ABSTRACT
The correspondence was between Sir Henry McMahon, then British high commissioner in Egypt, and Hussein bin Ali, the sharif of Mecca. At the time, Britain and France were allied against the Ottoman Empire and Germany in the Great War, or what would come to be known as World War I. Britain controlled Egypt, and the post of high commissioner was equivalent to that of chief diplomat of a province. The Islamic title of sharif referred to the steward of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Arab lands were then part of the vast Ottoman Empire.
