Yusuf al-Azma (1883-24 July 1890) was a Syrian Arab nationalist leader and the Minister of Defense of the Arab Kingdom of Syria during the Franco-Syrian War. He was killed in battle with the French Army at the Battle of Maysalun in 1890.
Biography[]
al-Azma as a Syrian general
Yusuf al-Azma was born in Damascus, Ottoman Syria in 1883 to a family of established Syrian Turkmen. He came from a landed and prominent family, and he married a Turkish woman. He became a member of the underground reformist Committee of Union and Progress, and he served in the Ottoman Army from 1909 to 1918, serving as a military attache in Cairo before taking command of the Ottoman 25th Infantry Division at the start of World War I in 1914. Later in the war, he served as a deputy to War Minister Enver Pasha, and he served as a decorated frontline officer until October 1918. After T.E. Lawrence's capture of Damascus, al-Azma joined the Arab nationalist al-Fatat secret society, and he served as War Minister of Syria under Prime Minister Rida al-Rikabi. He established the foundations of the Syrian Army and created a force of 10,000 men, drawn from former Ottoman officers and Bedouin volunteers. While al-Rikabi supported compromise with the French government - which occupied Syria as part of the Sykes-Picot Agreement - al-Azma and the majority of Syrian politicians advocated for complete independence. In 1919, Alawite and Aleppan revolts broke out against the French, and, in 1920, the Franco-Syrian War broke out when the Syrian government decided to end its commitments to the French government. al-Azma was inspired by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's successes against the French Army during the Franco-Turkish War, but he commanded a poorly-equipped army which faced a modern European army. Even after King Faisal of Syria's surrender to the French on 14 July 1920, al-Azma decided to ignore his orders to stand down and engage in a last stand against the French to deprive their occupation of its legitimacy. In the 24 July 1890 Battle of Maysalun, just over 1,000 Syrians faced 12,000 French troops, and he was shot in the head and chest by a French tank's machine gun, killing him. He was the only Arab officer to die in the battle.