Talks

Lawrence of Arabia’s War
by Dr Neil Faulkner FSA

Date: Tuesday 19 November 2019

An analysis of the war in Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria between 1914 and 1918, with particular focus on the character, role, and achievements of T E Lawrence.

Lawrence of Arabia’s War
Lawrence of Arabia’s War

In this lecture, based on his highly successful book of the same title, Neil Faulkner rewrites the history of T E Lawrence’s legendary military campaigns in the context of the Arab Revolt. He explores the intersections among the declining Ottoman Empire, the Bedouin tribes, nascent Arab nationalism, and Western imperial ambition. He provides a new analysis of Ottoman resilience in the face of modern industrialised warfare, and assesses the relative weight of conventional operations in Palestine and irregular warfare in Syria. He thus draws on ten years of field research to offer a truly multidisciplinary study that reassesses the historic roots of today’s divided, fractious, war-torn Middle East.

‘Caustic, richly detailed, and provocative.’ - BBC History Magazine

Dr Neil Faulkner FSA is an archaeologist, historian, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster. The Editor of Military History Monthly, he is also the author of a dozen books, including Rome: empire of the eagles, A Marxist History of the World: from Neanderthals to Neoliberals, Lawrence of Arabia’s War: the Arabs, the British, and the remaking of the Middle East in World War I, and A People’s History of the Russian Revolution. His many TV appearances include Channel 4’s Time Team, BBC2’s Timewatch, and Sky Atlantic’s The British. An active fieldworker, Faulkner has co-directed various archaeological projects at home and abroad, including the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project in Norfolk, which is the longest-running research and training project in Britain, and the Great Arab Revolt Project, an investigation between 2006 and 2014 of the evidence for ‘Lawrence of Arabia’s War’ in the deserts of southern Jordan.

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