T. E. Lawrence

T. E. Lawrence was a British archaeologist, army officer and intelligence specialist who became famous for his role in the Arab Revolt during the First World War. Working as a liaison with forces led by Emir Faisal, he took part in guerrilla operations against Ottoman communications and in the advance toward Damascus.

Lawrence’s wartime reputation was amplified by journalism and by his own memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom, making “Lawrence of Arabia” an international legend. After the war he argued unsuccessfully for Arab political settlements and later served under assumed names in the Royal Air Force and Tank Corps.

Ian Rutledge’s Enemy on the Euphrates brings figures including Arnold Wilson, Gertrude Bell, T. E. Lawrence, Mark Sykes and Winston Churchill into the same political story, showing how direct occupation gave way to a British-backed Iraqi monarchy. Rutledge also traces the use of Indian troops, aircraft, armoured trains and river gunboats against the insurgency and explains how the settlement imposed after the First World War influenced the later Iraqi state.