Arab Revolt

Arab Revolt
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Arabia and Southern Arabia Campaigns

Part of Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

Flag of the Arab Revolt

Date	June, 1916-October, 1918
Location	Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon
Result	Armistice of Mudros Treaty of Sèvres

Belligerents

Hashemite Arabs

United Kingdom

Ottoman Empire

Commanders

Faisal

Edmund Allenby

T. E. Lawrence

Ahmed Djemal

Strength

5,000 (?)

25,000 (?)

v • d • e Sinai and Palestine Campaign

Suez – Romani – Magdhaba – Rafa – 1st Gaza – 2nd Gaza – Beersheba – 3rd Gaza – Mughar Ridge – Jerusalem – Abu Tellul – Arara – Megiddo

This article is about the Arab Revolt of 1916. For the 1936 revolt, see 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.

The Arab Revolt (1916–1918) (Arabic: الثورة العربية‎ Al-Thawra al-`Arabīya) was initiated by the Sherif Hussein ibn Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.

1 Background
2 World War I
3 Conclusion of hostilities
4 See also
5 References

Background

Further information: Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)

The Young Turk Revolution began on July 3, 1908, and quickly spread throughout the empire, resulting in the sultan's announcement of the restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of parliament. The constitutional era was disrupted by the Countercoup (1909), which aimed to dismantle the constitution and restore the monarchy of Abdul Hamid II. The dethroned Sultan attempted to regain the Caliphate by putting an end to the secular policies of the Young Turks, but was in turn driven away to exile in Selanik by the 31 March Incident and was eventually replaced by his brother Mehmed V Reşad.

In the elections held in 1908, The Committee of Union and Progress, managed to gain the upper hand against the rival group led by Prince Sabahaddin, more liberal in outlook, bearing a strong British imprint, and closer to the Palace. The new parliament comprised 142 Turks, 60 Arabs, 25 Albanians, 23 Greeks, 12 Armenians (including four Dashnaks and two Hunchas), 5 Jews, 4 Bulgarians, 3 Serbs and 1 Vlach. Ottoman politics changed and discrimination against non-Turkish inhabitants increased.

World War I

Further information: Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

The Ottoman Empire took part in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, under the terms of the Ottoman-German Alliance. Many Arab nationalist figures in Damascus and Beirut were arrested, then tortured.

Captain T. E. Lawrence

Because of the repression by the Turks and their Central Powers allies, Grand Sharif Hussein, as the head of the Arab nationalists, entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans around June 8, 1916 (the actual date is a bit uncertain). Evidence that the Ottoman government was planning to depose him at the end of the war led him to an exchange of letters with British High Commissioner Henry McMahon which convinced him that his assistance on the side of the Triple Entente would be rewarded by an Arab empire encompassing the entire span between Egypt and Persia, with the exception of imperial possessions and interests in Kuwait, Aden, and the Syrian coast. The British government in Egypt immediately sent a young officer to work with the Arabs. This man was Captain T. E. Lawrence, known now as Lawrence of Arabia.

Lawrence's major contribution to the revolt was convincing the Arab leaders (Faisal and Abdullah) to co-ordinate their actions in support of British strategy. He persuaded the Arabs not to drive the Ottomans out of Medina; 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.

In 1917, Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces under Auda Abu Tayi (until then in the employ of the Ottomans) against the port city of Aqaba. Aqaba was of interest to the British as a supply base for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force as well as the Arab revolt. On July 6, after an overland attack, Aqaba fell to Arab forces. Later in the year, the Arab warriors made small raids on Ottoman positions in support of General Allenby's winter attack on the Gaza-Bersheeba defensive line (see the Battle of Beersheba). Allenby's victories led directly to the capture of Jerusalem just before Christmas 1917.

In the early days of the Revolt, Hussein's forces were largely made up of Bedouin and other nomadic desert tribes, who were only loosely allied, loyal more to their respective tribes than the overall cause. Feisal had hoped that he could convince Arab troops serving in the Turkish army to mutiny and join his cause; but the Turkish government sent most of its Arab troops to the front-lines of the war, and thus only a handful of deserters actually joined the Arab forces until later in the campaign.

1918: The End of Fighting

Soldiers in the Arab Army during the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918. They are carrying the Arab Flag of the Arab Revolt and pictured in the Arabian Desert.

By the time of Aqaba's capture many other officers joined Feisal's campaign. A large number of British officers and advisors, led by Lt. Cols. Stewart F. Newcombe and Charles E. Wilson, arrived to provide the Arabs rifles, explosives, and machine guns. A small contingent of French soldiers also joined the Arabs, although their relationship with the Arabs was antagonistic. 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 Turkish troops.

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 also harassed Ottoman supply columns, attacked small garrisons, and destroyed railroad tracks. Perhaps due to these attacks, Allenby's last offensive, the Battle of Megiddo (1918), was a stunning success. The Ottoman army was routed in less than 10 days of battle. Australian Light Horse troops marched unopposed into Damascus on September 30, 1918. T. E. Lawrence and his Arab troops rode into Damascus the next day to receive the surrender. At the end of the war, the Egyptian Expeditionary Force had seized Palestine, Transjordan, Lebanon, large parts of the Arabian peninsula and southern Syria.

Casualties

It is estimated that the Arab forces involved in the revolt numbered around 5,000 soldiers. This number however probably applies to the Arab Regulars who fought with Allenby's main army, and not the irregular forces under the direction of Lawrence and Feisal. On a few occasions, particularly during the final campaign into Syria, this number would grow significantly. Many Arabs joined the Revolt sporadically, often as a campaign was in progress or only when the fighting entered their home region. During the Aqaba raid, 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 on Aqaba.

The main contribution of the Arab Revolt to the war was to pin down tens of thousands of Turkish troops who otherwise might have been used to attack the Suez Canal, allowing the British to undertake offensive operations with a lower risk of counterattack. This was indeed the British justification for starting the revolt, a textbook example of assymetrical warfare which has been studied time and again by military leaders and historians alike.

Conclusion of hostilities

See also: Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

The United Kingdom agreed in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence that it would support Arab independence if they revolted against the Ottomans. The two sides had different interpretations of this agreement. In the event, the United Kingdom, France and Russia divided up the area in ways unfavourable to the Arabs under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement. Further confusing the issue was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised support for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. The Hedjaz region of western Arabia became an independent state under Hussein's control, until the early 1930s, when it was absorbed by Saudi Arabia.