26 “undesirable and inconvenient”: Lake to Secretary of State (India), March 30, 1916; PRO-FO 371/2768, f. 36.
27 “My general information”: Robertson to Lake, March 16, 1916; PRO-WO 158/669, no. 197.
28 It had all the trappings: William Yale’s account of life in wartime Jerusalem is largely drawn from Yale, It Takes So Long, chapters 4 and 5.
29 despite “his harmless appearance”: Ballobar, Jerusalem in World War I, p. 75.
30 “[Djemal] says”: Edelman to Socony, Constantinople, March 29, 1916; NARA RG 84, Entry 350, Volume 30, Decimal 300—general.
31 “I studied his face”: Yale, It Takes So Long, chapter 5, pp. 7–8.
32 “At a dance”: Herbert, Mons, Kut and Anzac, p. 232.
33 “Townshend’s guns”: Herbert diary, as quoted by Wilson, Lawrence, p. 272. In the published version (Herbert: Mons, Kut and Anzac, p. 228), the sentence was changed to “We have got very little to bargain with as far as the Turks are concerned, practically only the exchange of prisoners.”
34 “Perhaps one of our [Turkish] men”: Herbert, Mons, Kut and Anzac, p. 234.
35 “they gave us a most excellent dinner”: Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 324.
36 With most put to work: While postwar British governments were meticulous in tabulating the number of British soldiers at Kut who had died in captivity—1755 out of 2592, according to Crowley (Kut 1916, p. 253)—they were far less with their Indian counterparts, or even in repatriating those who had survived. According to Millar (Death of an Army, p. 284), Indian survivors of Kut continued to show up in their native villages, having somehow managed their own passage home, as late as 1924.
37 In a testament to the element: Nash, Chitral Charlie, pp. 274–79.
38 “Effendim”: Djemal Pasha, Memories of a Turkish Statesman, p. 216.
39 “I should also draw”: Ibid., pp. 216–17.
40 “By brute force”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 59.
41 “British generals”: Ibid., p. 386.
42 “We pay for”: Ibid., p. 25.
43 So thoroughly did the censors: This is to be found in the Wingate Papers at Durham University, in File W/137/7.
44 It was the signal: Baker, King Husain and the Kingdom of Hejaz, pp. 98–99. Baker gives the revolt start date as June 10.
Chapter 8: The Battle Joined
1 “The Hejaz war”: T. E. Lawrence, “Military Notes,” November 3, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 63.
2 “A detonation about equal”: Unless otherwise noted, all of Storrs’s observations and quotes related to the October 1916 Jeddah trip are taken from his “Extract from Diary” (PRO-FO 882/5, f. 22–38) or from his partially reproduced personal diary in Storrs, Memoirs, pp. 186–95.
3 On his two earlier passages: Barr, Setting the Desert on Fire, pp. 9–10.
4 “To the most honoured”: Unless otherwise noted, all of Storrs’s observations and quotes related to his June 1916 visit to Arabia are drawn from his untitled report to High Commissioner McMahon, June 10, 1916 (PRO-FO 371/2773), or from his partially reproduced personal diary in Storrs, Memoirs, pp. 169–76.
5 Lending all this momentous activity: Storrs, Memoirs, p. 176.
6 In that case: While Murray’s resistance to assisting the Arab Revolt was of long standing, he expressed it most forcefully at a meeting of senior British military staff in Ismailia, Egypt, on September 12, 1916 (PRO-FO 882/4, f. 338–47).
7 Indeed, well into the autumn: Wilson to Arab Bureau, October 10, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 8–9. Also Clayton to Wingate, October 12, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 12–14.
8 “it was quickly apparent”: Storrs, Memoirs, p. 203.
9 “I took every opportunity”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 63.
10 In just this way: While it is technically true that Lawrence went to Jeddah in no official capacity, Gilbert Clayton worked behind the scenes to have him accompany Storrs so that, jointly, they could return with “a good appreciation of the situation” in Arabia (Clayton to Wingate, October 9, 1916; SADD Wingate Papers, W/141/3/35). This, in turn, was tied to Clayton’s efforts to have Lawrence transferred back to the Arab Bureau.
11 “the heat of Arabia”: Much of Lawrence’s account of his October 1916 journey to Arabia is drawn from Lawrence, Seven Pillars, book 1, chapters 8–16, pp. 65–108.
12 “totally unsuited”: Storrs Papers, Pembroke College, Cambridge, as cited by Barr, Setting the Desert on Fire, p. 65.
13 In fact, the chief reason: Ibid.
14 “in a state of admiration”: Storrs, Memoirs, p. 189.
15 “playing for effect”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 67.
16 “The un-French absence”: Storrs, Memoirs, p. 190.
17 Promotion came steadily: Porte, Lt. Col. Remi, “General Édouard Brémond (1868–1948),” Cahiers du CESAT (bulletin of the College of Higher Learning of the Army of France), issue 15 (March 2009).
18 “a practicing light”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 111.
19 Accompanying a group: Details on Brémond’s mission to Egypt and the Hejaz are found in PRO-FO 882/5, f. 299–306, and PRO-FO 371/2779, File 152849.
20 Should Medina fall: Lawrence memorandum for Clayton, November 17, 1916 (SADD Clayton Papers, 694/4/42). Also Brémond to Defrance, October 16, 1917, as cited by Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 309.
21 Incredibly, this information: Brémond received his first intimation of this via a cable from Field Marshal Joffre on November 27, 1916, as reproduced in Brémond, Le Hedjaz dans la Guerre Mondiale, p. 97.
22 “Very few Turkish”: Storrs, Memoirs, p. 204.
23 “Is fond of riding”: Lawrence, The Sherifs, October 27, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 40.
24 “His manner was dignified”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 76.
25 “if Faisal should”: Ibid., p. 77.
26 “Each hill and valley”: Ibid., p. 83.
27 To Lawrence, it underscored: Lawrence made oblique reference to these previously unknown water sources in his contemporaneous reports, “Feisal’s Operations,” October 30, 1916, and “Military Notes,” November 3, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 47–8, and f. 63.
Chapter 9: The Man Who Would Be Kingmaker
1 “[Faisal] is hot tempered”: Lawrence, The Sherifs, October 27, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 41.
2 By arguing for this: Wilson, Notes on the Military Situation in the Hedjaz, September 11, 1916; PRO-FO 882/4, f. 329.
3 “a man who can’t stand the racket”: Minutes of Conference held at Commander-in-Chief’s Residence, Ismailia, September 12, 1916; PRO-FO 882/4, f. 333.
4 Noticing Lawrence had: Boyle, My Naval Life, p. 99.
5 “Red-haired men”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 143.
6 Wingate fired off: Wingate to Foreign Office, November 2, 1916; PRO-WO 158/603.
7 As for just what size: Arabian Report no. 16 (November 2, 1916); PRO-CAB 17/177, p. 2. Also, Wilson to Arab Bureau, November 1, 1916; PRO-WO 158/603, f. 49A.
8 “proves that Rabegh”: Parker to Arab Bureau, November 2, 1916; PRO-WO 158/603, f. 17b.
9 “[Faisal] talks a lot”: Brémond report, January 2, 1917, as quoted by Tanenbaum, France and the Arab Middle East, p. 19.
10 “full of German stuff”: Aaronsohn, Diary, October 25, 1916; ZY.
11 That effort badly backfired: Katz, The Aaronsohn Saga, p. 6.
12 “The game is in play”: Aaronsohn, Diary, October 25, 1916; ZY.
13 In Copenhagen, he: Engle, The Nili Spies, p. 77.
14 “Nobody can say”: Aaronsohn “confession” to Julius Mack, October 9, 1916, pp. 12– 13; ZY.
15 “If I were with the British”: Thomson, My Experiences at Scotland Yard, pp. 225–26, and The Scene Changes, pp. 387–88.
16 “Here, I had the good”: Aaronsohn to Alex and Rivka Aaronsohn, October 28, 1916; ZY.
17 “It was not easy”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 57.
18 “moral and material”: Wingate to Clayton, November 7, 1916; PRO-WO 158/603, f. 79A.
19 “
they cannot provide”: French Embassy (London) to Foreign Office, November 8, 1916, as quoted by Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 325.
20 The sirdar further: Wingate to Robertson, November 12, 1916, as repeated by Wingate to Murray, November 18, 1916; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 10A, p. 4.
21 “They are our very good”: Lawrence, Report, November 17, 1916; PRO-WO 106/1511, f. 34–36.
22 “They say, ‘Above’ ”: Ibid.
23 In a fit of pique: Parker to Wingate, July 6, 1916; SADD Wingate Papers, W/138/3/69.
24 “There is no good”: Minutes of Conference held at Commander-in-Chief’s Residence, Ismailia, September 12, 1916; PRO-FO 882/4, f. 333.
25 “I was astonished”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 112.
26 “I have just seen”: Murray to Wingate, November 17, 1916; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 7A.
27 “said to have an intimate”: Robertson, The Occupation of El Arish, November 19, 1916; PRO-WO 106/1511, f. 34.
28 “Captain Lawrence’s statement”: Sykes, Appreciation of Arabian Report, No. XVIII, November 20, 1916; PRO-CAB 17/177.
29 “whom I knew to be”: Cited by Wilson, Lawrence, pp. 327–28.
30 “They began to be”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 112.
31 “there is apparently lack”: Robertson to Murray, November 22, 1916; PRO-WO 158/604, f. 75A.
32 “I have always taken”: Murray to Robertson, November 23, 1916; PRO-WO 158/604, f. 76A.
33 “If I brooded continually”: Aaronsohn, Diary, November 11, 1916; ZY.
34 “Of course we do not”: W.T.I.D., Report of Inhabitant of Athlit, November 2, 1916; PRO-FO 371/2783.
35 “I was probably too”: Aaronsohn, Diary, November 24, 1916; ZY.
36 In March 1915: Schneer, The Balfour Declaration, pp. 135–45.
37 “Arab Christians and Moslems alike”: Sykes to Buchanan, March 14, 1916; PRO-FO 371/2767, File 938.
38 “I regret complicated”: Ibid.
39 “obliterate from his”: Edward Grey notes on Sykes’s cable to Buchanan, March 15, 1916; PRO-FO 371/2767, File 938.
40 “If Rabbi Gaster”: Adelson, Mark Sykes, p. 213.
41 “it would be reasonable”: Friedman, The Question of Palestine, p. 122.
42 “FitzMaurice is”: Aaronsohn, Diary, October 30, 1916; ZY.
43 “Pending Newcombe’s arrival”: Wingate to Clayton, November 11, 1916; PRO-WO 158/604, f. 18A.
44 “The already known state of mind”: Joffre to Brémond, November 27, 1916, as cited by Brémond, Le Hedjaz dans la Guerre Mondiale, p. 97.
45 Perhaps calculating: Clayton to Wingate, November 23, 1916; SADD Wingate Papers, 143/6/44.
46 “I have no doubt”: Wingate to Wilson, November 23, 1916; SADD Wingate Papers, 143/6/54.
47 “Lawrence wants kicking”: Wilson to Clayton, November 22, 1916; SADD Clayton Papers, 470/5/7.
48 “I urged my complete”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 114.
Chapter 10: Neatly in the Void
1 “The situation is so”: Lawrence to K. C. Cornwallis, December 12, 1916; PRO-WO 882/6, f. 25A.
2 “the flame-lit smoke”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 118.
3 “There were hundreds”: Ibid.
4 He’d conveyed his: Lawrence, Faisal’s Operations, October 30, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 43.
5 “I had better preface”: Lawrence to Clayton, December 5, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 6.
6 In his October reports: Lawrence, Military Notes: Possibilities, November 3, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 57.
7 “Their real sphere is”: Lawrence, Faisal’s Operations, October 30, 1916; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 44.
8 “don’t use any of”: Lawrence to Clayton, December 5, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 8.
9 “The Arabs, outside”: Lawrence to Clayton, undated but December 11, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 123.
10 Without British troops: Wilson to Clayton, December 12, 1916; PRO-WO 158/604, f. 206A.
11 a “good dinner”: Ballobar, Jerusalem in World War I, p. 98.
12 Tiring of his propaganda: Metternich to German Foreign Ministry, May 2, 1916; NARA T137, Roll 25, Frame 384.
13 “With all their war”: Prüfer, Vertraulich, August 6, 1915; NARA T137, Roll 24, Frames 790–97.
14 There seemed to be: Prüfer, Diary, May 8 and 14, 1916; HO.
15 “I rightly warned”: Ibid., June 9, 1916.
16 “The situation in Arabia”: Ibid., July 8, 1916.
17 “I am unwell”: Ibid., May 13, 1916.
18 After several weeks’: Nadolny to German Embassy/Constantinople, October 27, 1916; PAAA, Roll 21142, Der Weltkrieg no. 11g adh., Band 1.
19 As he complained in cables: Prüfer to Central Office of German Foreign Ministry, January 22, 1917; PAAA, Roll 21142, Der Weltkrieg no. 11g adh., Band 1.
20 Having thus far failed: McKale, Curt Prüfer, pp. 50–51.
21 “I can see no alternative”: Wingate to Foreign Office and Murray, December 14, 1916; PRO-WO 158/604, f. 211A.
22 There, and with far more: Lawrence first described the tempo of life in Faisal’s camp in his October 30, 1916, report, “Feisal’s Operations”; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 42–51. This served as the basis of his description in Seven Pillars, Book 1, Chapters 14 and 15, and book 2, chapter 19.
23 “I heard [Faisal]”: Lawrence to Clayton, December 5, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 7.
24 “One of the things”: Lawrence to Clayton, December 5, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 6.
25 “I regard myself as”: Lawrence to Clayton, December 11, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f 122.
26 “If I am to stay here”: Lawrence to K. C. Cornwallis, December 27, 1917; PRO-FO 882/5, f. 25A.
27 “the present time”: Loytved-Hardegg to unknown addressee, May 6, 1916; NARA T139, Roll 457.
28 A notable exception: In July 1915, a Major Rochus Schmidt complained that at the same time Djemal took great offense at emissaries of the Imperial Colonial Office wearing German uniforms while in Syria, he afforded “excellent treatment of English and French civilian detainees, who are guaranteed a large measure of freedom on his order.” NARA T137, Reel 139, Frame 79.
29 To the cloistered faithful: Vester, Our Jerusalem, pp. 243–54.
30 Similarly, Howard Bliss: Bliss to Edelman, March 11, 1917; NARA RG84, Entry 306, Volume 34.
31 “not to discuss Ottoman”: Edelman to Elkus, January 20, 1917; NARA, ibid.
32 Despite the steadily worsening: Much of William Yale’s account of life in wartime Jerusalem is taken from Yale, It Takes So Long, chapters 5 and 6.
33 “Faisal in front”: Lawrence to Wilson, January 8, 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 127–28.
34 “I wish I had not”: Lawrence, The Home Letters, p. 333.
35 “So I miss you”: Brown, The Letters of T. E. Lawrence, p. 102.
36 During his long: Much of Aaronsohn’s account of his early days in wartime Cairo is drawn from his Diary, December 1916 to January 1917; ZY.
37 “not only very intelligent”: Aaronsohn, Diary, December 14, 1916; ZY.
38 “Until now”: Aaronsohn, Diary, December 16, 1916; ZY.
39 “for autonomy”: “Jewish Colonies in Palestine,” Arab Bulletin (January 19, 1917): p. 35.
40 “in charge of the Intelligence”: Aaronsohn, Diary, January 24, 1917; ZY.
41 “So Absa, the brave”: Ibid., January 26, 1917; ZY.
42 “So our brave Knight”: Ibid., January 30, 1917; ZY.
43 “He called me out”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 152.
44 “sanitary reasons”: Wemyss report to Secretary of the Admiralty, January 30, 1917; PRO-ADM 137/548, f. 114–15.
45 “ransacked from roof”: Bray, Arab Bulletin no. 41 (February 6, 1917): p. 68.
46 “The garrison was called”: Lawrence to Wilson, December 19, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 49.
47 “is easily frightened”: J. C. Watson, report, January 11, 1917; PRO-WO 158/605, p. 4.
48 “it is not known”: Vickery, Memorandum on the General Situation in Arabia, February 2, 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 15
2.
49 “is most anxious”: Wilson to Arab Bureau, Cairo, January 25, 1917; PRO-FO 141/736.
Chapter 11: A Mist of Deceits
1 “A man might clearly”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars (Oxford), chapter 51.
2 With all, he presented: Lawrence, “Faisal’s Order of March,” Arab Bulletin no. 41 (February 6, 1917): 66.
3 “The circle of Arab”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 167.
4 “At the Arab Bureau”: Aaronsohn, Diary, February 1, 1917; ZY.
5 British officers examining: Lloyd to Wingate, November 24, 1916; GLLD 9/8.
6 In fact, Brémond had: Minutes of Conference held at Commander-in-Chief’s office, September 5, 1916; SADD Clayton Papers, 694/4/8–11.
7 In addition to touting: Pearson to Clayton, undated; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 108A.
8 “In reply to your letter”: Murray to Wingate, January 22, 1917; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 113A.
9 A heedless move: Cited by Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 294 n. 47.
10 “You can confidentially inform”: Wingate to Pearson, January 24, 1917; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 114A.
11 “Faisal afterwards told”: Newcombe to Wilson, February 4, 1917; GLLD 9/9.
12 “[Brémond] called to felicitate”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 167.
13 Indeed, by Lawrence’s: Ibid., p. 168.
14 “Now I had not warned”: Lawrence, Seven Pillars (Oxford), chapter 30.
15 “It seemed we would”: Yale’s account of his February 1917 meeting with Djemal Pasha, and subsequent departure from Palestine, is drawn from Yale, It Takes So Long, chapter 6.
16 Even Gilbert Clayton: Clayton “Appreciation” of Aqaba landing, January 1917; SADD Clayton Papers, 694/5/17–21.
17 Yet at some point: In his authorized biography Lawrence of Arabia, Jeremy Wilson makes an extremely convincing case that Lawrence probably imparted details of Sykes-Picot to Faisal within the first few days of his return to Wejh in February 1917. Given Wilson’s meticulous research in coming to this conclusion, it’s curious why he then concludes that Lawrence’s motive in doing so was to “deal with the French question once and for all.”
As evidenced by the Rabegh episode, French military overtures in the Middle East were wholly dependent on the support—or lack thereof—of their more powerful ally in the region, Great Britain. Besides, at the time of Lawrence’s return to Wejh in early February 1917, Faisal’s deep distrust of Colonel Brémond was already well established. Consequently, the notion that Lawrence disclosed Sykes-Picot to Faisal out of concern over French intrigues or influence is puzzling. Instead, the most logical explanation is that Lawrence meant to thwart the one power that truly had the capacity to betray the Arabs: Great Britain.
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