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The War In The Desert
Sep. 8th, 2024 07:47 am So, why were we fighting the Turks in the Great War?
Turkey and Great Britain were not traditional enemies. During the Crimean War we and they had been members of an alliance that went up against the Russians.
So far as I can make out, the reasons for the war with Turkey were these:
1. The Ottomans had cozied up to Germany in the hope that Germany would supply them with the know-how and technology that would lift their fading empire into the modern world. And the Germans were our enemies.
2. The Russians and the Turks had been at war more or less continuously for hundreds(?) of years. and the Russians were now our allies- and we needed them to keep the Germans occupied on the Eastern front.
3. A winnable war in the Middle-east would give us easy propaganda victories to set off against the bad news coming out of the war of attrition in Europe.
4. The Ottoman Empire was collapsing anyway and we could see there were territories to be snuffled up.
None of these seem sufficient reason for killing thousand upon thousands of people.....
When his mind wasn't busy with devising strategy and running about on camels, T.E. Lawrence allowed thoughts about the futility of what he was doing to rise up and further complicate the self-hatred he already felt. Insofar as he was a soldier he fought, insofar as he was a loose cannon he knew he was engaged on an exercise that was both wicked and pointless. He didn't believe in the Arab revolt (neither did most of the Arabs) and he knew he was a fraud for preaching and pursuing it.
Turkey and Great Britain were not traditional enemies. During the Crimean War we and they had been members of an alliance that went up against the Russians.
So far as I can make out, the reasons for the war with Turkey were these:
1. The Ottomans had cozied up to Germany in the hope that Germany would supply them with the know-how and technology that would lift their fading empire into the modern world. And the Germans were our enemies.
2. The Russians and the Turks had been at war more or less continuously for hundreds(?) of years. and the Russians were now our allies- and we needed them to keep the Germans occupied on the Eastern front.
3. A winnable war in the Middle-east would give us easy propaganda victories to set off against the bad news coming out of the war of attrition in Europe.
4. The Ottoman Empire was collapsing anyway and we could see there were territories to be snuffled up.
None of these seem sufficient reason for killing thousand upon thousands of people.....
When his mind wasn't busy with devising strategy and running about on camels, T.E. Lawrence allowed thoughts about the futility of what he was doing to rise up and further complicate the self-hatred he already felt. Insofar as he was a soldier he fought, insofar as he was a loose cannon he knew he was engaged on an exercise that was both wicked and pointless. He didn't believe in the Arab revolt (neither did most of the Arabs) and he knew he was a fraud for preaching and pursuing it.
