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Lawrence was a British scholar, writer and soldier who
mobilised the Arab Revolt in World War One and became famous as 'Lawrence of
Arabia'.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born on 16 August 1888 in north
Wales. His father, Thomas Chapman, had left his wife to live with Lawrence's
mother, a governess. Lawrence studied at Oxford University and in 1909 visited
Syria and Palestine. A year later he joined an archaeological dig in Syria,
where he stayed from 1911 to 1914, learning Arabic. He developed a deep
sympathy for the Arabs who had lived under Turkish rule for centuries. In 1914,
Lawrence was part of an expedition exploring northern Sinai, carrying out
reconnaissance under cover of a scientific expedition.
When war broke out, Lawrence became an intelligence officer
in Cairo. In June 1916, the Arab Revolt began against Turkey, an ally of
Germany, a revolt the British had worked hard to encourage. Lawrence became
liaison officer and adviser to Feisal (also Faisal), son of the revolt's leader
Sherif Hussein of Mecca. Lawrence was a superb tactician and a highly
influential theoretician of guerrilla warfare. His small but effective
irregular forces attacked Turkish communications and supply routes, tying down
thousands of Turkish troops and preventing them from fighting against regular
allied forces under the command of General Edward Allenby. Lawrence's
overriding aim was to help the Arabs achieve military success that would lead
to post-war self-government.
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In June 1917, the Arab forces won their first major victory,
seizing Aqaba, a strategically important Red Sea port. Success continued as
they gradually made their way north. After the fall of Damascus in October
1918, Lawrence left for London and then the Paris Peace Conferences to lobby
for Arab independence. Before the conference had even begun, the British and
French had agreed on the future of Turkey's Arab territories. Lawrence was
disillusioned by his failure to bring the Arabs self-rule, but was by now a
celebrity, helped by the publicity efforts of American journalist Lowell
Thomas.
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In 1921, Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill appointed
Lawrence as an adviser, but in 1922 he resigned and joined the Royal Air Force
in an attempt to find anonymity. During the 1920s and early 1930s, he served
both in the RAF and the Tank Corps under assumed names, but press intrusion
continued to dog him. A private edition of his book 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom'
was printed in 1926. A full public edition was not released until after his
death.
Lawrence left the RAF in February 1935 and died on 19 May
following a motorcycle accident. source
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."
T.E. Lawrence: Seven Pillars of Wisdom
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