Redrawing the Middle East - Michael Berdine

Cambridge Muslim College

For many today, World War I in the Middle East brings to mind T.E. Lawrence and the 1962 Hollywood blockbuster movie “Lawrence of Arabia”. In it we see an eccentric Englishman racing across the Arabian desert on camelback, his native robes flying leading a band of bellowing Arab bedouin against the Turks, raiding their camps, blowing up their trains and telegraph lines. Since then, Lawrence’s exploits in the 1916-1918 desert war have become legend, heralded in numerous books, articles and movies. In contrast, the wartime activities of Sir Mark Sykes are virtually unknown, although his actions had far greater consequences during the war and its aftermath. Redrawing the Middle East: Sir Mark Sykes, Imperialism and the Sykes–Picot Agreement was written to correct that.