T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888–1935), universally known as 'Lawrence of Arabia', was an Oxford archaeologist, cartographer, and British army officer who became the legendary leader of the Arab Revolt (1916–1918). Having explored Syria and Mesopotamia before the war, Lawrence possessed fluent Arabic and deep insight into Bedouin tribal customs.

Attached as liaison officer to Emir Faisal, son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, Lawrence developed a revolutionary doctrine of desert guerrilla warfare. Instead of fighting pitched battles against fortified Ottoman positions, his camel-mounted Bedouin raiders struck the Hejaz Railway, blowing up trains and bridges before vanishing into the desert, tying down thousands of Ottoman troops in Medina. In July 1917, he executed an audacious trek across the scorching Nefud Desert to capture the strategic Red Sea port of Aqaba from the landward side. His war memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, is a classic of literature and guerrilla theory.