya against the Italians.