The Young Turk Period, 1908-1918 - PSI424

322 The Rise of Modern Turkey, 1808-1975
independence for almost the entire Arab world, from the 37th parallel to the Persian
Gulf in the east, south to the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, and west
to the Mediterranean, but excluding coastal Syria west of Damascus, Horns, Hama
and Aleppo, Lebanon, and possibly Palestine, though the exact definition was left
vague in regard to the latter. Britain would help the new Arab governments establish
themselves in return for the right to be their principal foreign adviser and
for a special position in the provinces of Baghdad and Basra. It would guarantee
the Holy Places against attack and provide §erif Hiiseyin with a subsidy and
military assistance to help him organize what, in fact, became the Arab Revolt.
Of course, these promises already had been violated by the Sykes-Picot Agreement
and by similar wartime promises made to the Zionist leaders of England and
America, incorporated into the Balfour Declaration, accepted by the British cabinet,
and communicated to the Zionists on November 2, 1917, in which the British
government stated that it would "view with favor the establishment in Palestine
of a national home for the Jewish people" and "use their best endeavors to facilitate
the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall
be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any
other country."
Beginnings of the Arab Revolt
In the meantime, with McMahon's promises in hand §erif Hiiseyin proclaimed the
Arab Revolt on June 5, 1916, soon following with a declaration of himself as
"King of the Arab Countries," though Allied objections, particularly on the part
of France, subsequently caused him to modify this to no more than "King of the
Hicaz." The Ottoman army in Arabia was stationed in the Yemen, at the Holy
Cities, and along the new Hicaz Railroad, which connected Medina with Damascus,
and it assumed a mainly defensive role. Hiiseyin organized the bedouins under his
control into a guerrilla army entrusted to the command of his son, Emir Faysal,
with the advice of several British officers, including T. E. Lawrence, whose later
claims to have inspired the movement seem somewhat exaggerated. The immediate
effect of the revolt was to cut the Hicaz Railroad and overrun the Ottoman garrisons
at Mecca and Cidda. All the other towns in the Hicaz soon were also under
rebel control with the exception of Medina, which remained under siege, and the
Yemen was entirely cut off. Another Arab force commanded by Emir Faysal was
organized to move north to assist a British push from Egypt into Syria. But
with the barren wastes of the Sinai Desert as well as a strong Ottoman army in
Syria, now commanded by von Sanders and Mustafa Kemal, the British took their
time. Though the Arab Revolt concentrated in the Arabian Peninsula disrupted
the Ottoman position there, it had yet to make the significant overall contribution
the British expected.
The Russian Occupation of Eastern Anatolia
Despite the victory at Kut ul-Amara, the Ottomans were unable to react more actively
to the Arab Revolt or the expected British push from Egypt because they
were diverted by a Russian campaign into eastern Anatolia. One force moved
southward around Lake Van and toward Mu§ while another, in the north, advanced
directly from Kars toward Erzurum, which it besieged and took (Feb-