Hussein, Sharīf (1853?-1931), was an Arab leader who helped end the Ottoman Empire’s control of parts of the Middle East. He became emir (prince) of Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia, in 1908. He became king of Hejaz, a region in the western part of the Arabian Peninsula, in 1916. Hussein wanted to form a single Arab kingdom that stretched from Syria in the north to Yemen in the south. He did not achieve this goal, but his revolt against the Ottomans helped bring about the formation of several Arab states.
Hussein bin Ali was born in Istanbul, in present-day Turkey, in about 1853. He was a member of a leading Arab Muslim family known as the Hashemites. The Hashemites trace their ancestry back to Muhammad, the prophet whose life and teachings form the basis of Islam.
The Ottoman Empire, based in what is now Turkey, had conquered most of the Arab lands of the Middle East in the 1500’s. By the early 1900’s, however, the empire’s power had greatly declined. During World War I (1914-1918), Hussein led an Arab revolt against the Ottomans. His sons served as commanders of Arab forces. The United Kingdom was also fighting against the Ottoman Empire at that time, because the Ottomans were allies of Germany in World War I. The British supported the Arab revolt, and the Ottomans were defeated in the Middle East.
After World War I, the victorious Allies controlled most of the former Ottoman territories. Hussein was unhappy with the postwar agreements, which did not provide for a unified Arab kingdom. In 1924, Ibn Saud, a rival Arab leader, severely defeated Hussein’s forces. Hussein gave up his throne and went into exile in Cyprus. Hussein’s eldest son, Ali, then became king. However, Ali had to surrender the throne the following year, when Ibn Saud conquered the rest of Hejaz. Ibn Saud later united his territories to form Saudi Arabia. Hussein died in Amman, in what is now Jordan, on June 4, 1931.
In the decades following World War I, a number of former Ottoman lands became independent Arab states. Such states included Iraq in 1932, Lebanon in 1943, and Syria and Jordan (initially called Transjordan) in 1946. Hussein’s son Abdullah began ruling Transjordan as emir in 1921 and later became the first king of Jordan. Hussein’s son Faisal ruled briefly as king of Syria in 1920 and was king of Iraq from 1921 to 1933.
See also Abdullah I; Faisal I.
