|
|
Article: German adventurer who was no Lawrence of Arabia
- Article from:
- Belfast Telegraph
- Article date:
- November 9, 2009
CopyrightCopyright 2009 Belfast Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
His name was Captain Leo Frobenius and he was the German Lawrence
of Arabia, tasked to start an Arab Muslim insurgency against British
rule in Sudan and Egypt. Colonel Lawrence's mission, of course, was
to persuade the Arabs of the Gulf to rebel against the German-
allied Turkish army of the Ottoman empire. There were a few
differences. A colonel Lawrence may have been; a captain Frobenius
was not. His military rank was a fraud. And unlike Lawrence, the
secret Frobenius mission in 1915 was a hopeless failure.
So come with me this Monday morning with the German Lawrence, an
archaeologist (like Lawrence), cultural historian, traveller and
adventurer (again like Lawrence) regarded by some as a ...