June 1916, the Hijaz. Sharif Hussein of Mecca proclaims a revolt against the Ottoman sultan, and his sons Faisal and Abdullah lead Bedouin forces north with British gold and a British liaison officer, T. E. Lawrence. They believe they are earning an Arab kingdom. Britain and France have already divided the region on paper in the Sykes–Picot agreement.
The pressure
The Ottoman Empire has joined Germany, which makes its Arab provinces a British and French war aim. Arab nationalists had been meeting in Damascus and Paris before the war. Britain's promises to Hussein, to France, and in 1917 to the Zionists in the Balfour Declaration cannot all be kept.
Which future
Arab nationalists hope for one state, or several. London and Paris want control under League of Nations 'mandates', rule in trust until the locals are judged ready. Zionists build toward the national home in Palestine that Balfour promised. These futures do not fit on one map.
What survived
Faisal's kingdom in Damascus lasts until a French army ends it in 1920. Britain makes him king of Iraq instead, and his brother Abdullah emir of Transjordan. Iraq is independent on paper in 1932; Palestine rises in revolt in 1936. These borders are about a century old.
Whose story
Arab historians put Faisal and the nationalists at the centre; Western ones have too often put Lawrence there. Liberation or betrayal depends on whether the story stops in 1918 or in 1920.