Karak revolt

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Karak Revolt
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Karak revolt
Syria Vilayet
Date4–10 December 1910
Location31°10′50″N 35°42′05″E / 31.180556°N 35.701389°E / 31.180556; 35.701389
Result

Rebellion suppressed:

  • Execution of ten revolt leaders
Belligerents
 Ottoman Empire Inhabitants of Al-Karak
Commanders and leaders
Sami Pasha Muhemet Tahir Pasha
Karak revolt is located in Jordan
Karak revolt
Location within Jordan

The Karak revolt was an uprising against

Damascus, wanted to apply the same measures of conscription, taxation, and disarmament to the inhabitants of Al-Karak that previously provoked the Hauran Druze Rebellion.[2]

Al-Karak rose in revolt days after the arrival of an Ottoman census team, and insurgency quickly spread to neighboring towns of

Hejaz Railway. Sami Pasha's forces ended the revolt with a random massacre,[3] hundreds of people were imprisoned and ten revolt leaders were executed. The brutal suppression of the revolt had greatly angered the Karakis and is thought to have contributed to their support of the 1916 Great Arab Revolt.[4]

Background

Saray
following the Revolt

After the rise of

Al-Salt and Madaba issued identity papers as a prelude to conscription.[5][6]

Sami Pasha sent a telegram on 6 November 1910 from Jabal Druze to the Al-Karak

Mutasarrıf Muhemet Tahir Pasha, requesting that the residents of the town demonstrate their loyalty to the Empire by ceding their weapons and submitting to personal registration. This was seen differently by the local population; measures of disarmament and conscription.[1] The Mutasarrıf conveyed the message to the residents, who responded by requesting that they be allowed to keep their weapons for protection against Bedouin raiders. Sami Pasha assured them that the state would only conduct registration of people and lands but sent a large number of troops into the area, undermining his credibility.[5]

Rebellion

Troops of Sami Pasha at Daraa, responsible for ending the Hauran Druze Rebellion, were also dispatched to suppress Karak revolt

The Ottoman troops arrived in Al-Karak and conducted a census as if they had no intention of conscripting, while the Karakis went along with the census as if they had no intent on rebelling. Ottoman census teams conducted registration for 15 days without collecting weapons. At the same time, Qadr

saray (Ottoman headquarters) and distributed all the weapons they found in its arsenal. The rebels burnt records, governmental buildings, an Ottoman Bank branch, prisons, courts, the homes of Ottoman figures, and even the mosque.[5]

The rebels acted without strategy: they only wanted to eliminate any Ottoman presence in their lives, almost temporarily ignoring the fact that behind the local government lay a large empire. Sami Pasha arrived at Al-Karak from Damascus with an army ten days later, intending to free the besieged officials in the castle and to restore Ottoman rule. The revolt in Al-Karak revealed the limits of Ottoman rule in Transjordan; measures of registration and conscription accepted in the northern towns of Ajloun and Al-Salt, provoked a large scale rebellion in the southern towns. Ajloun and Al-Salt had been Ottoman kazas for 43 years, while Al-Karak had only been so for 17 years.[5]

Aftermath

Qadr Majali between Karak notables following the Revolt

Sami Pasha's forces suppressed the revolt with an indiscriminate massacre,[3] and the leaders of the revolt were executed; 5 in Damascus and another 5 in Al-Karak as an example to their fellow villagers. The inhabitants of Al-Karak were forced to pay compensation for all the damage done to state property. Hundreds of Karakis were imprisoned in Damascus and given harsh sentences ranging from years of hard labour to lifetime imprisonment.[7] The demographic and economic recovery of Al-Karak was further undermined by the brutal suppression of the uprising.[8] A general amnesty in 1912 ended the matter and released the prisoners from the revolt.[3] The brutal suppression of the revolt greatly angered the locals and is thought to have contributed to their support of the 1916 Great Arab Revolt.[4]

See also

References