WEBVTT - Part Two: How Lawrence of Arabia Invented Modern War 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:08.280 Also media, what's murdering my everyone's I'm Robert Evans, and 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.320 right now I'm thinking about murdering everyone because yesterday I 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.000 got stuck in traffic for Sophie six minutes. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:19.439 I d have a giant truck. You shouldn't have to 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:20.360 get stuck in traffic. 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.360 That's exactly what I thought. But every time you drive 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.599 it over other people, suddenly there's all sorts of crimes 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.200 that are being committed, you know, uh huh, well by 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.880 the people interest. I did have a lady back into 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:38.559 me yesterday and hit my front end, but like it 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.840 did no damage to Oh my god, I felt so bad. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.400 She was like sobbing, and I was like, look, ma'am, 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.040 I'm not going to call the cops. Like your back 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.800 bumper is a little cracked, but like, if you don't 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.520 want to report this to insurance, I don't give a fuck. 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.320 Also because the insurance will take her side if she 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.800 decided it was your fault. There's even though she backed 0:00:57.840 --> 0:00:58.120 into you. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.160 I mean, yeah, I don't think there was much of 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.640 a chance of that. Like I was twenty feet back. 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.520 She just pulled straight out of a parking space. Like 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.560 I saw her backing up. I gave her room. She 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:14.360 just she just just straight into me like it was like, what, lady, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.720 you had a lot of chances to recognize that you 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.039 were making a mistake here, but I don't know. I 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.959 see somebody cry like I'm not gonna One of my 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.679 favorite things is whenever you see someone get upset because 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:27.600 they've hit you, and you get to be like, hey, 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.800 I'm not calling calling anybody over this. Oh it's such 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:32.520 a good feeling. 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.000 But one time someone rear ended me and I was like, look, 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:38.720 I'm not calling everyone over like a twenty dollars centsor 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.959 in the back of my terrible car. And then the 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.039 kid it was a teenager. Her mom wrote me and 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.440 was like, great, can I get you to sign something 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.560 saying that you will not like sue or ask for 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:54.920 money later? And I was like no, if there's paperwork involved, 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:55.600 it goes O. 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.400 That's a real different situation, ma'am. 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.560 Like you want some more it's coming from insurance company. 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.400 Why is everybody so unchill late? Just calm down. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.280 Everyone's lost their mind. You know who didn't lose their mind? 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:11.120 Unlike in the future when you are all listening to this. 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.040 Because I think America is about to be really chill 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:18.839 started next week. We are we are electing a new 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.440 president who, instead of Kamala or Trump, I think is 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.400 going to be a being of pure light who is 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:26.399 incapable of sin. 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:31.160 So and I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure in like 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.240 two years we will have murdered them, because a being 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:36.840 of pure light will not get very far as a 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:38.200 precedent in this country. 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:40.520 We all get to wear those hats that say, be 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:41.440 thou not afraid. 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.519 Yeah, oh no, that part's going to be great. That's 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:46.720 the new maga. Is be thou not afraid? 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:52.280 Yeah? 0:02:52.280 --> 0:03:05.440 Are you a Magan? No, I'm button. Yeah. Anyway, let's 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:10.359 talk about Lawrence of Arabia. All t e. 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:15.200 Okay, but Edward and Lawrence of Arabia. Is he particularly religious? 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:18.880 Not as an adult, as a kid, he is as 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:23.000 an adult, he's just kind of like vaguely spiritual, but 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.720 not like particularly religious. I think he's just kind of 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.720 too much of a thinker to be particularly devout. 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.760 And it makes the good sense when you're traveling around 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.000 in a part of the world that has a different 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:37.320 religion than what you were raised in. 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:39.640 He very clearly is not someone who's like, well, all 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:41.200 these people are going to hell, right, he does not 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:46.920 believe that at all. Yeah. Through Dome and his experience 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.880 traveling the Arab and Kurdish regions of the world, Lawrence 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.880 began to develop an understanding of the brutality of the 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.240 Ottoman Empire as well as it's incompetence. 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:55.800 Now. 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.240 During the years leading up to the Big Dub Dub Uno, 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.640 there was a general that's World War one for all 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:02.320 of you people who hate me every time I do 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.160 this bit. There was a general sense among Arabs that 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.200 the Turks were at least their best bet at protection 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.920 from Western imperialism, right, that like, well, we don't really 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.880 like being ruled by the Ottomans, but we see what 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.520 you Westerners are doing to the rest of the world, 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:18.800 and we don't want that either. At Least these people 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.120 are Muslim, Right. The British had occupied Egypt in eighteen 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.400 eighty two and had fought a very bloody war there 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:26.760 against an enemy who was seen in the West not 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:30.400 dissimilarly from how Isis was depicted in the twenty first century. 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.760 So there's a lot of anger towards the West. In 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.920 nineteen oh eight, just before Lawrence began his explorations, the 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.560 Young Turks had taken the reins of the Ottoman government. 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.560 They'd turned the Caliph into a figurehead and ignited a 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.440 period of conflict over who would rule the dying empire. 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:50.280 The Young Turks were comparatively secular, they were Western aligned, 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.520 and this amped up the internal imperialism in the Ottoman 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.800 Empire substantially, because that is not how most of the 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.680 people in these like Arab and Kurdish and other regions 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.039 of the Empire really are. The Young Turks created the 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.400 Committee of Union and Progress to try and spread some 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.000 of their sexy new ideas among the people they ruled. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.039 And the most significant idea they wanted to push was 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:17.960 called pan Turanism. And this is key to understanding Tayaprassip 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.560 Erdowin and the current Turkish government. It's genocide against the 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.880 Kurds in Syria and against in southern Turkey. This is 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.840 a very pan Turanism is a very important imperialist concept. 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.600 This is that runs all the way up to like Finland. 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.040 Yeah it's yeah, well, let's let me just explain it. 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.239 Go ahead. This is the Turkic version of the Pan 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:43.839 Germanic racial theories that would spread after World War One. 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:48.479 Doctor Kave Faroch, an expert on ancient Iran, describes Pan 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.080 Turanism as an ideology that aims at creating a Turkic 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:56.719 super state stretching from the Balkans in Europe eastwards across Turkey, Iran, 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:00.000 the Caucasus, Central Asia up to and including northwest China. 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.760 Now you will recognize, if you know much about the world, 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.839 that most of those areas are not Turkish. Yeah, Iran 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.159 not Turkish, Northwest China very much not Turkish. You know, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:17.400 Central Asia not really Turkish, the Balkans not Turkish. Turkish 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:19.359 influence in some of those places, of course, you know, 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:23.799 go to Sarajevo, you'll see that, but not Turks. Now, 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:29.640 this very much a historical belief is justified by the 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:33.240 claim that all the real indigenous peoples of those regions 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.600 speak Turkish, or at least in their natural state spoke Turkish, 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.760 and thus should belong to the same state. Quote. Hungarian 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:46.000 Pan turanianist activists even go further. They have proposed that 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:49.320 the entire Eurasian land mass between Hungary and Norway and 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.440 Europe to Japan and Korea was once an empire known 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:57.120 as Turania. Apart from non scholastic websites, no linguist and 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:02.040 no linguistic anthropological and archaeological evidence for such an empire exists. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.800 Pan Tirranean racialists and historians would beg to differ. They 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.680 are impervious to logical explanations even in the face of 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:14.040 heart evidence. I love this shit. Everything was Turks. Yeah, 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.440 in the un shit past, it was all Turks all 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.200 the way down. I just love that shit. What a 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.880 batshit Like, No, everything wasn't Turkish. I'm sorry it wasn't. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.120 That's like everything was fucking It's like the Germans being like, 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.520 are you know, like the root of our the Aryan 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.880 race is these guys living in Nepal, you know, uh 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:38.800 and and and also the same as like our dreams 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.880 of you know, rebreeding this like Aryan perfect race. I mean, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.760 they are Aryans in Nepal, but that's not what Aryan means, 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:50.040 you know. So this belief forms the core of a 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.240 lot of current fascist theory in Turkey and underpins, for example, 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.800 the genocidal acts of the Turkish state towards Kurdish rebels 0:07:56.800 --> 0:07:59.400 in the south and across the border in Rajava. Now 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.120 all this a lot less settled in Lawrence's day it's 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.320 just kind of gearing up. But he is watching the 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.240 early stages of this thing that's going to end in genocide, 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.760 and he recognizes this has a bad end, right, anything 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.440 anything like this is going to not end well. And 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:17.360 as the Young Turks, one of the ways in which 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.760 they push these pan Tyrannian ideas is by disseminating anti 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.200 Arab propaganda. They are arguing at this point in time 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:29.240 that like, instead of you know, Arabs existing in all 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.840 these regions, like all of them, all of these different 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.000 peoples are descendants of like Genghis Khan, who is the 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.880 progenitor of the nation. This kisses people off, and there 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.679 are counter revolutions starting in nineteen oh nine, the year 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:45.200 before Lorenz goes on his first dig. Now that revolution 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.600 had been sparked by army officers and angry students at 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.120 a religious school, but the crackdown afterwards bred hatred among 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:56.120 locals of Armenian Christians who they saw as supporting the 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.960 hated Young Turk government. Thirty thousand of these Christians were 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.800 butchered and massacres that would prove an ugly prelude to 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.480 the looming genocide. Lawrence arrived in the wake of all 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.240 this chaos, and while he was living in Ottoman territory 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:13.080 in nineteen eleven, Italy invaded and conquered Libya. All of 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:15.880 this provoked a surge in Arab nationalism, which we should 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.359 rightly see as not disconnected from the swells of nationalism 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.640 across the Austro Hungarian Empire and elsewhere in Europe. There's 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.200 a direct line between this Arab revolt that's going to 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.640 brew and like Serbian nationalism, right these are all part 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:33.640 of like a broader cultural movement around the world. Now, 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.640 there are two different but not entirely contradictory explanations for 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:42.160 what motivated Lawrence ultimately to support an Arab uprising against 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.200 the Ottomans. The most sympathetic reason and the one that 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.520 paints him in the best light, is related to his 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.760 relationship with Dome, Lawrence's friend later in life. I. M. 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:56.080 Forster argues that Lawrence was intimate and passionately devoted to Doome, 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.839 although they never consummated the relationship, and given lawrence dide 0:09:59.880 --> 0:10:02.120 of virgin he likely had no idea to do so. 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:06.200 Satine Who's Satin, whose biography of young Lawrence gives the 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.600 best texture on the Man's Life describes the relationship as 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:14.160 something intense but fundamentally unknowable to people reading today. However, 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.440 he cites with clear textual evidence that, however we define 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:22.040 this relationship, it inspired Lawrence's actions during World War One. 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.680 In nineteen nineteen, Lawrence admitted in a letter to a 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.360 friend that he had joined the Arab revolt because I 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.520 liked a particular Arab very much, and I thought that 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:34.079 freedom for the race would be an acceptable present. And 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:39.280 that is both profoundly orientalist and also so romantic. I know, 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:43.520 I'm going to free your people because like I like you, 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.839 Like that's such a not even romantic. That's so because 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.000 like I don't think this was a romantic relationship. That's 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:50.640 so sweet. 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:55.080 Yeah, one is like I also love Okay. It reminds 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:56.800 me a little bit about how okay, so Sam and 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:58.280 frodok because I have to bring one of the rings 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.760 into this somehow. I don't have a relationship that when 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.640 Tolkien talks about like Tlkien talks about it, and it's like, yeah, 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:10.360 it's the relationship between brothers in arms and war, right, Yeah, 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.760 And it's the kind of relationship that now that like 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:17.839 heterosexuality and homosexuality are much more like defined doesn't translate 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:22.240 to anything, Like the modern world has no way of 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.599 understanding this relationship you're describing. 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:26.280 Yeah, it's just. 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:30.480 Interesting because romantic is probably the closest word. But there's 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.520 his connotations that aren't meant. 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.720 That aren't meant, and that like make this seem like, 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.040 for one thing is something like much more problematic than 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.400 I think it was, right and man, it is just 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.680 like yeah the whole Like, I like this guy so much, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.880 I am going to like free his people from imperial bondage. 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:53.440 Like personally is kind of pretty pretty cool, know. 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.280 With no background as a soldier as far as id with. 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.560 No military background at this point, just the experience of 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.200 like makeing chain mail and learning how to sword fight 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:08.560 with the sprints. Yeah. Now, in a more artful bit 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:11.080 of writing, Lawrence Laurence, this is I want to quote 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.880 from a poem that Lawrence writes in Seven Pillars of Islam, 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.560 which Satin argues is a poem that he is. He 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.520 doesn't explicitly say this is a poem about Dome, but 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.400 Satin argues this is a poem written for Dome after 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.040 Dome's death. Quote, I love you, I loved you, so 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.840 I drew these tides of men into my hands and 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:31.840 wrote my will across the sky in stars. 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:34.200 Damn Jesus. 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:37.560 Yeah, that's a line that's bars right there. 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.600 That is beyond romance, like pale. 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:47.319 Yeah, I wrote my will across the sky and stars. 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.240 He's just a good writer, you know. Yeah. So in 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.720 this conception, if we take this is the reason why 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.120 Lawrence ultimately back the air revolt, and I will I'll 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.760 tell you right now, it can't be all of why, right, Yeah, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.280 there are less romantic reasons that his country, Great Britain, 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.960 gets involved. You know. Obviously they're not doing it because 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.480 some random British dude like an Arab kid. 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:09.280 You know. 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.240 As I noted last episode, the Germans had started making 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.560 inroads with the Ottomans after the British pulled back their 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.560 support of the Sultan zik Kaiser, who had thrown away 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.280 Germany's alliance with Russia because he was a dumb shit, 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:24.439 needed the Ottomans because once he's like fuck you Russia, 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:26.400 he also realizes like, oh my god, there's no one 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.360 watching our ASTs, right, so we kind of have to 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.320 have the Ottomans now, right, And he also the Kaiser's 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:34.200 convinced himself that well, if I get the Sultan in 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.400 my back pocket, if we ever have a big fight 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.040 with Great Britain, I can incite a jihad against the 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.000 British Empire in India and that'll solve all my British 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:42.840 people problems. 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.080 Yeah, all Muslims are definitely in power in India. 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.400 Yes, always, yes, yes, yes, that is a clear fact 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.920 that you know. I mean, if you're the Kaiser, I 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.200 guess I'm just kind of proud he knows enough about 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.200 India to know there are Muslims there. Yes, that's more 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.920 knowledge than I would have credited kaiserville Elm with. Yeah. Now, 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.000 a further complication here was the recent construction of the 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:09.520 j Jas railway, which connected the Arab Peninsula to the 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.880 rest of modern day Saudi Arabia. This is a railway 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.720 that goes from like, you know, the the Ottoman heartland 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.080 and the Arab world all the way down through what 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.400 is modern day Saudi Arabia to like Omen and Yemen. 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.120 I think, right, like that's the Hjas is this massive 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.320 desert peninsula, right and this is you know, the Ottomans. 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.680 Once that Great Britain had gotten the sus Canal going. 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.480 The Ottomans had become dependent on Great Britain to move 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.720 goods to a lot of parts of the world, and 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:38.400 this railway was not only supposed to connect a lot 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.760 of these backwaters of the Empire, these tiny, little off 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.840 the map places that were really completely separate from the 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.040 rest of the world. It was also supposed to be 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.040 this like economic lifeline to the Empire that reduced their 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:54.120 dependence on Great Britain. The railway was so crucial not 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.120 just to the Ottomans, but in a lot of eyes 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.480 to the to Islam right that it had been funded 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:02.800 by do nations from Muslims all over the world, including 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.240 a huge number of Indian Muslims. And the fact that 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.920 so many Indian Muslims had donated to fund the Jjas 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.800 Railway was seen by a lot of like British observers 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.680 as evidence that like, oh, we really do need to 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:17.400 be worried that the caliph could spark a rebellion right now. 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:19.800 This ties back to Lawrence because during the years he 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.120 was digging, a realization had spread among the brass back 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.840 home in England that we might, you know's it's becoming 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.480 increasingly likely that we're going to have to scrap with 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:33.280 the Germans, and if that's the case, we probably have 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.720 to have a plan to deal with the Turks. Now, 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.600 Lord Kitchener, who is like the king shit of the 0:15:39.600 --> 0:15:42.240 British military, you know, in the period leading up to 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.479 in the early stages of World War One, is the guy, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.080 the man in power in the British military establishment who 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:51.840 is first like, hey, I am backing, Like I am 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.480 officially backing that we want to incite an air We're 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.680 looking into the possibility of inciting an Arab rebellion in Syria, right, 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.320 and support it enough to create a friendly state that 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.920 will fracture Ottoman power. Right Kitchener is like, he's not 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.160 the guy who originates the idea, but he's the first 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.880 guy in power who's like, I think we should explore 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.280 this as a potential official like policy move, Like. 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:16.840 Is this the first time? Because this is this is 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:21.760 like the US's playbook. Right, is you back and uprising 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.240 in order to create a friendly state to the US? 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.320 Is this like are their previous examples? 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.240 Oh yes, from the British right. I don't the US 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.640 is doing much of this. I mean it done. You know, 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:35.600 you could look at some aspects of our history. But 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.120 like we get it either way from the Brits, right, 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:41.440 they do this in Africa, they do this all over the. 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.720 Place, So it's an existing playbook. 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:47.520 Yeah, yeah, it is definitely an existing playbook. Right. This 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:51.120 is always how the British Empire's playbook is always, you know, 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.080 although it's usually a bit different because like this is 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.520 we are trying to disrupt an enemy by doing this. 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.640 Usually it's more we have this area we control that 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.560 we are native too, and we're going to find a 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.159 warrior people and we're going to both back them but 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.440 also kind of incite conflicts between them and other peoples 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:09.400 in order to take the pressure off of us. 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:09.640 Right. 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.359 But you can see how like that playbook, you can 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.840 you can translate that directly to what's being done here 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:15.840 with the elements, right. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.320 Well, everyone likes doing that. The Tzar did that with 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:18.960 the cosmics. 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.520 Yes, yes, it's a very old old playbook. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:22.800 Right. 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.280 So in September of nineteen thirteen, the coming war between 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.240 European powers was both something that like everyone knew it 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.639 was happening, right that there was some sort of general 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.520 European conflict probably and also nobody really expected it to 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.200 happen right, not when it happened right. It's one of 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:42.240 those things where it's like, well, this will happen one day, 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.159 but probably not tomorrow, until eventually tomorrow comes. 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:45.480 Right. 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.879 This is impression for when this comes out. 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.280 Pressure for any number of things. Now, Kitchener, being a 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.240 bit smarter than a lot of people in the British Empire, 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:57.640 is not just like, well, we'll probably have a war 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.280 one of these days, but not tomorrow. Kitchener's it's like, well, 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.000 he's probably ready, Like, if we're going to wind up 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:04.800 fighting the Germans and the Ottomans, we probably have a 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.360 plan for how to like incite this rebellion that might 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:10.119 get the Ottomans, you know, off of our fucking backs. 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:14.240 So he sends operatives to Palestine to gather information on 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:18.359 Ottoman military facilities there. Now, since the Ottomans weren't just 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:20.600 about to okay, like spy of bes, oh, you want 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.560 to send some spies the Holy that absolutely, it was 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.479 suggested that they send some local boys, some local like 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.080 English boys who were already in the Ottoman Empire playing 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.879 at archaeology, right, And that is how Te Lawrence and 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.679 his friend Ced L. Wooley find themselves called upon to 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.320 act as spies for the mother country. Lawrence was described 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.720 by his mentor to the Shell organization created to execute 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.800 this expedition as someone who quote gets on very well 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.360 with the natives. He has I think more the instincts 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.639 of an explorer, but is very shy. Right, that's like 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.600 the the what gets him this job. As like, you know, 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.359 he's kind of doing some James Bond shit. You know 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.439 six am I five doesn't exist then, but like that, 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.080 that's very much what he's doing here, right, He's being 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.159 brought in by the state to help provide cover to 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:08.920 an espionage operation. 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:10.240 Yeah. 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:13.399 Now, he and Woolley insist that Dome be hired as 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.600 a photographer and general assistant to the team. They are 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.919 carrying out a real historical survey, but that survey is 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:24.359 also cover to this group of actual spies that are 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:27.439 being sent like as assistants, but are there to do 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.000 their actual like spy work. Right. Lawrence is aware of this, 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.320 and he writes back to his mom, we are obviously 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.360 meant as red herrings. Now the trips. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.080 Could trust the male so well back then, of course 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:44.280 nobody would look in the mail. Yeah. 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.400 Now the trip was mostly uneventful for our purposes, save 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.440 that it marks the first time Lawrence found himself traveling 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.679 the Sinai and thinking about the military value of different 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:56.479 towns and forts along the way. One morning, he and 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:58.960 Woolley were late meeting up with their baggage men because 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.640 they were hunting a gazelle. Well, their camels, which had 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.679 bolted the night before, were found, and the Egyptian police 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.040 were contacted in a panic. Lawrence wrote home that quote. 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:11.320 The result was wild telephoning all over the frontier. The 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.200 Turks were wandering over their hills. About forty Arabs were 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.199 arrested and brought in his hostages for our reappearance. And 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:20.160 meanwhile we were sitting quietly wondering where in the world 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.399 our tents had got to. Now. To anyone else, this 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:25.640 would just be kind of like a funny moment, But Lawrence, 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:29.880 being very perceptive, takes something crucial from the experience. He writes, quote, 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.600 it shows how easily it is in an absolutely deserted 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:37.280 country to defy a government. And this is going to 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:39.399 lead him to one of the most important realizations of 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.720 the last one hundred and fifty years. After the expedition, 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:45.800 Lawrence and Woolly went back to their dig. Woolly left 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:49.280 around June, but as was usual, Lawrence stayed. He got 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.520 regular pushes to go back home, but in the last 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.000 eighteen months had spent just three weeks in England. Daoum 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:57.600 and another local friend of his, Hamoodi, had by this 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:01.640 point heard stories from Lawrence about and they'd repeatedly asked, hey, 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:03.600 can we would like to see You've spent so much 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.040 time in our home, we would like to see England, right, 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.440 And eventually, in nineteen thirteen, in the last summer before 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:14.240