Editing Arab Revolt (section)

== Forces ==
It is estimated that the Arab forces involved in the revolt numbered around 5,000 soldiers.<ref name="Murphy, David page 34">Murphy, p. 34.</ref> This number probably applies to the Arab regulars who fought during the [[Sinai and Palestine campaign]] with [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Edmund Allenby's]] [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]], and not the irregular forces under the direction of [[T. E. Lawrence]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who Was Lawrence Of Arabia? |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/who-was-lawrence-of-arabia |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref> and [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal]], though other sources place this number lower, at 2,000-3,500 soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Battles of the Great Arab Revolt 1916-1918 |url=https://www.jaf.mil.jo/ContentstemplateC/Great_Arab_Revolution_Battles.aspx |website=Jordanian Armed Forces |publisher=The Jordanian Armed Forces |access-date=7 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Paris Peace Conference |url=https://www.cliohistory.org/thomas-lawrence/paris |website=Clio History |access-date=7 February 2025}}</ref> On a few occasions, particularly during the final campaign into [[Syria]], this number grew significantly. The [[Arab Bureau]] of the British Empire in [[Cairo]] believed that the revolt would draw the support of all Arabs throughout the Ottoman Empire and Arab lands.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Deringil |first=Selim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_qdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT20 |title=The Ottoman Twilight in the Arab Lands: Turkish Memoirs and Testimonies of the Great War |date=2019 |publisher=Academic Studies Press |isbn=978-1-64469-090-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Provence |first=Michael |title=Arab Officers in the Ottoman Army |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/arab_officers_in_the_ottoman_army |website=[[1914-1918-online|1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War]]}}</ref>

Faisal and Sharif Hussein reportedly expected to be joined by 100,000 Arab troops. The large desertions predicted by the British Arab Bureau never materialized, as the majority of Arab officers remained loyal to the Ottomans until the end.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Fromkin |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OV0i1mJdNSwC&pg=PA219 |title=A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East |date=2010 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-1-4299-8852-0 |language=en}}</ref> Many Arabs joined the Revolt sporadically, often as a campaign was in progress, or only when the fighting entered their home region.<ref>Murphy, pp. 20–21.</ref> During the [[Battle of Aqaba]], for instance, while the initial Arab force numbered only a few hundred, over a thousand more from local tribes joined them for the final assault on [[Aqaba]]. Estimates of Faisal's effective forces vary, but through most of 1918 at least, they may have numbered as high as 30,000 men, though it is claimed that the initial forces numbered at 70,000,<ref>{{cite web |title=Arab Revolt |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095420993 |website=Oxford Reference |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=7 February 2025}}</ref> and even 100,000+.<ref>{{cite web |title=Secretary’s Notes of a Conversation Held in M. Pichon’s Room at the Quai d’Orsay, Paris, on Thursday, 6 February, 1919, at 3 p.m. |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1919Parisv03/d61 |website=Office of the Historian |publisher=Department of State, United States of America |access-date=7 February 2025}}</ref>

The [[Hashemites|Hashemite Army]] comprised two distinctive forces: tribal irregulars who waged a guerrilla war against the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[Sharifian Army]], which was recruited from Ottoman Arab POWs and fought in conventional battles.<ref>Murphy, pp. 20–23.</ref> Hashemite forces were initially poorly equipped, but later received significant supplies of weapons, most notably rifles and machine guns from [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and [[French Third Republic|France]].<ref>Murphy, pp. 21–22.</ref>

In the early days of the revolt, Faisal's forces were largely made up of [[Bedouin]]s and other nomadic desert tribes, who were only loosely allied, loyal more to their respective tribes than the overall cause.<ref name="Murphy, David page 21">Murphy, p. 21.</ref> The Bedouin would not fight unless paid in advance with gold coin.<ref>[[Michael Korda]], ''Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia'' {{ISBN|978-0-06-171261-6}}, p. 19</ref> By the end of 1916, the French had spent 1.25 million gold [[French franc|francs]] in subsidizing the revolt.<ref name="Murphy, David page 21"/> By September 1918, the British were spending [[Pound sterling|£]]220,000/month to subsidize the revolt.<ref name="Murphy, David page 21"/>

Faisal had hoped that he could convince Arab troops serving in the Ottoman Army to mutiny and join his cause, but the [[State organisation of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman government]] sent most of its Arab troops to the Western front-lines of the war, and thus only a handful of deserters actually joined the Arab forces until later in the campaign.<ref name="Murphy, David page 24">Murphy, p. 24.</ref>

By the beginning of the First World War, Arab conscripts constituted about 30% of the wartime [[Military of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman military]] of 3 million, serving in all ranks, from the lowest to the highest, and forming a crucial component of the [[Ottoman Army (1861–1922)|Ottoman Army]].<ref name=":2" /><ref>[[New York University]]. Hagop Kevorkian center, Near eastern studies. [https://as.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu-as/nearEast/documents/Schur.Identity_LessonPlan_WEBVERSION.pdf World War I and the Middle East]. Oct 24–25, 2015</ref> Ottoman troops in the Hejaz numbered 20,000 men by 1917.<ref name="Murphy, David page 24"/> At the outbreak of the revolt in June 1916, the VII Corps of the [[Fourth Army (Ottoman Empire)|Fourth Army]] was stationed in the Hejaz. It was joined by the 58th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Necib Pasha, the 1st ''Kuvvie- Mürettebe'' (Provisional Force) led by General Mehmed Cemal Pasha, which had the responsibility of safeguarding the [[Hejaz railway]] and the [[Hejaz Expeditionary Force]] ({{langx|tr|Hicaz Kuvve-i Seferiyesi}}), which was under the command of General [[Fakhri Pasha]].<ref name="Murphy, David page 24"/>

In face of increasing attacks on the Hejaz railway, the 2nd ''Kuvve i Mürettebe'' was created by 1917.<ref name="Murphy, David page 24"/> The Ottoman force included a number of Arab units who stayed loyal to the [[List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|Sultan-Caliph]] and fought well against the Allies.<ref name="Murphy, David page 24"/>{{efn|During the First World War, between 100,000 and 300,000 Arabs served in the Ottoman Army.<ref name="Karsh, Efraim page 128">Karsh, Efraim ''Islamic Imperialism'', New Haven: Harvard University Press, 2006 p. 128.</ref>}}

The Ottoman troops enjoyed an advantage over the [[Hashemites|Hashemite]] troops at first, in that they were well supplied with modern German weapons.<ref name="Murphy, David page 24"/> The Ottoman forces had the support of both the [[Ottoman Aviation Squadrons]], air squadrons from [[German Empire|Germany]] and the [[Ottoman Gendarmerie]] or ''zaptı''.<ref name="Murphy, David page 23">Murphy, p. 23.</ref> The Ottomans relied upon the support of Emir [[Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Rashid]] of the [[Emirate of Jabal Shammar]], whose tribesmen dominated what is now northern [[Saudi Arabia]], and tied down both the Hashemites and Saʻudi forces with the threat of their raiding attacks.<ref>Murphy, p. 15.</ref>

The great weakness of the Ottoman forces was they were at the end of a long and tenuous supply line in the form of the Hejaz railway, and because of their logistical weaknesses, were often forced to fight on the defensive.<ref name="Murphy, David page 24"/> Ottoman offensives against the Hashemite forces more often faltered due to supply problems than to the actions of the enemy.<ref name="Murphy, David page 24"/>

The main contribution of the Arab Revolt to the war was to pin down tens of thousands of Ottoman troops who otherwise might have been used to attack the [[Suez Canal]] and conquering [[Damascus]], allowing the British to undertake offensive operations with a lower risk of counter-attack. This was the British justification for supporting the revolt, a textbook example of [[asymmetric warfare]] that has been studied time and again by military leaders and historians alike.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/who-was-lawrence-of-arabia | title=Who Was Lawrence of Arabia? }}</ref>