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Middle East · Empire and mandate

Kingdom of Hejaz

Absolute monarchy (Hashemite) · 1916–1925

The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz was born of the Arab Revolt. Hussein bin Ali, a 37th-generation descendant of the Prophet Muhammad of the Dhawu Awn clan, had been appointed Sharif and Emir of Mecca by Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908.

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Type
Absolute monarchy (Hashemite)
Existed
1916–1925
Shown on the map
1916–1925
Capital
Mecca (1916–1924), Jeddah (1924–1925)
Peak area
~435,000 km² (map figure)
Region
Middle East

Origins & rise

The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz was born of the Arab Revolt. Hussein bin Ali, a 37th-generation descendant of the Prophet Muhammad of the Dhawu Awn clan, had been appointed Sharif and Emir of Mecca by Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908. Alarmed by the Young Turks' centralizing and secularizing policies — and by intelligence that they planned to depose him — Hussein opened secret negotiations with the British. The McMahon–Hussein correspondence (1915–16) appeared to promise an independent Arab kingdom, and on 10 June 1916 Hussein proclaimed the Great Arab Revolt, his Sharifian Army seizing Mecca, Jeddah, and Taif. He at first styled himself "King of the Arab Countries," but the Allies would recognize him only as King of the Hejaz, a title Britain, France, and Russia formally acknowledged in December 1916.

History & key rulers

Hussein ruled from 1916 to 1924, his kingdom recognized internationally by the Treaty of Sèvres in August 1920. But the postwar settlement betrayed his pan-Arab hopes: Syria went to France, and Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan became British mandates (though his sons Faisal and Abdullah were installed in Baghdad and Amman — the "Sharifian solution"). Hussein refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, declaring he could not "affix his name to a document assigning Palestine to the Zionists and Syria to foreigners," and rejected treaty after treaty with London. In March 1924, after the Turkish Grand National Assembly abolished the caliphate, Hussein proclaimed himself Caliph — a move that alienated both the British and much of the Muslim world and gave his rival, Abdulaziz Ibn Saud of Nejd, a pretext. The Saudi Ikhwan forces invaded in 1924, taking Taif and Mecca; Hussein abdicated on 3 October 1924 in favor of his son Ali, who ruled from Jeddah until the city fell in December 1925.

Government, religion & culture

The kingdom was an absolute monarchy ruling a Sunni Arab society organized around the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the port of Jeddah, and the pilgrimage economy. Its currency was the Hejazi riyal; its population was about 850,000–900,000. Hussein's court cultivated a distinctly Hashemite, religiously legitimist Arab nationalism, and the flag of the Arab Revolt became the ancestor of several modern Arab national flags.

Peak & territory

At its greatest extent the kingdom covered the western strip of the Arabian Peninsula from near Aqaba (claimed, contested with Transjordan over the Ma'an sanjak) down toward Asir — on the order of 435,000 km², including the Hejaz railway corridor, though Ottoman-held Medina only fell in January 1919.

Decline & legacy

Deprived of British subsidies and diplomatic cover, the kingdom collapsed before Ibn Saud's Wahhabi armies; on 19 December 1925 Ali bin Hussein was deposed, and on 8 January 1926 Ibn Saud was crowned King of the Hejaz, merging the kingdom into the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (Saudi Arabia from 1932). The dynasty survived elsewhere: Hashemite kings still rule Jordan, and ruled Iraq until 1958.

Common questions

What was the Kingdom of Hejaz?
The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz was born of the Arab Revolt. Hussein bin Ali, a 37th-generation descendant of the Prophet Muhammad of the Dhawu Awn clan, had been appointed Sharif and Emir of Mecca by Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908.
When did the Kingdom of Hejaz exist?
The Kingdom of Hejaz existed 1916–1925. On this map it is drawn 1916–1925.
What was the capital of the Kingdom of Hejaz?
The Kingdom of Hejaz was ruled from Mecca (1916–1924), Jeddah (1924–1925).
How large was the Kingdom of Hejaz at its height?
At its greatest extent the kingdom covered the western strip of the Arabian Peninsula from near Aqaba (claimed, contested with Transjordan over the Ma'an sanjak) down toward Asir — on the order of 435,000 km², including the Hejaz railway corridor, though Ottoman-held Medina only fell in January 1919.
Who ruled the Kingdom of Hejaz?
Hussein ruled from 1916 to 1924, his kingdom recognized internationally by the Treaty of Sèvres in August 1920. But the postwar settlement betrayed his pan-Arab hopes: Syria went to France, and Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan became British mandates (though his sons Faisal and Abdullah were installed in Baghdad and Amman — the "Sharifian solution").
How did the Kingdom of Hejaz end?
Deprived of British subsidies and diplomatic cover, the kingdom collapsed before Ibn Saud's Wahhabi armies; on 19 December 1925 Ali bin Hussein was deposed, and on 8 January 1926 Ibn Saud was crowned King of the Hejaz, merging the kingdom into the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (Saudi Arabia from 1932). The dynasty survived elsewhere: Hashemite kings still rule Jordan, and ruled Iraq until 1958.
How was the Kingdom of Hejaz governed?
The kingdom was an absolute monarchy ruling a Sunni Arab society organized around the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the port of Jeddah, and the pilgrimage economy.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated .

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

Around the same time

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