Arab Revolt Quotes
The British were trying to enlist the aid of the Arabs in fighting against the Ottoman Turks who had controlled all of the Middle East in the name of Islam. There was another clause in the letter excepting the areas that Britain had agreements with France and Russia. However, unknown to the Sherif there was the Sykes-Picot treaty which had secret clauses giving Syria, Damascus and other prime areas to the French. The English could not guarantee independence to much of the Arab Mideast.
Sharif Husain was the leader of the Hashemite Tribes who had agreed with the British to lead a Hashemite Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turks in exchange for the Hashimites to have their own independent state—Jordan. This also explains the close relationship between Jordan and Britain. The notion of enslavement to the British illustrates a blind spot that the Ottoman Empire had in its waning years. The Ottoman Sultan had the power of life and death over everyone in the empire, and Istanbul appointed all public officials for all jurisdictions, and made laws that applied to all. The Hashemites would instead have their own nation, make their own laws and would by subject to British foreign policy to the extent that the British guaranteed their independence from the Sultan and the Ottomans. They regarded it as freedom and not slavery.
