The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - PREVIEW： Epochs #203 ｜ Lawrence of Arabia with Luca Johnson： Part II

00:00:00.000 So then, about this point, his expedition with Storrs to Jeddah for the first time, this is sort of where Seven Pillars of Wisdom kicks in and the movie, Lawrence of Raiders, it's sort of around this point where the story, the main story, really starts.

00:00:18.100 So in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, he spent the first bit of the book, he's setting up a lot of the things we've set up, just talking about the Ottoman Empire a bit and talking about the Arabs a bit.

00:00:27.680 One last thing I want to mention before we just go into the story is this relationship between Arabs, true Arabian Arabs, and the sort of wider Arab world, if you like.

00:00:41.720 So there's sort of the true Arabian, sometimes Bedouin, not always Bedouin, but the true Arabian Arabs.

00:00:48.460 And then there's Arabic people of Mesopotamia and what became Transjordan and modern day Lebanon and Syria and stuff.

00:00:59.940 So they see themselves sort of, it's a bit different.

00:01:04.200 So the way you might say Scandinavian and Germanic and British people are all essentially the same ethnicity, let's say, and might share the same religion, but they're actually separate, actually fairly separate sort of identities, got different histories and all sorts of things going on.

00:01:24.260 So there's that to mention, I think, is worth mentioning.

00:01:27.520 Yes. This is one of the things that Lawrence talks about, isn't it?

00:01:30.720 Because if the end goal is an independent Arab people, well, because of the Ottoman Empire, such a thing as a group of independent Arabs has not existed for centuries.

00:01:46.520 And so what is actually, what can be the foundational myth, you know, that they can all tie themselves around, that they can feel they've got some loyalty to one another.

00:01:58.940 And Lawrence comes to the opinion, I think this is one of the things he talks about when he's in the Arab Bureau.

00:02:03.040 He says, if it is to be successful and stable, then it's going to have to fundamentally be based on Sunni Islam and it's going to have to have some sort of historical memory of the times before the Ottomans.

00:02:21.020 There's going to have to be some renaissance of Arab history, Arab consciousness, you know, as a people, as a civilisation of their own, you know, before the Turks, which is obviously an enormously ambitious thing to undertake.

00:02:40.000 One interesting line, very interesting line from Seven Pears of Wisdom, which always strikes me whenever I've read it, is it talks about how the Turks tried to,

00:02:49.100 did their own version of colonialism, did their own version of colonialism, and that was extremely, extremely repressive and oppressive, extremely so.

00:02:58.800 But the way, sort of the osmosis, the reverse osmosis was the case though.

00:03:03.760 So Turkish words, you're supposed to only speak Turkish if you were in a colonial government or at universities and things.

00:03:12.000 Any official cable and things should always be in Turkish, for example.

00:03:18.280 They tried to repress Arabic, the language.

00:03:23.360 Oh, sorry.

00:03:23.860 I'll just say, not only didn't it work, but Turkish got laced with Arabic words.

00:03:29.700 You know how in English there's a few French words we use, like rendezvous or something like that?

00:03:33.800 Like Turkish got flooded with Arabic words.

00:03:37.060 Apparently.

00:03:37.820 I mean, I'm told.

00:03:39.120 I don't speak Turkish or Arabic, but it's true. 1.00

00:03:41.520 Right, yeah.

00:03:41.960 That's what it says in Seven Pears of Wisdom.

00:03:44.940 Yes.

00:03:45.340 And that where they tried to just enforce Turkish customs and culture on the Arabs, like it so didn't work.

00:03:54.260 Yeah.

00:03:54.620 Because Arabic culture is older and more ingrained and, well, anyway, I think that's an important, just a broad, important point.

00:04:06.360 Yeah, definitely.

00:04:07.160 Also, one thing to mention as regards to just a brief history before Lawrence arrives is, in particular, Prince Faisal, who's going to be a major character.

00:04:19.920 The main character of Lawrence himself.

00:04:22.460 Good old Guinness.

00:04:23.260 But he is still pretending to be loyal to the Turks.

00:04:29.440 He's in Damascus with, I think it's Enver Pasha.

00:04:35.420 Yeah.

00:04:35.980 So the Young Turk Revolution has happened. 0.94

00:04:38.400 Yes.

00:04:38.880 Already.

00:04:39.180 So the Sultan, the old Sultan, has been deposed.

00:04:42.060 Yeah.

00:04:42.460 And the new government of the Ottoman Empire is this, the Young Turks.

00:04:46.260 Yes.

00:04:46.720 And it's basically a triumvirate of three Pashas, isn't it? 0.99

00:04:49.300 Yeah.

00:04:50.300 Jamal.

00:04:50.900 Jamal Pasha.

00:04:51.600 Yeah, Enver and Talal.

00:04:52.880 That's it.

00:04:53.580 Yeah.

00:04:54.240 But, so Faisal is having to, and he gets told that, well, I'll go down to, Faisal says,

00:05:04.540 I'll go down to Mecca and I'll inspect the troops ready for that march on Suez that we've promised you.

00:05:10.980 And, and, and, and, oh, this is shortly before, shortly before Lawrence arrives.

00:05:15.840 And, and Enver says, oh, well, there's, there's no worry because Jamal's coming down from Constantinople

00:05:21.940 to inspect them too.

00:05:23.060 And so Faisal is in, yeah, at Mecca with doing troop maneuvers with two of the three main

00:05:33.620 young Turks having to pretend to be on their side. 0.95

00:05:38.240 And I think it's Sheriff Ali of the Harith, who's obviously in the film, there is a Sheriff Ali played by Omar Sharif, but he's in the film.

00:05:49.280 He's more of an amalgamation of several characters, but there was a historical Sheriff Ali of the Harith and he's there.

00:05:55.900 And he says, why aren't we just killing them? 0.98

00:05:58.200 You know, why aren't we just killing them now? 0.99

00:06:01.420 And, but Faisal's very honorable. 0.97

00:06:03.360 And he's like, no, the guests, we can't do that.

00:06:06.400 It's not who we are.

00:06:07.520 But yeah, even there.

00:06:09.060 And, but then they get really suspicious, obviously.

00:06:12.620 The Turks. 0.84

00:06:12.880 The Turks, the young Turks get really suspicious that some things are missed. 0.98

00:06:17.280 Fortunately, Faisal's able to, to get away.

00:06:20.520 He's not held prisoner and yeah, so there's this whole subterfuge before Lawrence comes along and the Turks aren't quite aware of just that.

00:06:30.600 So the Arab revolt, by the time Lawrence goes to Arabia, the revolt has already started.

00:06:37.560 Yes.

00:06:38.080 Okay.

00:06:38.660 So just to make this crystal clear for everyone, the Arabs are supposed to be, or are, on the side of the Ottomans. 0.65

00:06:45.840 The Arabs are just part of the Ottoman Empire.

00:06:47.940 Yeah.

00:06:48.080 So they're all on the same side, even though they hate each other.

00:06:51.620 They're all on the same side until the Arabs do finally start their own revolt. 0.98

00:07:01.440 And that is just, as we say, just before Lawrence gets involved in the story.

00:07:07.360 So they, Mecca and Medina are quite close to each other, relatively close to each other, aren't they, on the map?

00:07:12.680 What is it, a hundred miles less?

00:07:15.100 I can't remember.

00:07:16.100 I should know that.

00:07:16.580 A bike ride for Lawrence.

00:07:17.820 It's not that far, right?

00:07:19.340 Mm.

00:07:20.120 And so Mecca and Medina, as far as the Turks are concerned, are important cities in their empire.

00:07:27.820 Yes.

00:07:28.080 That's how they look at it.

00:07:29.160 You know, more than important, they're holy cities.

00:07:31.140 The two most important cities in Islam.

00:07:33.240 Oh, yeah.

00:07:33.620 Yeah.

00:07:33.760 Yeah.

00:07:33.940 The most important cities in Islam are Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, in that order.

00:07:38.620 Yeah.

00:07:39.840 So, yeah, holy cities.

00:07:41.100 Yeah.

00:07:41.580 To this day, I don't think you're allowed in Mecca unless you're a Muslim. 1.00

00:07:44.640 Is that right?

00:07:45.120 Can that be right?

00:07:45.840 Yeah.

00:07:46.200 I think that's the case.

00:07:46.800 I've heard this.

00:07:47.300 I think apparently you are allowed in outer Medina these days, but you're obviously not

00:07:53.540 allowed in the innermost part where Muhammad's tomb is and everything.

00:07:56.820 So, the Grand Mosque. 0.81

00:07:58.700 Yes.

00:07:59.480 So, the Sharif of Mecca, they've pushed the Turks out of Mecca. 0.99

00:08:07.680 Yes.

00:08:08.360 And they're trying to retake Medina.

00:08:11.400 So, there's a big Turkish garrison in Medina.

00:08:14.780 I say big, it's thousands.

00:08:16.180 Yeah.

00:08:16.920 And they've got artillery, machine guns.

00:08:18.940 They've got everything.

00:08:19.480 It's a big, medium-sized Turkish army in Medina.

00:08:23.000 Under a Fakri Pasha, who I think even the Allies described him as like the Lion of Medina 0.95

00:08:29.220 or something.

00:08:29.960 They had just a genuine respect for his resilience against, you know, respecting the enemy.

00:08:36.460 So, the Turkish army, the Ottoman army, we must say, not only is actually quite competent, 0.97

00:08:40.140 almost as competent, not quite, but almost as competent and professional as like the German 1.00

00:08:46.820 army or the British army, nearly.

00:08:48.500 Yes.

00:08:48.840 Very nearly.

00:08:49.300 So, not to be sniffed at in any way, shape or form.

00:08:51.520 On top of that, though, they are extremely brutal. 0.99

00:08:56.120 They do massacres and genocides and shit. 1.00

00:08:59.540 Yeah. 0.99

00:09:00.400 I mean, obviously, most famously.

00:09:02.060 Terrifying.

00:09:02.720 Yeah.

00:09:03.040 Infamously, the Armenian genocide, which is a...

00:09:06.160 Which just happened.

00:09:07.060 Yeah.

00:09:07.320 Which is...

00:09:07.760 That happened the year before this.

00:09:08.860 Yes.

00:09:09.500 But also, you know, less talked about is the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Assyrian

00:09:15.960 Christians, you know, and just other people, ethnic groups within their empire, because 0.84

00:09:20.520 the young Turks, in their efforts to maintain the Ottoman Empire, there's this Turkification 1.00

00:09:26.780 going on where, you know, the emphasis is on more sort of a nationalism of Turkish identity.

00:09:34.060 Arch-Turkish nationalism.

00:09:35.280 Yeah.

00:09:35.540 Yeah.

00:09:35.600 Yeah.

00:09:36.180 Yeni Turan, Turkey for the Turks.

00:09:38.020 Yes.

00:09:38.520 Yeah.

00:09:38.700 And so, yeah, all these, the minorities in the empire, so many of them, you know, all

00:09:44.120 of a sudden, you know, in a much more precarious, dangerous place.

00:09:49.120 And they have even historically been within the empire.

00:09:52.460 It's probably the worst time to be a minority in the Ottoman Empire.

00:09:57.700 So, another quick words on that then.

00:09:59.360 So, like, the Balkans and things have been breaking away from the Ottomans for quite a

00:10:04.200 while.

00:10:04.580 Yeah.

00:10:05.000 All throughout the 19th century, really.

00:10:08.140 And the young Turks were trying to just put a stop to losing things. 0.98

00:10:14.440 They were just trying to put a stop to it. 0.98

00:10:15.780 It's like the Armenians are subversive and a pain. 1.00

00:10:19.600 We're going to kill every single one of them. 1.00

00:10:21.200 We're going to round them all up, hundreds of thousands, millions of them, take them 1.00

00:10:27.940 out to the desert and do death marches out in the desert until they were gone.

00:10:33.380 And so, they'd done that to the Armenians in 1915, so just before this.

00:10:37.800 And after the Arab revolt breaks out, you can only imagine that the Turks, the young Turks, 0.85

00:10:43.680 were thinking if they could, they'd do something similar to the Arabs, the Bedouin, anyway,

00:10:47.520 at least, if they could.

00:10:49.780 But it's all up for grabs.

00:10:51.200 Because there's this...

00:10:52.700 So, okay.

00:10:53.980 So, the Sharif of Mecca's armies, under his sons, are trying to take Medina, which isn't 0.92

00:11:02.640 a million miles from Mecca.

00:11:03.780 Yes.

00:11:04.020 And they've tried and they failed.

00:11:07.840 So, that's a big problem.

00:11:09.800 Just couldn't phase up to the artillery.

00:11:11.800 Yeah.

00:11:12.560 The Turkish army's too good.

00:11:13.900 Yeah.

00:11:14.080 It's too professional and too good.

00:11:15.100 And the Turks have got a modern train track all the way from Constantinople, all the way

00:11:22.580 down through the Holy Land, all the way down through what becomes Jordan, all the way down

00:11:28.360 to Medina.

00:11:29.040 Yeah.

00:11:29.200 There's a train track so they can resupply them endlessly if they need to.

00:11:34.940 So, the fact that they failed to retake Medina could very easily just mean that this Arab 1.00

00:11:41.860 revolt gets squished out by the Turks real quick. 0.89

00:11:45.880 And then the Turks do some sort of Armenian-style repercussions. 0.89

00:11:51.820 So, this Arab revolt looks really shaky.

00:11:55.960 It's newly born and it might die straight away.

00:12:00.020 And this is the point where T.E.

00:12:03.080 Lawrence and Ronald Storrs turn up at Jeddah, which is, again, just on the coast, Red Sea

00:12:08.040 coast, very close, really, to Mecca and Medina.

00:12:11.140 And King Hussein himself isn't prepared to leave Mecca, but he sends... 0.92

00:12:18.260 It's Ali, isn't it?

00:12:19.600 The first...

00:12:19.920 Is it Ali?

00:12:20.460 Oh, Abdullah.

00:12:21.100 Abdullah is the first one Lawrence meets.

00:12:23.180 So, okay, let's talk about that.

00:12:25.800 This is where the story and the movie sort of really kick in, right?

00:12:29.640 Yeah.

00:12:30.320 Yeah.

00:12:30.800 Well, I suppose the first thing to talk about with Lawrence's interaction with the sons

00:12:36.440 of Hussein is that Lawrence is...

00:12:38.900 He's looking for a leader.

00:12:40.680 Yes.

00:12:40.940 He's looking for which one of these men can be a figure with the vision, the purpose,

00:12:50.780 who can command the respect, you know, to unite this revolt around.

00:12:56.460 And so, yeah, he visits Abdullah and Faisal and Zaid.

00:13:01.700 And although he likes Abdullah, he fundamentally just doesn't think he's quite serious enough.

00:13:10.000 Yeah.

00:13:10.520 He's too jovial, he's too humorous, he's too, you know, everything's just too casual about him.

00:13:18.100 Yeah.

00:13:18.920 It's interesting that, so what Lawrence and Storrs and just the British, the first thing they're looking for to try and help to bolster this Arab revolt,

00:13:28.160 before we start giving them naval artillery support and loads of money and on and on and on, is need a decent leader.

00:13:36.080 Not just a decent leader, a charismatic leader, the old King Hussein in Mecca, he's not up to it, he's an old man and he's stubborn and he's not really a leader of men. 0.65

00:13:44.600 No.

00:13:45.920 What particularly Lawrence is looking for is, and the bar is set really high, he wants someone that's almost like a mythical, something from the past.

00:13:55.380 Right.

00:13:55.520 He's looking for charisma dialed up, he's looking like a religious leader, someone that can lead a jihad.

00:14:05.320 Yeah.

00:14:06.000 Through sort of force of personality.

00:14:08.120 So, he meets Abdullah, who, as far as the Arabs are concerned, is sort of probably the senior brother.

00:14:17.600 Right.

00:14:18.800 The most important brother, he's sort of the most polished, the most educated, probably tactically, strategically, probably you would have thought the best.

00:14:29.820 He's sort of the obvious choice.

00:14:32.240 He can hobnob with British diplomats.

00:14:35.960 He's sort of got it all.

00:14:37.320 But when Storrs and Lawrence meet him, yeah, Lawrence and Storrs' opinion is that he's, yeah, something like too languid, too sort of relaxed and casual and off the cuff.

00:14:50.100 He's not like this badass war master.

00:14:54.300 No.

00:14:54.480 He's not that.

00:14:55.180 No.

00:14:55.440 And that's kind of what Lawrence and the British want or need. 1.00

00:14:58.100 Yes.

00:14:58.540 We need to beat the Turks in the field. 1.00

00:15:00.380 We don't need this languid diplomat type dude.

00:15:03.420 I mean, Abdullah does go on to be king of Jordan, trans-Jordan.

00:15:08.300 Right.

00:15:08.580 He does.

00:15:09.020 Yes.

00:15:09.580 Yes.

00:15:10.120 So, he is a king.

00:15:11.360 Quite effectively as well.

00:15:12.060 Yeah.

00:15:12.700 Yeah.

00:15:13.740 He actually gets assassinated in the 1950s, doesn't he?

00:15:17.080 By a Palestinian. 0.94

00:15:18.460 Yeah.

00:15:18.960 Anyway, anyway.

00:15:19.820 So, he is a king.

00:15:22.320 But he's not quite right.

00:15:24.240 Yeah.

00:15:24.620 He's not what Lawrence wants.

00:15:26.200 No.

00:15:26.900 Not what the British need. 0.92

00:15:28.120 Not what the Arabs need. 1.00

00:15:29.780 So, okay.

00:15:30.480 There's a few more sons.

00:15:32.080 Yeah.

00:15:32.720 But I think Faisal's the next one that he goes to visit.

00:15:37.720 He rides out to Faisal's camp further inland.

00:15:41.380 So, that's the other thing as well.

00:15:42.360 Because, yeah, okay, the British are trying to help you and are allies to a degree.

00:15:50.940 But Lawrence actually has to get permission to be allowed to go further inland to go see Faisal.

00:15:57.400 And, yeah, he gets the permission, of course.

00:15:59.820 And this is where he meets Prince Faisal.

00:16:03.620 Yeah.

00:16:04.800 Now, I don't know what your opinion is.

00:16:06.640 And I'm sure a lot of it is just due to the fact that, basically, every time Lawrence writes about Faisal and the Seven Pillars, he's absolutely forming over him.

00:16:15.360 You know, it's clear that Lawrence had the highest opinion of Faisal.

00:16:20.400 And I suppose through the sheer force of his writing and the way that Lawrence tells it, you can't help but feel that way either.

00:16:27.460 Like, Faisal is clearly a great man.

00:16:30.480 You know, a great leader of men.

00:16:32.600 You know, he's philosophical.

00:16:34.560 He's sophisticated.

00:16:35.860 He's pious, but pragmatically pious.

00:16:39.560 He's, you know, he has the seriousness that Abdullah perhaps was lacking.

00:16:45.720 You know, and I think Lawrence and also his face.

00:16:50.040 One of the things about his face that's remarkable as well is that, actually, he does look a considerable amount like Alec Guinness.

00:16:56.800 You know, it's quite remarkable.

00:16:58.740 Lawrence even says that in it.

00:17:00.500 He says he looked quite European in his complexion.

00:17:04.280 You know, I mean, obviously, Guinness is a bit more obvious, but, you know, it's still, it's interesting that Lawrence basically almost knows the moment that he sees him, that this is a man that he's looking for.

00:17:20.980 Yeah.

00:17:21.620 Yeah.

00:17:21.880 This is the king you are looking for.

00:17:26.680 Yeah.

00:17:27.380 Yeah.

00:17:27.620 In the film, Lawrence and Rabia, David Lean's 1962 film.

00:17:31.480 Yeah.

00:17:31.820 He's played by Sir Alec Guinness.

00:17:33.380 My favourite actor.

00:17:34.320 Alec Guinness sort of browned up.

00:17:36.400 Yeah.

00:17:36.780 You wouldn't get it these days.

00:17:37.940 No, no.

00:17:39.440 He got his accent.

00:17:42.400 He took lessons from Omar Sharif as well for his accent a little bit.

00:17:46.480 So, the figure of Faisal, Faisal Hussain, later becomes a king as well.

00:17:54.520 He is the sort of the pivotal character other than Lawrence in this story.

00:17:59.100 He's the absolutely pivotal person, Faisal.

00:18:03.200 I think he's the second son.

00:18:04.220 He's not the eldest son of the king.

00:18:05.440 Third.

00:18:05.900 He's the third.

00:18:06.560 Okay.

00:18:07.840 But he's got it.

00:18:10.040 Whatever it is, whatever Lawrence was looking for,

00:18:13.920 this sort of effortlessly, an effortless authority,

00:18:20.720 where at a glance, he is the leader type person.

00:18:27.480 It's difficult to explain what that je ne sais quoi is, right?

00:18:31.380 But Lawrence and everyone seems to be convinced that Faisal has it.

00:18:34.620 Also, like all his other brothers, very sort of polished and a great diplomat

00:18:43.360 and a great politician, but also a war leader.

00:18:48.560 Also, he could lead a camel charge against Turkish guns, right? 0.93

00:18:53.240 So, that's much rarer.

00:18:55.720 Or he'll order other men to do so, and they will obey without question.

00:19:00.480 More importantly, perhaps.

00:19:01.720 Yeah.

00:19:02.260 One of the actually interesting things about Faisal as well is that actually,

00:19:08.700 because of the disastrous siege at Medina that Faisal did participate in,

00:19:13.960 and those are the artillery, that really spooked him, actually.

00:19:20.780 That really, he didn't, after that, he didn't want to get involved in conflict,

00:19:27.920 like any personal courage that he actually had.

00:19:31.180 It was unlike Lawrence, who was fearless.

00:19:33.900 Faisal privately actually had a lot of fear,

00:19:37.720 but nonetheless, he overcame it to do what needed to be done

00:19:41.340 and to do what, which I think is even more than Lawrence,

00:19:44.800 I think is even more exceptional,

00:19:46.320 to have that fear and master it for the higher cause.

00:19:50.240 Yeah, no, good point.

00:19:50.940 Yeah, that is more remarkable.

00:19:52.420 It is more of an achievement.

00:19:54.160 If you're sort of somehow incapable of feeling fear,

00:19:57.420 and then you went ahead and act fearlessly,

00:19:59.680 you're like, yeah, yeah, that's who you are.

00:20:01.620 Yeah.

00:20:01.920 That was your second nature to you.

00:20:03.620 Yeah, but to be terrified and overcome it, right?

00:20:06.040 Yeah.

00:20:06.580 So, yes, that attack, that original attack on,

00:20:08.600 or more than one original attempt on Medina,

00:20:10.540 by him and his brother, Zaid as well, I think,

00:20:13.180 where they failed, it sort of knocked their confidence.

00:20:15.620 Yeah.

00:20:16.020 Because as I've kept saying, the Turkish army is professional.

00:20:18.960 The Arab army is not.

00:20:20.800 To call them irregulars is being kind.

00:20:23.840 They're mainly sort of Bedouin tribesmen.

00:20:26.420 Camels and swords.

00:20:27.460 Camels and swords.

00:20:28.560 And flintlock rifles and stuff.

00:20:31.380 Ancient, crappy rifles that no one really knows

00:20:34.040 how to maintain or aim properly.

00:20:35.880 All that sort of stuff, right?

00:20:36.780 Right.

00:20:37.500 Yeah, so the Turks whooped them outside Medina. 0.96

00:20:40.560 Easily, sort of thing.

00:20:42.220 So, yeah, and it sort of knocks their confidence.

00:20:45.040 And anyway, I mean, Faisal's job is much more,

00:20:48.140 I talked about leading camel charges and all that sort of thing, 1.00

00:20:50.280 but his job really is to, as a coalition builder,

00:20:54.160 as being a figurehead.

00:20:56.040 The job of being a figurehead.

00:20:58.000 Yes.

00:20:58.660 And that's what Lawrence is looking for.

00:21:00.460 That's what's needed at this stage.

00:21:02.180 And he sees, apparently he sees,

00:21:03.480 and you described him as whenever he talks about Faisal

00:21:05.420 and Seven Pillars of Wisdom, it's always fawning.

00:21:06.940 Yeah, absolutely.

00:21:08.480 One of the biographies I read talks a little bit about hero worship,

00:21:14.640 because Lawrence of Arabia himself becomes the object

00:21:17.640 of some sort of hero worship.

00:21:19.000 But he himself, the real T.E. Lawrence,

00:21:22.720 was a sucker for hero worship. 0.96

00:21:24.540 He recognised it as sort of a folly, 0.95

00:21:27.820 but was also absolutely guilty of it himself.

00:21:30.620 So there's a couple of people that he hero worshipped.

00:21:33.740 There's Faisal. 0.87

00:21:35.200 There's, who's the other main warlord?

00:21:39.840 Abutai.

00:21:40.580 Abutai.

00:21:41.480 Yeah.

00:21:42.740 Allenby.

00:21:44.020 Even sort of...

00:21:45.460 To be fair, I think I hero worshipped Allenby.

00:21:47.520 Yeah, yeah.

00:21:48.800 Hero worshipped Allenby.

00:21:49.780 He hero worshipped Churchill to some degree.

00:21:54.760 So, okay.

00:21:55.840 So he sort of falls in love in a completely non-sexual way.

00:21:58.980 Falls in love with Faisal, right?

00:22:00.560 Yeah.

00:22:00.780 Sort of falls in love with him.

00:22:01.800 He's like, he's the guy.

00:22:03.580 He's the dude.

00:22:04.800 Yes.

00:22:05.500 Right?

00:22:06.000 And so, okay, we've got that.

00:22:08.060 That's the first keystone in this thing.

00:22:12.160 It's him.

00:22:14.260 And so, it goes on from there, right?

00:22:18.740 Sort of, what are the next...

00:22:19.740 Well, one of the things I want to say,

00:22:20.600 you said he got permission to go inland and meet Faisal,

00:22:23.600 because he meets Faisal inland.

00:22:25.800 He didn't really get permission.

00:22:27.360 He just tells...

00:22:28.920 Or was it Clayton?

00:22:30.560 Oh, right.

00:22:31.400 He just...

00:22:31.840 Or Storrs.

00:22:32.580 He says, I'm going inland.

00:22:34.340 Right.

00:22:34.660 Now, usually, you absolutely need the green light

00:22:38.360 for your senior officers to do such a thing,

00:22:40.240 to go and potentially commit suicide.

00:22:42.480 That's almost a suicidal thing.

00:22:43.780 Bear in mind the entire time Lawrence is out here,

00:22:45.760 it's under the guise of,

00:22:46.720 oh, I'm just taking, you know,

00:22:47.900 some leave that I'm entitled to.

00:22:50.800 And now I'm going to go into the middle of Arabia, 0.99

00:22:53.160 where no British staff officer has been,

00:22:55.920 essentially on my own.

00:22:58.580 Well, he's got like an Arab escort. 0.62

00:23:00.400 But I'm going to go wearing the Arab headdress and stuff.

00:23:06.500 In fact, Faisal very quickly,

00:23:08.500 almost, I'm not sure if it's their first meeting,

00:23:10.700 but very, very quickly says,

00:23:12.680 stop wearing like the khaki uniform of a British officer 0.98

00:23:15.300 and wear these Arab robes.

00:23:17.180 And he gives them those sort of famous,

00:23:18.940 iconic white robes.

00:23:20.320 Right.

00:23:20.760 With the golden agal.

00:23:22.980 And, yeah, so the image of Lawrence of Arabia

00:23:28.020 is born quite quickly there.

00:23:30.120 And Lawrence is happy to go along with it.

00:23:32.180 Because apart from anything else,

00:23:33.500 those robes and the headgear

00:23:35.400 is just way, way, way better in the desert.

00:23:39.120 Yeah.

00:23:39.580 For a number of different reasons,

00:23:41.140 from heat control and sand.

00:23:43.040 I have actually worn one,

00:23:44.600 one time when I was in Egypt.

00:23:46.620 And I, yeah, it wasn't exactly as like Lawrence's,

00:23:49.400 but yeah, it was actually really remarkable

00:23:51.580 how it helps you control your body temperature out there.

00:23:55.700 Yeah.

00:23:56.320 Yeah.

00:23:56.520 But these,

00:23:57.640 the white robes and the golden agal

00:23:59.760 is immediately says,

00:24:02.060 you're not just an average Arab.

00:24:03.400 It says you're someone important.

00:24:05.920 In fact,

00:24:06.700 specifically to do with Mecca and stuff.

00:24:10.140 So, okay.

00:24:10.860 So, right away,

00:24:13.520 he's risking his life, Lawrence.

00:24:16.740 He's behind Turkish lions, essentially.

00:24:19.000 Is this what the Turks tried to counterattack 0.89

00:24:21.140 to take Yenbo?

00:24:23.760 Yeah.

00:24:24.520 Yeah.

00:24:24.940 Yeah.

00:24:26.240 Okay.

00:24:26.780 So,

00:24:27.860 so it's a bit of a back and forth,

00:24:29.540 a little bit of a ding dong back and forth,

00:24:31.200 really,

00:24:31.460 in the war in,

00:24:32.420 in Arabia between the Turks and the Arabs.

00:24:34.960 And the most important thing,

00:24:38.280 as far as Lawrence is concerned,

00:24:39.600 or as far as the British are concerned,

00:24:41.340 is the sort of the flow of flour,

00:24:45.260 ammo,

00:24:46.000 and gold.

00:24:46.780 Mm.

00:24:47.240 To keep the Arab revolt going.

00:24:48.740 Right.

00:24:49.160 We're going to need to,

00:24:50.640 lots and lots of these things,

00:24:52.540 constantly turning up in the Kijans.

00:24:54.580 Because the Arabs aren't going to accept paper notes.

00:24:58.000 Right.

00:24:58.280 They want hard gold.

00:24:59.360 They absolutely don't trust paper money.

00:25:02.200 No.

00:25:02.420 It's gold or nothing,

00:25:03.500 almost,

00:25:04.140 with one or two exceptions.

00:25:06.080 But they need food.

00:25:07.860 They need ammo.

00:25:08.880 Mm.

00:25:09.660 Uh,

00:25:10.240 they need money.

00:25:11.160 Because a lot,

00:25:12.000 even,

00:25:12.220 even the Bedouin Arabs,

00:25:13.460 they won't fight endlessly for the sake of it,

00:25:17.840 for the sake of the house of Hussein. 0.78

00:25:20.460 Yes.

00:25:20.980 Uh,

00:25:21.180 they're going to need money.

00:25:22.780 And the Arab tribes people have sort of got kind of endless, 1.00

00:25:28.140 uh,

00:25:28.860 intertribal conflicts and vendettas and feuds.

00:25:32.540 Mm.

00:25:33.180 And,

00:25:33.720 uh,

00:25:33.940 to get them all to pull together as one.

00:25:37.380 I mean,

00:25:38.020 it's really,

00:25:38.900 really difficult.

00:25:39.380 That's the,

00:25:39.880 that's what Faisal and Lawrence are a genius of,

00:25:42.420 is getting that to happen.

00:25:44.300 Yes.

00:25:45.220 Um,

00:25:46.180 that's just a very,

00:25:47.180 very difficult thing to do.

00:25:48.280 If you would like to see the full version of this premium video,

00:25:50.840 please head over to lotuseaters.com and subscribe to gain full access to all of our premium content.

00:25:58.860 That's right.

00:25:59.700 Bye.

00:26:00.700 Bye.

00:26:01.160 Bye.

00:26:09.480 Bye.

00:26:09.720 Bye.

00:26:10.320 Bye.

00:26:11.300 Bye.

00:26:11.440 Bye.

00:26:12.200 Bye.

00:26:12.820 Bye.

00:26:13.400 Bye.

00:26:13.480 Bye.

00:26:13.700 Bye.

00:26:16.120 Bye.

00:26:16.740 Bye.

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - March 20, 2025

PREVIEW： Epochs #203 ｜ Lawrence of Arabia with Luca Johnson： Part II

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