| January 8 |  |
Editor says, What if T.E. Lawrences adventures in Arabia were just adventures? This story was published in the February 2009 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1919, fantasy writer Ned Lawrence published his final Arabian Tale ~ "The earth trembled with the wrath of the warring nations, as Shaw's fame spread fast and with the momentum of the fabulous through Asia. All the metals were molten. Everything was in motion. No one could say what was impossible. Shaw realised Napoleon's young dream of conquering the East; he arrived in Constantinople in 1919 with most of the tribes and races of Asia Minor and Arabia at his back". ~ epic coda to Byzantium, © Oxford University Press, 1919. Byzantium
The protagonist Shaw was loosely based on Ned Lawrence's own modest adventures in Arabia during the second decade of the twentieth century. And Shaw's own super-hero machismo was in sharp contrast to the author's own private life as a man of letters with an ambiguous sexual orientation.
On completing his degree (1910), Ned Lawrence commenced postgraduate research in medieval pottery with a Senior Demy at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he abandoned after he was offered the opportunity to become a practising archaeologist in the Middle East. In December 1910 he sailed for Beirut, and on arrival went to Jbail (Byblos), where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish, near Jerablus in northern Syria, where he worked under D.G. Hogarth and R. Campbell-Thompson of the British Museum. He would later state that everything he accomplished as a fantasy author he owed to Hogarth. While excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, Lawrence met Gertrude Bell, who was to influence him for much of his time in the Middle East.
In late summer 1911, Lawrence returned to England for a brief sojourn. By November he was en route to Beirut for a second season at Carchemish, where he was to work with Leonard Woolley. Prior to resuming work there, however, he briefly worked with William Flinders Petrie at Kafr Ammar in Egypt.
Lawrence continued making trips to the Middle East as a field archaeologist until the outbreak of World War I. In January 1914, Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Negev Desert. They were funded by the Palestine Exploration Fund to search for an area referred to in the Bible as the 'Wilderness of Zin'; along the way, they undertook an archaeological survey of the Negev Desert. The Negev was of strategic importance, as it would have to be crossed by any Ottoman army attacking Egypt in the event of war. Woolley and Lawrence subsequently published a report of the expedition's archaeological findings, but a more important result was an updated mapping of the area, with special attention to features of military relevance such as water sources. At this time, Lawrence visited Aqaba and Petra.
From March to May, Lawrence worked again at Carchemish. Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, on the advice of S. F. Newcombe, Lawrence did not enlist in the British Army but held back until October, when he was commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps. During this period, he wrote a series of fantasy novels that were published after the war when he resumed his education.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Winston Churchill, 1935.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Generals Source: PBS Org Labels: Lawrence of Arabia, T.E. Shaw, Arabian Tales, Middle-earth, Arab Revolt. Editor says, 1) In 1919 Lawrence lost the original transcript of Seven Pillars of Wisdom whilst switching trains at Reading Station. On several occasions pranksters have placed advertisements in London newspapers such as 'Contact the Lost & Found department at Paddington Station in person to collect manuscripts of Arabian adventures, sincerely. &c. &c.'
2) Churchill's tribute to Lawrence in 1936 read I have often wondered what would have happened to Lawrence if the Great War had continued for several more years. His fame was spreading fast and with the momentum of the fabulous through Asia. The earth trembled with the wrath of the warring nations. All the metals were molten. Everything was in motion. No one could say what was impossible. Lawrence might have realised Napoleon's young dream of conquering the East; he might have arrived in Constantinople in 1919 or 1920 with most of the tribes and races of Asia Minor and Arabia at his back.
3) Shaw was the alter-ego pseudonym used by Lawrence in the 1930s when he was living in obscurity.
4) Byzantium was the conclusion to the Arabian Tale being an adventure step beyond Lawrence's own achievements, as suggested by Churchill.
~ So "he arrived at Constantinople in 1919"... any more details because this sounds real interesting to say the least!
~ I agree.
~ Nice twist, to have T. E. Lawerence diverted from his colorful career as "Lawrence of Arabia" only to create, as a writer, a character resembling (in exaggerated form) the Lawrence we know.
Eactly the opposite was done with SF writer Isaac Asimov in the short story "Dinner At the Mile-High," which imagines Asimov becoming a world-famous scientist who, at the end of the story, muses that if things had been different he might have become "a pretty good writer."
~ Lawrence's campaign had essentially no effect on the larger war however heroic and mediagenic it was. So the changes in WW1 are minor [have Allenby take Damascus 10 days later if one wishes]. The big changes are post-war. The sense of Arab betryal is much less as they are never promised their own kingdoms. France still faces revolts in its mandate but to a lesser degree as the dominant Sunnis are not fighting to get their monarch back. Biggest changes are in Iraq where in all probability the India office is allowed to run things as a direct colony with no Arab king. The massive post-WW1 revolt still happens but the Rashid Ali revolt in 1941 does not. Instead Iraq acquires major populations of Indian Muslims and Hindus.
~ Lawrence doing something different wouldn't have had much of an effect on the overall war, but might have had a big effect on post-war Arab nationalism. I do think that Arab nationalism was on the way---nationalism was in the air everywhere---but without Lawrence, the Arabs might not have felt quite so betrayed by the postwar dispositions.
Comment from Enrico Emilitri on Facebook: Probably the Ottoman Empire had been not dissolved.
Comment Arlena Arteaga Kelly on Facebook: In context within them getting completely screwed in Paris and the reality of the aftermath, they were just adventures unfortunately.
Comment Tom Hickie on Facebook: good comment Arlena the Arabs traded Turkish rule for European and then American rule and will possibly go back to the Turks, that whole area has usually been controlled by an empire based in Turkey , Iraq or Egypt or Iran
Comment from Arlena Arteaga Kelly on Facebook: They did not trade anything. Turkey, Euro, and American powers all TOOK it under either imperialism, colonial, or as war mandates.
Comment from Tom Hickie on Facebook: the sad thing is that many people still suffer
Comment from Arlena Arteaga Kelly on Facebook: Good point Tom. I forget the equal footing Islam had with the Christain infidels. Looking at all that is left of their legacy in Spain it is quite impressive.
Comment from Tom Hickie on Facebook: Islam started in Arabia but it became a powerful force when non arabs accepted it, the area that comprised the persian empire has often been a world power house
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
