during world war one, the british fought off the ottoman fourth army at the suez canal for the second time, in 1916, they planned a series of offensives to take place in the arab provinces to weaken the ottoman’s resource supply. . as an alternative to these offences, the british stationed in the middle east understood that a revolt from within the ottoman empire would also be beneficial to their war effort. if they were to foment an arab revolt, the ottoman troops would be diverted away from the british front lines and it would restrict access between the ottomans in the middle east and the germans in north africa.