A new study of Captain T. E. Lawrence of Arabia, his ideas on warfare,
and the context of the military campaigns and peace settlements and the
legacies that followed.
One hundred years ago, Captain Lawrence and an unlikely band of Arab
irregulars captured the strategic port of Aqaba after an epic journey
through waterless tracts of desert. Their attacks on railways during the
Great War are well known and have become the stuff of legend, but while
Lawrence himself has been the subject of fascinating biographies, as
well as an award-winning film, the context of his war in the desert, and
his ideas on war itself, are less well-known.
This new title offers a high-paced evaluation of T. E. Lawrence of
Arabia and the British military operations in the Near East, revising
and adding to conventional narratives in order to tell the full story of
this influential figure, as well as the Ottoman-Turkish perspective, and
the Arabs' position, within the context of the war. It is also a study
of warfare and the manner in which Lawrence and others made their
assessments of what was changing, what was distinctive, and what was
unique to the desert environment. This book sets Lawrence in context,
examines the peace settlement he participated in, and describes how
Lawrence's legacy has informed and inspired those partnering and
mentoring local forces to the present day.
