Sharif Hussein Launches the Arab Revolt Against the Ottomans

On 10 June 1916, Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, ordered his followers to assault the local Ottoman garrison, formally initiating the Arab Revolt. Hussein acted following an extensive exchange of letters with Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commissioner in Egypt. Through this correspondence, the British government pledged to recognize Arab independence across a large, loosely defined part of the Middle East, with some districts excluded, in return for an armed rising against the Ottoman Empire. Hussein had grown wary of the ruling Committee of Union and Progress in Istanbul, and historians cite fears that he might be removed as one reason he acted.

Around the same time, Hussein's sons Ali and Faisal attacked the Ottoman garrison at Medina without success, and sources differ on whether that assault came on June 5 or June 10. In Mecca itself, fighting continued for weeks before the Ottoman garrison fell to the Arabs. With the help of the British navy, Arab forces also seized the Red Sea port of Jeddah within days. Other coastal settlements fell soon after, opening sea lanes through which the Entente powers could funnel gold, munitions, and military advisors to the Sharifian forces.