Sharifian Army

Sharifian Army
Unit name	Sharifian Army
Dates	1916–1925
Country	Hejaz; later Kingdom of Hejaz and Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
Allegiance	Hashemite dynasty
Branch	Land forces
Type	Irregular militia; proto-regular army
Size	Variable; thousands at peak
Battles	Arab Revolt, World War I, Battle of Aqaba, Siege of Medina, postwar engagements
Notable commanders	Sharif Hussein bin Ali, Faysal I of Iraq, Abdullah I of Jordan, Auda abu Tayi

Sharifian Army The Sharifian Army was the armed force raised under the authority of Sharif Hussein bin Ali of Mecca during the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and maintained by the Hashemite dynasty through the postwar period. It operated alongside and in coordination with units of the British Empire, notably the British Army, Royal Air Force, and Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and played a central role in campaigns across the Hejaz, Transjordan, Syria, and Iraq. The force evolved from tribal levies into a hybrid of irregulars and emerging regular formations under leaders who later became monarchs in Iraq, Jordan, and the Kingdom of Hejaz.

Origins and Formation

The Sharifian Army emerged from the political ambitions of Sharif Hussein bin Ali and the strategic calculations of the British government during the First World War, formalized after correspondence with Sir Henry McMahon and coordination with T. E. Lawrence and Edmund Allenby. Initial recruits included Bedouin tribes such as the Banu Sakhr and Howeitat, led by chiefs like Auda abu Tayi and allied with urban notables from Mecca and Medina. Early organization drew on Ottoman-era structures from the Hejaz Vilayet and volunteer contingents raised in Ta'if and Jeddah, later supplemented by recruits from Hauran, Najd and Irbid. British liaison with the Arab Bureau and the Middle East Department facilitated arms, advisors, and recognition that shaped formation.

Organizational Structure and Command

Command of the force was vested in members of the Hashemite dynasty, principally Sharif Hussein bin Ali and his sons Faysal I of Iraq and Abdullah I of Jordan, who acted as operational commanders and political proxies. The chain of command blended tribal sheikhs, former Ottoman officers, and volunteers influenced by figures such as Auda abu Tayi and the British officer T. E. Lawrence. Units were organized into irregular camel corps, mounted contingents, infantry detachments, and ad hoc artillery teams acquired from Indian Army and Royal Navy stocks. Liaison structures linked the Sharifian command with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, British Indian Army, and the Royal Flying Corps, later the Royal Air Force, for combined operations and intelligence sharing.

Role in the Arab Revolt and World War I

During the Arab Revolt, the Sharifian Army conducted raids, sieges, and conventional assaults against Ottoman Empire garrisons along the Hejaz Railway, participated in the capture of Aqaba during the Battle of Aqaba, and cooperated in the wider Sinai and Palestine Campaign culminating in Jerusalem's capture alongside Allenby. Operations included the siege of Medina and raids in Daraa and Damascus that intersected with the advances of Faysal I of Iraq and the arrival of French Army forces during the Sykes–Picot Agreement aftermath. The Sharifian forces profited from British logistical support, including munitions from Royal Ordnance Factory stocks and training from officers attached to the Arab Bureau and Military Mission in the Hejaz.

Postwar Activities and Political Influence

After World War I, elements of the force followed Faysal I of Iraq into the Syro–Arab Kingdom of Syria and later into the Kingdom of Iraq, while other contingents accompanied Abdullah I of Jordan into the Emirate of Transjordan and the Kingdom of Hejaz under Sharif Hussein. The Sharifian Army influenced state formation in Iraq and Transjordan, contributing officers and cadres to nascent national armies and policing units, and interacting with the League of Nations mandates administered by United Kingdom and France. Internal conflicts, such as disputes with the House of Saud leading to the Conquest of the Hejaz and the 1924–25 fall of Mecca and Medina, saw the Sharifian forces engaged against the Sultanate of Nejd and Ikhwan irregulars, reshaping Hashemite territorial control.

Equipment, Uniforms, and Logistics

Armaments were a mixture of captured Ottoman Empire materiel, British-supplied rifles and machine guns from Lee–Enfield stocks, and locally procured swords and sabers typical of Bedouin contingents. Transport combined camels and horses with motor vehicles supplied via Suez Canal routes and Aden docks; artillery pieces often came from Royal Artillery allocations. Uniforms ranged from traditional Bedouin robes and keffiyeh headgear to British-style khaki tunics issued by the British Army and patched by local tailors in Amman and Mecca. Supply chains depended on the Royal Navy for coastal resupply and on overland caravans linking Medina to Damascus and Cairo through Hejaz Railway disruptions.

Legacy and Historiography

The Sharifian Army's legacy is contested across Middle Eastern studies, British imperial history, and national narratives in Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Historians associated with the Arab Bureau, such as Gertrude Bell and T. E. Lawrence, shaped early accounts, while later scholarship in Ottoman studies and Postcolonial studies has re-evaluated tribal dynamics, the impact of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, and Hashemite statecraft. The force's transformation into regular militaries influenced the officer corps of the Iraqi Army and the Jordanian Armed Forces, and its campaigns are memorialized in national histories and museums in Amman, Baghdad, and Riyadh. Debates continue in academic journals and at institutions like the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies and School of Oriental and African Studies over the Sharifian Army's role in state formation, imperial collaboration, and regional geopolitics.

Category:Military units and formations of the Arab Revolt Category:History of the Hashemite dynasty