T. E. Lawrence
Thomas Edward Lawrence, an Oxford-trained archaeologist turned intelligence officer, became the most famous Allied figure of the Middle Eastern war as British liaison to the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918. Working with Emir Feisal, he helped shape the revolt into a strategically effective guerrilla campaign — raiding the Hejaz railway, capturing Aqaba by an audacious overland march in July 1917, and screening the right flank of Allenby's advance to Damascus. He fought knowing that the Sykes-Picot Agreement had secretly promised to France much of what Britain was publicly promising the Arabs, a duplicity that tormented him; at the Paris Peace Conference he argued unsuccessfully for Arab independence. His literary memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom and the legend of 'Lawrence of Arabia' made him one of the century's most mythologised figures; he died in a motorcycle accident in 1935.
- Lived: 1888 CE – 1935 CE
- Nationality: British
- Roles: intelligence officer, guerrilla leader, writer
