Setting the scene: British intelligence and an Arab insurrection, 1913–15

Contrary to the conventional view, the actual course of the British government’s alliance with the Hashemite Arab dynasty was not driven by the war’s military requirements, Great Power rivalry or even imperial war aims. Although Britain would declare war on Turkey in November 1914, the substance of British policy towards the Turkish government’s Arab territories would be contested throughout the conflict by departments and administrations from London to North Africa, from the Persian Gulf to the Indian subcontinent. An official definition of Britain’s commitments to the native Arab populations in particular would still be in dispute at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.