His Dreams Of Adventure Met The Nightmare Of Political Reality In WWI
Lawrence of Arabia: Adventurer, Victim, Writer, Liar, Scholar, and Soldier
“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. This I did.”
— T.E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
Ever since we were kids, there’s a part in all of us that dreams of adventure. It’s why movies and video games are so popular. They fit that unquenched desire. Moreover, they do it neatly and quickly so we can get back to reality, unscarred.
Thomas Edward Lawrence had those same dreams, but books and stories weren’t enough. He sought them in reality. Although he learned a lesson only to be gained by living them: those adventures require a price.
They’re not neat or quick. Plus, to complete them, they may require you to stain your soul in a way that could only bring a lifetime of regret. So, you can play the hero, but not the one you dreamed of — one much uglier.
Lawrence’s autobiography The Seven Pillars of Wisdom oozes with this. It’s a mixture of beautiful text from a romance novel, scenery from a travel magazine, combined with the horrors of war and politics.
At times you’re not sure whether to pity, admire, or be disgusted with its hero. In other words, Lawrence’s story is an uncomfortably real adventure.
And it all started innocently enough.
Young Lawrence Dreams Large
According to The People Profiles’ excellent documentary about Lawrence, he always had a love of history, and a desire to shock those around him. Sometimes it was with pranks, or writing that went far off topic, which got him in trouble. But shock was in his blood.
As he signed up for a college in Oxford and recovered his birth certificate, he discovered why his family moved so much. Lawrence was born out of wedlock. His mother was actually his father’s maid who got pregnant after a tryst. The two fled and moved regularly to avoid scrutiny.
But history was much steadier. As he entered Jesus College in Oxford, Lawrence got to see the medieval castles from his books in real life. Jeremy Wilson in his biography says the young man rode his bike twenty-two hundred miles across France visiting the structures. He also met a famous archeologist named David Hogarth.
Hogarth got him interested in the Levant, and it wasn’t long before he made up his mind to visit the region. Wilson says in 1909 Lawrence went to Syria, walking a thousand miles and visiting historic sites. He used his research in his dissertation, which won him a scholarship to Oxford College.
Afterwards, Hogarth invited him to Syria to work on a project, and by this time the young man was fluent in Arabic and knowledgeable about the region. It also happened that the dig was near the Berlin to Baghdad railway. Both men were likely spying for the British.
As Lawrence came home, the war broke out. He attempted to join the army, but the documentary says he was shot down for being too short. Although he worked a few contacts to get into British Intelligence working in the Middle East.
Going To War
Lawrence was originally stationed in Cairo doing paperwork but got himself transferred to a division working with the Arab revolt against Britain’s wartime foe the Ottoman Empire.
Hussein Bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, had captured his home city and Jedda, but faltered at Medina. In 1916 Lawrence went to meet with the leaders of the revolt.
Lawrence decided traditional warfare in classic military books didn’t apply to the Arabs, their culture, or region. He decided desert warfare was entirely different from the conflict in the West and the battles between the Turkish and British Imperial armies. In his book Lawrence explains:
“Their largest manufacture was of creeds: almost they were monopolists of revealed religions.”
The Arabs had no trains, vehicles, or navies. Arab forces consisted of men mounted on camels with rifles. Plus, most of their forces were volunteers, so a single defeat or large loss of life could end the entire affair.
As Lawrence thought about the situation, he realized the best strategy wouldn’t be to attack Medina or most of the Turkish garrisons directly. The Arabs could win indirectly by occupying the land around the fortifications and towns. If the Arabs cut the supply lines, the forts would surrender.
They could even win the war with few casualties.
He also met with Faisal, Hussein’s son, and identified him as an excellent figure for the British to work with in the revolt. It wasn’t long before Lawrence was integrated into the Arab force.
A Real Life Adventure
While the Arab army lacked planes and artillery, their camels enabled them to travel endless miles with little supplies. Thus, camels became a force multiplier once they had explosives. In his book, Lawrence says his forces blew up seventy-nine railroad bridges.
Inevitably, trains and supply lines ground to a halt or slowed to a trickle. The Ottoman’s Hejaz Railway was an easy target.
Lawrence and Faisal also went on a daring raid across the desert in January 1917, traveling almost two hundred miles to attack Wejh. However, the British Navy already captured it by their arrival. Although the trip itself was a victory.
Lawrence explains the various Arab clans began treating Faisal as a leader and organizer. They even came to him to mediate their disputes. Wejh also enabled the group to further attack the railroad.
About six months later Lawrence and the Arab force traveled hundreds of miles again, attacking the port city of Aqaba and capturing it without much of a fight. By October of 1918, Lawrence and Faisal were entering Damascus after the British Army caused the Turkish forces in the Levant to collapse.
But this was only the highlight reel. In his book, Lawrence is almost too honest and open about the price he paid for his journey.
The Cost Of The Adventure
“We lived many lives in those whirling campaigns, never sparing ourselves: yet when we achieved and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to re-make in the likeness of the former world they knew.”
— T.E. Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom
At some point in his march with the Arabs, Lawrence became aware of an agreement between the French and British called the Sykes–Picot Agreement. It just about split the Middle East in half between the powers. So, much of the land the Arabs were fighting for couldn’t be theirs.
Lawrence kept this to himself. Moreover, he even deceived his friends when they heard rumors about it. The ruse wore into his soul, and he continually admitted to being “bitterly ashamed.” His only relief was hoping — if he survived — to fight on their behalf during negotiations.
Although he knew they’d lose out.
Lawrence also became an executioner. During a scouting trip, one Arab tribesman murdered another, which could have broken up their coalition. Unfortunately, punishment was required, and not by the hand of a familiar party. In other words, the foreigner must do it.
The Brit’s hand shook so much aiming the revolver, he ended up having to shoot the man several times. But he’d see worse. Lawrence also got to witness what could only be called a war crime as victim and perpetrator.
As the Arab army moved into the town of Tafas, the fleeing Turks went on a murder spree. Lawrence recounts seeing dead children, a naked pregnant woman hanging upside down, pinned with a bayonet against a wall, among other horrible visions. The army lost all composure. He recounts:
“In a madness born of the horror of Tafas we killed and killed, even blowing in the heads of the fallen and of the animals; as though their death and running blood could slake our agony.”
Lawrence also explains the grim vision of entering an abandoned hospital where wounded Turkish troops were left to die in Damascus. Bodies rotted into puddles while the dying wasted away unattended. He gathered a work crew of Turkish doctors and healthier patients.
They buried the dead, cleaned rooms, and put the building into a make-shift order. The mental images and smell recurrently filled his dreams.
Afterwards, a British doctor appeared and slapped Lawrence across the face for the murderous condition of the improved hospital. He could only laugh in response: part out of irony, and part out of shame for what had become good enough to be considered normal.
If all this wasn’t enough, Lawrence also tells a horrific story of getting captured by Turks who thought he was a local due to his perfect ability to speak Arabic. He claims he was sexually assaulted before escaping.
It all really makes you reexamine T.E. Lawrence, and that adventure-seeking part of ourselves.
A Dreamer Of The Day
It would be interesting to see what a much older Lawrence would say about his experiences. However, we’ll never know. He died in 1935 while riding his motorcycle at the ripe age of forty-six. It’s sad, but somehow fitting for a flame that bright to burn out early.
He did leave us an amazing book though. Its text holds the prose of a poet, adventure of a hero, agony of a betrayer, and the pain of reality creeping into a dream.
It also gives those who desire adventure a warning: it comes with a price.
-Originally posted on Medium 7/12/23, (excuse the original version, it was edited poorly.)