Military History

One of the 20th century's most iconic characters was Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888–1935), known as "Lawrence of Arabia". Though not a career soldier, his World War I achievements changed the outcome. In fact, this amateur soldier helped create the contemporary Middle East.

For the people of Arabia and the Syrian provinces, the implosion of Ottoman power following the war had profound effects. Few who became involved in the revolt could have imagined that the final dispensation would turn out as it did. The Middle Eastern region had been changed entirely.

Despite the positive trend, there were also a series of internal problems. Intelligence showed that the Turks were attempting to buy the loyalties of Auda abu Tayi and although he did not defect, such overtures were made to other Arab leaders, including Feisal, later in the campaign.

Although the Ottoman high command in Damascus was expecting trouble and had even begun moving reinforcements into the region, the outbreak of the revolt seems to have taken the local commanders by surprise.

The Arab Revolt was directed against the Muslim Ottoman Empire which had ruled most or the Middle East for centuries. The Revolt also began at the very heart of the Muslim world: in the Hijaz, with its holiest of Muslim cities, Mecca and Medina.

On the 10th of June 1916, Sherif Hussein Ibn Ali, Amir of Mecca and Keeper of the Holy Cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, pushed a rifle through the window of his house in Mecca and opened fire on the barracks of the Turkish garrison. The 62-year-old Hussein was an Arab prince, not a military leader, but by this symbolic act of defiance, he sign...

Joachim von Heydebreck was born on October 6, 1861 in Schwedt as the son of Lieutenant General Hennig von Heydebreck (1828-1904) and his wife, Anna von Colmar (1837-1879). He attended the Royal Pedagogy in Putbus and entered military service at nineteen.

Smuts was born near Riebeeck West (near Malmesbury), Cape Colony on September 24, 1870. The son of a member of the colonial parliament, he was sent to school at 12, and four years later attended Victoria College at Stellenbosch. There he met his future wife Sybella (Isie) Krige. In 1891 he attended Cambridge, where he read for the Bar.