Deaths in the Desert

WI the Ottomans had been a little bit more successful in combating the Arab Revolt during WWI, and had the luck of capturing or killing many of its main leaders. Thus, prominent Arabs such as Ibn Saud, Abdullah bin al-Hussein, Emir Faisal, and Hussein bin Ali are all killed in combat, executed by the Ottomans, or otherwise removed from historical importance.

What effects does this have on history? At the very least, I think the histories of Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia would be much more complex and riven apart. In fact, there very well might not be a Saudi Arabia ITTL. What changes would this have on modern times?
 

Raymann

Banned
I think you're putting way too much emphasis on those people you mentioned. Hell the only reason the Hussein family became so successful was because Lawrence liked them.

The Arab 'revolt' was barely one at all, every Arab who fought was doing it because of the massive amounts of money the UK gave them to fight. Their soldiers were only useful in disrupting supply columns, and they weren't that good at that.

The biggest impact the revolt made though was in the post-war borders. It was because Britain looked like at first that it would support Faisal's Syria that France demanded that Lebanon (which France was promised) be made so much larger then it should have been.

Hussein didn't want Palestine at all (he didn't consider them Arab) so that's why Britain made it a separate territory. And finally when Faisal went to Iraq, he made sure that Britain did not go though a proposal to break Iraq into three countries.

Odds are though, take those men out of the picture and T.E. Lawrence would have found other men to take their place. He was charged with finding Arab leaders so the UK could inspire a revolt, the problem was simply that even though the Arabs did feel they were repressed, they simply weren't going to change Muslim masters for Christian ones.
 
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