Siege of Medina

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Siege of Medina

Part of the First World War

Date	June-1916, January, 1919
Location	Medina, Arabia
Result	Victory of Sharif Husain of Makkah

Belligerents

Banu Hashim

Ottoman Empire

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 Great Britain. T. E. Lawrence was instrumental in this revolt. Sharif occupied Mecca and besieged Medina.

[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.

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 bin Hussein, 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.