Yusuf al-'Azma
| Yusuf al-'Azma یوسف العظمة |
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|---|---|
Portrait of Yusuf al-'Azma
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| Minister of War and Chief of General Staff | |
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In office January 1920 – 24 July 1920 |
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| Monarch | Faisal I |
| Prime Minister | Hashim al-Atassi |
| Preceded by |
Office established (Minister of War) Yasin al-Hashimi (Chief of General Staff) |
| Succeeded by | Offices abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1883 Damascus, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 24 July 1920 (aged 36–37) Maysalun, Arab Kingdom of Syria |
| Nationality | Syrian |
| Political party | Al-Fatat |
| Children | Laila |
| Alma mater | Ottoman Military Academy |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Ottoman Empire (to 1918).svg){kind=small} Arab Kingdom of Syria (to 1920) |
| Service/branch |
Ottoman Army (1909–18) Arab Army (1920) |
| Years of service | 1909–18 1920 |
| Battles/wars |
World War I |
World War I
Franco-Syrian War
Yusuf al-'Azma (Arabic: يوسف العظمة, ALA-LC: Yūsuf al-‘Aẓmah; 1883 – 24 July 1920) was the Syrian minister of war in the governments of prime ministers Rida al-Rikabi and Hashim al-Atassi, and the Arab Army's chief of general staff under King Faisal. He served as minister of war from January 1920 until his death while commanding Syrian forces against the French invasion during the Battle of Maysalun.
Al-'Azma was born to a prominent mercantile and landowning Damascene family of Turkmen descent in 1883. Al-'Azma graduated from the Istanbul-based Ottoman Military Academy in 1906 and then underwent additional military training in Germany until returning to Istanbul in 1909. There he enlisted in the Ottoman Army and promptly was assigned as a military attache to Cairo, Egypt. In 1914, al-'Azma served as Commander of the 25th Brigade on the front lines in Bulgaria during World War I. Later during the war, he was reassigned as a deputy of General Enver Pasha (Anwar Pasha) in Istanbul.
Toward the war's end, al-'Azma was appointed chief of staff of the Istanbul-based First Ottoman Army, but soon after defected to the Mecca-based Sharif Hussein who had launched the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916. In October 1918, Damascus was captured by the Sharifian Army under Emir Faisal and British forces, after which al-Azma returned to Damascus. Al-'Azma had joined al-Fatat, an Arab nationalist secret society founded in 1911, although it is not apparent when. He became a personal chamberlain of Emir Faisal and in January 1919, al-'Azma was appointed military attache to Beirut.
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