The Arab Revolt was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern front of the Great War. Initiated by Sherif Hussein bin Ali at Mecca on 10 June 1916. The aim of the revolt was to secure independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and create a single unified and independent Arab state stretching from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.

The Sharifian Army led by Hussein and the Hashemites, with the military backing from the Entente successfully battled and repelled the Ottoman Empire's presence from much of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant.

The Middle East was later partitioned by the United Kingdom and France into protectorate territories, and the British were accused of reneging on their promise to support a unified independent Arab state.

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History Edit

Origins Edit

The rise of Arab nationalism in Ottoman Arabia dates back to at least 1821. Arab nationalism began its roots in the Mashriq (the Arab lands in the Levant). The political orientation of Arab nationalists in the years prior to the Great War was generally moderate. The Arabs' demands were of a reformist nature, limited in general to autonomy, greater use of Arabic in education, and changes in conscription in the Ottoman Empire in peacetime for Arab conscripts that allowed local service in the Ottoman army.

In 1913, intellectuals and politicians from the Arab Mashriq met in Paris at the First Arab Congress. They produced a set of demands for greater autonomy within the Ottoman Empire. They again demanded that Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army should not be required to serve in other regions except in time of war. With the Arab subjects of the Ottoman Empire being drafted into the military the rising militancy led to open revolt, openly incited by the Entente.

Arab Revolt in Ottoman Arabia Edit

The British government in Egypt sent a young officer, Captain T. E. Lawrence, to work with the Hashemite forces in the Hejaz in October 1916. By 1917 the Hashemites and the Entente had pushed out the Ottomans out of the Hejaz and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula, and by December of that year, Jerusalem was captured by the rebels. In early 1918, the Ottoman Empire's presence on the Levant was severely threatened. As the rebels and the Entente pushed north and liberated Arab lands, more people would join the revolt. After the United States entered the war on the side of the Entente, it became clear to the Ottomans that more German support was not coming anytime soon. In October of 1918, the Ottoman stronghold of Aleppo was captured by the Arab rebels. The Ottoman army had lost its last major stronghold in Arab lands and seemed at the brink of collapse. Although severely demoralized after the major defeat at the battle of Aleppo, Ottoman forces continued the fight in Anatolia. In late 1918, Armenia would join the war on the side of the Entente and the Arab rebels. Armenian forces would seize Ottoman lands in eastern Anatolia mostly populated by Turks and Kurds. By mid-1919 the Ottoman Empire's territory was reduced to lands in Anatolia; leaders of the Hejaz and the Arab Revolt declared victory for the Arabians although the war would not officially end until November of that year.

Aftermath Edit

After the Arab rebels and the Entente's victory in the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Sèvres which allowed the partition of former Ottoman lands in the Levant and Anatolia. The United Kingdom and France reneged on the original deal and divided up the area in ways that the Arabs felt were unfavourable to them under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement. Although many Arabs felt betrayed by the Entente, the establishment of the independent (British influenced) and Hashemite lead Mashriqi Kingdom on the Levant contributed to better relationship between the British and the Arabians. The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz became a self-declared state and recognised by the British. With British aid, the Hashemites were able to defeat Jabal Shammar and the Nadj Emirate by 1925 and establish the Hashemite Kingdom of Arabia, a move that the British would find very controversial.