MECCA HEJAZ RAILROAD MEDAL_6

The building of a railway was announced by Sultan Abdulhamid II in 1900 that was to be financed and operated entirely by Ottoman subjects (although the principal engineer was German). Suspicious of foreigners, but unable to maintain power without their help, Abdulhamid recognized that the construction of a railway to the holy cities of Medina and Mecca would not only improve his image as Caliph of Islam but also increase the tenuous hold that the Empire had on the distant reaches of the Arabian peninsula (see 1st Yemen and 2nd Yemen campaign medals). The railway was never completed, however, as violent opposition from Arab rebels prevented the construction crews from reaching Mecca. The Turkish Ministry of War took over the administration of the railway in 1911, and during World War I it became the target of Arab guerillas organized by the Sherif of Mecca, Hussein Ibn Ali, his son Prince Faisal, and a British officer named T.E. Lawrence. Funding for the Hejaz railway came from donations, the largest of which came from the Sultan himself and from the Shah of Persia. Not all of the donations were voluntary, but those who did volunteer were rewarded with this medal. The medal came in both wearable and non-wearable versions ranging in size from 26mm to 50mm. The bulk of the medals had the Hegira date 1318, however a special series of medals were issued bearing the dates 1322 (for completion of the rail link to Maan) and 1326 (for the link to Medina). The wearable medals were 30mm in diameter, issued in gold, silver, and nickel alloy. Originally, the ribbon for all of these medals was red, about 20 to 25 mm in width. Those who had made large enough donations to merit the silver medal felt that they should wear a different ribbon to differentiate their awards, and so a green ribbon was instituted to replace the red ribbon on the silver medals