| 1915 uprising in Karbala | |||||||||
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| Part of the Mesopotamian Campaign | |||||||||
 Aerial view of Karbala, 1918 | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
Rebels
|  Ottoman Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| No centralized leadership | Unknown | ||||||||
  Location within Iraq | |||||||||
The 1915 uprising in Karbala was an Arab uprising against the Ottoman Empire that took place in June 1915.
Earlier, the Ottoman defeat in the Battle of Shaiba had damaged the authority of the Ottomans in the eyes of the Arabs, [1] and this was exacerbated by the successful ousting of the Ottomans in an uprising in Najaf, which showed the residents of Karbala the potency of a revolt, which they were willing to participate in since the Ottomans had been plundering food, money, and possessions from Karbalans to support the war effort. [2] Emissaries from Najaf had also begun encouraging an uprising in Karbala. [3] The successful ousting of the Ottomans in Najaf had also turned a potential revolt into a matter of civic pride: popular rhetoric included questions such as "Are the people of Najaf better than us, or braver, or more manly?". [4]
The uprising began on 27 June 1915, [5] when the Bani Hasan tribe attacked government buildings in Karbala. [6] Ottoman deserters were also amongst the rebels. [4] The rebel tribesmen, lacking any centralized leadership, [2] burned municipal buildings, government schools, a hospital, and 200 dwellings in the suburbs, most of them belonging to Persians living and trading in the Arab community. [5] Charles R. H. Tripp notes that although the uprising was anti-Ottoman in a broad sense, it was not in support of the British war effort and instead intended to grant the city higher administrative autonomy. [7] The uprising ended with an Ottoman withdrawal, securing a rebel victory and Karbala's independence from the Ottoman Empire. [6]
After becoming independent from the Ottoman Empire, Karbala turned into a place of refuge for Ottoman deserters. [6] However, Karbala suffered from a lack of centralized leadership, and was unable to establish contact with the British forces to the south due to tribes still loyal to the Ottoman Empire separating them. [6] The Ottoman Empire re-established control of Karbala in 1916 following their victory in the Siege of Kut. [6]
Al-Najaf or An-Najaf al-Ashraf, is a city in central Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2018 was about 747,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate. It is widely considered amongst the holiest cities of Shia Islam and one of its spiritual capitals, whilst also remaining the center of Shia political power in Iraq. It is reputedly the burial place of Muhammad's son in law and cousin, Imam ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib. It is also the location of the largest cemetery in the world, Wadi-us-Salaam, of one of the most important seminaries in the Shi'i Islamic world, and a major pilgrimage destination for Shia Muslims.
Karbala or Kerbala is a city in central Iraq, located about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorate, and has an estimated population of 711,530 people (2018).
Yasin al-Hashimi, born Yasin Hilmi Salman, was an Iraqi politician who twice served as the prime minister. Like many of Iraq's early leaders, al-Hashimi served as a military officer during Ottoman control of the country. He made his political debut under the government of his predecessor, Jafar al-Askari, and replaced him as prime minister shortly after, in August 1924. Al-Hashimi served for ten months before he was replaced, in turn by Abd al-Muhsin as-Sa'dun. Over the next ten years he filled a variety of governmental positions finally returning to the office of prime minister in March 1935. On 30 October 1936, Hashimi became the first Iraqi prime minister to be deposed in a coup, which was led by General Bakr Sidqi and a coalition of ethnic minorities. Unlike al-Askari, who was then his minister of defense, al-Hashimi survived the coup and made his way to Beirut, Lebanon, where he died three months later. His older brother and close ally, Taha al-Hashimi, served as Prime Minister of Iraq in 1941.
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making as an Arabist due to her knowledge and contacts built up through extensive travels. During her lifetime, she was highly esteemed and trusted by British officials such as High Commissioner for Mesopotamia Percy Cox, giving her great influence. She participated in both the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (briefly) and the 1921 Cairo Conference, which helped decide the territorial boundaries and governments of the post-War Middle East as part of the partition of the Ottoman Empire. Bell believed that the momentum of Arab nationalism was unstoppable, and that the British government should ally with nationalists rather than stand against them. Along with T. E. Lawrence, she advocated for independent Arab states in the Middle East following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and supported the installation of Hashemite monarchies in what is today Jordan and Iraq.
The Arab Revolt or the Great Arab Revolt was an armed uprising by the Arabs against the Ottoman Empire amidst the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I.
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The Sharifian Army, also known as the Arab Army, or the Hejazi Army was the military force behind the Arab Revolt which was a part of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. Sharif Hussein Ibn Ali of the Kingdom of Hejaz, who was proclaimed "Sultan of the Arabs" in 1916, led the Sharifian Army in a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire with the ultimate goal of uniting the Arab people under an independent government. Aided both financially and militarily by the British, Husayn's forces gradually moved north through the Hejaz and, fought alongside the British-controlled Egyptian Expeditionary Force, eventually capturing Damascus. Once there, members of the Sharifian Army set up a short-lived monarchy known as the Arab Kingdom of Syria led by Faisal, a son of Sharif Husayn.
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The Oudh Bequest is a waqf which led to the gradual transfer of more than six million rupees from the Indian kingdom of Oudh (Awadh) to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala between 1850 and 1903. The bequest first reached the cities in 1850. It was distributed by two mujtahids, one from each city. The British later gradually took over the bequest and its distribution; according to scholars, they intended to use it as a "power lever" to influence Iranian ulama and Shia. The attempts by the British to disburse the Oudh Bequest was one of the principle causes of the rise of the Society of Islamic Revival in 1918.
The siege of Najaf was an engagement between the British Army and Iraqi rebels in the city of Najaf during the First World War. The city had fallen under the control of four sheikhs in 1915 after an anti-Ottoman uprising, and was put under British control in 1917. In 1918, as it became clear that the British were aiming to occupy rather than liberate Iraq, an anti-British movement named Jam'iya al-Nahda al-Islamiya was formed in Najaf to oppose British rule. The uprising began on 19 March when a British officer, William M. Marshall was murdered in the citadel of Najaf. The British subsequently laid siege to the city on 23 March, cutting all supply routes to the city before it ultimately surrendered on 4 May 1918. Rebel leaders were sentenced to death on 25 May. The siege is often seen as a precursor to the 1920 Iraqi Revolt. The extent of the rebellion's impact on the development of Iraqi nationalism is disputed.
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emissaries from Najaf encouraged similar rebellions in Karbala and nearby Hilla, also predominantly Shi'i.
