Shortly after the end of the First World War, General Sir George Macdonagh, wartime director of British Military Intelligence, revealed that Lord Allenby's victory in Palestine had never been in doubt because of the success of his intelligence service. Seventy-five years later this book explains Macdonagh's statement. Sheffy also adopts a novel approach to traditional heroes of the campaign such as T E Lawrence.

Shortly after the end of the First World War, General Sir George Macdonagh, wartime director of British Military Intelligence, revealed that Lord Allenby's victory in Palestine had never been in doubt because of the success of his intelligence service. Seventy-five years later this book explains Macdonagh's statement. Sheffy also adopts a novel approach to traditional heroes of the campaign such as T E Lawrence.

The Palestine Campaign undertaken by the British during the Great War has become one of the most glorified military offensives of the 20th Century. Shattering the reach of Ottoman imperial power for the final time, the conflict both pushed Germany back into Europe and laid the groundwork for splitting up the Middle East into the nations that we recognize today. Meanwhile, the secretive Sykes-Picot Agreement ensured the British and French would continue to exert colonial influence in the Middle East for the next sixty years. Palestine and World War I is a new exploration of the social and cultural history of the campaign, which seeks to unravel the combination of myths and memory from which we inherit the romantic desert persona of Lawrence of Arabia and the image of General Allenby symbolically entering the Holy City on foot. With a compelling Foreword by Jay Winter, Palestine and World War I augments our existing understanding of the origins of contemporary conflict in the Middle East and provides a valuable new perspective into the ongoing tensions within the Arab World.