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00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome to part three of this series about Lawrence of Arabia with Luca Johnson

00:00:04.340 I hope you enjoy it. Okay so he decides that even though Aqaba seems impenetrable 1.00

00:00:11.240 what if though you attacked it from the other side the landward side then it would be complete

00:00:19.320 it's almost defenseless we could we we might be able to take Aqaba if we attacked it from the 1.00

00:00:24.740 other side however the other side is open barren pitiless desert right so right so the only people

00:00:33.680 that could possibly attack that are like a Bedouin camel army well that's exactly what 0.99

00:00:39.800 Lawrence has got or what Faisal or Abdullah or Zaid are able to give him you know what is it a

00:00:46.640 couple hundred is it a couple hundred odd with Alda yes I think so so they go way behind enemy

00:00:54.140 lines way deep into the desert to come all the way around I'll put the maps up again once again

00:00:58.440 so people can see to come around to attack Aqaba from the desert where the Turks would never dream 0.98

00:01:03.200 that that's a possibility even it had never been done before yeah tactical genius yeah genuine

00:01:10.320 really incredible but also again that thing that yeah only Lawrence with no fear no understanding of

00:01:19.100 fear would that you know would dare to lead such an expedition it's remarkable that that that did

00:01:27.060 happen and also what's more before because when that when they show it in the film of course they go

00:01:32.680 yeah they go through the Nefu desert and they are crowned into Aqaba but historically Lawrence also

00:01:38.340 went on almost like a solo reconnaissance mission as well just before Aqaba around near Damascus and

00:01:46.420 around Dera and you know just you know in order to get a feel for the Syrian tribes and whether or

00:01:53.520 not they'd be likely to join in the revolt and you know just get a an understanding of the

00:01:58.860 circumstances for the upcoming campaign as well to prepare for the next step in all of it 0.83

00:02:04.420 and that is almost stupidly fearless suicidally fearless because he's not just behind enemy lines

00:02:11.160 he's way way way in pro-turkish territory where anyone could dob him in to the Turks right and he 0.96

00:02:18.260 would definitely be tortured and hung if he was caught yeah but he just does that um so the thing

00:02:25.960 i want to say at this point is worth mentioning is like how guilty Lawrence felt about his the

00:02:31.300 duplicitous nature of what the French and the British had in mind against what he's telling the Arabs

00:02:37.040 is that he he doesn't even ask permission to do this Aqaba raid no he just sends a letter i think

00:02:44.020 to is it stores again he sends a letter to Clayton i think he sends a letter to Clayton yeah and in it

00:02:49.480 he says he just says right i've decided to do this he doesn't ask for permission he says it's happening

00:02:53.960 i'm doing this and he says um quote hoping to get killed on the way

00:02:58.960 like he's very saying far but also um you can tell this is a man that doesn't care anymore no if

00:03:07.960 he dies then just so be it because he's so unhappy with the position he's found himself in politically

00:03:15.740 so yeah the idea that he's like this worm tongue type it's not it's not the case he uh no it's not he

00:03:24.420 uh it profoundly affected him um and over the years and the years after the war it looks like

00:03:32.700 maybe maybe it won't be as bad as he thought it might be and it ebbs and flows like the politics

00:03:39.300 of it but anyway he was hoping is like he really is sort of suicidally doing suicidally brave things

00:03:45.880 at this point so there's this lot with alder and a few i think a couple hundred maybe it's a few more

00:03:52.080 uh camel bedouin arab warriors go way out into the desert to come around the back of akaba 0.88

00:03:58.920 and on the way there's one event there um which they show in the movie um where this random nobody

00:04:07.640 gasim gets lost in the desert yeah so they leave one morning the big long camel train and at some 0.64

00:04:15.080 point lawrence just realized that one of their guys is missing and let's say it's a complete

00:04:18.500 nobody it's a guy that was actually um a bit of a troublemaker lawrence didn't even like him he

00:04:23.580 didn't like him no the plan was after akaba if he lived they were going to get rid of him because

00:04:28.260 he was just a bit of a pain and wasn't quite pulling his way he wasn't a real bad guy but he

00:04:31.900 was just no he wasn't of any value yes right and he's lost in the desert apparently that totally happens

00:04:37.980 and nobody's obliged apparently it's like the way it is that you're not obliged to go back

00:04:45.080 and try and find him it's up to each man to keep yourself alive in the desert that's the way it is

00:04:50.200 right and um but lawrence because he's lawrence and a christian i suppose uh well they say that in

00:04:58.440 seven pillars he says no i felt obliged that i couldn't just let this guy die i couldn't just leave

00:05:03.200 him to die so even though it's again almost a suicidal thing he goes off on his own back

00:05:08.980 into the desert alone on the off chance that he can find this gazim and he luckily does yes he comes 1.00

00:05:17.020 across him in the desert sort of half delirious close to death really and he just picks him up puts

00:05:22.620 him on the back of his camel and manages to ride back and catch up with the camel train again just

00:05:28.680 about but that was crazy and when alder finds out alder's like at first pissed off with him

00:05:33.600 saying i wouldn't i would not have let you don't do that if i'd if i'd have known you yes because he

00:05:38.060 goes off without saying doesn't he yeah he says this guy he's not even worth the price of a camel

00:05:42.600 like what are you doing like for guessing yeah for this guy really and um but then soon it becomes a

00:05:51.240 joke and i'll just telling anyone that will listen the joke of when lawrence right his life to save a

00:05:55.120 nobody and it apparently it totally adds to the the the legend of orens that the arabs love him a bit

00:06:02.600 more uh because he saved a nobody and when he was completely not obliged to yeah um it's one of my

00:06:09.760 favorite parts of the film actually i love obviously i don't think historical lawrence is quoted as say

00:06:14.800 as saying it but when lawrence in the film says you know nothing is written i feel like that line

00:06:20.460 just really encapsulates lawrence like that line just says everything about him you know going back

00:06:27.700 to what it's saying about his will you know that he could just will things into happening through

00:06:33.560 tenacity and endurance yeah yeah just the sheer force of will yeah yeah i wouldn't want to uh i wouldn't

00:06:43.000 want to um have a battle of wills with t lawrence because you're not going to win no simple as that

00:06:48.580 he will die before giving up on anything almost anything when he decides it um okay so then i

00:06:58.160 suppose the attack on akaba is sort of the big thing arguably i would say it's sort of the most

00:07:03.320 important uh military movement sort of the most important um single event in terms of sort of

00:07:13.420 battlefield success yes because before they've taken akaba and after from the arab point of view

00:07:20.940 the arab revolt is just night and day before it's just an uphill struggle against the odds probably

00:07:26.680 going to lose if the turks try hard enough they'll they'll win to oh no we're going to probably win

00:07:32.680 if we keep pushing this and the brits keep helping and giving us money and flour and ammo

00:07:37.480 and um and if the brits push again in palestine um then all the momentum is with us now right there's

00:07:46.240 a game changer a real big game changer even though akaba is quite a small place yeah relatively small

00:07:50.440 but its location is is vital right on the map yeah it is key key key key key key um so one thing that

00:07:58.460 the film changes from the book is the attack itself on akaba where it is right so in the film they show you

00:08:06.100 this like glorious camel charge on akaba itself yes that's not how right to the coast but and that's

00:08:12.620 not how it's described in seven pillars though no so the way it plays out in seven pillars is that

00:08:17.120 there's there is a an engagement with the turks but it's outside so abba el listen i think yeah

00:08:23.940 down to a track of a few miles away yeah it's a few miles away from akaba itself

00:08:29.380 and that's where there's a camel charge right and you know the oh yeah yeah brace it well i actually

00:08:37.520 i've bookmarked it because it was just one of my favorite uh moments because lawrence is a bit pissed

00:08:44.220 off that alder and his men aren't doing it fast enough right right but one one thing i'll just say

00:08:49.240 about this as well is so the the turks are um stationed at abe el listen which is like an oasis

00:08:55.120 it's in the water water point but the thing is as well by this point it's uh 90 is it 1917 at this

00:09:02.660 point yeah yeah it's a height of summer right lawrence talks about in seven pillars he talks about the

00:09:08.420 fact it's so hot they can barely hold their rifles because of how hot the rifles are from the sun

00:09:15.320 and from them firing again and again and um you know the arabs are running from one direction to 0.97

00:09:21.440 another trying to you know shoot the turks from different sides and they're absolutely exhausted 0.99

00:09:27.440 you know they'll they'll they'll be hours where they'll just have to sit out because they'll get

00:09:32.900 heat stroke lawrence says you know for the majority of the battle he just found the coolest place he

00:09:37.760 could find and could hear the battle going over you know in the distance until alder finds him who's

00:09:43.600 like you know i've been fighting all day what are you doing and so yeah lawrence is like right well

00:09:49.340 okay we'll get the camels and then 120 in the shade isn't it yeah and people are dying like it's so

00:09:54.460 baking hot that even a native arab like that his retinas are burnt out this is a slightly different 0.99

00:10:01.680 but yeah it's so bakingly hot um yeah so yeah lawrence says to him uh get it done right basically

00:10:11.400 my camel the sharia lancer namah stretched herself out and hurled downhill with such might that we 0.99

00:10:20.120 uh we soon outdistanced the others the turks fired a few shots but mostly only shrieked and turned to

00:10:26.600 rum the bullets they did send to at us were not very harmful for it took much to bring a charging

00:10:33.400 camel down in a dead heap i had got amongst the first of them and was shooting with a pistol of course 0.99

00:10:39.960 for only an expert could fire uh could use a rifle from such plunging beasts when suddenly my camel

00:10:48.020 tripped and went down emptily under her face as though poleaxed i was torn completely from the saddle

00:10:55.000 sailed grandly through the air for a great distance and landed with a crash which seemed to drive all the

00:11:01.940 power and feeling out of me i lay there passively waiting for the turks to kill me continuing to hum

00:11:08.640 over the verses of a half forgotten poem whose rhythm something perhaps the prolonged stride of

00:11:15.460 the camel had brought back to my memory as we uh leaped down the hillside and um it goes on and on but

00:11:22.680 the point was that actually even though it sounds like oh well there'd been the volley of fire and you

00:11:28.360 know they brought lawrence's camel down no he he'd accidentally shot his own camel through the back of

00:11:33.920 the head the camel had obviously dipped its head in front of his revolver and it just just yeeted him 0.92

00:11:39.640 into the sand yeah you know and it's just an incredible story yeah that is a great bit and yeah

00:11:46.800 he's you can imagine sort of he's lying there in the sand just being thrown to his head he's in the

00:11:51.060 middle of a or at the front of a camel charge yeah he's expecting all the other camels to if the

00:11:55.700 turks don't shoot him or the his own camel men will trample him yeah but uh they sort of he 0.99

00:12:01.580 describes that the the rest of the camel charge sort of splits like a sea around him or they could 0.77

00:12:06.780 try and go around the body of the camel and therefore don't trample him the picture he paints

00:12:11.000 there is just like humming on the ground just going just expecting to die any moment gonna die now

00:12:16.020 yeah um but yeah he actually shot his own camel in the back of the head by accident um so um but just

00:12:24.000 before that another little bit that i think is great is that there's this this gun play between

00:12:29.380 the arabs and the turks outside of akaba or a few miles from akaba um and alder comes up to lawrence

00:12:36.640 who's trying to take a little bit of comfort in some shade yes and um and lawrence says to him

00:12:43.600 something i can't remember the exact words but he said something to along the lines of

00:12:47.800 like your men aren't all that after all are they like oh yes it's only a few turks like basically

00:12:54.620 i'm paraphrasing but it's only a few turks just like what's the problem just get it done like are 0.99

00:12:59.120 you not brave you're not honestly he says like they're not great shots though are they but alder's 0.99

00:13:02.700 like check out my men they're doing a good job right and it's like yeah they're not very good

00:13:05.120 shots and so alder you know extremely proud a battle veteran is like apparently just goes livid in

00:13:14.140 the face and it's basically like right watch this then doesn't say those goading him into

00:13:18.720 i was like right and then he just immediately march apparently rips off his headdress which

00:13:24.240 arabs never do throws it on the ground like right and he immediately gets a small camel 1.00

00:13:30.700 core together and charges the turkish lions when lawrence sees this he's like okay i'll get my guys

00:13:38.080 to get my camel right together and charges at the same time as well and um well the upshot is they

00:13:44.020 take the turkish positions and they only lose i think two guys yeah it's incredible and and then

00:13:49.980 after that and and that's when lawrence shoots lawrence shoots his camel his own camel in the back

00:13:54.120 of the head after that apparently alder comes up to him sort of wild-eyed and he's saying something

00:14:01.000 like work work all his work where are your words now something like that and he's like been shot

00:14:05.520 through like uh like his his clothes uh what is it like his belt or he's got like like multiple bullet

00:14:12.020 grazes and holes in his clothes where he's very very very nearly killed in that charge right

00:14:16.560 uh but wasn't again it's like this aura around alder it's impossible not to like alder yeah yeah yeah

00:14:22.920 he dies hard yeah does alder abutai um and so after that engagement um there's still akaba itself but

00:14:31.880 it's effectively uh undefended from the from the desert side yes so they then approach akaba i think

00:14:39.820 there might be a small there's some sort of uh diplomacy going on where the arabs say look

00:14:44.560 surrender we've got you surrender and they they do and so um lawrence and the arabs take akaba this 0.77

00:14:52.700 strategically super super key port yeah um so that's like a masterstroke that's that's like

00:15:01.060 that's no that's not a small thing no that changes the war in the east

00:15:05.840 and what's more it changes the value that cairo put on the arab forces they now think it's a

00:15:13.300 right brilliant they think it's better than it actually is yes unfortunately yes they think it's

00:15:18.440 like okay this is some sort of professional outfit that we can task with doing all sorts of things

00:15:22.680 like no yeah because that's the thing lawrence knows if he is going to push the arabs into syria 1.00

00:15:28.780 he needs the arab forces to be in the good graces of the efp the egyptian expeditionary force

00:15:36.840 you know who murray is in charge of or at least uh lawrence thinks is in charge of obviously until he

00:15:43.640 gets back to cairo but um replaced by allenby we've mentioned the name allenby a number of times so

00:15:49.320 the overall commander of british forces in the east basically anyway basically yeah was uh archibald

00:15:56.660 murray general or field marshal archibald murray and where he's failed in garza a couple of times

00:16:01.840 and sort of stalling and failing really he gets replaced yeah record london replacing by allenby

00:16:07.900 and there's a great picture of allenby there's a big portrait in the national gallery and and so he's

00:16:13.940 like a bull of a man he's a cavalry officer and he would been he'd been um fighting on the western

00:16:19.220 front um and he was appalled by the the frontal attacks endless frontal attacks of the western

00:16:26.040 front and um just decided that he wasn't going to do things that way in the east and uh so anyway

00:16:34.880 we'll get on to allenby in a moment i just want to say so remember lawrence hadn't asked permission

00:16:40.880 to do this akaba raid no he just said i'm doing this and then went and did it and it was a success

00:16:45.680 it's like whoa what really the balls yeah balls on this kid um so what he does after that is he

00:16:54.100 decides oh okay what i think i'm going to do is just take a small number of men i don't know like 0.98

00:16:59.740 half a dozen men 10 guys right and just ride a camel straight across the sinai straight to the

00:17:05.900 swiss canal and get word back to cairo as quickly as possible i mean like do that journey in like two

00:17:14.020 days or three days or something to tell them what success in order that we can get uh some royal

00:17:19.660 navy presence into akaba and start fortifying it start building so the turks can't immediately

00:17:25.360 retake it exactly garrison it with at least some british regulars and stuff and and make sure we

00:17:31.900 consolidate that and keep it and uh so that's what he does so that just that that's a tiny tiny

00:17:39.400 bit of the story but that's like death defying to do that to just ride across the sinai um love it

00:17:47.840 in the film where it's like well moses did it's like like as if like lawrence himself is some sort

00:17:52.440 of prophet you know that could just and you can imagine when he turns up well when he gets to the

00:17:57.900 suiz canal uh the the british garrison there is actually all cleared out so it's like an outbreak

00:18:02.300 of plague or something he gets and it's all deserted but there is still a telephone and he rings up and

00:18:07.280 he says um yeah can you get me over to headquarters or whatever and he does and of course everyone uh

00:18:13.480 back at hq uh surprised to say the least that this this second lieutenant or sort of acting captain or

00:18:22.600 something at that point yeah um dress like an arab yeah dress like an arab turns up without any shoes 0.98

00:18:28.940 on he um lawrence took to going barefoot in order to build up the bottoms of his feet so he could walk

00:18:34.840 over any terrain without shoes so he turns up um and people are aghast and anyway is it at that point

00:18:42.360 when he discovers that murray has been replaced yes and so he gets to the train station because suiz

00:18:48.200 isn't suiz and cairo aren't you still have to train and uh and there it just so happens just

00:18:54.660 by pure happenstance he bumps into i think hogarth and allenby right and he'd never met allenby before

00:19:01.480 no he's a famous general we would have known the name but he'd never met him before and once again a

00:19:06.480 bit like fiesel and a bit like alder he sort of immediately falls in love with allenby again nothing

00:19:11.540 sexual but he's like here is a leader of men here is um my sort of almost platonic perfect example of

00:19:20.680 what a field marshal should yeah yeah right and it seems like allenby again it lives up he's like

00:19:26.940 exudes authority right i love his portrayal in the film by jack hawkins it's one of my favorite

00:19:32.960 performances in the film he just brings such gravitas to to the performance um and i really

00:19:40.880 like as well the fact that allenby very quickly uh takes on board what lawrence is saying you know

00:19:50.940 he treats him with like okay it was very unorthodox and you shouldn't have just dictated that you were

00:19:57.060 going to go do this thing however i can tell you're brilliant and i'm going to use you you know

00:20:03.140 he's not so by the book he's he's got some spontaneity about him to be able to to press with

00:20:09.480 the advantages that he's got at his disposal if you would like to see the full version of this

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PREVIEW： Epochs #204 ｜ Lawrence of Arabia with Luca Johnson： Part III

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