Faisal I of Iraq - First World War & The Arab Revolt

First World War & The Arab Revolt

On 23 October 1916 at Hamra in the Wadi Safra, the first encounter took place between Faisal and Captain T. E. Lawrence, a relatively junior British intelligence officer from Cairo. Lawrence already had a vision of an independent post-war Arabian state, and knew it was essential to find precisely the right man to lead the Arab forces to achieve this.

With the help of Lawrence, Faisal sided with the British army and organised the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, helping to end the Caliphate. After a long siege he conquered Medina, defeating the defense organized by Fakhri Pasha.

Some of Faisal's critics considered fighting alongside Christians as a betrayal of Islam; this motivated Iqbal to write against him. Though Faisal was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Arab nationalism and independence, not religion, was his main motivation. Iqbal wrote in one of his poems about King Faisal as, "What a beautiful message did Sanësâ give to King Faisal By descent you are Hijazi, but by heart Hijazi you could not be"

Faisal also worked with the Allies during World War I in their conquest of Greater Syria and the capture of Damascus, where he became part of a new Arab government in 1918.

Read more about this topic:  Faisal I Of Iraq

Famous quotes containing the words world, war, arab and/or revolt:

    More things are wrought by prayer
    Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
    Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
    Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)

    ... children do not take war seriously as war. War is soldiers and soldiers have not to be war but they have to be soldiers. Which is a nice thing.
    Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)

    As the Arab proverb says, “The dog barks and the caravan passes”. After having dropped this quotation, Mr. Norpois stopped to judge the effect it had on us. It was great; the proverb was known to us: it had been replaced that year among men of high worth by this other: “Whoever sows the wind reaps the storm”, which had needed some rest since it was not as indefatigable and hardy as, “Working for the King of Prussia”.
    Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    I went to a very militantly Republican grammar school and, under its influence, began to revolt against the Establishment, on the simple rule of thumb, highly satisfying to a ten-year-old, that Irish equals good, English equals bad.
    Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)