Hussein-McMahon Correspondence

The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence was a series of letters exchanged during World War I between Sharif Hussein of Mecca and Sir Henry McMahon, the British high commissioner in Egypt. In these letters (1915-1916), Britain promised support for Arab independence from the Ottoman Empire in exchange for Arab cooperation against the Ottomans. The correspondence aimed to encourage an Arab revolt by assuring the Arabs they would receive their own territories after the war. However, the later Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration complicated these promises, leading to tensions in the Middle East that persist today.