The remote desert tribes of Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula are politically inarticulate but resentful of foreign control.

The link between the urban political committees and the desert tribesmen is Hussein ibn Ali Al Hashimi, the grand sharif and amir of Mecca and hereditary custodian of the Muslim holy places. Hussein, head of the Hashimite branch of the Quraysh tribe, claims descent from the Prophet.

Hussein and his sons Abdullah and Faisal (who have been educated as members of the Ottoman elite as well as trained for their roles as Arab chieftains) had spent the years 1893 to 1908 under enforced restraint in Constantinople.

In 1908 Abdul Hamid II appoints Hussein amir of Mecca and allows him and his sons to return to the Hijaz, the western part of present-day Saudi Arabia.

Some sources contend that Hussein's nomination was suggested by the Young Turks, who believed that he would be a stabilizing influence there, particularly if he were indebted to them for his position.

In his memoirs, however, Abdullah will state that Abdul Hamid II had named his father in preference to a candidate proposed by the Young Turks.

Hussein had reportedly asked for the appointment on the grounds that he had an hereditary right to it.

From the outset, Abdullah will write, his father was at odds with the attempts of the Young Turk regime to bring the Hijaz under the centralized and increasingly secularized administration in Constantinople.

Once in office, Hussein proves less tractable than either the sultan or the Turkish nationalists had expected.

Abdullah and Faisal establish contact with the Arab nationalists in Syria.

Faisal delivers to his father the so-called Damascus Protocol in which the nationalists, who appeal to Hussein as "Father of the Arabs" to deliver them from the Turks, set out the demands for Arab independence that will be used by Faisal in his subsequent negotiations with the British.

In return, the nationalists accept the Hashimites as spokesmen for the Arab cause.

The Middle East (1912–1923): The Collapse of Ottoman Authority and the Rise of Nationalism

The period from 1912 to 1923 marks a transformative era in the history of the Middle East, characterized by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, intensified European intervention, and the emergence of nationalist movements striving to define modern nation-states from the ruins of imperial rule. Iraq, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, and Arabia witness profound social, political, and economic upheaval that reshapes the region for the rest of the twentieth century.

Collapse of Ottoman Control and the First World War

Ottoman rule in the Middle East, weakened by decades of internal fragmentation, nationalist movements, and increasing European intervention, crumbles under the strain of the First World War (1914–1918). Ottoman Turkey sides with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary), a decision that will lead directly to the empire's demise. The Middle East becomes one of the primary battlegrounds of the war, with devastating consequences for the region.

The British, seeking to secure routes to their empire in India and protect strategic resources, launch major offensives in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Palestine, capturing key cities like Baghdad (1917) and Jerusalem (1917). Meanwhile, Arab nationalists, encouraged by British promises of post-war independence, revolt against Ottoman authority, notably in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918), spearheaded by Sharif Hussein ibn Ali of Mecca and assisted by British officer T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"). These combined pressures accelerate Ottoman collapse, leaving behind a vacuum that Western powers eagerly exploit.

Arab Nationalism and the Emergence of Iraq

In Iraq, the Ottoman decline accelerates preexisting social and political fragmentation. The Ottoman legacy of decentralized governance leaves Iraq divided between tribes, cities, and religious groups, with a nascent but vocal intelligentsia advocating for nationalism. Influenced by the earlier reforms of the Young Turks—which alienated many Arabs through forced "Turkification"—Iraqi intellectuals and army officers form secret nationalist groups, notably Al Ahd (the Covenant), whose membership swells to several thousand by the war’s outbreak.

During the war, British forces quickly overwhelm Ottoman troops in Mesopotamia, capturing Basra (1914) and Baghdad (1917), placing the entire territory under British control by 1918. Post-war, Britain receives a League of Nations mandate over Iraq, combining Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra into one administrative entity despite considerable cultural, ethnic, and sectarian differences. This artificial unity generates lasting internal tensions. Iraqi nationalists, disappointed by broken British promises of independence, begin demanding full sovereignty, setting the stage for persistent anti-colonial resistance.

Armenian Genocide and National Tragedy

In eastern Anatolia, the Armenian genocide (1915–1923) unfolds as one of the most tragic events of the era. Fearing Armenian sympathies with Russia during wartime, the Ottoman government initiates mass deportations and systematic massacres of the Armenian population. Approximately 1.5 million Armenians perish, and hundreds of thousands more flee to Russian Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere. This devastating genocide permanently alters the demographic and cultural landscape of Anatolia, deeply traumatizing the surviving Armenian diaspora and profoundly shaping Armenian national identity.

Following the war, Armenian survivors briefly establish the independent Republic of Armenia (1918–1920), but it succumbs quickly to Soviet conquest, becoming the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920.

Rise of Mustafa Kemal and the Turkish Republic

In Anatolia, Ottoman defeat leads directly to the rise of Turkish nationalism under Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). Rejecting the harsh terms imposed by the post-war Treaty of Sèvres (1920)—which partitions Anatolia among European powers and proposes independent Armenian and Kurdish states—Mustafa Kemal organizes armed resistance, culminating in victory during the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1922). Kemal’s forces defeat Greek armies occupying western Anatolia, forcing the Allies to negotiate a new settlement.

The resulting Treaty of Lausanne (1923) recognizes the sovereignty of the new Republic of Turkey, abolishes the Ottoman Sultanate, and ends centuries of Ottoman rule. Mustafa Kemal, now Turkey’s first president, institutes sweeping secular reforms, Westernizes Turkish society, and moves the capital from Istanbul to Ankara, definitively ending the Ottoman era.

Mandate States: Syria and Lebanon

The dismantling of Ottoman Syria leads to the establishment of French mandates in Syria and Lebanon. Under the Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), Britain and France had secretly agreed to partition Ottoman territories after the war, ignoring promises made to Arab nationalists. Syria’s nationalists resist French control, resulting in the proclamation of a short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria under King Faisal I in 1920. France quickly suppresses this state, imposing direct colonial administration, which fuels resentment and nationalist agitation.

In Lebanon, France creates "Greater Lebanon" in 1920 by merging Mount Lebanon with coastal cities, the Beqaa Valley, and predominantly Muslim areas in the south and north. The new entity, intended to establish a friendly Christian-majority state, nevertheless sows seeds of sectarian conflict that will plague Lebanon throughout the twentieth century.

Arabia and the Consolidation of Al Saud

In Arabia, Abdulaziz ibn Saud capitalizes on Ottoman decline and regional instability. From his base in Najd, Abdulaziz unites disparate tribes and, with support from the conservative Wahhabi religious movement, gradually conquers much of the Arabian Peninsula. By 1921, Abdulaziz secures control over much of the Najd region and begins to threaten British-protected Gulf sheikhdoms and the Hashemite rulers of the Hejaz, foreshadowing the eventual establishment of Saudi Arabia.

Persia’s Continued Struggle for Sovereignty

In Persia (Iran), the Qajar dynasty remains vulnerable to foreign influence and internal instability. Despite the 1906 Constitutional Revolution, Russia and Britain continue to dominate Iranian politics and economy, dividing the nation into spheres of influence. Widespread resentment of foreign exploitation and government corruption leads to nationalist discontent, setting the stage for future internal upheaval and the eventual rise of the Pahlavi dynasty under Reza Shah.

Legacy of the Era (1912–1923)

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the tumultuous aftermath of World War I fundamentally reshape the Middle East, creating the modern geopolitical framework. New states and borders drawn arbitrarily by European powers, along with imposed national identities, sow the seeds of future instability. Nationalist movements emerge with force, driven by resistance to colonial domination, laying the foundation for independence struggles that will define the subsequent decades. Conflicts and resentments arising in this era—sectarian, ethnic, and nationalist—persist, profoundly influencing the historical trajectory of the region through the twentieth century and beyond.

The earliest British discussions of the Near and Middle East question revolve around Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, scion of the Hashimite (also seen as Hashemite) family that claims descent from the Prophet and acts as the traditional guardians of Islam's most holy sites of Mecca and Medina in the Arabian province of Hijaz, which Sharif Hussein governs for the Ottomans.

Amir Abdullah, the second of three sons of Sherif Hussein bin Ali, visits Cairo, where he holds talks with Lord Kitchener, the senior British official in Egypt, in February 1914.

Abdullah inquires about the possibility of British support should his father raise a revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

Kitchener's reply is necessarily noncommittal because Britain considers the Ottoman Empire a friendly power.

War breaks out in August, however, and by November the Ottoman Empire has aligned with Germany against Britain and its allies.

Kitchener is by now British secretary of state for war and, in the changed circumstances, seeks Arab support against the Turks.

In Cairo, Sir Henry McMahon, British high commissioner and Kitchener's successor in Egypt, carries on an extensive correspondence with Hussein.

Sir Henry McMahon, the first British High Commissioner in Egypt, begins secret correspondence with Hussein ibn 'Ali in July 1915, in which McMahon convinces Hussein to lead an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, aligned with Germany against Britain and France in the war.

McMahon promises that if the Arabs support Britain in the war, the British government will support the establishment of an independent Arab state under Hashemite rule in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine.

In a letter to McMahon enclosed with a letter dated July 14, 1915, from his son Abdullah, Hussein specifies an area for Arab independence under the "Sharifian Arab Government" consisting of the Arabian Peninsula (except Aden) and the Fertile Crescent of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.

McMahon declares British support for postwar Arab independence, subject to certain reservations and exclusions of territory not entirely Arab or concerning which Britain is not free "to act without detriment to the interests of her ally, France", in his letter of October 24, 1915, to Hussein on behalf of the British government.

The territories assessed by the British as not purely Arab include: "The districts of Mersin and Alexandretta, and portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo." (As with the later Balfour Declaration, the exact meaning is not clear, although Arab spokespersons ever since will usually maintain that Palestine was within the pledged area of independence.)

Sir Henry McMahon, British high commissioner in Egypt, has worked to pave the way for a nationalist 'Arab revolt'.

The Hussein-McMahon correspondence concludes with an understanding of British-ensured postwar independence and the unity of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine.

While McMahon and Sharif Hussein correspond over the fate of the Near and Middle East, the British are conducting secret negotiations with the French and the Russians over the same territory.

Following the British military defeat at the Dardanelles in 1915, the Foreign Office seeks a new offensive in the Middle East, which it believes can only be carried out by reassuring the French of Britain's intentions in the region.

In February 1916, the Sykes-Picot Agreement (officially the "Asia Minor Agreement") is signed, which, contrary to the contents of the Hussein-McMahon correspondence, proposes to partition the Near and Middle East into French and British zones of control and interest.

Under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, Palestine is to be administered by an international "condominium"
of the British, French, and Russians, whereas Transjordan will come under British influence.

Hussein launches a revolt of Arabs in the Hejaz against the Ottoman state on June 5, 1916, although the Hussein-McMahon correspondence is not legally binding on either side, and ...

...declaring himself "King of the Arabs" on October 2, Hussein performs the ceremony of the bai'a, the traditional Arab custom in which the investiture is accompanied by a formal declaration of allegiance, although the Allies recognize him only as king of the Hijaz, a tide rejected by most peninsular Arabs.
 
Britain provides supplies and money for the Arab forces led by Abdullah and Faisal.

British military advisers also are detailed from Cairo to assist the Arab army that the brothers are organizing.

Of these advisers, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) is to become the best known.