LEADERS REVOLT OF THE

Dr Rob Johnson reveals the Arab military commanders who deserve more credit for the success of their rebellion

NURI AL-SAID

“Nuri commanded the Arab regular army. Many former Ottoman soldiers were captured and imprisoned in Egyptian POW camps but were offered to join the regular Arab army with khaki uniforms. They were trained as regular forces with Nuri as the field commander. He recaptured Abu el-sam in January 1918 and secured the route to Aqaba. Nuri raided Maan and was prominent in quite large-scale operations to take Jurf aldarawish. In that battle he tried to control irregular Arabs and orchestrated a very successful attack.

“Because he was a regular officer, Nuri is deserving of more recognition. He also defeated Abdul el Kader’s putsch in Damascus because he anticipated where to put his forces. Without him in October 1918, Lawrence would not have held onto Damascus. He’s a really important man and not given enough credit.”

JA’FAR AL-ASKARI

“Ja’far al-askari was a former Ottoman officer who fought in Libya and was captured in Egypt. He went on to train

Arab troops and was very effective. He can be compared to Friedrich von Steuben, who trained the Continental Army for George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. I think Ja’far al-askari is that guy for the Arab army and he’s effectively the founder of modern, regular Arab troops.”

MALUD BEY

“Malud Bey held Petra against an Ottoman battalion sometime in autumn 1917. He did it by classic guerrilla warfare and was also the commander who held the mountains around Wadi Hesa in that dreadful winter of 1917-18. He was very stoic, inspirational and a good solid military leader. He was the sort of guy you needed for that kind of military endurance. If it hadn’t been for him, the route to Aqaba would have been reopened for the Ottomans. The greatest travesty for his reputation was when the journalist Lowell Thomas replaced him for the defence of Petra with Lawrence himself.”

“NASIR WAS BOTH DEPENDABLE AND AN ADROIT LEADER WHO UNDERSTOOD POLITICAL CONTEXT”

Nuri al-said (second from left) pictured with Emir Faisal (centre) and Lawrence (third from right) at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 Ja’far al-askari served as the third prime minister of Iraq during 1923-24 and was later assassinated during a coup in 1936 Malud Bey defended Petra, the magnificent Ancient Nabataean city which is now located in southern Jordan Bedouin fighters on horseback pictured bearing rifles, c.1918. They were possibly part of the forces that fought with Lawrence