ISBN: 0 7475 7986 5 HB 362 pp £20.00 Published by Bloomsbury Publishing London 2006.
This account of T E Lawrence and Britains Secret War in Arabia 1916-1918 most certainly opened my eyes to the extent of this countries involvement in this region during the Great War. Having experienced the failure of the Gallipoli campaign Britain now took the war to
The Turkish armies in Arabia commanded by the General Liman von Sanders .The British Government anxious to avert a Muslim insurrection in Egypt and India which would divert British forces from the Western Front. They decided to intervene in Arabian tribal politics and foment a revolt designed to divide Islam by giving the Hijaz, the holiest region in the Muslim world its independence. This would prove to be no easy task.
The venture involved the recruitment of many English politicians and adventurers, the most well known of whom was T E Lawrence. This extraordinary man managed to inspire confidence in the many Arab chiefs as well as his GOC ,General Allenby who had been sent to the region after service on the Western Front .( He saw this posting as a demotion ) but was , as it turned out , the right man for this never easy role .
After many attempts to persuade the many tribal heads to join in the revolt eventually an uneasy agreement was reached .Lawrence , the Arabs and his British accomplices at last began to attack the vital Hijaz railway , the key link in supplying Turkish garrisons who relied heavily upon it for reinforcements , food and ammunition .. So successfully that the Arabs came to be relied upon by Allenby to assist his main attacks on Damascus and Jerusalem. The attacks on railway lines and bridges and stations are described graphically, as are the barbaric acts perpetrated by both the Turkish soldiers and the Arabs during and after these encounters. Whilst the revolt was progressing and the Turkish garrisons were becoming increasingly isolated the political background always caused immense problems. The French were negotiating an agreement with Sir Mark Sykes which dashed Arab hopes, the consequences which are still being felt today.
The book is beautifully written and contains photographs of the main participants in the revolt maps of the area of conflict and notes of the key figures in the book which I found very useful.
I highly recommend this lively account of a neglected campaign to all readers
Reviewer: Maurice Johnson
