Arab Revolts

The Arab revolts were a series of revolts caused by Hussein bin Ali, Shariff of Mecca and Ibn Saud who were both leading rebellions against the rule of the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Sultanate) and Great Britain (Kingdom of Britain). The revolts were to be known as the worst series of defeats for the British and resulted in the British loosing campaigns to the point they and they influenced the Ottomans to conquer the Balkans with the Gallipoli campaign, but that failure made the British leave and abandon their colonies at the mercy of the Central powers and resulted in the Ottomans becoming a German Puppet State.

## History

### Before Revolts

The rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire dates from at least 1821. Arab nationalism has its roots in the Mashriq (the Arab lands east of Egypt), particularly in countries of the Levant. The political orientation of Arab nationalists before World War I was generally moderate. Their demands were of a reformist nature and generally limited to autonomy, a greater use of Arabic in education and changes in peacetime conscription in the Ottoman Empire to allow Arab conscripts local service in the Ottoman army.

The Young Turk Revolution began on 3 July 1908 and quickly spread throughout the empire. As a result, Sultan Abdul Hamid II was forced to announce the restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of the Ottoman parliament. The period is known as the Second Constitutional Era. In the 1908 elections, the Young Turks' Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) managed to gain the upper hand against the Liberal Union, led by Sultanzade Sabahaddin. The new parliament had 142 Turks, 60 Arabs, 25 Albanians, 23 Greeks, 12 Armenians (including four Dashnaks and two Hunchaks), five Jews, four Bulgarians, three Serbs and one Vlach.

The CUP now gave more emphasis to centralization and a modernization preached a message that was a mixture of pan-Islamism, Ottomanism, and pan-Turkism, which was adjusted as the conditions warranted. At heart, the CUP were Turkish nationalists who wanted to see the Turks as the dominant group within the Ottoman Empire, which antagonised Arab leaders and prompted them to think in similarly nationalistic terms. Arab members of the parliament supported the countercoup of 1909, which aimed to dismantle the constitutional system and to restore the absolute monarchy of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The dethroned sultan attempted to restore the Ottoman Caliphate by putting an end to the secular policies of the Young Turks, but he was, in turn, driven away to exile in Selanik by the 31 March Incident in which the Young Turks defeated the countercoup, and he was eventually replaced by his brother Mehmed V.

In 1913, intellectuals and politicians from the Mashriq met in Paris at the First Arab Congress. They produced a set of demands for greater autonomy and equality within the Ottoman Empire, including for elementary and secondary education in Arab lands to be delivered in Arabic, for peacetime Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army to serve near their home region and for at least three Arab ministers in the Ottoman cabinet

### Revolts Begin

Italy joined World War I on the side of the Central Powers, because the Ottomans declared war on them to Libya back. The Germans who were allies of Italy and a member of the Triple Alliance declared war on the Ottomans so they can use Italy's colony of Libya to be a launchpad for reinforcements for their African forces because it was needed due to the fact their enemies had a majority of Africa under their control.

The Germans unveiled to Italy intelligence of the Ottomans who are about to use the Senussi Order to bring Libya back under Ottoman control as the Senussis were promised that they would have autonomy. However the Italians came to meet with the Senussi Order and told them to fight for Italy. The Senussis refused until Italy promised to make them into a Puppet State as away to represent themselves to the Italian Government and they could also be heroes and lead Arab Nationalists against the Ottomans. The Senussis agreed and they then joined up with the Italians to help Arab Nationalists.

The Italians sent Senssi Order members to meet with Arab Nationalists and fund them with German and Italian Equipment as the Senussi Order distributed Propaganda leaflets to Arab Nationalists in Ottoman, French and British controlled Arab ethnic colonies such as the Aden Protectorate, Egypt and the Regions of the Ottoman Empire.

Italy declared war on France because it was an ally of Germany in the Triple Alliance and it wanted French Chad, thus started Italy's involvement in the scramble for France.

#### **The Morocco Plan**

The Italians and Senussi members were planning to get Algeria to as a colony, but sadly it was too big for just them, but they later on got help from Spain as Spain declared war on France to get all of Morocco as a Puppet State so they can merge the Spanish Sahara and the part of Morocco under Spanish rule into Morocco as a Puppet State. The Spanish and Italians were easily able to gain Algeria due to Southern France being occupied by their forces and the help of Algerian rebels and Tunisia.

As they plan to divide Algeria and Morocco, Italy decided to gain Tunisia as a Puppet State with the Senussi Order was Puppets in Libya as Spain gets the rest of Morocco and Algeria. Germany told them that it wants Morocco and it was friends with the Sultan before French annexation. Spain allowed it to happen as Spain then decides to instead get French West Africa. Germany then annexed Morocco as a Puppet State and merged it with Algeria, and the land between Morocco and Algeria in the South and put the Puppet State under the rule of Morocco's Sultan.

#### **Tunisia, Libya and Cyrenaica created as Puppet State**

Italy then creates Tunisia as a Puppet State ruled by the Bey of Tunisia as a King. Libya was created as a Puppet State in Italian Tripolitania with Idris Senussi as King of Libya. The Emirate of Cyrenacia was created as a Puppet State in Italian Cyrenaica ruled by the Head of the Senussi Order Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi as Emir. The land between the Puppet States was created as a Colony to connect to French Chad and French Central Africa.

#### **Egyptian Liberation**

Opposition to European interference in Egypt's affairs resulted in the emergence of a nationalist movement that coalesced and spread after the British military intervention and occupation of 1882. The immediate causes of what is known to Egyptians as the 1919 Revolution, however, were British actions during World War I that caused widespread hardship and resentment. Specifically, these included Britain's purchase of cotton and requisitioning of fodder at below market prices, Britain's forcible recruitment of about 500,000 peasants into the Egyptian Labour Corps and the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and its use of the country as a base and a garrison populated by British, Australian, and other troops. After the war, Egypt felt the adverse effects of soaring prices and unemployment.

Ahmed Sharif noticing this told the Italians that they have the perfect chance to get Egypt on their side. Italy agreed as they then met with the ruler of Egypt Abbas II. Abbas II relations with Sir Eldon Gorst, Consul-General in Egypt, were excellent, and they co-operated in appointing the cabinets headed by Butrus Ghali in 1908 and Muhammad Sa'id in 1910 and in checking the power of the National Party. The appointment of Kitchener to succeed Gorst in 1912 displeased Abbas II, and relations between the Khedive and the British deteriorated. Kitchener, who exiled or imprisoned the leaders of the National Party, often complained about "that wicked little Khedive" and wanted to depose him.

Abbas II then went to Constantinople to get the Ottomans to liberate Egypt from British control. Sadly he was assassinated by British Agents after Ottoman Intelligence reported that he was heading to Constantinople and he was going to "overthrow the British boons". The British replaced him with his uncle Hussein Kamel who was pro British and declared himself the Sultan of the Sultanate of Egypt. Though presented as the re-establishment of the pre-Ottoman Egyptian sultanate, the newly created Sultanate of Egypt was to be a British protectorate, with effective political and military power vested in British officials. This brought to an end the de jure Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt, which had been largely nominal since Muhammad Ali's seizure of power in 1805.

Sadly this got the Nationalists on the side of the Italians and Ahmed Sharif as the Italian Army then trained them in Italian Military Style. They then led the Egyptians in a Jihad against Hussein Kamel. The forces of the Italians and Ahmed Sharif fought hard against the British who were easily able to get reinforcements from India, Australia and New Zealand due to the Suez being owned by the British and the Ottomans.

The Italians then had forces from Eritrea and Italian Somalialand create a blockade extending from those colonies all the way to the Arabian Peninsula to prevent Britain from sending reinforcements to Egypt. The colonies were able to do this as they had a hard time fighting the British. Hussein Kamel and his family were assassinated by the Italians who bring to power his brother who is a supporter of the National Party, Fuad Muhammad Ali. Fuad was originally going to be a candidate for the throne of the Kingdom of Albania, but the Italians wanted a Christian ruler in the region. Fuad then is crowned Sultan of Egypt, but Fuad instead became King.

Egypt was about to be a colony with Fuad as a protectorate, but a Praetor instead wanted to make Egypt a Puppet State of Egypt. The Arabs pressured the vote to a Puppet State and Egypt then became a Puppet State ruled by Fuad I as king. The Ottomans started to send it's Naval forces into Egypt. The Italians were prepared for this as they sent their navy to fight against the Turkish Navy. The Italians then contacted Bulgaria to distract the Ottomans and if they succeede with the operation then Bulgaria will gain the Gallipoli Peninsula. Bulgaria then agrees to commit to the operation as it bombards Constantinople.

The Italians were able to get a victory due to Bulgarians distracting the Ottomans by shelling Constantinople to distract the Ottomans themselves.

#### **Arab Peninsula Liberation**

The Italians then went to the Arabian Peninsula as they found out the Ottomans and the British were going to wipe out all minorities of the Ottoman Empire so that only the Turkish people remained as the British get the rest of the Peninsula. The two got aid from the Emirate of Jabal Shammar which was an Ottoman Vassal and supplied help to them from T.E Lawrence and Gertrude Bell who are two British officials who are specialized in the Middle East. Italy however got help from Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud who had gained hordes of angry Arab Rebels who want to end Ottoman rule due to the Ottomans having to be defended by Britain, especially against Russian threats which was not good for the Arabs who were oppressed by the Ottomans for many years.

The Italians trained their rebel forces in the style of the Italian Army as Senussi Envoys have been making the Arabs in the Aden Protectorate commit Jihad against the British. After all of that the Italians, Hussein and Abdulaziz were planning on going upwards to the Kurdish border as they were planning states. Hussein wanted to rule a united Arabia, but Ibn Saud said he wont want part of that and that Arabs will never being accept being united under an "Ottoman vassal" which started a minor fight between the Hashimites and Sauds that the Italians and their Senussi Allies broke up the fight. The German Military Advisor to Italy and the Senussi Order Otto Liman von Sanders then had a better Idea as he said focus on the battle then we'll talk on what happens.

The Italians and their Arab Allies then split up into two groups. One Group led by Ibn Saud who will take the Southern part of the Peninsula and the other led by Hussein bin Ali who will take the Northern Part of the Peninsula. Ibn Saud fought against the forces of Jabal Shammar led by Fakhri Pasha, T.E Lawrence and Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Rashid with battles that were hard fights due to the help the British were getting from their India, Australia and New Zealand colonies being sent from India to the Aden Protectorate and the Jabal Shammar Emirate attacking the Sauds from the North. Hussein had hard fights due to Jabal Shammar forces attacking them from the South and the Ottomans attacking them from the North. Later on the Battles were easy as the Persian Empire led by Reza Shah invaded Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait and he later on sent forces to invade the Turical States and Oman which distracted British forces. The Invasions were easy for Reza after he manipulated the Afghans to lead a Jihad against the British in India which stopped the deployment of reinforcements as the forces were needed to stop the Afghans. This made things easier for the Sauds who then invaded the Aden Protectorate. The Sauds then also got help in fighting the British with the aid of the Kingdom of Yemen.

The Reason the Kingdom of Yemen was helping them was because they wanted to be independent. Previously Zaidi religious leaders expelled forces of the Ottoman Empire from what is now northern Yemen by the middle of the 17th century but, within a century, the unity of Yemen was fractured due to the difficulty of governing Yemen's mountainous terrain.

In 1849, the Ottoman Empire occupied the coastal Tihamah region to put pressure on the Zaiddiyah imam to sign a treaty recognizing Ottoman suzerainty and allowing for a small Ottoman force to be stationed in Sana'a. However, the Ottomans were slow to gain control over Yemen and never managed to eliminate all resistance from local Zaydis. In 1913, shortly before World War I, the Ottoman Empire was forced to cede some power formally to highland Zaydis. This was now a mistake to the Ottomans as the Zaydis aided Ibn Saud in campaigns against the British who are their allies. This fight was long and hard for the Sauds and their allies due to the fact the British forces without reinforcements were fighting hard with all they got to survive the rampage of the Saudis and their allies.

The Husseins revolted against the Ottomans in the North as they got aid from the local Arab Populations in the Baghdad and Syria Vilayets who were against the Ottomans. Later on the Senussis and Egypt helped them with the Palestine region and fighting against Ottoman forces. The fighting was hard with many defeats due to Russians pouring in to help the Ottomans. The Italians, Husseins, Senussis and Egypt with their Arab allies then created an arrow formation attack as they cut through a brigade of Ottoman forces and then hijacked Ottoman weapons and war vehicles lent to them by the British. Luck came their way when Indian Soldiers defected the British and joined forces with Indo-Persia's army as it helped them attack the Ottomans with British equipment they stole with Japanese equipment.

The fights then started to get easy as Indo-Persia's east army with Japanese help then conquered India. The conquest was a bit easy due to White Army brigades in Central Asia, Former British Indian troopers and Afghan tribesmen bombarding and conquering the cities of India on the coast and the aid by Princely States who were tired of sending their forces to die for Britain and angry nationalists in India who hate British rule. The success of the campaigns in India was the end of British India and the endless supply of resources to the Ottomans. However the Ottomans still have the aid of the British, Australians and New Zealanders remaining in their nation with their vassal of Jabal Shammar as Canadians arrived in the place of British India. Later on Jabal Shammar joined the side of the Sauds to keep their sovereignty as a nation.

#### **Ethiopia gets involved**

The Battle was later on all victories for the Italians and their Arab allies as they conquered the Arabian Peninsula, Baghdad Vilayet and Syrian Vilayet. It was hard for them to maintain them due to constant rebellions by Jabal Shammar. Unfortunately the British started to invade Eritrea, Egypt and Italian Somaliland through Sudan, French Somaliland and British Somaliland. Italy ordered Egyptian officer Hassan Sabry Pasha to invade Sudan and leave up defenses on Egypt. Italy had a plan to scare Ethiopia into fighting against the British by saying "British are going to surround you, invade you and kill you all." which causes outrage and panic that was so bad that Ethiopian tribes started to cause turmoil.

The Italian Ambassador to Ethiopia was captured by the guards as he was brought to the Monarch of Ethiopia, Empress Zewditu and her regent *Ras* Tafari Makonnen (Haile Selassie I) demanded the Ambassador what the hell is going on and why the people were screaming. The Ambassador told them that they are in a World War and they are liberating Arabs from Ottoman rule. *Ras* Tafari Makonnen then asked why Ethiopia is involved, the Italian Ambassador told him that the British are invading their colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and if they succeed then Ethiopia will be surrounded by the British who would mercilessly invade them and put rebellious tribes in power. The Italian Ambassador then says that to prevent this then Ethiopia should invade Sudan, Kenya the British Somaliland and French Somaliland to help the Italians and Arabs. *Ras* Tafari Makonnen then told the Italians they will help, but only if the Italians let them keep Sudan, British Somaliand, French Somaliland, Kenya and Italy must cede Eritrea and Italian Somaliland or Ethiopia will not help and the Ambassador himself dies. the Ambassador agrees as he leaves the court.

Ethiopia then gets help from the Italians who send them Eritrean and Somali ethnic Italian Soldiers with Arab and Kenyan rebels on the side of Italy who were trained by the Italian Army and Italian Equipment, Vehicles and weapons. The Ethiopians then invaded the French and British Somalilands and the invasion was successful due to help from the Sauds in Yemen. The Ethiopians with Egyptian, German and Spanish help invaded Sudan and Kenya. The Kenya invasion was successful with help from Germany and African rebels in the area. Sadly Sudan was hard to the fact the Ottomans with the help of the British, Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians (who just arrived) then invade Egypt. It was then easy after Germany invaded the Eastern Front Countries which resulted in the British and their forces with the Ottomans to invade Bulgaria which was a disaster and the British Invasion finally ended the British as the Germans annexed the Ottomans as a Puppet State.

## Aftermath

After the Arab revolts being successful, Italy had created two Puppet States in Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania. The first state was the Kingdom of Libya which is located in the western part of Italian Tripolitania and Fezzan which is ruled by Muhammad Idris bin Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi as King. The Second State is Emirate of Cyrenacia which is ruled by the Head of the Senussi Order Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi as Emir. Egypt and Tunisia were annexed by Italy as Puppet States ruled by their respective monarchs.

Italy then divided up the Arabian Peninsula, Baghdad Baghdad Vilayet and Syria Vilayet up to create puppet states. The Syrian Vilayet was then turned into the Sultanate of Syria which is ruled by Ali bin Hussein the oldest son of Hussein bin Ali.The land South of the Syrian Vilayet and west of the Baghdad Vilayet was turned into a Puppet State known as the Kingdom of Jordan ruled by Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein the second son of Hussein bin Ali. The Baghdad Vilayet was turned into the Maharajahnate of Mesopotamia which is ruled by Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi as Maharajah. The Northern Part of the Arabian Peninsula became the territory of the Emirate of Jabal Shammar which is ruled by the current Emir. The Part of the Peninsula that consists of Mecca and is North of Yemen, the Aden Protectorate, Oman and west of Qatar, Bahrain and the Truical States was made into a Puppet State known as the Sultanate of Saudi Arabia ruled by Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud. The region of northern Yemen was turned into a Puppet State known as the Kingdom of Yemen ruled by Yahya Hamid ed-Din. The Aden Protectorate became the Colony of South Arabia.

Indo-Persia gained the Oman, the Trucial Sheikhdoms, Qatar, Bahrain, Zanzibar and Kuwait as Puppet States. Ethiopia had gained Sudan (not the far north regions of Sudan under Egyptian control), All Somalialands, Eritrea and Kenya and merged them into Ethiopia itself, sadly this caused Problems with the Dervish State who took control of the Government which caused destruction against Christians in Ethiopia that lasted until 1930 when Zewditu abdicated and her regent and cousin *Ras* Tafari Makonnen was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia as he made the Muslim Kingdoms in the vast Empire as Princely States so they can represent themselves to the Government.