This obsessive behaviour reinforced T.E. Lawrence’s standing with the Arabs but fuelled suspicion among his British superiors, who wondered what side of the track his allegiances lay. His behaviour earned him the label 'Lawrence of Arabia'.
The Breezer - the joyride for a curious mind: A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me discovering historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. Add to that updates relating to the podcast, a touch of humour and a dash of "lots more".18th May 2025.
Happy Sunday! This week, the Middle East has been in the spotlight more than usual. US President Trump has traversed the region to reaffirm American influence, help shape future allegiances with Arab nations, and secure eye-watering economic deals. Interwoven throughout these objectives have been discussions about the Gaza conflict and the future of Palestine. The political landscape of the area in many ways remains as fragmented as it was 110 years ago during the Great War. While today’s main external players in the region are the USA, China and Russia, back then it was Britain and France who attempted to impose their will on the region.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Wales in 1885. Having graduating in history from Oxford University in 1910, he cultivated a combined interest in archaeology and the Middle East, where he travelled extensively over the next four years.
T.E. Lawrence at Carchemish, an ancient city in Northern Syria, 1913.
With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Lawrence enlisted in the British Army. He was immediately assigned to military intelligence in Cairo, Egypt. His main role was to coordinate the 1916-18 Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence identified Emir Faisal as a charismatic leader who could unite the various Arab tribes in the region. Faisal was commander of the Northern Army of the Arab Revolt, based in an area of today’s Amman, Jordan. For the rest of the war, Lawrence and Faisal worked closely together. In exchange for spearheading the strategy of the Arab Revolt, Lawrence promised Faisal British military support and a home for a united Arab state after the war.
Out of Curiosity
Abdullah IIbin Al-Husseinis today’s ruler of Jordan. His great-grandfather, Abdullah I, was the brother of Emir Faisal.
Lawrence immersed himself ever deeper into Arab culture. Arab leaders learned to trust Lawrence, bolstered by his intimate knowledge of the region and fluent Arabic. In public, he would wear Arabian robes and headdress and spent long periods eating, sleeping and travelling alongside Arab forces. This obsessive behaviour reinforced Lawrence’s standing with the Arabs but fuelled suspicion among his British superiors, who started to question what side of the track his allegiances lay. It was also the behaviour that earned him the label Lawrence of Arabia after the war, immortalised by the film of the same name in 1962 starring Peter O’Toole.
T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, 1919.
Lawrence proved invaluable with his Western-style guerrilla war tactics. Although officially a strategic advisor to the Arabs, he participated in - and led - many military sorties against the enemy. The British intelligence officer was fearless in battle. Despite gruelling trips across the extreme heat of the desert to reach targets, he led small groups in daring raids deep in Ottoman territory. He specialised in destroying railway lines and bridges to disrupt Ottoman supply lines. Continuous attacks on convoys, the derailing of trains and the destruction of telegraph lines also sowed confusion among the Ottoman troops. The capture of the port of Aqaba in July 1917 (today part of Jordan on the northeastern tip of the Red Sea) was Lawrence and Faisal’s most spectacular success. This victory opened Allied supply routes and laid the foundation for the eventual collapse of Ottoman control.
The Arab Revolt culminated in the entry of Arab, British and Allied forces into Damascus at the beginning of October 1918. This was a turning point, a signal that Ottoman power was crumbling. By the end of the month, the Armistice of Mudros marked an end to Ottoman rule in the Middle East. It was now time for the British to live up to the promises of the Arab-British coalition. However, there was a snag. A couple of years earlier, the British and French representatives, Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot, had secretly agreed how their nations would carve up the region after the war. Mark Sykes was quoted as saying...
I should like to draw a line from the ‘e’ in Acre to the last ‘k’ in Kirkuk.
A line was drawn, from Acre in the northeast of today's Israel, across the Syrian desert to Kirkuk in modern-day Iraq. The Sykes-Picot Agreement stipulated that the French would control areas to the north of the line, the British areas to the south and both would exert influence over the area between. Palestine would be separately designated as an area for international administration.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement Map, 8 May 1916. Look closely in the bottom right-hand corner and you will see the signatures of François Georges-Picot and Mark Sykes.
It was not the first time the British and French had drawn straight lines across lands far from home with little concern for geography, ethnicity or historical precedent. It wouldn’t be the last either. Lawrence was incensed when he found out about the agreement shortly after. Not only was it a ridiculous notion, but it was a betrayal of British promises to the Arabs. Nonetheless, he continued the fight alongside Faisal, with whom he had shared news of the betrayal. It spurred them to push as far north into Syria as possible to best influence peace-time negotiations.
After the war, Lawrence worked tirelessly to ensure the Sykes-Picot Agreement was scrapped. He was an idealist. He believed in the possibility of a unified and independent Arab state and a peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Zionists. Jewish immigration to Palestine would benefit the region as a whole, introducing European methods and technology to create a Middle East powerhouse. Lawrence secured a remarkable, and long-forgotten, agreement. He had managed to broker an understanding between Emir Faisal and Chaim Weizmann, the Russian-born head of the Zionist Organisation. In January 1919, the Feisal-Weizmann Agreement was signed in which Arabs would welcome Jewish immigration into Palestine while Zionists would support an independent Arab state in another part of the region. Lawrence planned to present the Agreement to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, to pressure the major powers to bypass Sykes-Picot.
Out of Curiosity
The Paris Peace Conference was the post-war gathering led by US President Woodrow Wilson that attempted to redraw the map of Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia and Africa after the Great War. It culminated in the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and the formation of the rather toothless League of Nations. Ironically, Wilson never signed the treaty as he couldn’t pass his landmark agreement through the US Congress.
Emir Faisal (front) and T.E. Lawrence (to the right of Faisal) at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919.
Looking back at the progress of Arab-Jewish cooperation since 1919, Lawrence’s achievement with Emir Faisal and Chaim Weizmann looks exceptional. It remains a footnote in history because the British and French vision for the Middle East prevailed in Paris. Faisal subsequently withdrew his support and the region descended into the conflict, distrust and instability that we still see today, 105 years later. The legacy of the mercurial Lawrence of Arabia is somewhat ambiguous. The Arabs remember him for his support, courage and commitment while also associating him with Britain’s duplicity in its promises for a unified Arab state. Jewish historians tend to view Lawrence favourably, while the British can’t decide if Lawrence’s heroic efforts helped or harmed their ongoing standing in the world. The disillusioned Thomas Edward Lawrence withdrew from public view in 1922. He spent 13 years in the RAF and Royal Tank Corps under assumed names before retiring to his cottage, Clouds Hill, in Dorset, a few miles up the road from my home. One morning, Lawrence was riding his motorcycle near Clouds Hill when he was forced to swerve to avoid two boys on bicycles. He lost control and was catapulted over the handlebars. Suffering severe head injuries, Lawrence was rushed to Bovington Camp Military Hospital.
T.E. Lawrence on his Brough Superior, c1925.
Six days later, 90 years ago tomorrow, 19 May 1935, Lawrence of Arabia passed away, having not regained consciousness. He was 46 years old. Winston Churchill attended Lawrence’s funeral and described him as…
...one of those beings whose pace of life was faster and more intense than what is normal. Just as an aeroplane only flies by its speed and pressure, so he sustained himself by action and movement…
Churchill added….
I fear whatever our need we shall never see his like again.
Winston Churchill attends the funeral of T.E. Lawrence, 1935
Dates with History
Today…
With the exception of a short visit from Norse Vikings around 1000 CE, a pop-in from John Cabot, the Italian explorer sailing under an English flag in 1497, and Jacques Cartier laying claim to an area along the St Lawrence River for France in 1535, the indigenous population of North America above the 49th parallel was largely left alone for 10,000 years prior to the turn of the 17th century. In 1608, the French arrived to establish the first permanent European colony, Quebec City. For the next 35 years, France built a collection of fragile communities along the St Lawrence River valley. In May 1642, 40 settlers from La Rochelle reached an island on the St Lawrence River about 155 miles southwest of Quebec City. The following day, 18 May 1642, the new settlement, Ville Marie, was named in honour of the Virgin Mary. Sixty-three years later, the name Ville Marie was changed to Montreal, from Mount Royal, the prominent mountain in the heart of the city.
Montreal, 2012. Mount Royal to the right.
Through a rather cruel irony, Montreal suffered a devastating fire exactly 123 years later. Two hundred and sixty years ago today, 18 May 1765, 25% of the city’s houses and amenities burned down. When fire had broken out at the Grey Nuns’ Hospital, it spread rapidly due to a lack of firefighting infrastructure and the highly flammable wooden construction of much of the city. Despite the material devastation, Montreal’s subsequent progress towards a safer and more resilient environment was more evolution than revolution. The historic neighbourhood of Old Montreal, the section of today’s City where the French first settled, partly reflects the modernisation catalysed by the fire of 1765.
Out of Curiosity
The name Canada originated from the Iroquoian word ‘Kanata,’ meaning ‘village’ or ‘settlement’. In 1535, the Iroquoians introduced Jacques Cartier to the Kanata Stadacona when he first arrived. Stadacona was located on the site of today’s Quebec City. Cartier later referred to the immediate hinterland as Canada. Over time, maps adopted the same name to represent an ever-broader area across North America. The name Canada was formally adopted when the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick united in 1867.
Tomorrow…
When the aforementioned John Cabot landed at Newfoundland in 1497 to lay a half-hearted claim to the northeastern segment of today’s Canada, the event was incidental to the main purpose of his voyage. He was the first recorded European explorer to seek the elusive Northwest Passage. If a route could be navigated through the freezing Arctic waterways, significant time could be saved in trading precious metals and agricultural products with Asian spices, silks and textiles sought by the wealthy European elite. Less time meant less cost… and more profit. The land route from Europe to Asia had become more problematic since the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Northwest Passage could save 7,000 miles of travel each way. However, in reality, there was no single, continuous passage. At certain times of year, it may have been possible to navigate through the Arctic Archipelago, but with extreme weather conditions and constantly shifting ice, the route remained a pipe dream. One hundred and eighty years ago tomorrow, 19 May 1845, two reinforced Royal Navy ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, sailed from the River Thames at Greenhithe, Kent, in search of the Northwest Passage. Under the command of Sir John Franklin, 129 crew sailed - and steamed - via the Orkney Islands and Greenland towards Baffin Bay. They were last sighted to the west of Greenland around the 74th parallel north.
HMS Erebus in the ice, 1846. Oil painting by Belgian artist François Etienne Musin.
By September 1846, both ships had reached King William Island at the heart of a southern route of the Northwest Passage. At this point, progress halted as thick sea ice encased both ships. Nine months passed while the Erebus and Terror remained trapped. Sir John Franklin died in June 1847, probably from scurvy, pneumonia or starvation. A further nine desperate months passed before the remaining crew abandoned the ships to attempt a march south to safety. The entire crew perished. The whereabouts of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror remained a mystery for more than 160 years. The Erebus was discovered in 2014 and the Terror two years later. Many crew members’ remains were found, but Sir John Franklin’s final resting place remains a mystery. Today, approximately 18 ships navigate the Northwest Passage each year. As global warming continues to melt the Arctic ice, this number is expected to increase.
Popular routes of the Northwest Passage, courtesy of NASA.
Thursday…
When Henry IV deposed his cousin Richard II from the English throne in 1399, he had unwittingly sowed the seeds of one of the great dynastic bust-ups in English history. The mighty House of Plantagenet had survived since Henry II ascended to the throne in 1154. Following Edward III’s reign which dominated the 14th century, the Plantagenets divided into the Houses of Lancaster (red rose) and York (white rose), founded by two of Edward’s sons, John of Gaunt and Edmund Langley respectively. Since 1399, both houses claimed their legitimacy to the throne from Edward III. It was only a matter of time before a breaking point was reached. The Yorkists kidnapped King Henry VI during the First Battle of St Albans, which erupted 570 years ago this Thursday, 22 May 1455. This brazen event marked the start of the brutal 30-year War of the Roses, culminating in 1485 when Henry VII took the throne and established the mighty House of Tudor.
Henry VI, 1422-1471. Artist unknown.
Question of the Week
Which 15th-century French peasant girl, claiming to be guided by divine intervention, played a decisive role in lifting the Siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England, and was later executed for heresy - only to be canonised centuries later?
And Finally…
When Phineas Gage travelled to work on 13 September 1848, all signs pointed to another unremarkable day on the railways. Gage liked unremarkable days because that usually meant work would be completed efficiently and without incident. Gage was 25 years old and in good health. As a railroad construction foreman, he had built a reputation as reliable and steady. However, the reliable foreman had no idea that he was about to be involved in an accident that would present one of the most celebrated medical injuries in history. Phileas was preparing a piece of land for clearance. The land was just south of Cavendish, Vermont, and a rocky outcrop needed removing to accommodate the next stretch of rail. The process was simple: Holes were drilled into the rock, filled with gunpowder, a fuse inserted, and the exposed end covered by a small amount of sand. Detonation blasted the section of rock; the rubble would be cleared, ready for the next rail section. Those of you who grind your own fresh coffee will be familiar with the practice of tamping, compressing the ground coffee in its portafilter with a weighted, cylindrical piece of stainless steel. It was the same with blast clearance. The gunpowder needed to be compressed to successfully ignite, but instead of a three-inch diameter hand-held weight, the tamper was a three-foot long, 14-pound rod of iron tapered at one end. On one particular hole, Gage had been distracted and tamped the gunpowder before adding sand. A spark detonated the gunpowder, launching the tamper out of the hole like a thunderbolt. The high-speed projectile passed, tapered end first, through Gage’s cheek, behind his left eye and exited through the top of his head, landing some 25 yards away. To the astonishment of his crew, Phineas remained conscious and could even walk. By the time Dr. Edward Williams arrived on the scene, Gage could lucidly explain what had happened.
Photo of Phineas Gage holding the tamping iron which injured him, c1855.
Recovery from that point could be measured in months, but by the end of his rehabilitation, Gage had no speech impediment or motor skills deficiency. Although he couldn’t return to his former work, the former railwayman worked for another ten years. The most significant change in Gage following the accident was his personality. He had been steady, reliable and persistent. In social settings, he was courteous and guarded with his language. After the accident, Gage was unpredictable, impatient and volatile at work. In company, he was childish, irreverent, and profane. His friends and work colleagues found him almost unrecognisable from his original self. This change in personality caught the attention of a group of physicians, most prominent of which was Henry Jacob Bigelow, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. In the emerging field of neuroscience, Gage’s extraordinary accident had provided clues that specific areas of the brain, particularly the frontal lobes, were responsible for personality and behavioural traits. Prior to 1848, the brain was seen as an amorphous mass with no regional differentiation. The idea that different parts of the brain controlled specific functions was new. It catalysed research that formed the foundations of modern-day neurology, neuropsychology and psychiatry. By 1859, just short of 12 years after his accident, Gage was in declining health. His epileptic seizures became progressively worse over time and 165 years ago this Wednesday, 21 May 1860, Phineas Gage passed away. Gage’s skull and the offending tamping iron are on display today at Harvard Medical School.
Phineas Gage’s skull on display at Harvard Medical School.
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Steve
HOST & CHIEF STORY HUNTER
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Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, was the 15th-century French peasant girl who fought with the French army to overcome the English Siege of Orleans in April 1429. Jeanne d’Arc was later captured by French allies at Margny and sold to the British 595 years ago next Saturday, 24 May 1430. She would be tried by a pro-English court in Rouen and burned at the stake for heresy a year later on 31 May 1431.
T.E. Lawrence at Carchemish, an ancient city in Northern Syria, 1913: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Emir Faisal (front) and T.E. Lawrence (to the right of Faisal) at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919: American official photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
T.E. Lawrence on his Brough Superior, c1925: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Winston Churchill attends funeral of T.E. Lawrence, 1935: Unknown photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement Map, 8 May 1916. Look closely in the bottom right-hand corner and you will see the signatures of François Georges-Picot and Mark Sykes: Royal Geographical Society (Map), Mark Sykes & François Georges-Picot (Annotations), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.