TE Lawrence, Emir Faisal, Auda abu Tayi, and The Arab Revolt

Photos of TE Lawrence in Carchemish, Syria. Pictures of TE Lawrence, Prince Faisal, Auda abu Tayi, and The Arab Revolt. King Abdullah of Jordan and the Sharif of Mecca. TE Lawrence bodyguard. Hussein fired the first shot of the rebellion from a window in his palace on June 10, 1916. When his revolt then quickly fizzled out, the British began arguing among themselves about whether or not to send in troops to support London, British ministers did not want to divert men to a place few of them could locate on a map. In October 1916, an intelligence officer named T E Lawrence was sent in to assess the situation. Lawrence was sent to meet the Amir Feisal whose tribesmen had been attempting to besiege Medina. Feisal was the son of Sherif Hussein, ruler of the Hejaz. Feisal and Lawrence developed an immediate rapport. Feisal’s men were keen fighters but hopelessly ill-disciplined. Lawrence saw the potential of harnessing their commitment to their cause but in a different direction. He quickly realised that Feisal’s men had no chance of capturing Medina. Lawrence believed that while the Turks controlled the rail line they would always have the opportunity to supply Medina. He therefore believed that Feisal’s best chance lay in guerilla warfare against the rail line but away from Medina. Lawrence wanted to move their campaign north. The rail line was a single track affair that linked Medina to Damascus. Lawrence did not want to destroy the line as it would be needed after the Turks had been defeated. Instead, he wanted to harass the Turks along the route of the rail line so that they would have to use more and more troops to guard it along its length. As Lawrence and the Hejaz Arabs moved further and further north, they linked up with Trans-Jordan tribes who joined his campaign. On July 6th, 1917, Lawrence and his Arab followers captured Aqaba from the rear after defeating a whole Turkish battalion. Feisal moved his headquarters to Aqaba and placed himself and his men under the command of General Allenby, British commander in Palestine. Allenby planned to use the growing Arab revolt against the Turks to his advantage. He provided the Arabs with guns, ammunition and gold. Small numbers of British, French and Indian troops were sent to Aqaba to support Feisal’s men. The Turkish Army had a number of conscripted Arab units in it and Allenby hoped that the success of Feisal would lead to them leaving the Turkish army en masse in a demonstration of Arab unity.