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Arab Revolt

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Arab Revolt
الثورة العربية
Part of theMiddle Eastern theatre of World War I

Soldiers of theSharifian Armycarrying theflag of the Arab Revoltin southernYanbu
Date10 June 1916 – 25 October 1918
(2 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Result Arab victory[1]
Territorial
changes
Partition of the Ottoman EmpireandSykes–Picot Agreement
Belligerents
Hejaz(and allied tribes)
United Kingdom
Ottoman Empire
Rashidi Emirate
Germany
Commanders and leaders
Strength
June 1916:
30,000 troops[2]
October 1918:
50,000+ troops[3]
May 1916:
6,500–7,000 troops[4]
September 1918:
25,000 troops
340 guns[2]
Casualties and losses
Unknown 47,000+ total
  • 5,000 killed
  • 10,000 wounded[5]
  • 22,000+ captured[6][7][8]
  • ~10,000 disease-related deaths

TheArab Revolt(Arabic:الثورة العربيةal-Thawra al-‘Arabiyya), also known as theGreat Arab Revolt(الثورة العربية الكبرىal-Thawra al-‘Arabiyya al-Kubrā), was an armed uprising by theHashemite-led Arabs of theHejaz[9]against theOttoman Empireamidst theMiddle Eastern theatre of World War I.

On the basis of theMcMahon–Hussein Correspondence,exchanged betweenHenry McMahonof theUnited KingdomandHussein bin Aliof theKingdom of Hejaz,the rebellion against the rulingTurkswas officially initiated atMeccaon 10 June 1916.[a]The primary goal of the Arab rebels was to establish an independent and unifiedArab statestretching fromAleppotoAden,which the British government had promised to recognize.[11]

TheSharifian Army,led by Hussein and the Hashemites with backing from the British military'sEgyptian Expeditionary Force,successfully fought and expelled the Ottoman military presence from much of theHejazandTransjordan.By 1918, the rebels hadcaptured Damascusand proclaimed theArab Kingdom of Syria,a short-lived monarchy that was led by Hussein's sonFaisal I.

Having covertly signed theSykes–Picot Agreementwith theFrench Third Republic,the British reneged on their promise to support the Arabs' establishment of a singular Arab state.[12]Instead, the Arab-majority Ottoman territories of theMiddle Eastwere broken up into a number ofLeague of Nations mandates,jointly controlled by the British and the French. Amidst thepartition of the Ottoman Empire,the defeated Ottomans' mainland inAnatoliacame under a joint military occupation by the victoriousAllies.This was gradually broken by theTurkish War of Independence,which established the present-dayRepublic of Turkey.

Background

[edit]
The flag of the Arab Revolt in theMartyrs' Memorial,Amman, Jordan.

Therise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empiredates from at least 1821.Arab nationalismhas its roots in theMashriq,the Arab lands east ofEgypt,particularly in countries of theLevant.The political orientation of Arab nationalists beforeWorld War Iwas generally moderate. Their demands were of a reformist nature and generally limited to autonomy, a greater use ofArabicin education and changes in peacetimeconscription in the Ottoman Empireto allow Arab conscripts local service in the Ottoman army.[13]

TheYoung Turk Revolutionbegan on 3 July 1908 and quickly spread throughout the empire. As a result, SultanAbdul Hamid IIwas forced to announce the restoration of the1876 constitutionand the reconvening of theOttoman parliament.The period is known as theSecond Constitutional Era.In the 1908 elections, the Young Turks'Committee of Union and Progress(CUP) managed to gain the upper hand against theLiberal Union,led bySultanzade Sabahaddin.The new parliament had 142Turks,60Arabs,25Albanians,23Greeks,12Armenians(including fourDashnaksand twoHunchaks), fiveJews,fourBulgarians,threeSerbsand oneVlach.

The CUP now gave more emphasis to centralisation and a modernisation.[citation needed]It preached a message that was a mixture ofpan-Islamism,Ottomanism,andpan-Turkism,which was adjusted as the conditions warranted. At heart, the CUP were Turkish nationalists who wanted to see the Turks as the dominant group within the Ottoman Empire, which antagonised Arab leaders and prompted them to think in similarly nationalistic terms.[14]

Arab members of the parliament supported thecountercoup of 1909,which aimed to dismantle the constitutional system and to restore the absolute monarchy of SultanAbdul Hamid II.The dethroned sultan attempted to restore theOttoman Caliphateby putting an end to thesecular policiesof the Young Turks. He was driven away to exile in Selanik by the31 March Incident,in which the Young Turks defeated the countercoup. He was eventually replaced by his brotherMehmed V.[citation needed]

In 1913, intellectuals and politicians from the Mashriq met in Paris at theFirst Arab Congress.They produced a set of demands for greater autonomy and equality within the Ottoman Empire, including for elementary and secondary education in Arab lands to be delivered in Arabic, for peacetime Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army to serve near their home region and for at least three Arab ministers in the Ottoman cabinet.[15]

Forces

[edit]

It is estimated that the Arab forces involved in the revolt numbered around 5,000 soldiers.[16]This number probably applies to the Arab regulars who fought during theSinai and Palestine campaignwithEdmund Allenby'sEgyptian Expeditionary Force,and not the irregular forces under the direction ofT. E. Lawrence[17]andFaisal.On a few occasions, particularly during the final campaign intoSyria,this number grew significantly. TheArab Bureauof the British Empire inCairobelieved that the revolt would draw the support of all Arabs throughout the Ottoman Empire and Arab lands.[18][19]

Faisal and Sharif Hussein reportedly expected to be joined by 100,000 Arab troops. The large desertions predicted British Arab Bureau never materialized, as the majority of Arab officers remained loyal to the Ottomans until the end.[18][20]Many Arabs joined the Revolt sporadically, often as a campaign was in progress, or only when the fighting entered their home region.[21]During theBattle of Aqaba,for instance, while the initial Arab force numbered only a few hundred, over a thousand more from local tribes joined them for the final assault onAqaba.Estimates of Faisal's effective forces vary, but through most of 1918 at least, they may have numbered as high as 30,000 men.

TheHashemite Armycomprised two distinctive forces: tribal irregulars who waged a guerrilla war against theOttoman Empireand theSharifian Army,which was recruited from Ottoman Arab POWs and fought in conventional battles.[22]Hashemite forces were initially poorly equipped, but later received significant supplies of weapons, most notably rifles and machine guns fromBritainandFrance.[23]

In the early days of the revolt, Faisal's forces were largely made up ofBedouinsand other nomadic desert tribes, who were only loosely allied, loyal more to their respective tribes than the overall cause.[24]The Bedouin would not fight unless paid in advance with gold coin.[25]By the end of 1916, the French had spent 1.25 million goldfrancsin subsidizing the revolt.[24]By September 1918, the British were spending£220,000/month to subsidize the revolt.[24]

Faisal had hoped that he could convince Arab troops serving in the Ottoman Army to mutiny and join his cause, but theOttoman governmentsent most of its Arab troops to the Western front-lines of the war, and thus only a handful of deserters actually joined the Arab forces until later in the campaign.[26]

By the beginning of the First World War, Arab conscripts constituted about 30% of the wartimeOttoman militaryof 3 million, serving in all ranks, from the lowest to the highest, and forming a crucial component of theOttoman Army.[19][27]Ottoman troops in the Hejaz numbered 20,000 men by 1917.[26]At the outbreak of the revolt in June 1916, the VII Corps of theFourth Armywas stationed in the Hejaz. It was joined by the 58th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Necib Pasha, the 1stKuvvie- Mürettebe(Provisional Force) led by General Mehmed Cemal Pasha, which had the responsibility of safeguarding theHejaz railwayand theHejaz Expeditionary Force(Turkish:Hicaz Kuvve-i Seferiyesi), which was under the command of GeneralFakhri Pasha.[26]

In face of increasing attacks on the Hejaz railway, the 2ndKuvve i Mürettebewas created by 1917.[26]The Ottoman force included a number of Arab units who stayed loyal to theSultan-Caliphand fought well against the Allies.[26][b]

The Ottoman troops enjoyed an advantage over theHashemitetroops at first, in that they were well supplied with modern German weapons.[26]The Ottoman forces had the support of both theOttoman Aviation Squadrons,air squadrons fromGermanyand theOttoman Gendarmerieorzaptı.[29]The Ottomans relied upon the support of EmirSaud bin Abdulaziz Al Rashidof theEmirate of Jabal Shammar,whose tribesmen dominated what is now northernSaudi Arabia,and tied down both the Hashemites and Saʻudi forces with the threat of their raiding attacks.[30]

The great weakness of the Ottoman forces was they were at the end of a long and tenuous supply line in the form of the Hejaz railway, and because of their logistical weaknesses, were often forced to fight on the defensive.[26]Ottoman offensives against the Hashemite forces more often faltered due to supply problems than to the actions of the enemy.[26]

The main contribution of the Arab Revolt to the war was to pin down tens of thousands of Ottoman troops who otherwise might have been used to attack theSuez Canaland conqueringDamascus,allowing the British to undertake offensive operations with a lower risk of counter-attack. This was the British justification for supporting the revolt, a textbook example ofasymmetric warfarethat has been studied time and again by military leaders and historians alike.[31]

History

[edit]

Revolt

[edit]

The Ottoman Empire took part in theMiddle Eastern theatre of World War I,under the terms of theOttoman–German Alliance.Many Arab nationalist figures inDamascusandBeirutwere arrested, then tortured. The flag of the resistance was designed by SirMark Sykes,in an effort to create a feeling of "Arab-ness", in order to fuel the revolt.[32]

Prelude (November 1914 – October 1916)

[edit]
Outline map of Hejaz
1918 British government map:Map illustrating Territorial Negotiations between H.M.G. and King Hussein.

WhenHerbert Kitchenerwas Consul-General inEgypt,contacts betweenAbdullahand Kitchener culminated in atelegramof 1 November 1914 from Kitchener, recently appointed as Secretary of War, to Hussein, wherein Britain would, in exchange for support from the Arabs of Hejaz, "guarantee the independence, rights and privileges of theSharifateagainst all foreign external aggression, in particular that of the Ottomans. "[33]TheSharifindicated that he could not break with the Ottomans immediately, and it did not happen till the following year.[34]

From 14 July 1915, to 10 March 1916,ten letters, five from each side, were exchanged between Sir Henry McMahon and Sherif Hussein.Hussein's letter of 18 February 1916 appealed to McMahon for £50,000 in gold, plus weapons, ammunition, and food. Faisal claimed that he was awaiting the arrival of 'not less than 100,000 people' for the planned revolt. McMahon's reply of 10 March 1916 confirmed British agreement to the requests and concluded the correspondence.[35]

Hussein, who until then had officially been on the Ottoman side, was now convinced that his assistance to theTriple Ententewould be rewarded by an Arab empire, encompassing the entire span between Egypt andQajar Iran,with the exception of imperial possessions and interests inKuwait,Aden,and theSyriancoast. He decided to join theAllied campimmediately, because of rumours that he would soon be deposed as Sharif ofMeccaby the Ottoman government in favor ofSharif Ali Haidar,leader of the rival Zaʻid family.[36]The much-publicized executions of theArab nationalistleaders inDamascusled Hussein to fear for his life if he were deposed in favour of Ali Haidar.[16]

Hussein had about 50,000 men under arms, but fewer than 10,000 had rifles.[37]On 5 June 1916, two of Hussein's sons, the emirsʻAliandFaisal,began the revolt by attacking the Ottoman garrison inMedina,but were defeated by an aggressive Turkish defence, led by Fakhri Pasha.[38]The revolt proper began on 10 June 1916, when Hussein ordered his supporters to attack the Ottoman garrison in Mecca.[39]In theBattle of Mecca,there ensued over a month of bloody street fighting between the out-numbered, but far better armed Ottoman troops and Hussein's tribesmen.[16]Hashemite forces in Mecca were joined by Egyptian troops sent by the British, who provided much needed artillery support, and took Mecca on 9 July 1916.[16]

Indiscriminate Ottoman artillery fire, which did much damage to Mecca, turned out to be a potent propaganda weapon for the Hashemites, who portrayed the Ottomans as desecrating Islam's most holy city.[16]Also on 10 June, another of Hussein's sons, the EmirAbdullah,attackedTa'if,which after an initial repulse, settled down into a siege.[16]With the Egyptian artillery support, Abdullah took Ta'if on 22 September 1916.[16]

French and British naval forces cleared theRed Seaof Ottoman gunboats early in the war.[40]The port ofJeddahwas attacked by 3,500 Arabs on 10 June 1916 with the assistance of bombardment by British warships and seaplanes.[37]The seaplane carrierHMSBen-my-Chree,provided crucial air support to the Hashemite forces.[41]The Ottoman garrison surrendered on 16 June.[37]By the end of September 1916, the Sharifian Army had taken the coastal cities ofRabigh,Yanbu,al Qunfudhah,and 6,000 Ottoman prisoners with the assistance of theRoyal Navy.[37]

The capture of theRed Seaports allowed the British to send over a force of 700 Ottoman Arab POWs, who primarily came from what is now Iraq, who had decided to join the revolt led byNuri al-Saʻidand a number of Muslim troops fromFrench North Africa.[41]Fifteen thousand well-armed Ottoman troops remained in the Hejaz.[37]A direct attack on Medina in October resulted in a bloody repulse of the Arab forces.

Arrival of T. E. Lawrence (October 1916 – January 1917)

[edit]
Lawrence atRabegh,north ofJeddah,1917.

In June 1916, the British sent out a number of officials to assist the revolt in theHejaz,most notably ColonelCyril Wilson,Colonel Pierce C. Joyce, and Lt-ColonelStewart Francis Newcombe.[42]Herbert Garlandwas also involved. In addition, aFrenchmilitary mission commanded by ColonelÉdouard Brémondwas sent out.[42]The French enjoyed an advantage over theBritishin that they included a number of Muslim officers, such as Captain Muhammand Ould Ali Raho, Claude Prost, and Laurent Depui. The latter two converted toIslamduring their time inArabia.[42]CaptainRosario Pisaniof theFrench Army,though not a Muslim, played a notable role in the revolt as an engineering and artillery officer with the Arab Northern Army.[42]

TheBritish government in Egyptsent a young officer, CaptainT. E. Lawrence,to work with the Hashemite forces in the Hejaz in October 1916.[40]The British historian David Murphy wrote that though Lawrence was just one out of many British and French officers serving in Arabia, historians often write as though it was Lawrence alone who represented theAlliedcause in Arabia.[42]

David Hogarth creditedGertrude Bellfor much of the success of the Arab Revolt. She had travelled extensively in theMiddle Eastsince 1888, after graduating fromOxfordwith a First in Modern History. Bell met Sheikh Harb of theHoweitatin January 1914 and thus was able to provide a "mass of information" which was crucial to the success ofLawrence's occupation of Aqaba,covering the "tribal elements ranging between theHejaz Railwayand theNefud,particularly about the Howeitat group. "It was this information, Hogarth emphasized, which" Lawrence, relying on her reports, made signal use of in the Arab campaigns of 1917 and 1918. "[43]

Lawrence of Arabiaafter theBattle of Aqaba.

Lawrence obtained assistance from theRoyal Navyto turn back an Ottoman attack onYenbuin December 1916.[44]Lawrence's major contribution to the revolt was convincing the Arab leaders,FaisalandAbdullah,to co-ordinate their actions in support of British strategy. Lawrence developed a close relationship with Faisal, whose Arab Northern Army was to become the main beneficiary of British aid.[45]By contrast, Lawrence's relations with Abdullah were not good, so Abdullah's Arab Eastern Army received considerably less in way of British aid.[46]Lawrence persuaded the Arabs not to drive the Ottomans out ofMedina.Instead, the Arabs attacked the Hejaz railway on many occasions. This tied up more Ottoman troops, who were forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage.[47]

On 1 December 1916, Fakhri Pasha began an offensive with three brigades out ofMedina,with the aim of taking the port ofYanbu.[45]At first, Fakhri's troops defeated the Hashemite forces in several engagements, and seemed set to take Yanbu.[48]On 11–12 December 1916, it was fire and air support from the five ships of the Royal Navy Red Sea Patrol that defeated the Ottoman attempts to take Yanbu, with heavy losses.[48]Fakhri then turned his forces south to takeRabegh,but owing to the guerrilla attacks on his flanks and supply lines, air attacks from the newly established Royal Flying Corps base at Yanbu, and the over-extension of his supply lines, he was forced to turn back on 18 January 1917, to Medina.[49]

The coastal city ofWejhwas to be the base for attacks on the Hejaz railway.[44]On 3 January 1917, Faisal began an advance northward along theRed Sea coastwith 5,100 camel riders, 5,300 men on foot, fourKruppmountain guns, tenmachine guns,and 380 baggage camels.[44]The Royal Navy resupplied Faisal from the sea during his march on Wejh.[50]While the 800-man Ottoman garrison prepared for an attack from the south, a landing party of 400 Arabs and 200 Royal Navy bluejacketsattacked Wejh from the northon 23 January 1917.[50]Wejh surrendered within 36 hours, and the Ottomans abandoned their advance towardMeccain favor of a defensive position in Medina, with small detachments scattered along the Hejaz railway.[51]

The Arab force had increased to about 70,000 men, armed with 28,000 rifles and deployed in three main groups.[51]Ali's force threatened Medina, Abdullah operated from Wadi Ais harassing Ottoman communications and capturing their supplies, and Faisal based his force at Wejh.[51]Camel-mounted Arab raiding parties had an effective radius of 1,000 miles (1,600 km), carrying their own food and taking water from a system of wells approximately 100 miles (160 km) apart.[52]

In late 1916, the Allies started the formation of the Regular Arab Army, also known as theSharifian Army,raised from Ottoman Arab POWs.[42]The soldiers of the Regular Army wore British-style uniforms with thekeffiyahsand, unlike the tribal guerrillas, fought full-time and in conventional battles.[29]Some of the more notable former Ottoman officers to fight in the Revolt wereNuri as-Said,Ja'far al-Askariand'Aziz 'Ali al-Misri.[53]

Northward expeditions (January–November 1917)

[edit]
TheHejaz railway,on the Damascus-Mecca pilgrim route, built at great expense by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. It quickly fell into disrepair after the Arab revolt of 1917.

The year 1917 began well for the Hashemites, when the Emir Abdullah and his Arab Eastern Army ambushed an Ottoman convoy led by Ashraf Bey in the desert, and captured £20,000 worth of gold coins that were intended to bribe theBedouininto loyalty to theSultan.[54]Starting in early 1917, the Hashemite guerrillas began attacking the Hejaz railway.[55]At first, guerrilla forces commanded by officers from the Regular Army such as al-Misri, and by British officers such as Newcombe, Lieutenant Hornby and MajorHerbert Garlandfocused their efforts on blowing up unguarded sections of the Hejaz railway.[55]Garland was the inventor of the so-called "Garland mine", which was used with much destructive force on the Hejaz railway.[56]

In February 1917, Garland succeeded for the first time in destroying a moving locomotive with a mine of his own design.[56]In February 1917, aroundMedina,Captain Muhammad Ould Ali Raho of the French Military Mission carried out his first railway demolition attack.[57]Captain Raho emerged as one of the leading destroyers of the Hejaz railway.[57]In March 1917, Lawrence led his first attack on the Hejaz railway.[58]Typical of such attacks was the one commanded by Newcombe and Joyce, who on the night of 6/7 July 1917, planted over 500 charges on the Hejaz railway, which all went off at about 2 am.[58]In a raid in August 1917, Captain Raho led a force of Bedouin in destroying 5 kilometers of the Hejaz railway and four bridges.[59]

In March 1917, an Ottoman force joined by tribesmen fromJabal Shammarled byIbn Rashidcarried out a sweep of the Hejaz, that did much damage to the Hashemite forces.[49]However, the Ottoman failure to takeYanbuin December 1916 led to the increased strengthening of the Hashemite forces, and led to the Ottoman forces to go on the defensive.[49]Lawrence later claimed that the failure of the offensive against Yanbu was the turning point that ensured the ultimate defeat of the Ottomans in theHejaz.[48]

In 1917, Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces underAuda Abu Tayi,until then, in the employ of the Ottomans, against the port city ofAqaba.This is now known as theBattle of Aqaba.Aqaba was the only remaining Ottoman port on theRed Seaand threatened the right flank ofBritain'sEgyptian Expeditionary ForcedefendingEgypt,and preparing to advance intoSanjakMaan of theSyria Vilayet.[52]Capture of Aqaba would aid transfer of British supplies to the Arab revolt.[60]Lawrence and Auda left Wedj on 9 May 1917 with a party of 40 men, to recruit a mobile force from theHoweitat,a tribe located in the area. On 6 July, after an overland attack,Aqaba fell to those Arab forceswith only a handful of casualties.[60]

Lawrence then rode 150 miles toSuezto arrange Royal Navy delivery of food and supplies for the 2,500 Arabs and 700 Ottoman prisoners in Aqaba. Soon the city was co-occupied by a large Anglo-French flotilla, including warships and sea planes, which helped the Arabs secure their hold on Aqaba.[60]Even as the Hashemite armies advanced, they still encountered sometimes fierce opposition from local residents. In July 1917, residents of the town of Karak fought against the Hashemite forces and turned them back. Later in 1917, British intelligence reports suggested that most of the tribes in the region east of theJordan Riverwere "firmly in the Ottoman camp."[61]The tribes feared repressions and losing the money they had received from the Ottomans for their loyalty.[62]

Later in 1917, the Hashemite warriors made a series of small raids on Ottoman positions in support ofBritish General Allenby's winter attack on theGazaBersheebadefensive line, which led to theBattle of Beersheba.[63]Typical of such raids was one led by Lawrence in September 1917, that saw Lawrence destroy a Turkish rail convoy by blowing up the bridge it was crossing atMudawwaraand then ambushing the Turkish repair party.[64]In November 1917, as aid to Allenby's offensive, Lawrence launched a deep-raiding party into theYarmouk Rivervalley, which failed to destroy the railway bridge atTel ash-Shehab,but succeeded in ambushing and destroying the train of General Mehmed Cemal Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman VII Corps.[65]Allenby's victories led directly to the British capture ofJerusalemjust before Christmas 1917.

Increased Allied assistance and the end of fighting (November 1917– October 1918)

[edit]
Arab fighters in Aqaba on 28 February 1918.Autochromecolour photograph.

By the time ofAqaba's capture, many other officers joined Faisal's campaign. A large number of British officers and advisors, led by Lt. Col.sStewart F. Newcombeand Cyril E. Wilson, arrived to provide the Arabs rifles, explosives, mortars, and machine guns.[66]Artillery was only sporadically supplied due to a general shortage, though Faisal would have several batteries of mountain guns under French Captain Pisani and his Algerians for the Megiddo Campaign.[66]Egyptian and Indian troops also served with the Revolt, primarily as machine gunners and specialist troops, a number ofarmoured carswere allocated for use.[66][67]TheRoyal Flying Corpsoften supported the Arab operations, and theImperial Camel Corpsserved with the Arabs for a time.[68]

The French military mission of 1,100 officers under Brémond established good relations with Hussein and especially with his sons, the EmirsAliandAbdullah,and for this reason, most of the French effort went into assisting the Arab Southern Army commanded by the Emir Ali that was layingsiege to Medinaand the Eastern Army commanded by Abdullah that had the responsibility of protecting Ali's eastern flank from Ibn Rashid.[42]Medina was never taken by the Hashemite forces, and the Ottoman commander, Fakhri Pasha, only surrenderedMedinawhen ordered to by theTurkish governmenton 9 January 1919.[69]The total number of Ottoman troops bottled up in Medina by the time of the surrender were 456 officers and 9,364 soldiers.[69]

Under the direction of Lawrence, Wilson, and other officers, the Arabs launched a highly successful campaign against the Hejaz railway, capturing military supplies, destroying trains and tracks, and tying down thousands of Ottoman troops.[70]Though the attacks were mixed in success, they achieved their primary goal of tying down Ottoman troops and cutting off Medina. In January 1918, in one of the largest set-piece battles of the Revolt, Arab forces, including Lawrence, defeated a large Ottoman force at the Battle of Tafilah, inflicting over 1,000 Ottoman casualties for the loss of a mere forty men.[71]

In March 1918 the Arab Northern Army consisted of

Arab Regular Army commanded by Ja'far Pasha el Askeri
brigade of infantry
one battalion Camel Corps
one battalion mule-mounted infantry
about eight guns
British Section commanded by Lieutenant Colonel P. C. Joyce
Hejaz Armoured Car Battery of Rolls-Royce light armoured cars with machine guns and two 10-pdr guns on Talbot lorries
one Flight of aircraft
one Company Egyptian Camel Corps
Egyptian Camel Transport Corps
Egyptian Labour Corps
Wireless Station at 'Aqaba
French Detachment commanded by Captain Pisani
two mountain guns
four machine guns and 10 automatic rifles[72]

In April 1918,Ja'far al-AskariandNuri as-Saidled the Arab Regular Army in a frontal attack on the well-defended Ottoman railway station atMa'an,which after some initial successes was fought off with heavy losses to both sides.[73]However, the Sharifian Army succeeded in cutting off and thus neutralizing the Ottoman position at Ma'an, who held out until late September 1918.[74]The British refused several requests from al-Askari to use mustard gas on the Ottoman garrison at Ma'an.[74]

In the spring of 1918, Operation Hedgehog, a concerted attempt to sever and destroy the Hejaz railway, was launched.[75]In May 1918, Hedgehog led to the destruction of 25 bridges of the Hejaz railway.[76]On 11 May Arab regulars captured Jerdun and 140 prisoners. Five weeks later, on 24 July Nos. 5 and 7 Companies of theImperial Camel Corps Brigadecommanded by MajorR. V. Buxton,marched from theSuez Canalto arrive at Aqaba on 30 July, to attack theMudawwaraStation.[77]

A particularly notable attack of Hedgehog was the storming on 8 August 1918, by theImperial Camel Corps,closely supported by theRoyal Air Force,of the well-defended Hejaz railway station at Mudawwara.[78]They captured 120 prisoners and two guns, suffering 17 casualties in the operation. Buxton's two companies of Imperial Camel Corps Brigade continued on towardsAmman,where they hoped to destroy the main bridge. 20 miles (32 km) from the city they were attacked by aircraft, forcing them to withdraw eventually back toBeershebawhere they arrived on 6 September; a march of 700 miles (1,100 km) in 44 days.[77]

For the final Allied offensive intended to knock theOttoman Empireout of the war, Allenby asked that Emir Faisal and his Arab Northern Army launch a series of attacks on the main Turkish forces from the east, which was intended to both tie down Ottoman troops and force Turkish commanders to worry about their security of their flanks in theLevant.[79]Supporting the Emir Faisal's army of about 450 men from the Arab Regular Army were tribal contingents from theRwalla,Bani Sakhr,Agyal,and Howeitat tribes.[80]In addition, Faisal had a group ofGurkhatroops, several British armored car squadrons, the Egyptian Camel Corps, a group of Algerian artillery men commanded by Captain Pisani and air support from theRAFto assist him.[81]

Feisal party atVersailles Conference.Left to right:Rustum Haidar,Nuri as-Said,Prince Faisal (front),Captain Rosario Pisani (rear),T. E. Lawrence, Faisal's slave (name unknown), Captain Hassan Khadri.

In 1918, the Arab cavalry gained in strength, as it seemed victory was at hand, and they were able to provide Allenby's army with intelligence on Ottoman army positions. They harassed Ottoman supply columns, attacked small garrisons, and destroyed railway tracks. A major victory occurred on 27 September when an entire brigade of Ottoman, Austrian and German troops, retreating fromMezerib,was virtually wiped out in a battle with Arab forces near the village ofTafas,which the Turks had plundered during their retreat.[82]

This led to the so-calledTafas massacre,in which Lawrence claimed in a letter to his brother to have issued a "no-prisoners" order, maintaining after the war that massacre was in retaliation for the earlier Ottoman massacre of the village of Tafas, and that he had at least 250 German and Austrian POWs together with an uncounted number of Turks lined up to be summarily shot.[82]Lawrence later wrote inSeven Pillars of Wisdomthat "In a madness born of the horror of Tafas we killed and killed, even blowing in the heads of the fallen and of the animals; as though their death and running blood could slake our agony."[83]In part due to these attacks, Allenby's last offensive, theBattle of Megiddo,was a stunning success.[84]

By late September and October 1918, an increasingly demoralized Ottoman Army began to retreat and surrender whenever possible to British troops.[85]"Sherifial irregulars" accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel T. E. Lawrence capturedDeraaon 27 September 1918.[86]The Ottoman army was routed in less than 10 days of battle. Allenby praised Faisal for his role in the victory: "I send your Highness my greetings and my most cordial congratulations upon the great achievement of your gallant troops... Thanks to our combined efforts, the Ottoman army is everywhere in full retreat."[87]

The first Arab Revolt forces to reachDamascuswere Sharif Naser's Hashemite camel cavalry and the cavalry of the Ruwallah tribe, led by Nuri Sha'lan, on 30 September 1918. The bulk of these troops remained outside of the city with the intention of awaiting the arrival of Sharif Faisal. A small contingent from the group was sent within the walls of the city, where they found the Arab Revolt flag already raised by surviving Arab nationalists among the citizenry. Later that dayAustralian Light Horsetroops marched into Damascus. Auda Abu Ta'yi, T. E. Lawrence and Arab troops rode into Damascus the next day, 1 October. At the end of the war, theEgyptian Expeditionary Forcehad seizedPalestine,Transjordan,Lebanon,large parts of theArabian peninsulaandsouthern Syria.Medina, cut off from the rest of the Ottoman Empire, surrendered in January 1919.[88]

Aftermath

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A map of the region at the end of the war

TheUnited Kingdomagreed in theMcMahon–Hussein Correspondencethat it would support Arab independence if they revolted against the Ottomans.

However, the United Kingdom andFrancereneged on the original deal and divided up the area under the1916 Sykes–Picot Agreementin ways that the Arabs felt were unfavourable to them. Further confusing the issue was theBalfour Declarationof 1917, which promised support for aJewish"national home" inPalestine.This series of events is often characterised as a betrayal of the Arabs by the British.[89][90][91]For a brief period, theHejaz regionof westernArabiabecame aself-declared state,without being universally recognised as such, under Hussein's control. Although bothIbn Saudand Hussein received British aid, it was eventually conquered byIbn Saudin 1925, as part of his military and sociopolitical campaign for theunification of Saudi Arabia.[92]

The Arab Revolt is seen by historians as the first organized movement ofArab nationalism.It brought together different Arab groups for the first time with the common goal to fight for independence from theOttoman Empire.Much of the history of Arab independence stemmed from the revolt beginning with the kingdom that had been founded by Hussein.[citation needed]

After the war, the Arab Revolt had implications. Groups of people were put into classes that were based on whether they had fought in the revolt and their rank. InIraq,a group of Sharifian officers from the Arab Revolt formed a political party that they headed. The Hashemites inJordanremain influenced by the actions of the revolt's Arab leaders.[93]

Underlying causes

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TheAqaba Flagpoleholding the flag of the Arab Revolt, commemorating the site of theBattle of Aqaba.

Hussein

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According toEfraim KarshofBar-Ilan University,Sharif Hussein of Meccawas "a man with grandiose ambitions" who had first started to fall out with his masters in Istanbul when the dictatorship, a triumvirate known as theThree Pashas,GeneralEnver Pasha,Talaat Pasha,andCemal Pasha,which represented the radicalTurkish nationalistwing of theCUP,seized power in a coup d'état in January 1913 and began to pursue a policy ofTurkification,which gradually angered non-Turkish subjects.[94]Hussein started to embrace the language ofArab nationalismonly after theYoung Turks revoltagainst the Ottoman sultanAbdul Hamid IIin July 1908.[95]The fighting force of the revolt was mostly combined from Ottoman defectors and Arabian tribes loyal to the Sharif.[96]

Religious justification

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Though the Sharifian revolt has tended to be regarded as a revolt rooted in a secular Arab nationalist sentiment,[citation needed]the Sharif did not present it in those terms. Rather, he accused theYoung Turksof violating the sacred tenets ofIslamby pursuing the policy ofTurkificationand discriminating against its non-Turkish population and calledArab Muslimsto sacred rebellion against the Ottoman government.[97]The Turks answered by accusing the rebelling tribes of betraying the MuslimCaliphateduring a campaign against imperialist powers attempting to divide and govern Muslim lands.[98]The Turks said the revolting Arabs gained nothing after the revolt; rather, the Middle East was carved up by the British and French.

Ethnic tensions

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While the revolt failed to garner significant support from within the Ottoman Empire's soon-to-be Iraq provinces, it found huge support from Arab populated Levantine provinces.[96][irrelevant citation]This earlyArab nationalismcame about when the majority of the Arabs living in theOttoman Empirewere loyal primarily to their own families, clans, and tribes[99]despite efforts of the Turkish ruling class, who pursued a policy ofTurkificationthrough theTanzimat reformsand hoped to create a feeling of "Ottomanism"among the different ethnicities under theOttoman domain.Liberal reforms brought about by the Tanzimat also transformed theOttoman Caliphateinto a secular empire, which weakened the Islamic concept ofUmmahthat tied the different races together.[100]The arrival ofCommittee of Union and Progressto power and the creation of aone-party statein 1913 which mandatedTurkish nationalismas a state ideology, worsened the relationship between the Ottoman state and its non-Turkish subjects.[99]

See also

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Notes

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Footnotes

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  1. ^although his sons‘AliandFaisalhad already initiated operations at Medina starting on 5 June[10]
  2. ^During the First World War, between 100,000 and 300,000 Arabs served in the Ottoman Army.[28]

References

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  1. ^"T.E. Lawrence on guerrilla warfare".Britannica.Retrieved1 April2022.
  2. ^abMurphy, p. 26.
  3. ^Mehmet Bahadir Dördüncü,Mecca-Medina: the Yıldız albums of Sultan Abdülhamid II,Tughra Books, 2006,ISBN1-59784-054-8,p. 29. Number refers only to those laying siege to Medina by the time it surrendered and does not account for Arab insurgents elsewhere.
  4. ^Military Intelligence and the Arab Revolt: The first modern intelligence war,Polly a. Mohs,ISBN1-134-19254-1,Routledge,p. 41.
  5. ^Erickson 2001, p. 238, Appendix F.
  6. ^War Office(1922).Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914–1920.London H.M. Stationery Office. p. 633.:8000 prisoners taken by the Arab insurgents in Syria-Palestine in 1918, joining 98,600 taken by the British.
  7. ^Parnell, p. 75: 6,000 prisoners taken by the end of 1916
  8. ^Süleyman Beyoğlu, The end broken point of Turkish-Arabian relations: The evacuation of Medine, Atatürk Atatürk Research Centre Journal (Number 78, Edition: XXVI, November 2010) (Turkish). 8000 Ottoman troops surrendered at the end of theSiege of Medinaand were evacuated to Egypt afterwards.
  9. ^Matthew Hughes (2013).Allenby and British Strategy in the Middle East, 1917–1919.Routledge. p. 73.ISBN978-0-7146-4473-8.
  10. ^The Arab Movements in World War I,Eliezer Tauber, Routledge, 2014ISBN978-1135199784pp. 80–81
  11. ^McMahon, Henry; bin Ali, Hussein (1939),Cmd.5957; Correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon, G.C.M.G., His Majesty's High Commissioner at. Cairo and the Sherif Hussein of Mecca, July, 1915–March, 1916 (with map)(PDF),HMG
  12. ^Sykes and Picot (1916).Arab Question; Sykes and Georges-Picot, Memorandum, not dated (known from other sources as 3 January 1916), and Nicolson, covering letter, 5 January 1916 (F.O. 371/2767/2522).UK Foreign Office – viaWikisource.
  13. ^Zeine N. Zeine (1973)The Emergence of Arab Nationalism(3rd ed.). Delmar, New York: Caravan Books Inc.ISBN0882060007.pp. 60–61, 83–92.
  14. ^Zeine, pp. 79–82.
  15. ^Zeine, pp. 91–93.
  16. ^abcdefgMurphy, p. 34.
  17. ^"Who Was Lawrence Of Arabia?".Imperial War Museums.Retrieved5 November2022.
  18. ^abDeringil, Selim (2019).The Ottoman Twilight in the Arab Lands: Turkish Memoirs and Testimonies of the Great War.Academic Studies Press.ISBN978-1-64469-090-1.
  19. ^abProvence, Michael."Arab Officers in the Ottoman Army".1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
  20. ^Fromkin, David (2010).A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East.Henry Holt and Company.ISBN978-1-4299-8852-0.
  21. ^Murphy, pp. 20–21.
  22. ^Murphy, pp. 20–23.
  23. ^Murphy, pp. 21–22.
  24. ^abcMurphy, p. 21.
  25. ^Michael Korda,Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of ArabiaISBN978-0-06-171261-6,p. 19
  26. ^abcdefghMurphy, p. 24.
  27. ^New York University.Hagop Kevorkian center, Near eastern studies.World War I and the Middle East.Oct 24-25, 2015
  28. ^Karsh, EfraimIslamic Imperialism,New Haven: Harvard University Press, 2006 p. 128.
  29. ^abMurphy, p. 23.
  30. ^Murphy, p. 15.
  31. ^"Who Was Lawrence of Arabia?".
  32. ^William Easterly,The White Man's Burden,(2006) p. 295
  33. ^Yesilyurt, Nuri (2006)."Turning Point of Turkish Arab Relations:A Case Study on the Hijaz Revolt"(PDF).The Turkish Yearbook.XXXVII:107–8. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 12 October 2017.Retrieved8 July2017.
  34. ^Murphy, p. 8.
  35. ^Murphy, p. 8.
  36. ^Murphy, p. 8.
  37. ^abcdeParnell, p. 75
  38. ^Murphy, pp. 34–35.
  39. ^Murphy, pp. 33–34.
  40. ^abParnell, p. 76
  41. ^abMurphy, p. 35.
  42. ^abcdefgMurphy, p. 17.
  43. ^Janet Wallach (1997)Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia.London: Phoenix/Orion Books Ltd.ISBN1400096197.pp. 25, 115–8, 202.
  44. ^abcParnell, p. 78
  45. ^abMurphy, p. 36.
  46. ^Murphy, p. 13.
  47. ^Lawrence, T.E. (1935).Seven Pillars of Wisdom.Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc. pp.216.
  48. ^abcMurphy, p. 37.
  49. ^abcMurphy, p. 38.
  50. ^abParnell, p. 79
  51. ^abcParnell, p. 80
  52. ^abParnell, p. 81
  53. ^Murphy, pp. 14–15.
  54. ^Murphy, p. 38
  55. ^abMurphy, pp. 39–43.
  56. ^abMurphy, p. 43.
  57. ^abMurphy, pp. 43–44.
  58. ^abMurphy, p. 44.
  59. ^Murphy, p. 45.
  60. ^abcParnell, p. 82
  61. ^Rogan, Eugene (2011).The Arabs: A History.Penguin. p. 152.
  62. ^Rogan Eugene (11 April 2002).Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850–1921.Cambridge University Press. p. 233.ISBN9780521892230.Retrieved1 June2017.
  63. ^Parnell, p. 83
  64. ^Murphy, pp. 56–57.
  65. ^Murphy, pp. 57–59.
  66. ^abcMurphy, p. 59.
  67. ^Rolls S.C. (1937).Steel Chariots in the Desert.Leonaur Books.
  68. ^Murphy, pp. 59–60.
  69. ^abMurphy, p. 81.
  70. ^Murphy, pp. 39–46.
  71. ^Murphy, pp. 64–68.
  72. ^Falls, p. 405
  73. ^Murphy, pp. 68–73.
  74. ^abMurphy, p. 73.
  75. ^Murphy, pp. 73–74.
  76. ^Murphy, p. 74
  77. ^abFalls, p. 408
  78. ^Murphy, pp. 70–72, 75.
  79. ^Murphy, pp. 75–76.
  80. ^Murphy, p. 75.
  81. ^Murphy, p. 76.
  82. ^abMurphy, pp. 76–77.
  83. ^Murphy, p. 77.
  84. ^Murphy, pp. 77–79.
  85. ^Murphy, p. 79.
  86. ^Falls, pp. 582–3
  87. ^Jeremy Wilson (1989)Lawrence of Arabia: The Authorised Biography of T. E. Lawrence.William Heinemann.ISBN978-0-434-87235-0.p. 548
  88. ^Antonius, George (1939).The Arab Awakening: The Story of the Arab National Movement.Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. p. 238.Retrieved29 November2023.
  89. ^Sole, Kent M. "The Arabs, a people betrayed".Journal of Third World Studies,vol. 2, no. 2, 1985, pp. 59–62.JSTOR45197139.Accessed 8 Nov. 2023.
  90. ^Barnett, David (30 Oct 2022). "Revealed: TE Lawrence felt 'bitter shame' over UK's false promises of Arab self rule".The Observer.ISSN0029-7712.Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  91. ^"Betrayal of Arabs after first World War set stage for turbulent century".The Irish Times.Retrieved8 November2023.
  92. ^Mikaberidze, Alexander (2011).Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1.ABC-CLIO. pp. 799–802.ISBN978-1598843361.
  93. ^Khalidi 1991,p. 7.
  94. ^Ülker, Erol (2005)."Contextualising 'Turkification': nation-building in the late Ottoman Empire, 1908–18*".Nations and Nationalism.11(4): 613–636.doi:10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00222.x.ISSN1469-8129.
  95. ^"The Young Turks and The Armenians: From Revolution to Genocide".Facing History and Ourselves.31 March 2015.Retrieved12 April2021.
  96. ^ab"The Arab Revolt, 1916–18 – The Ottoman Empire | NZHistory, New Zealand history online".nzhistory.govt.nz.Retrieved12 April2021.
  97. ^Sean McMeekin (2012)The Berlin–Baghdad Express.Belknap Press.ISBN0674064321.pp. 288, 297
  98. ^Mustafa Bostancı (2014)Birinci Dünya Savaşı’nda Osmanlı Devleti’nin Hicaz’da Hâkimiyet MücadelesiArchived16 February 2015 at theWayback Machine(The Struggle of Ottomans in Hijaz Region During the World War I).Akademik Bakış
  99. ^abÜlker, Erol (2005)."Contextualising 'Turkification': nation-building in the late Ottoman Empire, 1908–18*".Nations and Nationalism.11(14): 613–636.doi:10.1111/j.1469-8129.2005.00222.x.Archivedfrom the original on 7 August 2022.Retrieved12 April2021– via ResearchGate.
  100. ^Kawtharani, Wajih (2013)."The Ottoman Tanzimat and the Constitution".Tabayyun.Arab Center for Research & Policy Studies.Archived(PDF)from the original on 11 April 2024 – via JSTOR.

Bibliography

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  • Cleveland, William L. and Martin Bunton. (2016)A History of the Modern Middle East.6th ed. Westview Press.
  • Falls, Cyril (1930)Official History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence; Military Operations Egypt & Palestine from June 1917 to the End of the WarVol. 2. London: H. M. Stationery Office
  • Erickson, Edward.Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War.Westport, CT: Greenwood.ISBN978-0-313-31516-9.
  • Khalidi, Rashid (1991).The Origins of Arab Nationalism.Columbia University Press.ISBN978-0-231-07435-3.
  • Murphy, David (2008)The Arab Revolt 1916–18 Lawrence sets Arabia Ablaze.Osprey: London.ISBN978-1-84603-339-1.
  • Parnell, Charles L. (August 1979) CDR USN "Lawrence of Arabia's Debt to Seapower"United States Naval Institute Proceedings.

Further reading

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  • Anderson, Scott (2014).Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East.Atlantic Books.
  • Fromkin, David(1989).A Peace to End All Peace.Avon Books.
  • Korda, Michael,Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia.ISBN978-0-06-171261-6.
  • Lawrence, T. E.(1935).Seven Pillars of Wisdom.Doubleday, Doran, and Co.
  • Oschenwald, William. 'Ironic Origins: Arab Nationalism in the Hijaz, 1882–1914' inThe Origins of Arab Nationalism(1991), ed. Rashid Khalidi, pp. 189–203. Columbia University Press.
  • Wilson, Mary C. 'The Hashemites, the Arab Revolt, and Arab Nationalism' inThe Origins of Arab Nationalism(1991), ed. Rashid Khalidi, pp. 204–24. Columbia University Press.
  • "Arab Uprising: Did the Arab Uprising of 1916 Contribute Significantly to the Military and Political Developments in the Middle East?" in Dennis Showalter, ed.History in Dispute: World War I Vol 8(Gale, 2003) online
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