The second of five illegitimate children fathered by Sir Thomas Chapman, T.E. Lawrence was Oxford-educated and fascinated by archaeology as a child. After World War I began, Lawrence worked for Military Intelligence in London. During his time there, he became an expert in the Arab revolts, specifically in what were then the Turkish Provinces. Lawrence eventually joined the Arab revolt and proved to be an inspirational leader and highly skilled at guerrilla warfare in the desert wastelands of Arabia. For over two years, Lawrence was the guiding force behind the Arab Revolt as the Arab army fought its way to the ultimate goal of Damascus. He was the bridge between the British and the Arabs during the invasion of Damascus, an invasion left the Turkish Army in disarray. After the invasion, Lawrence returned to England, where he fought passionately for Arab independence. This changed in 1919 when an American journalist, Lowell Thomas, arrived in London. Thomas, who had briefly visited Lawrence during the Revolt, was encouraged by Lawrence to write of the Arabs' fight for freedom. His romantic account of the Bible-land victories was a huge success in England and helped create the legend Lawrence of Arabia, and make Captain Lawrence one of the greatest wartime raiders of the 20th century. Lawrence quickly became a popular hero, and found that this gave added weight to his political campaign for Arab Independence, a campaign that he did not see fulfilled in his life time. Eventually in the 1920 s he withdrew from his celebrity and was eventually killed in 1935 in a motorcycle accident. Join the History Channel in revealing the truth behind the myth and his real wartime exploits, and see the roots of the Arab nationalism and identity, a world away from the present day terror and instability as seen with radical groups and individuals such as Hizbullah and Osama Bin Laden.
