The Great Arab Revolt

Increasing political and economic pressure from the Western colonial powers during the 19th century contributed to the administrative breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and to its economic decline. Consequently the quality of Ottoman rule began to deteriorate. Distant regions seceded to form independent states and they started to challenge the legitimacy of the sultans. This was accentuated by the coming of the “Young Turks” to power in 1908 whose nationalistic policies aroused Arab fears and resentment. On 9 June 1916 the Grand Sharif of Mecca, Husayn ibn ‘Ali, encouraged by the UK, declared the Great Arab Revolt against the Turks in exchange for British support of the independence of the Arab countries in western Asia (Greater Syria and Iraq) and the creation of an Arab kingdom with Sharif Husayn as the king of the Arabs.