Osprey Trade Editions : Lawrence of Arabia

The Great War of 1914-18 is often seen as one major battleground - the Western Front - with numerous 'side-shows'. The other battle zones were not side-shows to those involved, however, although the local inhabitants often fought for motives which remained a closed book to their European allies or foes. Many Middle Eastern combatants saw themselves as defending Islam from Christian domination, for only recently had concepts of nationalism spread beyond the great cities. Only in the Arab Revolt, instigated by the Sharif of Mecca in the Hijaz province of Arabia, was a specifically Arab identity involved, and even here tribal and dynastic motives also played their part. While Western Europe has largely digested the appalling upheavals of the Great War, many of those conflicts which still disturb the Middle East either stem from the aftermath of the Great War or, being older in origin, had flared up among that war's 'side-shows'. Such scattered episodes were also what made a singularly savage European civil war into the world's first truly global conflict. T.E. Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia as he is better known, is best remembered for his role in the Arabia during the First World War. David Nicolle relates the story of the Arab revolts, and discusses just how important (or unimportant) was the role of T.E. Lawrence in the affair, in a text backed by a fine collection of contemporary photographs and eight full page colour plates by Richard Hook.