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Siege of Medina
Part of Arab Revolt of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I
Date June-1916, January, 1919 Location Medina, Arabia Result Victory of Sharif Husain of Makkah
Belligerents
Banu Hashim	Ottoman Empire

v • d • e Arab Revolt Mecca – Medina – Taif – Yanbu – Aqaba – Wadi Musa – al-Samna – Megiddo

Medina, an Islamic holy city in Arabia, underwent a long siege during World War I. Medina was at the time controlled by the Ottoman Empire. In the war, the Ottoman Empire sided with the Central Powers. Sharif Hussain of Mecca revolted against the caliph and the Ottoman Empire and sided with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. T. E. Lawrence was instrumental in this revolt. Sharif occupied Mecca and besieged Medina.

Contents 1 Events 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Events

In June 1916 Sharif Hussain, the Hashemite ruler of Mecca, revolted against the Ottoman Empire. Hussain wanted to move north and create an Arab state from Yemen to Damascus. Medina was in his way and connected to the Ottoman Empire through a railway line. Hussain's forces besieged Medina, beginning in 1916 and lasting till January 1919.

With British encouragement, an initial attack led by Hussein's son Feisal was launched against Medina in October 1916; however, the Arabs were repulsed with heavy losses by the Turks, who were heavily-entrenched and armed with artillery, which the Arabs lacked. As the Arab Revolt slowly spread northwards along the Red Sea (ultimately culminating in the seizure of Aqaba), British and Arab thinking about Medina changed, and Feisal and his advisers determined that the Arabs would achieve more by leaving Medina unoccupied; this would force the Turks to retain troops to defend Medina, and to protect the Hejaz Railway, the only means of supplying the city.

For this purpose, Nuri as-Said set about creating military training camps in Mecca under the direction of Aziz Al-Masry. Using a mix of Bedouin volunteers, Arab officers and Arab Ottoman deserters who wanted to join the Arab Revolt, Al-Masry created three infantry brigades, a mounted brigade, an engineering unit, and three different artillery groups made up of a patchwork of varying cannon and heavy caliber machine guns. Of his total force of 6,000, Al-Masry proposed that it be divided into three armies:

• The Eastern Army under the command of Prince Abdullah bin Hussein would be in charge of surrounding Medina from the east.

• The Southern Army, commanded by Prince Ali bin Hussein, would ensure a cordon was formed around Medina from the south.

• The Northern Army, commanded by Prince Faisal, would form a cordon around Medina from the north.

These armies had a mixture of British and French officers attached to them who provided technical military advice. One of these officers was T. E. Lawrence

The defending commander of the Ottoman army in Medina was Fakhri Pasha. He did not surrender even after the end of the war. Only after efforts from the Ottoman Sultan did he finally surrender.

[edit] See also

• Abdullah I of Jordan
• Damascus Protocol
• Battle of Mecca 1916
• Fakhri Pasha
• Campaigns of the Arabian Revolt
• Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

[edit] References

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576407/Medina.html

[edit] External links

• Siege of Medina and the Arabian campaign in general Turkey in the First World War website