Kingdom of Hejaz

Kingdom of Hejaz
مملكة الحجاز Mamlakat al-Ḥijāz
1916–1925
Flag Coat of arms
Kingdom of Hejaz (green) and present Hejaz region (red) on the Arabian Peninsula.
Capital		Mecca
Languages		Arabic Ottoman Turkish
Religion		Sunni Islam
Government		Absolute monarchy
King
•	1916–1924	Hussein bin Ali
•	1924–1925	Ali bin Hussein
Historical era		Interwar period
•	Kingdom established	10 June 1916
•	Recognized	10 August 1920
•	Conquered by Nejd	19 December 1925
•	Ibn Saud crowned King of Hejaz	8 January 1926
Population
•	1920 est.	850,000
Preceded by Succeeded by Hejaz Vilayet Kingdom of Hejaz and Sultanate of Nejd Emirate of Transjordan

The Kingdom of Hejaz (Arabic: مملكة الحجاز‎‎, Mamlakat al-Ḥijāz) was a state in the Hejaz region in the Middle East ruled by the Hashemite dynasty. It achieved national independence after the destruction of the Ottoman Empire by the British Empire, during World War I, when the Sharif of Mecca fought in alliance with the British Imperial forces to drive the Turkish Army from the Arabian Peninsula during the Arab Revolt.

The new kingdom had a brief life and then was conquered in 1925 by the neighbouring Sultanate of Nejd under a resurgent House of Saud, creating the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd.

On 23 September 1932, the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd joined the Saudi dominions of Al-Hasa and Qatif, as the unified Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Sharif of Mecca was an office appointed by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in their capacity as Caliph. The role went to a member of the Hashemite family, but the Sultans typically used inter-familial rivalry to pick and choose from among contenders and so ensure that the Sharif remained weak.

With the outbreak of the First World War the Sultan, again in his capacity as Caliph, declared a jihad against the Entente powers and the British, in particular, hoped to co-opt the Sharif as a weighty alternative religious figure backing them in the conflict. The British already had a series of treaties with other Arab leaders in the region and were also fearful that the Hejaz could be used as a base to attack their shipping to and from India. The Sharif was cautious but after discovering that the Ottomans planned to remove him and possibly murder him agreed to work with the British if they would support a wider Arab revolt and the establishment of an independent Arab kingdom. The British implied they would (though were not precise) and, after the Ottomans had executed other Arab nationalist leaders in Damascus and Beirut the Hejaz rose against the Ottomans and soundly defeated their armies, though without completely expelling them (Medina remained under Ottoman control throughout.)