1935 : Lawrence of Arabia dies
T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, dies as a
retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. The
legendary war hero, author, and archaeological scholar succumbed to
injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six days before.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadoc, Wales, in 1888. In 1896,
his family moved to Oxford. Lawrence studied architecture and
archaeology, for which he made a trip to Ottoman (Turkish)-controlled
Syria and Palestine in 1909. In 1911, he won a fellowship to join an
expedition excavating an ancient Hittite settlement on the Euphrates
River. He worked there for three years and in his free time traveled
and learned Arabic. In 1914, he explored the Sinai, near the frontier
of Ottoman-controlled Arabia and British-controlled Egypt. The maps
Lawrence and his associates made had immediate strategic value upon
the outbreak of war between Britain and the Ottoman Empire in October
1914.
Lawrence enlisted in the war and because of his expertise in Arab
affairs was assigned to Cairo as an intelligence officer. He spent
more than a year in Egypt, processing intelligence information and in
1916 accompanied a British diplomat to Arabia, where Hussein ibn Ali,
the emir of Mecca, had proclaimed a revolt against Turkish rule.
Lawrence convinced his superiors to aid Hussein's rebellion, and he
was sent to join the Arabian army of Hussein's son Faisal as a liaison
officer.
Under Lawrence's guidance, the Arabians launched an effective
guerrilla war against the Turkish lines. He proved a gifted military
strategist and was greatly admired by the Bedouin people of Arabia. In
July 1917, Arabian forces captured Aqaba near the Sinai and joined the
British march on Jerusalem. Lawrence was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant colonel. In November, he was captured by the Turks while
reconnoitering behind enemy lines in Arab dress and was tortured and
sexually abused before escaping. He rejoined his army, which slowly
worked its way north to Damascus, which fell in October 1918.
Arabia was liberated, but Lawrence's hope that the peninsula would be
united as a single nation was dashed when Arabian factionalism came to
the fore after Damascus. Lawrence, exhausted and disillusioned, left
for England. Feeling that Britain had exacerbated the rivalries
between the Arabian groups, he appeared before King George V and
politely refused the medals offered to him.
After the war, he lobbied hard for independence for Arab countries and
appeared at the Paris peace conference in Arab robes. He became
something of a legendary figure in his own lifetime, and in 1922 he
gave up higher-paying appointments to enlist in the Royal Air Force
(RAF) under an assumed name, John Hume Ross. He had just completed
writing his monumental war memoir, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and he
hoped to escape his fame and acquire material for a new book. Found
out by the press, he was discharged, but in 1923 he managed to enlist
as a private in the Royal Tanks Corps under another assumed name, T.E.
Shaw, a reference to his friend, Irish writer George Bernard Shaw. In
1925, Lawrence rejoined the RAF and two years later legally changed
his last name to Shaw.
In 1927, an abridged version of his memoir was published and generated
tremendous publicity, but the press was unable to locate Lawrence (he
was posted to a base in India). In 1929, he returned to England and
spent the next six years writing and working as an RAF mechanic. In
1932, his English translation of Homer's Odyssey was published under
the name of T.E. Shaw. The Mint, a fictionalized account of Royal Air
Force recruit training, was not published until 1955 because of its
explicitness.
In February 1935, Lawrence was discharged from the RAF and returned to
his simple cottage at Clouds Hill, Dorset. On May 13, he was
critically injured while driving his motorcycle through the Dorset
countryside. He had swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles. On May 19,
he died at the hospital of his former RAF camp. All of Britain mourned
his passing.
history.com/tdih.do
1588 : Spanish Armada sets sail
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5014
1749 : Ohio Company chartered
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5015
###########################################
T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, dies as a
retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. The
legendary war hero, author, and archaeological scholar succumbed to
injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six days before.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadoc, Wales, in 1888. In 1896,
his family moved to Oxford. Lawrence studied architecture and
archaeology, for which he made a trip to Ottoman (Turkish)-controlled
Syria and Palestine in 1909. In 1911, he won a fellowship to join an
expedition excavating an ancient Hittite settlement on the Euphrates
River. He worked there for three years and in his free time traveled
and learned Arabic. In 1914, he explored the Sinai, near the frontier
of Ottoman-controlled Arabia and British-controlled Egypt. The maps
Lawrence and his associates made had immediate strategic value upon
the outbreak of war between Britain and the Ottoman Empire in October
1914.
Lawrence enlisted in the war and because of his expertise in Arab
affairs was assigned to Cairo as an intelligence officer. He spent
more than a year in Egypt, processing intelligence information and in
1916 accompanied a British diplomat to Arabia, where Hussein ibn Ali,
the emir of Mecca, had proclaimed a revolt against Turkish rule.
Lawrence convinced his superiors to aid Hussein's rebellion, and he
was sent to join the Arabian army of Hussein's son Faisal as a liaison
officer.
Under Lawrence's guidance, the Arabians launched an effective
guerrilla war against the Turkish lines. He proved a gifted military
strategist and was greatly admired by the Bedouin people of Arabia. In
July 1917, Arabian forces captured Aqaba near the Sinai and joined the
British march on Jerusalem. Lawrence was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant colonel. In November, he was captured by the Turks while
reconnoitering behind enemy lines in Arab dress and was tortured and
sexually abused before escaping. He rejoined his army, which slowly
worked its way north to Damascus, which fell in October 1918.
Arabia was liberated, but Lawrence's hope that the peninsula would be
united as a single nation was dashed when Arabian factionalism came to
the fore after Damascus. Lawrence, exhausted and disillusioned, left
for England. Feeling that Britain had exacerbated the rivalries
between the Arabian groups, he appeared before King George V and
politely refused the medals offered to him.
After the war, he lobbied hard for independence for Arab countries and
appeared at the Paris peace conference in Arab robes. He became
something of a legendary figure in his own lifetime, and in 1922 he
gave up higher-paying appointments to enlist in the Royal Air Force
(RAF) under an assumed name, John Hume Ross. He had just completed
writing his monumental war memoir, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and he
hoped to escape his fame and acquire material for a new book. Found
out by the press, he was discharged, but in 1923 he managed to enlist
as a private in the Royal Tanks Corps under another assumed name, T.E.
Shaw, a reference to his friend, Irish writer George Bernard Shaw. In
1925, Lawrence rejoined the RAF and two years later legally changed
his last name to Shaw.
In 1927, an abridged version of his memoir was published and generated
tremendous publicity, but the press was unable to locate Lawrence (he
was posted to a base in India). In 1929, he returned to England and
spent the next six years writing and working as an RAF mechanic. In
1932, his English translation of Homer's Odyssey was published under
the name of T.E. Shaw. The Mint, a fictionalized account of Royal Air
Force recruit training, was not published until 1955 because of its
explicitness.
In February 1935, Lawrence was discharged from the RAF and returned to
his simple cottage at Clouds Hill, Dorset. On May 13, he was
critically injured while driving his motorcycle through the Dorset
countryside. He had swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles. On May 19,
he died at the hospital of his former RAF camp. All of Britain mourned
his passing.
history.com/tdih.do
1588 : Spanish Armada sets sail
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5014
1749 : Ohio Company chartered
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5015
###########################################
No comments:
Post a Comment