A K A B A

About the Book

Most of the shock which affected the Middle East during the 20th century can be tracked back to the First World War. Arabs were faced with political, cultural and linguistic persecution under the Ottomans. The Ottoman Empire sided with the Central Powers (Turkey and Germany) against the Allies (England, France and Russia). Sharif Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi, Ameer of Mecca then, in the hope of an opportunity to liberate the Arab World, sided with the Allies. He launched the Great Arab Revolution of 1916. After the war, however, the victors reneged on their promises to the Arabs. The Allies, (France and Britain), have obscured their intentions of recognizing the Arab Nation. They were deceptive and had no intention of keeping what they have promised. This book is a testimony to the sacrifices rendered by Arab Nationalist groups in Greater Syria, Iraq and Hijaz (Arabs) who began to rally behind the Hashemite banner of Abdullah and Faisal, sons of Sharif Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi. The movement began when the Arabs took the Port of Aqaba in what is now a large city in Southern Jordan. While the colonial powers denied the Arabs their promised single unified Arab state, it is nevertheless testimony to the effectiveness of the Great Arab Revolution that the Hashemite family was able to secure an Arab rule over Transjordan, Syria, Iraq and Arabia. This revolution included Arabs from all the Arab land because of their nationalism and mutual unity to kicking the Turks out. On June 10, 1916, Grand Sharif Hussein raised his rifle on his balcony in Mecca and fired the first shot of the Great Arab Revolution. Hussein's own sons became field commanders and the revolution spread across the Arabian Peninsula. The Turkish garrison in Mecca fell to the Arabs within weeks, as did the port of Jeddah, with the assistance of the British navy. Several other small towns in the Hejaz quickly fell. But by September the Revolution was losing steam. The rifles sent by the British were antiquated and the Arabs lacked artillery. The Turks had reorganized themselves and were resisting in Medina while successfully counter-attacking Hejaz from the north. Hussein's son, Abdullah, was courted by the British in Cairo in early 1914 which resulted in a busy exchange of letters between the Grand Sharif and Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commissioner in Egypt then. In December 1915, Abdullah was informed that he "may rest assured that Great Britain has no intention of concluding any peace in terms of which the freedom of the Arab people from German and Turkish domination does not form an essential condition". Unfortunately, he took Britain at their word.

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