Introduction

In the advent and evolution of the Arab nationalist movement and the creation of the Middle East state system, the Hashemites played a prominent and controversial role for much of the twentieth century. For the most part, Hashemite ambitions were not commensurate with their real power and influence. Limited success was therefore as frequent as ignominious failure. The Hashemites owed many of their achievements, moreover, to political co-ordination with Great Britain, the major colonial power in the region. Consequently, after having raised the banner of Arab revolt in 1916 against the Ottomans, as part of the British war effort, the Hashemites were 'at one and the same time . . . the acknowledged leaders of the struggle for "independence" from the Ottomans as well as the conduits of British power' in the Arab world.1