Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Director: David Lean.
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guiness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, Anthony Quayle, Arthur Kennedy, Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer.
Base on the story of T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). Won seven Oscars, among them Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Score, Editing and Art Direction.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
World War I saw the destruction of many empires. One of the most vulnerable was the Ottoman Empire.
In WWI, Turkey was supplied by its German ally as well as being led by German officers.
1915 – the Turks go on the offensive attacking the British at the Suez Canal.
1915 (Feb 2) – 20,000 Turks flings themselves at the canal’s defenses. The are driven back by the huge naval guns of the nearby British warships.
1916 spring – to forestall more Turkish attacks, the British move out to establish a new defensive line beyond striking range of the Suez Canal. The Egyptian Expeditionary Force heads into the Sinai. The EEF has four divisions of British and Dominion troops and is commanded by Sir Archibald Murray from his headquarters in Cairo.
Along the way, the British War Office in London becomes desperate for a victory, so they change Murray’s orders from defense to the offense. The EEF ise to invade the Turkish Empire by way of its southwest province, Palestine. The British proceed to the Holy Land. Helping out in this British offense is their 5th column, the Arab rebellion, erupting 750 miles to the south along the Red Sea coast. The Arabs are disrupting communications and attacking Turkish garrisons.
The leader of the Arabs is rebel sheik named Hussein. One of his sons is Prince Faisal who becomes the chosen instrument of the British. He was chosen by none other than T. E. Lawrence only 5 foot 5 inches tall; impish and somewhat effete, and a bit of a nuisance; a confessed exhibitionist, he was consistently out of uniform. Part charlatan, part genuine performer he says of himself. He becomes known as "Lawrence of Arabia."
T. E. LAWRENCE
1888 -- Thomas Edward Lawrence born in Wales; since childhood, fascinated
in archaeology. He was born illegitimately to a baronet and his family's
nursemaid.
1910 -- graduates with honors from Oxford. Travels in the Near East, part of the
Ottoman Empire. Serves as an assistant at
a British Museum excavation in Mesopotamia (Iraq).
1914 -- Palestine was part of the Ottoman empire nearest to the Suez Canal.
1914 -- Turkey declares war.
1914 -- start of WWI. He spends a brief period in the Geographical Section of the General Staff in London. Because of his knowledge of Arabic and of the region, Lawrence recruited by the British army's intelligence section, the Arab Bureau, based at Cairo.
1915 February -- Turkish governor of Syria attacks Palestine across the Sinai
desert, but is defeated. This scares the British which bulk up a large garrison
in Egypt.
1916 -- the Sherif of Mecca, Hussein, revolts against the Ottoman Empire. The
Sherif and his family were in charge of the Muslim holy places at Mecca and
Medina. His Arab army comes under the direction of liaison officer, Colonel
Lawrence. The Arab army attacks the flanks of the Turks in Arabia and Palestine.
This distracts many Turkish troops from the main action in Mesopotamia and
Palestine.
1916, April -- During World War I German experts train and in part officer the Turks. In Mesopotamia the Turks force into surrender the British general Townshend, who had landed at Basra from India in 1915 and had marched up the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.
1916 August -- second Turkish offensive in the Palestine area turned back.
1916 -- Arabs rebel against the Ottoman empire of the Turks. Lawrence sent
to Mecca on a fact-finding mission, ultimately becoming the British liaison
officer to the Arabs. Faisal I (1885-1933), king of Iraq; during World War
I, Faisal at first serves with the Turkish army in Syria, but in 1916 he
flees to Al Hijaz, where he joins the Arab revolt. With Lawrence he aids
in the capture of Damascus from the Turks.
1917 March & April -- British attacks on Gaza, the nearest large town in
Palestine, fail. British command transferred to General Sir Edmund Allenby.
Prime Minister David Lloyd George gives him instructions to take Jerusalem
before Christmas.
1917 December 9 -- Allenby successfully attacks Gaza and goes on to enter
Jerusalem on December 9. Borton Pasha is the British Military Governor of
Jerusalem.
1918 March -- the Germans and Turks win the Battle of Amman (in today's Jordan).
But they had to abandon their plans to drive on Baghdad. Under pressure from the
Arab armies of Abdullah and Feisal (and Col. Lawrence), the Turks and Germans
surrender control of the Hejaz railway, the Turkish garrisons along the Red Sea
coast, and the desert flanks of Palestine and Syria.
Lawrence is captured by the Turks and is physically abused. He later escapes and
goes on to take part in the British offensives in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
1918 September -- the British hit a decisive blow in northern Palestine at
Megiddo.
1918 October 1 -- assisted by the Arab army (and Lawrence), the Allies take
Damascus, Syria.
1918 October 26 -- the British take Aleppo, Syria.
1918 October 30 -- Turkey granted an armistice at Mudros.
Lawrence represented the Arabs at the Versailles peace conference. He retreated
into obscurity after becoming disillusioned with the Allies' attitude toward the
Arabs.
1918, September -- a great British offensive in Palestine forces the Turks to
conclude an armistice which took them out of the war.
After the war Lawrence serves in the British Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, where he promotes the cause of Arab independence. Despite his efforts, Syria, Palestine and Iraq are mandated to France and Britain. Lawrence returns to England exhausted and disappointed.
1920 -- British attempt to impose a colonial rule in Iraq provokes an open rebellion. Winston Churchill persuades Lawrence to join him as adviser in Iraq to work out a solution.
1921 -- the British mandate government in Iraq permits a plebiscite; Faisal is elected the first king of Iraq.
1922 -- Churchill, with help from Lawrence, achieves a settlement of the Iraqi situation.
1922 -- Lawrence resigns his position with the Colonial Office and enlists in the Royal Air Force under an assumed name. (Discovered by the press he is discharged, but he re-enlists in the Tank Corps under another assumed name.).
1923 -- Faisal becomes constitutional monarch of Iraq.
1922 - 1927 -- Lawrence revises Seven Pillars and edits an abridgement of Revolt in the Desert. Then he successfully transfers to the RAF.
1935 -- his enlistment up, he retires to Dorset, England.
1935 -- is thrown from his motorcycle while on a local errand, receives severe head injuries and dies without regaining consciousness.
Source: Keegan, John. 2001. An Illustrated History of the First World War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
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