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| Battle of Mecca | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofArab Revolt of theMiddle Eastern theatre of World War I | |||||||||
 Mecca in 1910 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Arab rebels |  Ottoman Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Hussein bin AliFaisal bin HusseinAli bin Hussein | Fakhri Pasha | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 5,000 | 1,000[1] | ||||||||
TheBattle of Mecca occurred in theMuslim holy city ofMecca in June and July 1916. On June 10, theSharif of Mecca,Hussein bin Ali, the leader of theBanu Hashim clan, started a revolt against theOttomanCaliphate from this city. The Battle of Mecca was part of theArab Revolt ofWorld War I.
TheSharif of Mecca was planning to make anArab state fromAden toAleppo. For this purpose he sought the help of theBritish. He prepared his four sons too for this ambitious adventure.
In early June 1916, most of theOttoman garrison had gone toTaif, a hill station near Mecca accompanying Ghalib Pasha, the governor ofHijaz. Only 1,000 men were left to defend Mecca. Many of them were asleep in barracks in the valley on June 10 whenHussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, fired a shot into the air from the window of the Hashemite palace signaling the beginning of the Arab Revolt. Hearing this his 5,000 supporters started firing on Turkish troops in three fortresses overlooking the holy city, and at the Jirwall barracks on Jeddah road. The attack upon the Turkish forces was sudden and their acting commanding officer was unaware that a revolt had started. As Sharif's and the Ottoman banners were of same colour, the Turkish commander could not see the difference, and telephoned SharifHussein about the situation and was told the reason and was told to surrender. He refused. The Ottoman troops responded by bombarding Mecca from the heights; during the bombardment, they hit theKaaba and set fire to the veil that covered it.[2] This incident was later exploited by the propaganda of theGreat Arab Revolt to attempt to demonstrate the impiety of the Ottomans and the legitimacy of the revolt as a holy war.[2]
The battle started and continued. On the next day, Banu Hashim's forces advanced and captured Bash-Karakol[3] at Safa corner adjacent to theMasjid al-Haram. On the third day, Hamidia, the Ottoman Government Office, was captured, as well as the Deputy Governor. Now the captive Deputy Governor ordered his remainingTurkish troops to surrender. They refused.
A stalemate resulted. SirReginald Wingate sent two artillery pieces from Sudan via Jeddah, with trained Egyptian gunners. They breached the walls of the Turkish fort. The Sharifian army attacked and the fate of the defenders was sealed. On July 4, 1916, the last Turkish resistance in Mecca, Jirwal barracks, capitulated, after three weeks of stubborn resistance.
This battle marked the beginning of the end of theOttoman Empire, and it also sparked the beginning of theHashemite Kingdom of Hejaz whose capital wasMecca. Gradually, this kingdom expanded northward. This battle left deep scars in the Middle East. Arab states came under strong European influence. TheOttoman caliphate ended andPalestine came under British rule, leading to the eventual creation of the state ofIsrael. TheSharif of Mecca was himself deposed by the rivalIbn Saud and his dream of an Arabian state stretching fromYemen toSyria remained unrealized.