the arab revolt was a revolt of various arab tribes who came together and fought against the ottoman empire during world war i. up until before the first world war the arabs had been subjects to the ottomans. the revolt was launched by the shairf of mecca, hussein bin ali, after he had made a deal with the british empire, who wanted to defeat the ottomans. in this deal the british empire promised sharif hussein and the leader of the arabs an independent arab state in exchange for their attack against the ottoman empire. this agreement is known as the hussein-mcmahon correspondance. on june 10th, 1916, the arab revolt began in mecca and was led by sharif hussein's son emir faysal and t.e. lawrence, also known as "lawrence of arabia". on 1st october 1918, faysal and the arabs reached damascus, installing an arab government under british supervision. however, although the ottomans were defeated, the british did not keep their promise, and the arab world would be instead come under indirect and direct influence of the british and the french powers.