ANALYSIS:Two Irishmen, TE Lawrence and the less remembered Pierce Joyce, played major roles in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Their echoes resound today in unrest in Arab states, writes DAVID MURPHY
ON THE morning of June 5th, 1916, in a blistering sun, an elderly man stepped out on to the balcony of his house in Mecca and fired a single shot into the air. He was Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, leader of the Hashemites and therefore a descendant of the prophet Mohammed. His shot was the signal for his forces to attack the Ottoman garrison. His actions that day set the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918 in motion – a revolt that would result in the final death agonies of the Ottoman Empire in Arabia and the Levant.
Much of this territory had been under Ottoman control since the 16th century. By the early 1900s, the forces of nationalism were beginning to work among the educated elites in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. This growing desire for self-government resulted in the foundation of nationalist movements such as the Fatat Society in Syria and the Ahad Society in Mesopotamia (Iraq).
The revolt of the Arab tribesmen of Arabia, led by Hussein and his sons, would, it was hoped, create momentum to sweep the Ottomans from power and result in Arab self-government. These political aspirations were ultimately thwarted by the postwar mandate system, which saw former Ottoman territory ceded to the control of Britain and France.
It could be argued the recent Arab Spring is a further manifestation of the Arab people’s desire for true self-government – a desire that echoes the Arab nationalist movements of the early 1900s. If the Arab Revolt is remembered at all, it is in connection with TE Lawrence (1888-1935), who emerged from obscurity in 1916 to become one of the most influential figures in the desert campaign.
Lawrence was the son of Sir Thomas Chapman of South Hill, Delvin, in Co Westmeath. By 1885, Chapman had abandoned his wife, four daughters and estate to run off with Sarah Lawrence, the governess to the household. Living as Mr and Mrs Lawrence, the couple concealed their true identity. They would eventually have five sons, of which Thomas Edward (“Ned”) was the second.
There was nothing in his early life to suggest Lawrence would later emerge as a great military leader. Of a solitary and intellectual disposition, he seemed destined for the life of an scholar. Having distinguished himself as a student at Oxford, he worked as an archaeologist between 1910 and 1914. This was mostly in Syria, but he also travelled in Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia.
By the outbreak of war in 1914, he had a wide knowledge of Ottoman territory and the languages and customs of the Arab tribes. He was a natural choice to be posted as military intelligence in Cairo. This was followed by a posting to the army of the Emir Feisal (Hussein’s third son) in late 1916. During the course of the next two years, he would lead a series of raids into the Ottoman areas: attacking the strategically important Hejaz Railway and its related infrastructure. In an epic raid in July 1917, he led a small force through 1,000km of the worst desert in Arabia to capture the vital port of Aqaba. During the final campaigns in the Middle East in September/October 1918, he led his tribal forces in attacks that precipitated the final collapse of the Ottoman army and resulted in the capture of Damascus. By 1920, Lawrence was a household name and he has remained as one of the iconic figures of the 20th century.
On his arrival in Arabia, however, many of his fellow officers were not impressed with Lawrence. One such was Lieut Col Pierce Charles Joyce (1878-1965), the commanding officer of the British mission to the Arabs. Joyce was from Galway. An officer in the Connaught Rangers, he had previously served in South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan. His initial impression of Lawrence was of disgust.
Joyce later recalled he had “an intense desire to tell him to get his hair cut and that his uniform and dirty buttons sadly needed the attention of his batman [personal servant]”.
During 1917, Joyce also carried out raids on the railway. Later, he commanded a force of armoured cars in attacks on Ottoman forces. He had also emerged as the main political adviser to the Emir Feisal. As news of the Sykes-Picot Agreement leaked out, the Arab leaders realised the allies planned to divide Ottoman territory among themselves after the war. As Lawrence put it, the Arabs were being asked to “fight on a lie”.
There was further tension in the wake of the Balfour Declaration of November 1917, which promised a Jewish homeland in the Levant. Joyce played a crucial role in keeping the Arab leaders onside. In June 1918, he facilitated a meeting between Feisal and Chaim Weizman, Zionist leader and later the first prime minister of Israel. This resulted in a brief thawing of Arab-Jewish relations.
Joyce’s experience and competence is also reflected in his postwar appointment as military adviser to the newly created state of Iraq (1921-7) – with responsibility for recruiting and training the Iraqi army.
While Joyce is mentioned in Lawrence’s memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, it was the Australian general Harry Chauval who paid him the highest compliment, remarking: “Joyce was the organiser of the only fighting force of any real value in the whole of the Arab army and I always thought that he had more to do with the success of the Hejaz operations than any other British officer”.
The initial difficulties between Joyce and Lawrence had also disappeared during the desert campaign and they maintained a sporadic correspondence up to Lawrence’s death in 1935. As Lawrence later discovered his father’s true identity, he occasionally referred to a desire to visit Ireland. In a letter of 1929, he wrote: “How is Ireland? I dream of spending my next month’s leave partly there. Are there roads in Ireland fit for motorbikes?”
While Feisal and his brothers Ali and Abdullah were made kings of Iraq, this was under the terms of the British mandate. In the later 20th century, the people of the former Ottoman territories often saw this mandated form of government succeeded by different forms of autocratic government.
We are still seeing the echoes of the collapse of Ottoman rule in the Middle East in 1918. As the Arab spring evolves into the Arab summer, the current focus of attention has turned to Syria. Towns and cities familiar to the desert fighters of 1918 are in the headlines once again – Damascus, Deraa, Tafas etc – and within the last week, we have seen Syrian refugees turn to Turkey for aid. The call for a more representative government, espoused by the Syrian nationalists of the Fatat Society in the early 1900s, can be heard again.
David Murphy teaches in the Centre for Military History and Strategic Studies at NUI Maynooth. He has written on the Arab Revolt and is the author of a forthcoming short biography of TE Lawrence. He has lectured on the Arab Revolt at the US Command and Staff College, Fort Leavenworth.