Book Review: Hero…Lawrence of Arabia
Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia
by Michael Korda.
Published
by HarperCollins, New York. 784 pages, 2010.
Reviewed by Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN
Understanding the complex and contradictory political arrangements of the
Middle East can be best understood by reading the biography of T. E. Lawrence.
In addition, no total understanding of guerilla and irregular warfare tactics
will be complete without a study of this British officer, better known as
Lawrence of Arabia. There have been movies, documentaries, and many books about
Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. Initially, I was concerned about the title of
Michael Korda’s new book on T. E. Lawrence. Hero gives the impression of delving
into the mythology of the person, and not their complexities. I am glad to have
not been dissuaded, and delved into the 702 pages of text, and found an
important biography of Lawrence. Korda balances Lawrence’s significant
accomplishments as solider, diplomat, warrior, and writer, with his deep
insecurities beginning with his upbringing as an illegitimate child of a minor
British nobleman and governess who simply chose to live together unmarried for
the rest of their lives. Chapters go into the relationship Lawrence had with his
mother and father, his accomplishments designed more to please his mother and
less himself. Of note, Korda has written excellent biographies of
Ulysses S. Grant and
Korda covers how Lawrence, while at college, was recruited by British
Military Intelligence. D.H. Hogarth would be one of a handful of mentors keeping
an eye out for potential officers with language, travel, and archeological
experience in the Middle East. Archeological expeditions between Germany,
Britain, and France not only brought prestige, but served as a cover for
intelligence collection and political influence in the ailing Ottoman Empire.
Entire chapters reveals the hazards Lawrence endured while conducting months of
excavations in modern day Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. The book describes an
eccentric intellectual who did not fit in the conventional army, but his
knowledge of the Middle East cultivated over decades caused key leaders to
overlook his uniform and unmilitary bearing.
In the outbreak of World War I, Lawrence would be detailed to Egypt, there he
would use his knowledge of Arabic to interview Ottoman Prisoners of War, and
co-produced the Arab Bulletin, an all-source intelligence journal read by
military and political leaders who shaped British policy in the Middle East. You
will be introduced to a complex array of personalities, biographies, and biases
through the eyes of Lawrence from General Edmund Allenby, Commander of British
Forces in Egypt, who used Lawrence to guard his right flank, as he pushed
through to Jerusalem to the mercurial Auda abu Tayi, the leader of the Howeitat
Tribe, who was an important personality in the Arab Revolt. Korda even treats
Lawrence’s vicious sexual assault by Ottoman military personnel in the village
of Der’aa.
Lawrence would be a catalyst in getting hundreds of tribes to rally around
the Sherief of Mecca Hussein ibn Ali, revolting against Ottoman oppression, and
tying down 50,000 Ottoman troops in Arabia that could have been used to threaten
England’s hold on Egypt and the Suez Canal. He used the Bedouin proficiency at
hit and run raids to harass and keep Ottoman troops pinned down in such cities
as Medina. In addition, he cut their communication links by destroying rail and
telegraph lines linking the Ottoman garrisons in Arabia to Damascus. Korda
discusses how Lawrence knew of the infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement dividing the
former Ottoman Middle East dominions into British, French and Russian spheres of
influence, and how Lawrence would manage his dual loyalties as a serving British
officer, and one of the leaders of the Arab Revolt. Lawrence would turn down
decorations from King George V, and go on to advocate on behalf of Prince Feisal
the creation of an Arab Confederation made up of Jordan, Iraq, and the Red Sea
region of Arabia known as the Hijaz. He would be made famous by American
journalist Lowell Thomas, part showman, he turned millions would see Lawrence’s
exploits in a slide show complete with orchestra, and costumes. Lawrence would
write, “Seven Pillars of Wisdom,” and was torn about his fame and the betrayal
of the Arabs by the British government after the war. He escaped into the Royal
Air Force as Airman Shaw, and the Royal Tank Corps as Private Ross. Lawrence
died of injuries sustained while riding his motorcycle in the English
countryside in 1935. He was buried at Saint Paul’s cathedral in London. The one
item one can disagree with in the book is Korda’s assessment that Lawrence’s hit
and run tactics with Arab tribes targeting the Ottoman rail and communication
links in Arabia introduced the notion of what we would call improvised explosive
devices (IEDs) to Arabs. There are no indication militant Islamist strategists
or al-Qaida tactical operatives drew inspiration from T. E. Lawrence tactically.
However, this biography ranks among the important ones on Lawrence of Arabia.
Commander Aboul-Enein is author of “Militant
Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat,” published by Naval
Institute Press in 2010. His book was recently reviewed in the December 2010
edition of “Soldier,” the
official magazine of the British Army. Commander Aboul-Enein is working on an
essay introducing American military readers the memoirs of Egyptian War Minister
Saleh Harb (1939-1940) and his involvement in the Libyan Desert insurgency
against the Italians in World War I.