This military history follows the 5th Battalion of the Suffolk regiment from England to Syria and the end of World War I. Among the previously untapped primary source materials used are the author's father's correspondence and photographs from his 1913-1919 service with the 5th Suffolk in England, Gallipoli, Egypt, Palestine and Syria. It follows chronologically the frustrating failures, and the final victory, of the campaigns in North Africa and the Middle East and refutes the widely held misconception that cavalry played no major role in the conflict.

The 1917 Palestine campaign saw Britain’s Army rise from defeat to achieve stunning victory. After two failed attacks on Gaza using tactics employed on the Western Front, a new commander was appointed. General Allenby reinvigorated the Army and led it to stunning success in the Third Battle of Gaza. This offensive would see an innovative use of cavalry and all-arms co-operation push the Ottoman defenders all the way back to Jerusalem. This campaign is seldom examined outside of dry assessments of strategy and movements, or studies of T.E. Lawrence’s peripheral role. This work will bring the campaign to life in a broader and deeper sense, analysing the ‘war fighting’ and logistical aspects while also telling the stories of the men who lived and fought in the harsh desert conditions. As well as military historians, this work is aimed at the growing market of genealogists beginning to explore this theatre.

One of the oldest known breeds of domesticated dogs, the Saluki traveled throughout the Middle East with desert tribes, who valued the dogs for their ability to hunt gazelles. Famously painted on the walls of the Pharaohs' tombs, the Salukis' history intrigued English dog enthusiasts who were instrumental in popularizing the breed and importing it to Europe and the United States in the early 20th century. This book tells the story of those who brought the Saluki to the West, most notably Florence Amherst, who discovered the dogs while in Egypt and went on to breed 50 litters. Other world travelers who fell under the Salukis' spell included Lady Anne Blunt, Austen Layard and Gertrude Bell. Also covered are lesser-known Saluki aficionados, mainly military officers who hunted with their hounds in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt and sought to replicate that experience at home.

T. E. Lawrence became world-famous as 'Lawrence of Arabia', after helping Sherif Hussein of Mecca gain independence from Turkey during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18. His achievements, however, would have been impossible without the unsung efforts of a forgotten band of fellow officers and spies. This groundbreaking account by Philip Walker interweaves the compelling stories of Colonel Cyril Wilson and a colourful supporting cast with the narrative of Lawrence and the desert campaign. These men's lost tales provide a remarkable and fresh perspective on Lawrence and the Arab Revolt. While Lawrence and others blew up trains in the desert, Wilson and his men carried out their shadowy intelligence and diplomatic work. His deputies rooted out anti-British jihadists who were trying to sabotage the revolt. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Lionel Gray, a cipher officer, provided a gateway into unknown aspects of the revolt through his previously unpublished photographs and eyewitness writings. Wilson's crucial influence underpinned all these missions and steadied the revolt on a number of occasions when it could have collapsed. Without Wilson and his circle there would have been no 'Lawrence of Arabia'. Yet Wilson's band mostly fell through the cracks of history into obscurity. "Behind the Lawrence Legend" reveals their vital impact and puts Lawrence's efforts into context, thus helping to set the record straight for one of the most beguiling and iconic characters of the twentieth century.

With so much at stake and so much already lost, why did World War I end with a whimper-an arrangement between two weary opponents to suspend hostilities? After more than four years of desperate fighting, with victories sometimes measured in feet and inches, why did the Allies reject the option of advancing into Germany in 1918 and taking Berlin? Most histories of the Great War focus on the avoidability of its beginning. This book brings a laser-like focus to its ominous end-the Allies' incomplete victory, and the tragic ramifications for world peace just two decades later. In the most comprehensive account to date of the conflict's endgame, David Stevenson approaches the events of 1918 from a truly international perspective, examining the positions and perspectives of combatants on both sides, as well as the impact of the Russian Revolution. Stevenson pays close attention to America's effort in its first twentieth-century war, including its naval and military contribution, army recruitment, industrial mobilization, and home-front politics. Alongside military and political developments, he adds new information about the crucial role of economics and logistics. The Allies' eventual success, Stevenson shows, was due to new organizational methods of managing men and materiel and to increased combat effectiveness resulting partly from technological innovation. These factors, combined with Germany's disastrous military offensive in spring 1918, ensured an Allied victory-but not a conclusive German defeat.