IV explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Colonialism and Imperialism

  Lawrence describes Turkish rule as a 'slow death' for Arabs, stripping them of goods and spirit, and later contrasts it with European colonial ambitions.

• Identity and Betrayal

  Arabs clung to their language as a 'fatherland' while Turkish rule suppressed their racial and political identity; the Young Turks' initial promises of brotherhood were betrayed.

• Suffering and Endurance

  The Armenians were massacred and driven into the desert; Arab nationalists faced execution, deportation, and exile under Jemal Pasha.

Characters to notice

• T.E. Lawrence

  Narrator and analyst of Arab history and the political dynamics leading to the revolt.

• Jemal Pasha

  Young Turk leader who suppressed Arab nationalism in Syria, executing and deporting activists.

• Enver Pasha

  Young Turk leader who suppressed the Arabic language and Arab societies.

• Sherif Hussein

  Mentioned as the Sherif of Mecca, whom the Turks tried to coerce into supporting the Holy War.

Key passages

• “The first duty of every Muslim was to study the Koran, the sacred book of Islam, and incidentally the greatest Arab literary monument. The knowledge that this religion was his own, and that only he was perfectly qualified to understand and practise it, gave every Arab a standard by which to judge the banal achievements of the Turk.”

  Every Muslim's obligation to study the Quran, the supreme Arab literary work, gave Arabs a unique sense of religious and cultural superiority over the Turks.

  Lawrence highlights how Islam provided Arabs with a benchmark to critique Turkish rule.

• “The Young Turks, in the confidence of their first success, were carried away by the logic of their principles, and as protest against Pan-Islam preached Ottoman brotherhood. The gullible subject races... believed that they were called upon to cooperate in building a new East. Rushing to the task... they laid down platforms of sweeping ideas, and hailed the Turks as partners. The Turks, terrified at the forces they had let loose, drew the fires as suddenly as they had stoked them.”

  The Young Turks initially promoted Ottoman unity, but when subject peoples eagerly embraced the idea, the Turks panicked and quickly reversed course, reverting to Turkish nationalism.

  Lawrence describes the betrayal of Arab hopes by the Young Turks after the 1908 revolution.

• “The Armenians had been well armed and organised; but their leaders had failed them. They had been disarmed and destroyed piecemeal, the men by massacre, the women and children by being driven and overdriven along the wintry roads into the desert, naked and hungry, the common prey of any passerby, until death took them.”

  Despite being armed and organized, the Armenians were betrayed by their leaders and systematically destroyed: men massacred, women and children driven into the desert to die.

  Lawrence recounts the genocide of Armenians as a warning to Arab nationalists.