Colonel Lawrence, the Man Behind the Legend
THE MAN of the MONTH
[Dodd, Mead, $3.75]
THIS latest work on the life of Colonel Lawrence, written by a talented student of military theory, is a meaty volume of 160,000 words, one not to be devoured lightly, but all the more valuable for the wealth of information and of intelligent interpretation which it contains. It may be divided into five unequal parts: an introduction to the history of the Ottoman Empire in the days immediately preceding the war; a review of Lawrence’s youth and of his preparation for the part he was destined to play in history; the account of his campaigns in Arabia, Sinai, Transjordania, and Syria; the story of his post-war life; and a summing up of his accomplishments and of his essential character.
Lawrence’s early interest in the archeology of the Near East and especially of the Crusader periods led him to take part in expeditions and solitary wanderings giving him a close knowledge of the lands which were later to become the scene of his military success. His highly developed ethnological sense revealed to him the mentality of the Arabs and permitted him to develop a code of conduct which can only be appreciated by those who have worked among them. Contrary to popular belief, Lawrence has never completely mastered any form of Arabic, but his ability to obtain the confidence of Arabs and to influence them to his and their own ends is tribute enough and shows that to a man of deep human insight an imperfect knowledge of a language is not a serious handicap.
Although his early efforts in Egypt were unappreciated, Lawrence’s opportunity came with a mission to Jidda, during which he organized the forces of Hussein, Sherif of Mekka, and formed a valuable friendship with Hussein’s son Feisal, later to become King of Iraq. Lawrence’s military exploits are popularly laid in Arabia, but actually only this first campaign, from Jidda to Aqaba, took place on Arabian soil. Subsequently his field of action lay in the countries to the north, the scene of his earlier travels. His strategic object was to keep the Turkish forces spread out in the extremities of their territory and to harass them enough, mainly by raids on the Hejaz and Palestine railways, to keep them from becoming dangerous, but not enough to inspire their northward retreat and consolidation. In preserving this fine balance, Lawrence demonstrated the virtues of mobility and diffusion in his type of warfare, and thus combined a knowledge of pre-Napoleonic tactics with an instinct which moulded them to his immediate purpose. Another popular misconception of Lawrence’s activities is that he worked alone. Both Lawrence and his biographer fully credit his associates, Newcome, Dawnay, Young, Joyce, Sterling, and the French gunner Pisani, with their share in the campaign.
Throughout the war Lawrence feared that the promises made to the Arabs by the British Government would not be fulfilled, and this feeling flared at times into acute remorse. Knowing that the British difficulties were in part due to the insistence of the French that they be given Syria, he delayed the latter’s entrance into Damascus and worked to form an Arab government in the city before their arrival. Later he opposed the French vigorously at the Paris Conference. In his picture of this conference Captain Liddell Hart pays unexpected tribute to the humanity of Clemenceau and makes an equally unexpected attack upon Foch. With Lawrence’s aid in these deliberations, Feisal was finally established as King of Iraq, and his brother Abdullah as Emir of Transjordania. But the Englishman showed his disgust at French grasping and misgovernment in Syria by insisting that the French edition of Revolt in the Desert should bear a legend dedicating the profits to ‘the victims of French cruelty in Syria.’
After Lawrence returned to England from a fruitless visit to Jidda, a period of self-inflicted negation began. His attitude was deliberate and wholly a reaction from his privations and disappointment. It is clear that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In the delineation of Lawrence’s unique character the author speaks from close friendship and with great penetration. Intense self-absorption, self-analysis, and self-cruelty, the habit of belittling his own achievements, are in Lawrence combined with a highly developed sense of humor. Although his character is essentially ascetic and although he is alleged to have no interest in sex, he confesses moments in which he appreciates comfort.
Captain Liddell Hart makes a final estimate of Lawrence’s position among the military leaders of history and places it in the highest rank. The book is eminently worth reading, because its scholarly exposition and critique of Lawrence’s strategy make it an historical document, and because it treats Lawrence, both during the war and afterward, not as a myth, but as a man.
CARLETON S. COON