Hejaz (The vanquished North)

Hejaz
Timeline: The vanquished North
OTL equivalent: Hejaz, Jordan, parts of the the West Bank and East Jerusalem

Flag Coat of Arms
Capital (and largest city)	Medina
Other cities	Mecca, Jedda, Yanbu, Tabuk, Amman
Language   official	Arabic and English
others	Javanese and Turkish
Demonym	Hejazi/Hijazi
King	Abdullah II
Royal house:	Hashem
Area	459,630 km²
Population	20,565,000
Independence	from Ottoman Empire
declared	1918

Hejaz, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz and Transjordan, and occasionally the Caliphate of Hejaz, is a country in Western Asia. Borders Nejd to the South and East, Syria to the North and Israel to the North-West. It is most famous for it's possession of the city of Mecca.

History

Muhammad began preaching a new monotheistic religion called Islam. Like other major religions it was persecuted in it's early history, but unlike others it's Prophet was a leader of an Empire.

The new Rashidun Caliphate conquered the entire Sassanid Empire and a large portion of the Byzantine Empire. The word "Caliph" can be hard for Christians in the western world to understand, some compare it to "Pope", but it would be more accurate to compare it to "Christ". If the title of "Christ" had been passed down to Jesus' successors, giving control of not just the spiritual lives of all Christians but also the throne of the largest Empire the world has yet seen, it would compare quite well to what the word "Caliph" means to Muslims. The Qur'an also mandates that every Muslim that can must make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives, this is known as the "Hajj".

After the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate Arabia returned to tribal life, but with the Islamic faith. Mecca and Medina were still large urban areas, soo on par with Baghdad in terms of education or economic importance but it is easily eclipsed by Mecca and Medina's spiritual importance. Umayyad civil wars and Kharijite rebellions both led to periods of violence in Mecca.

The Hashemite family, direct descendants of Muhammad, ruled the regions of Hejaz but usually as vassals to larger states like the Abbasids, Fatimids, Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans. The Ottomans ruled the region from 1517 to 1918. Strangely, the Ottomans ruled the regions as more of a colonial possession than a revered area.

World War I, Arab Revolt and Sykes-Picot

When World War One began the Ottoman Sultan declared a Jihad against the Allies, the British wanted to make the Sharif of Mecca reverse this, so the average Muslim would be a little more approving of Western European nations. The British already had a treaty with Sharif Hussein bin Ali, to help secure the Red Sea trade route connecting India to Britain. The secularism of the Ottomans eventually convinced Hussein that the Turks could be a threat.

Arab guerilla fighters in a trench, c. 1917

Hussein began a revolt against the Ottomans with British assistance. The combined Anglo-Arab force fought as far North as Aleppo. Hussein's dream of a united Arab state fell apart when it was revealed that the British and French planned on partitioning the Middle East. After lengthy negotiations and occasional violence the borders drawn at conferences were agreed too.

Hussein became the King of Hejaz, and the deal was that his three sons would also be Kings. Abdullah would become King of Transjordan (which had been broken off from the Mandate of Palestine at the suggestion of Winston Churchill's White Papers) while Faisal became King of Iraq. Ali was designated as the heir of Hejaz.

Arabian War and creation of the United Kingdom

Hejaz soon became involved in warfare with several nearby countries, notably Nejd (ruled by the House of Saud) and the new Kingdom of Yemen. The British decided that the Hashemite Kingdoms of the Middle East were preserving peace (from their perspective Arabs would not revolt against monarchs that were descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, but they would revolt if these new states started to fail). As such, the British chose to support Hejaz against the Saudis, who fell back on their other alliances, notably an alliance with the Soviets. Yemen was also backed by Italy, although the Yemenis lost the region of Asir to the Saudis. In the end Hejaz managed to hold out due to support from Britain, Jordan and Iraq (which led to a failed Saudi punitive expedition against Iraq). Hejaz remained as an independent state until 1935, when King Ali bin Hussein died without a male heir, resulting in the throne passing to his uncle Abdullah, the King of Jordan. This act resulted in the creation of the United Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz and Transjordan.

World War II

During World War II, the Fascist powers of the Middle East, led by Turkey, expanded rapidly at the expense of their neighbours. The planned invasion of the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz and Transjordan was motivated both by Ottoman irridentism as well as a desire to capture the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina to create a Pro-Axis Caliphate. In 1941 the Turkish invaded the British Mandate of Palestine and created a puppet state led by Amin al Husseini. The plan was now to expand the Fascist State of Palestine to include the territory of Hejaz as well, and possibly to create a new Caliphate out of this state, especially since Amin al Husseini himself had once been the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The invasion of Hejaz led to a major backlash from Muslims around the world, and many arrived to fight as volunteers against the Axis. The invaders here never able to seize the main cities that they wanted to, and requested Italian assistance (due to nearby Italian East Africa) although this was unsuccessful, as was trying to get Yemen to join the Axis Powers. The Red Sea campaign turned out to be a waste for the Axis, as it tide of war eventually turned against the Axis, and it proved to be a distraction from larger fronts like those in Egypt, Iran and Russia. The arrival of Allied reinforcements allowed the Royal Army of Hejaz to push back the Turks and liberate Jordan. Hejazi forces continued to fight as a member of the Allies for the rest of the War.

First Arab-Israeli War

In the aftermath of World War Two, much of what was once the Mandate of Palestine was under the control of Jewish Partisans, mainly the the Haganah, Irgun and Lehi united to form the United Zionist Republic of Israel (UZRI) in 1945, while the Communist and Arab Christian Partisans still controlled Galilee, West Bank, Negev, Gaza and parts of Jerusalem. On top of that the Black Hand collaborators remained in control of some territory around Nazareth. Civil war seemed imminent until the Arab league invaded Israel in 1946.

Egypt advanced quickly, taking Gaza and they continued with the goal of taking Tel Aviv. In the east, the elite Hejazi troops beat every Israeli force that was sent against them, while the Knights of Saint Thomas (An Arab Christian partisan group) turned their rifles against the Jews that they had once fought alongside. After the Battle of Ramallah, the Hejazis and their Christian allies encircled Jerusalem and put it under siege, although they were defeated in a battle inside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Jerusalem. The Egyptian and Hejazi armies then partitioned the Negev. While that was happening, Syria took the Galilee and Lebanon took a strip of land near its border. The Black Hand worked closely with Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi forces.

All Communist areas of Israel were now under Arab occupation and many Maki fighters fled to UZRI territory. The Maki were promised a position in the Knesset on the condition that they get Israel alliances with the Warsaw Pact members, notably Czechoslovakia and the USSR. New Soviet and Czech weapons allowed Israel to beat back the Egyptians despite heavy casualties. They recaptured the Negev by linking up with Maki partisans but failed to make many gains against Hejaz or Syria.

The final phase of the war was an Israeli attempt to relive the Siege of Jerusalem.

Demographics

Ethnic Arabs are the majority at 95% of the total population.

The first Indonesians in Hejaz were merchants and pilgrims. Today many are Santri students. There has been some intermarriage between Indonesians and Arabs. Some have estimated that 50% of Meccans are Indonesian. Indonesians continue to be the largest foreign born group in the country, although Arabic is becoming more common than Javanese.

Many Turks settled in Hejaz following the Ottoman conquest of the region. Turkish people became a sizable minority in the region and most chose to stay following independence. Immigration from Turkey continues today, mostly religious pilgrims who chose to stay in Hejaz.

Following the Russo-Circassian war and subsequent Circassian genocide many Circassians fled to the Ottoman Empire, mostly the Balkans and Anatolia. The Russo-Turkish war led to Circassians fleeing across the Mediterranean to Egypt. Others were settled in Syria and Jordan by the Ottomans, with the goal of creating agricultural settlements and a buffer between Turkey and Bedouins. It was the Circassians who founded the city of Amman. There was tension between the Circassians and local Bedouins, as the Circassians were on lands of the nomadic Bedouin. Many Circassians worked in agriculture, railroad construction or in the military. Today a group of Circassians serve as the King's bodyguards.

Assyrians are mostly recent immigrants from Iraq.

Kurdish people have lived in Hejaz since the days of Saladin. Immigration continued during the Ottoman period.

Chechens have a history that is very similar to the Circassians. They founded the city of Zarqa.

During the Armenian genocide some Armenians fled to Jordan to escape the Ottomans.