Learning from Lawrence of Arabia on His 136th Birthday

Today, August 16, is the 136th anniversary of T.E. Lawrence’s birth. One of the twentieth century’s greatest men, Lawrence was indispensable to the Arab Revolt against the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire during World War I. While tens of thousands of his countrymen suffered and died on the Western Front, Lawrence led some of the most successful operations of the war thousands of miles away. He is without question one of Great Britain’s finest military heroes.

While Lawrence’s life may seem exotic and distant to Americans today, it can teach us many lessons, not only about warfighting but also of heroism in the modern world. Though certainly a flawed man, Lawrence possessed an almost knightly commitment to honor that fueled his immensely self-sacrificial leadership during the Arab Revolt. As American leaders consider how to shore up a world order facing pressure from China, Russia, and Iran, his example as a general and a statesman should still stand before the West as worthy of imitation.

The most recent biography of Lawrence was published earlier this year; Lawrence of Arabia: My Journey in Search of T. E. Lawrence, by the adventurer and retired British military officer Ranulph Fiennes. In addition to recounting the events of the Arab Revolt, Fiennes intersperses the narrative with anecdotes from his service in the Sultanate of Oman during the Cold War, where he fought Marxist insurgents from Yemen. Fiennes finds parallels between his own experiences and Lawrence’s, likening both to a sort of crusade for freedom. Although Fiennes does not cover much new ground, the book is a worthwhile narration of the Arab Revolt’s events and full of interesting reflections on their greater significance.

A great deal of the romance behind Lawrence’s story comes from the immense spiritual strength he found fighting in the desert. Only in his late twenties when the Arab Revolt began, Lawrence was young, inexperienced, and certainly not battle-hardened. But the war against the Turks demanded physical courage and tactical genius. We remember and celebrate Lawrence because, having found something worth fighting for, he rose to the challenge history placed before him.

Read more in Providence.