After the outbreak of war in he joined the British Army and was assigned to the intelligence staff in Cairo. The Foreign Office had a plan to undermine the Ottoman Empire then allied to Germany, and spanning much of the Middle East by fomenting insurrection by the various Arab tribes. Lawrence was sent to work with the Arab forces, and successfully persuaded the different tribe to work together and attack the strategically important Hejaz Railway. He was subsequently involved in further stages of the war up to the capture of Damascus, but his dream of an independent Arab state centred on Damascus was frustrated, as the British and French agreed to divide the Middle East between them.
Previous to my local movie theater putting on a showing of Lawrence of Arabia , I had never felt any need to watch Lawrence of Arabia. I even nearly talked myself out of attending only an hour before the screening started. Some guy named Lawrence runs around the desert during WWI killing Turks and somehow magically becomes the wonderful white hero that anti-colonialism never knew it needed. But I have news for you, friend, it is never a waste of time.
And when he was at college in Oxford he spent three months walking around medieval castles in Syria — trekking 1, miles on foot. He had questions about who he was. He was a repressed homosexual and developed sado-masochistic disorder. Dr Faulkner also says his identity crisis was central to his pivotal role in the Great Arab Revolt of
For years he has been one of Britain's most romantic heroes - a real-life incarnation of schoolboy dreams of adventure. But Lawrence of Arabia was more romantic than many have thought. It now appears that he was actually married. The news will shock many and surprise Lawrence scholars.