Kitchener writes to the Sharif of Mecca
- Category:
- Diplomacy
- Front:
- Middle East
- Date:
- 31 October 1914
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
On 31 October 1914 the British Secretary of State for War, Lord Herbert Kitchener, sent a message via Cairo to Emir Abdullah, son of Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca. In it he promised the Arabs protection and help if they sided with Britain in the coming war with Turkey. It was the first step on the road that led to the outbreak of the Arab Revolt in 1916.
Earlier contacts
Hussein, as Sharif and Emir of Mecca, exercised authority over the holy cities of Islam in the Hejaz on behalf of the Sultan. His relations with the Young Turk government in Constantinople were strained. The Sharif feared that the government, by building a railway to Mecca and strengthening the Ottoman governors, would strip him of his power. In February and April 1914 his son Abdullah visited Cairo and talked to Kitchener, then British Consul-General in Egypt, and to his Oriental Secretary, Ronald Storrs. He asked whether Britain would help his father if the Turks tried to remove him. The answer at the time was no: in Arabia the British were interested only in the safety of pilgrims from India.
The war changed the situation. On 24 September 1914 Kitchener, by now Secretary of State for War, instructed Storrs to send a trusted messenger to Abdullah. He was to find out whether, if Turkey were dragged into the war by Germany, the Sharif and the Arabs of the Hejaz would be “with us or against us”. The messenger returned to Cairo on 30 October with a cautious but friendly reply. Abdullah wrote that the people of the Hejaz would accept a closer association with Britain if it defended the rights of their country and of the Emir against foreign aggression, especially Ottoman.
The promise
Kitchener replied at once, on the day the Admiralty ordered hostilities against Turkey to begin. He wrote that if the Arab nation assisted England in the war that Turkey had forced upon it, England would guarantee that no intervention took place in Arabia and would give the Arabs every assistance against external aggression. He added that perhaps the caliphate might pass to “an Arab of true race” at Mecca or Medina. This was an allusion to the title of caliph, which was borne by the Ottoman Sultan. The British feared that the Sultan-Caliph would call on Muslims to wage holy war.
The message reached Mecca in a version drafted in Cairo, dated in some sources to 1 November. It was more extensive than the London one. It spoke of a guarantee of the independence, rights and privileges of the Sharifate against all foreign aggression, especially Ottoman, and of Britain’s undertaking not to interfere in religious matters. Hussein was not yet ready to break with the Sultan and gave an evasive reply, but Kitchener’s letter became a point of reference for further talks. In 1915–1916 the Sharif conducted a correspondence with the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Henry McMahon, and in June 1916 the Arab Revolt broke out.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 31 October 1914 · Western FrontCritical day at YpresOn 31 October 1914 the Germans broke the British line at Gheluvelt. A counter-attack by the 2nd Worcestershire closed the gap, ending the Battle of Gheluvelt.
- 31 October 1914 · AfricaAitken replaces StewartAt the end of October 1914 Gen. Arthur Aitken took supreme command in East Africa. Gen. Stewart and his Force "C" came under his orders.
- 31 October 1914 · AfricaIndian Expeditionary Force "B" off MombasaOn 31 October 1914 at Mombasa the command of Force "B" settled the plan to attack Tanga. After a two-week voyage the troops were not landed.
- 31 October 1914 · MilitaryAdmiralty orders hostilities against TurkeyOn 31 October 1914 the British Admiralty ordered its ships to begin hostilities against Turkey at once, although war had not yet been declared.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
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- 25 October 1914 · MilitaryGeneral Sir Charles Douglas diesOn 25 October 1914 the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Sir Charles Douglas, died in London. The cause of death was overwork.
- 22 November 1914 · AfricaWar Office takes over the East African campaignOn 22 November 1914, after the defeat at Tanga, direction of British operations in East Africa passed from the India Office to the War Office in London.
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