WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.120 Welcome to the deep dive. We are so glad to have 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:04.759 you with us today. Yeah, thank you for joining 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:07.339 us We have a really a really fascinating topic 00:00:07.339 --> 00:00:10.140 lined up We really do but I want you to start 00:00:10.140 --> 00:00:13.240 by doing a quick mental exercise for me If you 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.940 were to close your eyes right now What just picture 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:20.739 World War one? What is the very first image that 00:00:20.739 --> 00:00:23.600 comes into your mind? For almost everyone. It's 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.079 it's gonna be the mud exactly the mud you are 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:30.390 probably imagining the endless waterlogged trenches 00:00:30.390 --> 00:00:33.090 of the Western Front. You're picturing the rusted 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:36.310 barbed wire, the absolute stalemate, the gray 00:00:36.310 --> 00:00:40.149 skies, and just the sheer... brutal immobility 00:00:40.149 --> 00:00:42.509 of millions of men grinding against each other 00:00:42.509 --> 00:00:44.969 for, you know, yards of shattered earth. It's 00:00:44.969 --> 00:00:46.969 the dominant cultural memory of the First World 00:00:46.969 --> 00:00:48.969 War. It's what we're taught in school. It is. 00:00:49.250 --> 00:00:51.630 But today, I want you to take that mental picture 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:54.149 and completely throw it away. Just wipe the mud 00:00:54.149 --> 00:00:56.369 from your mind. Because we are going to a completely 00:00:56.369 --> 00:00:58.909 different theater of war, one that operated by 00:00:58.909 --> 00:01:00.810 entirely different rules. We are heading to the 00:01:00.810 --> 00:01:03.469 shifting sands, the ancient sun -based plains 00:01:03.469 --> 00:01:06.030 and the thundering cavalry charges of the Middle 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:09.510 East. Today, we are taking a deep dive into the 00:01:09.510 --> 00:01:13.209 Battle of Megiddo. Fought over just a few incredibly 00:01:13.209 --> 00:01:16.689 intense days between September 19th and September 00:01:16.689 --> 00:01:20.010 25th, 1918. And it really is a complete paradigm 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:22.150 shift from what we traditionally associate with 00:01:22.150 --> 00:01:24.959 that war. Our mission for this deep dive is to 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:27.680 synthesize all the tactical maneuvers, the grand 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.140 strategies, and the on -the -ground realities 00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:32.019 of this battle. Right. And we're pulling from 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:34.760 a very comprehensive breakdown. We have sources 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:37.180 detailing the prelude, the belligerence, the 00:01:37.180 --> 00:01:40.159 specific tactics used, and the aftermath of Megiddo. 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:42.040 And to give you a sense of scale right up front, 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:44.659 this isn't just another engagement in a long 00:01:44.659 --> 00:01:47.700 grinding war. This is the final fatal blow to 00:01:47.700 --> 00:01:50.540 an entire empire. Yes, we are talking about the 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:52.840 utter destruction of the Ottoman Empire's military 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:55.159 presence in the region. And what we want to extract 00:01:55.159 --> 00:01:58.560 for you today is the ultimate blueprint of strategic 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:02.019 deception and mobile warfare. We're going to 00:02:02.019 --> 00:02:06.000 explore how a World War I battle, fought on ancient 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:09.479 biblical ground, actually laid the very foundations 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:11.819 for the Blitzkrieg tactics of the modern era. 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:15.419 It's a story of fake armies, literal piles of 00:02:15.419 --> 00:02:18.039 gold. Deliberate communication blackouts. Exactly. 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.340 And speeds of maneuver that the world had simply 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:24.219 never seen before. It really is a master class 00:02:24.219 --> 00:02:27.120 in operational art. It is. But to understand 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:29.560 how this masterpiece was painted, we first have 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:31.939 to look at the canvas itself. The geography here 00:02:31.939 --> 00:02:34.900 is absolutely vital. You cannot understand the 00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:37.060 Battle of Megiddo without understanding the ground 00:02:37.060 --> 00:02:39.379 it was fought on. OK, let's unpack this, because 00:02:39.379 --> 00:02:41.610 the ancient fortress of Megiddo stands on a hill 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:44.069 known as Telmogito, right? Correct. It sits right 00:02:44.069 --> 00:02:47.009 at the mouth of the Musmus Pass, and geographically, 00:02:47.349 --> 00:02:49.469 it completely controls the roads to the north 00:02:49.469 --> 00:02:52.310 and to the interior. It dominates a massive flat 00:02:52.310 --> 00:02:54.530 land known as the Plain of Armageddon. Which 00:02:54.530 --> 00:02:57.449 is also called the Plain of Estrelaan. And just 00:02:57.449 --> 00:02:59.270 pausing that for a second, the Plain of Armageddon. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.400 It carries quite a weight, doesn't it? It really 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.199 does. General Edmund Allenby, the British commander 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:06.099 we are going to be talking a lot about today, 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:10.280 he specifically chose the name Battle of Megiddo 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:13.280 for its biblical and symbolic resonance. Even 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.699 though very limited fighting actually took place 00:03:15.699 --> 00:03:18.759 right at Tel Megiddo itself. Exactly. But this 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:21.710 is ground that has seen warfare since the dawn 00:03:21.710 --> 00:03:24.310 of recorded history. I mean, everyone from the 00:03:24.310 --> 00:03:26.810 ancient Egyptians to Napoleon fought their way 00:03:26.810 --> 00:03:29.870 across these exact same planes. It's like the 00:03:29.870 --> 00:03:33.270 ultimate historical chessboard. It's a geographical 00:03:33.270 --> 00:03:35.780 choke point. Throughout human history, if you 00:03:35.780 --> 00:03:38.539 wanted to move an army from Egypt up into Syria 00:03:38.539 --> 00:03:40.800 or Mesopotamia, you had to go through this area. 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:44.340 And by 1918. By 1918, this plane linked the Jordan 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:46.439 Valley on one side and the plane of Sharon on 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:49.180 the other. It was sitting about 40 miles behind 00:03:49.180 --> 00:03:51.520 the Ottoman front lines. So they formed a massive 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:53.759 semicircle around the main Ottoman positions. 00:03:53.979 --> 00:03:56.460 Right, which were dug into the Regidudian hills. 00:03:56.659 --> 00:03:58.479 If you could control that plane, you controlled 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:01.180 the movement, the supply, and frankly, the survival 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:03.460 of entire armies. So that is the chessboard. 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:05.699 Let's talk about the players. On the Entente, 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:09.199 or allied side, we have the Egyptian Expeditionary 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:12.199 Force. Usually just referred to as the EEF. The 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:14.759 EEF, right. And it's important to understand 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:16.639 that they did not have an easy road to get to 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:19.540 this point. In the early years of the war, 1915 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:22.220 and 1916, they were purely on the defensive. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:24.879 They had to stop Ottoman attacks on the Suez 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:27.769 Canal. And we really cannot overspate the strategic 00:04:27.769 --> 00:04:29.930 importance of the Suez Canal to the listener. 00:04:30.529 --> 00:04:33.810 For the British Empire, the canal was the jugular 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:36.790 vein. Vital artery. Yes, linking Britain to its 00:04:36.790 --> 00:04:39.930 vast resources and manpower in India, Australia 00:04:39.930 --> 00:04:42.129 and New Zealand. If the Ottomans had managed 00:04:42.129 --> 00:04:44.670 to capture it or even just block it, the British 00:04:44.670 --> 00:04:47.709 global war effort would have been severely, maybe 00:04:47.709 --> 00:04:50.250 fatally crippled. Absolutely. So under their 00:04:50.250 --> 00:04:52.449 original commander, General Archibald Murray, 00:04:52.769 --> 00:04:55.490 the EEF manages to secure the canal and push 00:04:55.490 --> 00:04:57.470 the Ottomans back across the Sinai Peninsula. 00:04:57.790 --> 00:05:00.129 But then Murray hits a wall. He does. He gets 00:05:00.129 --> 00:05:02.410 bogged down and loses the first and second battles 00:05:02.410 --> 00:05:05.850 of Gaza in 1917. The momentum completely stalls 00:05:05.850 --> 00:05:08.410 out. Which is the moment when London decides 00:05:08.410 --> 00:05:10.730 a change in leadership is absolutely necessary. 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:14.230 Enter General Edmund Allenby. Allenby arrives 00:05:14.230 --> 00:05:17.149 and brings a completely renewed, aggressive energy 00:05:17.149 --> 00:05:20.209 to the theater. He reorganizes the force, breaks 00:05:20.209 --> 00:05:22.129 through the Ottoman lines at the Third Battle 00:05:22.129 --> 00:05:25.889 of Gaza, and by December 1917, he achieves a 00:05:25.889 --> 00:05:28.850 massive, symbolic and strategic victory. He captures 00:05:28.850 --> 00:05:31.310 Jerusalem? He captures Jerusalem, he has the 00:05:31.310 --> 00:05:34.610 momentum, he has the morale. He is prepping for 00:05:34.610 --> 00:05:37.870 the knockout blow. But then, the strategic reality 00:05:37.870 --> 00:05:40.790 of a global war crashes down on him. Just a few 00:05:40.790 --> 00:05:44.040 months later, In March 1918, the German army 00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:46.540 launches a massive spring offensive back in Europe 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:48.920 on the Western Front. The Allied lines in France 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:51.120 are buckling under the pressure. And the shockwaves 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.259 of that crisis in Europe hit Allenby directly 00:05:53.259 --> 00:05:55.600 in the Middle East. The War Office in London 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:57.639 realizes they are facing a potential collapse 00:05:57.639 --> 00:06:00.060 in France. So they send an urgent directive to 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:02.579 Allenby. He is ordered to immediately send his 00:06:02.579 --> 00:06:05.019 best, most experienced troops back to the Western 00:06:05.019 --> 00:06:07.459 Front to plug the gaps. So how big of a loss 00:06:07.459 --> 00:06:09.620 are we talking about here? Because if you are 00:06:09.620 --> 00:06:12.410 planning a massive offensive, losing your veterans 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:15.089 has to be devastating. It's a catastrophic drain 00:06:15.089 --> 00:06:18.290 on his resources. Allenby is forced to send approximately 00:06:18.290 --> 00:06:21.290 60 ,000 officers and men out of the Middle East 00:06:21.290 --> 00:06:24.290 theater entirely. 60 ,000. 60 ,000. To break 00:06:24.290 --> 00:06:27.689 that down, he loses two complete infantry divisions, 00:06:28.430 --> 00:06:32.009 24 additional infantry battalions, nine cavalry 00:06:32.009 --> 00:06:36.170 regiments, and he loses all of his tanks. Okay, 00:06:36.209 --> 00:06:38.389 let's unpack this because if we think about this 00:06:38.389 --> 00:06:40.810 in modern strategic terms, it is a nightmare 00:06:40.810 --> 00:06:43.709 scenario. Imagine you are a modern theater commander 00:06:43.709 --> 00:06:46.610 or even a CEO, right? Sure. You've been a year 00:06:46.610 --> 00:06:49.550 perfectly tuning a massive combined arms offensive. 00:06:49.910 --> 00:06:52.269 You secured your foothold. You are ready to launch. 00:06:52.730 --> 00:06:55.209 And suddenly top command calls and says, there's 00:06:55.209 --> 00:06:57.629 a crisis elsewhere. We are taking away your entire 00:06:57.629 --> 00:06:59.889 air support wing, all of your special operations 00:06:59.889 --> 00:07:02.629 groups and your two most experienced armor divisions. 00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:05.689 But We still expect you win. It's a monumental 00:07:05.689 --> 00:07:08.129 setback. Allenby is essentially stripped of his 00:07:08.129 --> 00:07:10.149 veteran corps right as he needs them most. He 00:07:10.149 --> 00:07:12.550 is left with a skeletal framework of his original 00:07:12.550 --> 00:07:15.879 army. So what does he do? Well, he has to completely 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:18.560 rebuild his force from scratch throughout the 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:22.199 spring and summer of 1918. To replace the truce 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:25.180 he lost, he brings in two British Indian Army 00:07:25.180 --> 00:07:28.639 cavalry divisions and two Indian infantry divisions 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:30.639 that had been fighting over in the Mesopotamian 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:33.959 campaign. Oh, wow. And he also reforms four of 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:36.420 his remaining infantry divisions on the British 00:07:36.420 --> 00:07:38.759 Indian Army pattern. What does that pattern actually 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.379 look like in practice? It means that within a 00:07:41.379 --> 00:07:44.399 single brigade, you would have three Indian battalions 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:47.079 and one British battalion fighting alongside 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:49.139 each other. The diversity of this rebuilt force 00:07:49.139 --> 00:07:51.060 is staggering to think about. I mean, you look 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:53.639 at this and you have British troops, Indian troops 00:07:53.639 --> 00:07:56.079 from various regions, Australians and New Zealanders. 00:07:56.420 --> 00:07:57.839 African forces as well. Right. You even have 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:00.639 a brigade sized detachment of French troops attached 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:03.779 to the 54th division. Imagine the sheer logistical, 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.360 communicative and cultural challenge of getting 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:08.740 all these different groups into one unified command 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:11.259 structure. It's an immense hurdle. You are dealing 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:13.939 with different languages, different dietary requirements, 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:16.240 different equipment standards and vastly different 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:18.480 training backgrounds. It must have been chaos 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:21.560 initially. You have seasoned British officers 00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:24.319 trying to integrate with Indian cavalrymen who 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:26.240 have just arrived from a completely different 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.699 desert campaign. It requires an intense, exhausting 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:33.039 period of reorganization and retraining throughout 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.700 the grueling summer heat of 1918. And Allenby 00:08:36.700 --> 00:08:39.899 is desperately trying to forge this disparate 00:08:39.899 --> 00:08:42.919 multinational group into a unified weapon that 00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:46.259 can strike with precision. Yes. And while Allenby 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:48.539 is trying to piece his army back together, we 00:08:48.539 --> 00:08:51.159 need to look across the trench lines at his opponent. 00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:53.960 The Ottoman forces. They were organized under 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:56.320 what was called the Yildirim Army Group. And 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:58.940 I love this detail. Yildirim translates to Thunderbolt. 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:01.320 It does. They had actually originally been formed 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:03.659 to go recapture Baghdad from the British, but 00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:06.200 the situation in Palestine got so dire they were 00:09:06.200 --> 00:09:08.960 diverted to face Allenby instead. And the leadership 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:11.399 dynamic within the Yildirim Army Group is highly 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:13.799 complex and fraught with internal conflict, isn't 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:17.059 it? Highly fraught. Originally, this army group 00:09:17.059 --> 00:09:20.220 was commanded by a very prominent German general 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:23.720 named Erich von Falkenhayn. Now, Falkenhayn had 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:26.759 a very specific philosophy for how to fight this 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:30.259 war in the desert. He wanted to employ what he 00:09:30.259 --> 00:09:33.500 called a yielding defense. What does that actually 00:09:33.500 --> 00:09:35.950 mean for the soldiers on the ground? A yielding 00:09:35.950 --> 00:09:38.029 defense is essentially a strategy of trading 00:09:38.029 --> 00:09:41.409 space for time and preservation. Falkenhayn believed 00:09:41.409 --> 00:09:44.690 that holding static, rigid positions in the vastness 00:09:44.690 --> 00:09:47.649 of the Middle East was a mistake. Why? Because 00:09:47.649 --> 00:09:49.850 his philosophy was to let the British attack, 00:09:50.169 --> 00:09:52.450 let them punch themselves out and extend their 00:09:52.450 --> 00:09:54.629 supply lines across the harsh terrain, while 00:09:54.629 --> 00:09:57.230 the Ottoman forces would conduct organized tactical 00:09:57.230 --> 00:10:00.029 retreats to shorten their own supply lines. He 00:10:00.029 --> 00:10:02.190 didn't want to hold ground at all costs. It's 00:10:02.190 --> 00:10:04.549 like a boxer playing rope -a -dope. You lean 00:10:04.549 --> 00:10:06.889 back against the ropes, let the opponent exhaust 00:10:06.889 --> 00:10:09.289 themselves swinging, and you only strike back 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:11.389 when they are completely overextended. That's 00:10:11.389 --> 00:10:14.090 a great analogy. But the Ottoman officers absolutely 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:16.370 hated Falkenhayn for this, didn't they? They 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:19.370 despised the strategy. From the perspective of 00:10:19.370 --> 00:10:21.610 the Ottoman commanders, this was their sovereign 00:10:21.610 --> 00:10:24.710 territory being surrendered. They blamed Falkenhayn 00:10:24.710 --> 00:10:27.429 directly for the loss of Jerusalem, which was 00:10:27.429 --> 00:10:30.870 a massive psychological blow. The friction between 00:10:30.870 --> 00:10:33.129 the German High Command and the Ottoman officers 00:10:33.129 --> 00:10:35.870 became so toxic that a change had to be made. 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:38.750 Command of the Yildirim Army Group shifts to 00:10:38.750 --> 00:10:41.629 another German general, Otto Leiman von Sanders. 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:44.570 And Leiman von Sanders comes in and completely 00:10:44.570 --> 00:10:47.669 reverses Falkenhayn's philosophy. He decides 00:10:47.669 --> 00:10:50.409 he isn't going to retreat another inch. He plants 00:10:50.409 --> 00:10:53.289 his feet and orders the entire Ottoman army to 00:10:53.289 --> 00:10:56.070 dig in and hold the line. Exactly. It seems incredibly 00:10:56.070 --> 00:10:58.529 stubborn. I mean, if your supply lines are stretched 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:01.090 and you're facing a massive allied force, wouldn't 00:11:01.090 --> 00:11:03.409 a tactical retreat save your army from being 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:05.750 encircled? What's fascinating here is the underlying 00:11:05.750 --> 00:11:08.629 reasoning behind Lyman von Sanders' decision. 00:11:08.690 --> 00:11:11.409 It was not a purely military calculation. It 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:14.350 was heavily dictated by political and psychological 00:11:14.350 --> 00:11:17.330 realities. Tell me more about that. A Lyman reasoned 00:11:17.330 --> 00:11:19.570 that if he ordered his armies to keep retreating 00:11:19.570 --> 00:11:22.309 through Palestine, it would completely shatter 00:11:22.309 --> 00:11:24.629 the morale of the Ottoman troops who were already 00:11:24.629 --> 00:11:27.250 exhausted and under supply. Miral was already 00:11:27.250 --> 00:11:29.710 hanging by a thread. Right. He also knew a long 00:11:29.710 --> 00:11:32.049 retreat would ruin their draft animals, which 00:11:32.049 --> 00:11:34.529 were essential for moving artillery and supplies. 00:11:34.889 --> 00:11:37.269 But there was an even bigger fear looming in 00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:40.129 the background, wasn't there? A major geopolitical 00:11:40.129 --> 00:11:43.809 fear. Precisely. Lyman knew that a visible Ottoman 00:11:43.809 --> 00:11:46.009 retreat would act like a dinner bell for the 00:11:46.009 --> 00:11:48.690 Arab revolt. If the Ottomans looked weak and 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:51.230 were falling back, it would encourage the Arab 00:11:51.230 --> 00:11:54.029 uprising to spread further north into the Ottoman 00:11:54.029 --> 00:11:57.620 rear areas in Syria. I see. Furthermore, a retreat 00:11:57.620 --> 00:12:00.200 in Palestine would completely cut off and isolate 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:02.600 the Ottoman forces that were stationed much further 00:12:02.600 --> 00:12:05.519 south in the Hejaz region. It's a profound modern 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:08.679 dilemma that leaders still face today. I mean, 00:12:08.860 --> 00:12:11.720 do you take a short -term tactical loss, falling 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:13.879 back to a position that is cheaper and easier 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:17.399 to defend, if it risks a massive long -term PR 00:12:17.399 --> 00:12:19.539 and political disaster? That's exactly the choice 00:12:19.539 --> 00:12:21.929 he was facing. Lyman von Sanders essentially 00:12:21.929 --> 00:12:24.830 decided that the optics and the political fallout 00:12:24.830 --> 00:12:27.990 of a retreat were far more dangerous than the 00:12:27.990 --> 00:12:31.470 military risk of holding a wide, very thin line 00:12:31.470 --> 00:12:34.090 against a superior force. And we really need 00:12:34.090 --> 00:12:37.110 to emphasize just how thin that line was. Lyman's 00:12:37.110 --> 00:12:39.710 defense consisted of three armies. You had the 00:12:39.710 --> 00:12:41.529 Eighth Army holding the Mediterranean coast, 00:12:41.870 --> 00:12:44.330 the Seventh Army entrenched in the rugged Judean 00:12:44.330 --> 00:12:47.009 hills in the center, and the Fourth Army guarding 00:12:47.009 --> 00:12:49.309 the Jordan River and the territory to the east. 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:52.279 included the vital city of Amman and the Hujaz 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:55.519 Railway. So they are spread across a massive 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:59.080 geographic front. By August 1918, Lyman's actual 00:12:59.080 --> 00:13:01.639 frontline fighting strength was just over 40 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:05.029 ,000 infantrymen. Across that whole front. Across 00:13:05.029 --> 00:13:07.250 that whole front. Now, they were heavily armed. 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:09.330 They had a formidable array of machine guns and 00:13:09.330 --> 00:13:11.730 artillery. But because they were stretched across 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:15.049 such a vast distance, they had virtually no strategic 00:13:15.049 --> 00:13:17.289 reserve stationed behind the front lines. They 00:13:17.289 --> 00:13:19.470 were a hard shell with a hollow center, which 00:13:19.470 --> 00:13:22.389 brings us perfectly to the eastern flank and 00:13:22.389 --> 00:13:24.809 the absolute logistical headache that the Ottomans 00:13:24.809 --> 00:13:27.610 were dealing with out there. If Lenman von Sanders 00:13:27.610 --> 00:13:30.169 was terrified of the Arab revolt spreading, he 00:13:30.169 --> 00:13:32.970 had incredibly good reason. He certainly me did. 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:35.570 Because operating east of the Jordan River, you 00:13:35.570 --> 00:13:38.149 have the forces of the Arab Northern Army. They 00:13:38.149 --> 00:13:40.929 are under the overall leadership of Emir Faisal. 00:13:41.019 --> 00:13:44.259 and fighting alongside them is a very famous 00:13:44.259 --> 00:13:46.799 British liaison officer named T .E. Lawrence. 00:13:47.059 --> 00:13:49.600 Who history remembers as Lawrence of Arabia. 00:13:49.940 --> 00:13:52.220 Right. The role of the Arab revolt in this campaign 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:55.340 is a brilliant study in asymmetric irregular 00:13:55.340 --> 00:13:58.279 warfare. They were not fighting set peace trench 00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:01.960 battles. Their primary obsessive target was the 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:04.460 Hejaz Railway. Why the railway? Why not attack 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:06.659 the Ottoman cities directly? Because the railway 00:14:06.659 --> 00:14:09.460 was the literal lifeline of the Ottoman Empire 00:14:09.460 --> 00:14:11.980 in that specific region. It was the only viable 00:14:11.980 --> 00:14:13.860 way of supplying the Ottoman troops stationed 00:14:13.860 --> 00:14:15.779 all the way down in Medina. So cut the line, 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:19.460 starve the troops. Yes. By blockading isolated 00:14:19.460 --> 00:14:22.279 garrisons like the one at Milan and by constantly 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.039 blowing up stretches of the tracks, the Arab 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:28.019 forces were forcing the Ottomans to tie down 00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:30.460 massive numbers of troops. So instead of fighting 00:14:30.669 --> 00:14:34.110 be on the front line, thousands of Ottoman soldiers 00:14:34.110 --> 00:14:36.590 were sitting in the desert desperately trying 00:14:36.590 --> 00:14:39.450 to protect metal rails from being dynamited in 00:14:39.450 --> 00:14:41.230 the middle of the night. That's the essence of 00:14:41.230 --> 00:14:43.289 their impact. But let's pull back the curtain 00:14:43.289 --> 00:14:45.529 on what a rebellion actually cost to maintain. 00:14:46.490 --> 00:14:49.309 We have this highly romanticized cinematic image 00:14:49.309 --> 00:14:53.169 of brave warriors riding dromedary camels across 00:14:53.169 --> 00:14:55.789 the sweeping dunes fighting purely for freedom 00:14:55.789 --> 00:14:58.340 and independence. And while that ideological 00:14:58.340 --> 00:15:01.220 drive absolutely existed, a sustained rebellion 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:04.539 requires vast amounts of cold, hard resources. 00:15:04.940 --> 00:15:06.700 Exactly. The British were financing this uprising 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:09.200 and the numbers are just staggering. The financial 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:11.379 commitment is a crucial piece of the strategic 00:15:11.379 --> 00:15:14.980 puzzle here. In mid -1916, the British began 00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:17.679 subsidizing the Arab forces with 30 ,000 pounds 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:19.860 a month. That's a lot of money back then. And 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:22.340 importantly, this was always paid in solid coin, 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:25.919 gold, and silver. Paper money was utterly useless 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:28.570 in the desert economy. Wow. By the time we reached 00:15:28.570 --> 00:15:32.070 the Megiddo Offensive in late 1918, that subsidy 00:15:32.070 --> 00:15:35.190 had ballooned to an astonishing 220 ,000 pounds 00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:38.169 a month. Just imagine the pure logistical nightmare 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:40.889 of that. They are literally shipping hundreds 00:15:40.889 --> 00:15:43.950 of thousands of pounds in heavy metal coins across 00:15:43.950 --> 00:15:47.149 a hostile desert landscape every single month 00:15:47.149 --> 00:15:49.809 just to keep the local forces supplied and motivated. 00:15:49.990 --> 00:15:52.029 It's incredible to picture. And it wasn't just 00:15:52.029 --> 00:15:55.629 cash, was it? No, it was a massive material investment. 00:15:56.300 --> 00:15:58.379 Alongside the gold, the British were supplying 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:01.360 armored cars, specialized Indian machine gun 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:04.159 attachments, French Algerian mountain artillery 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:07.240 batteries, and thousands upon thousands of dromedary 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:09.679 camels to keep the forces mobile. It was an enormous 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:11.940 drain on the British treasury to keep this proxy 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:14.580 force active in the Ottoman rear. It really was. 00:16:14.820 --> 00:16:16.820 Which brings up a fascinating debate for you 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:20.039 as you listen to this. Think about how organizations 00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:23.440 allocate massive budgets today. If you are funding 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:25.799 a massive proxy initiative, you want to know 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:29.659 your return on investment. Was 220 ,000 pounds 00:16:29.659 --> 00:16:32.379 in gold a month worth it to keep the Ottomans 00:16:32.379 --> 00:16:34.580 constantly looking over their shoulder? Well, 00:16:34.700 --> 00:16:36.940 even within the Allied command structure, there 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:39.360 were highly conflicting viewpoints on the actual 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:42.799 value of the Arab forces. It is essential to 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.080 look at both perspectives here to understand 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:48.019 the tension of the time. Sure. On one side of 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:50.100 the argument, you have the view of T .E. Lawrence 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:53.019 and his supporters. From their perspective, the 00:16:53.019 --> 00:16:55.720 Arab regular forces were highly effective. They 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:57.879 successfully blockaded the Ottoman garrison at 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:00.340 Messun. They managed to blow up an 80 -mile stretch 00:17:00.340 --> 00:17:02.500 of the railway around a station called Mudawara. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:05.599 80 miles of track destroyed. According to Lawrence, 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.960 they effectively paralyzed Ottoman operations 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.519 in that entire southern sector, undeniably destroying 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:14.920 critical infrastructure. But that is not how 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:17.269 everyone saw it. Because you have conventional 00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:20.049 military officers who are highly skeptical of 00:17:20.049 --> 00:17:22.849 the whole operation. We have a direct quote from 00:17:22.849 --> 00:17:25.089 an officer named Rex Hall, who served with the 00:17:25.089 --> 00:17:27.289 5th Light Horse Brigade. What did he say? He 00:17:27.289 --> 00:17:30.309 said, and I quote, I do not for one moment denigrate 00:17:30.309 --> 00:17:33.190 the good name of Lawrence. But when it came to 00:17:33.190 --> 00:17:35.930 cooperation with Allenby's forces, the Arabs 00:17:35.930 --> 00:17:39.009 under Lawrence had, in my experience, nuisance. 00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:43.380 value only. Nuisance value only. That quote perfectly 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:46.079 encapsulates the classic historical friction 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:48.740 between highly disciplined conventional military 00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:52.059 forces and loosely organized irregular guerrilla 00:17:52.059 --> 00:17:54.960 units. Oh so? If you are a conventional cavalry 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.440 officer like Rex Hall, you are trained to look 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:00.579 for reliable punctual flank support in a tightly 00:18:00.579 --> 00:18:03.000 scheduled set piece battle. When you look at 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:05.140 an unpredictable tribal force that fights on 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:07.480 its own terms and its own schedule, you might 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:09.640 perceive them as nothing more than a nuisance. 00:18:09.819 --> 00:18:11.660 But Allenby is looking at the board from a much 00:18:11.660 --> 00:18:15.440 higher elevation. Exactly. From a grand strategic 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.420 level, Allenby recognized the sheer mathematical 00:18:18.420 --> 00:18:21.740 value of the proxy war. He knew that every single 00:18:21.740 --> 00:18:24.000 Ottoman battalion deployed to guard a railway 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:26.500 station in the deep desert was a battalion that 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:28.500 was not standing in front of his infantry on 00:18:28.500 --> 00:18:31.359 the Plain of Sharon. Math doesn't lie. Whether 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:33.400 they were a nuisance or a lethal threat, they 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:35.740 were bleeding the Ottomans of manpower and attention. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:38.259 Keep that proxy war and that Eastern distraction 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:41.099 in mind because it plays directly into Allenby's 00:18:41.099 --> 00:18:43.759 ultimate master plan. Allenby is sitting there 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.640 with his rebuilt, highly diverse army. He knows 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:49.400 the Ottomans are stressed thin along a massive 00:18:49.400 --> 00:18:51.500 line from the Mediterranean Sea in the west all 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:53.980 the way into the Judean hills in the east. How 00:18:53.980 --> 00:18:56.500 does he break that line? Allenby's true strategic 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:59.220 intention was incredibly bold. and it relied 00:18:59.220 --> 00:19:02.400 on overwhelming localized force. He wanted to 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:05.160 mass the vast majority of his infantry on the 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:07.400 extreme western edge of the front line, right 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:08.980 against the Mediterranean coast. The hammer. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.019 His plan was to concentrate a massive hammer 00:19:12.019 --> 00:19:14.579 there, smash through the thinly held Ottoman 00:19:14.579 --> 00:19:18.059 trenches, and then send his mobile cavalry, the 00:19:18.059 --> 00:19:20.460 desert mounted corps, rushing north through the 00:19:20.460 --> 00:19:23.119 resulting gap. The goal wasn't just to push the 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:25.839 Ottomans back. No, it was to send the cavalry 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:28.640 deep into the rear to cut off the retreat of 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:31.160 the entire Ottoman seventh and eighth armies. 00:19:31.900 --> 00:19:34.359 To achieve this, Allenby managed to build up 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:36.900 a localized force superiority on the coast of 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:40.039 roughly five to one in infantry. He had five 00:19:40.039 --> 00:19:43.119 of his men for every one Ottoman defender in 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:45.539 that specific sector. That is an overwhelming 00:19:45.539 --> 00:19:48.420 tactical advantage. It's massive. But here's 00:19:48.420 --> 00:19:50.759 the massive problem. If you start moving tens 00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:53.140 of thousands of men. thousands of horses and 00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:55.740 hundreds of artillery pieces to the coast. The 00:19:55.740 --> 00:19:58.400 enemy is going to notice they aren't blind. Exactly. 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:00.619 They see you mask on the right. They would just 00:20:00.619 --> 00:20:02.420 shift their own troops to meet you. And your 00:20:02.420 --> 00:20:04.079 five to one advantage completely disappears, 00:20:04.180 --> 00:20:07.140 which means Allen B has to completely blind Lyman 00:20:07.140 --> 00:20:09.880 von Sanders. He has to convince the Ottoman High 00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:12.500 Command that the attack is coming from the exact 00:20:12.500 --> 00:20:14.900 opposite direction in the Jordan Valley, far 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:17.859 to the east. The operation he orchestrates to 00:20:17.859 --> 00:20:20.630 achieve this. is one of the most comprehensive 00:20:20.630 --> 00:20:23.349 military deceptions in history. It really is. 00:20:23.950 --> 00:20:27.069 The level of operational security and pure theatrical 00:20:27.069 --> 00:20:29.950 deception they pull off here is staggering. It's 00:20:29.950 --> 00:20:32.809 like a massive analog cyber spoofing campaign. 00:20:32.950 --> 00:20:35.529 How did they do it? The fundamental rule for 00:20:35.529 --> 00:20:39.430 the entire British Army was simple but incredibly 00:20:39.430 --> 00:20:42.700 hard to execute. Any movement of troops vehicles 00:20:42.700 --> 00:20:45.859 or artillery from the eastern Jordan Valley westward 00:20:45.859 --> 00:20:48.319 towards the true attack zone on the coast had 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:51.059 to be done in total pitch black darkness at night. 00:20:51.059 --> 00:20:54.039 No lights. None. They had to hide in orange groves 00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:56.700 and olive plantations during the day. But any 00:20:56.700 --> 00:20:59.220 movement eastward towards the fake attack zone 00:20:59.220 --> 00:21:02.079 was to be done openly, brazenly, in broad daylight. 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:05.299 It was a monumental logistical ballet, and it 00:21:05.299 --> 00:21:07.299 involved incredible acts of misdirection. For 00:21:07.299 --> 00:21:09.640 example, the Anzac Mounted Division was stationed 00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:11.720 in the Jordan Valley, and they were tasked with 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:14.160 acting like an entire massive attack corps. They 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:16.960 were the actors. Yes. They would march openly 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:19.240 down into the valley during the day, making sure 00:21:19.240 --> 00:21:21.440 the Ottoman observers on the hills could clearly 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:25.119 see them arriving. Then as soon as the sun went 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:27.900 down, Those same men would be secretly packed 00:21:27.900 --> 00:21:30.359 into transport lorries, driven back out of the 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:32.759 valley under the cover of darkness, just so they 00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:35.440 could march back down again the next day. It's 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:37.940 a literal military loop. They're just cycling 00:21:37.940 --> 00:21:40.480 the same troops over and over to look like a 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:42.579 massive buildup. And they didn't just use moving 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:45.640 men. They built sprawling, elaborate dummy camps 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:48.940 in the east. They set up massive canvas structures 00:21:48.940 --> 00:21:51.279 that, from the vantage point of an Ottoman scout 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:54.099 on a distant hill, looked exactly like vast horse 00:21:54.099 --> 00:21:57.019 lines for a cavalry division. But the most ingenious 00:21:57.019 --> 00:22:00.019 detail of this entire deception and a true testament 00:22:00.019 --> 00:22:02.799 to practical military problem solving involved 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:05.630 dealing with dust. The dust problem. The British 00:22:05.630 --> 00:22:07.869 commanders knew that a massive army moving through 00:22:07.869 --> 00:22:10.430 the dry desert kicks up colossal clouds of dust. 00:22:10.930 --> 00:22:13.089 It is the signature of an army on the march. 00:22:13.349 --> 00:22:16.309 If you have dummy camps but no dust, the illusion 00:22:16.309 --> 00:22:20.069 fails. Exactly. So they commandeered mules and 00:22:20.069 --> 00:22:23.109 had them drag heavy agricultural harrow's tools 00:22:23.109 --> 00:22:25.710 meant for breaking up soil back and forth along 00:22:25.710 --> 00:22:28.470 the dirt tracks in the east all day long. Here's 00:22:28.470 --> 00:22:31.609 where it gets really interesting. They are literally, 00:22:32.089 --> 00:22:34.269 physically throwing dust in the enemy's eyes 00:22:34.269 --> 00:22:37.150 to simulate the marching collars of an army that 00:22:37.150 --> 00:22:39.710 doesn't actually exist. And the theatricality 00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:42.109 didn't stop the front lines. They commandeered 00:22:42.109 --> 00:22:46.390 a highly prominent hotel in Jerusalem and ostentatiously 00:22:46.390 --> 00:22:50.049 set it up as a fake Expeditionary Force headquarters. 00:22:50.309 --> 00:22:52.569 Making sure enemy spies knew exactly where it 00:22:52.569 --> 00:22:54.650 was. Right. The intelligence manipulation was 00:22:54.650 --> 00:22:57.720 multi -layered. Out in the east, T .E. Lawrence 00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:00.740 sent agents to loudly and publicly buy up huge 00:23:00.740 --> 00:23:03.460 quantities of sheep and horse forage, signaling 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:06.099 to Ottoman spies that a massive allied cavalry 00:23:06.099 --> 00:23:08.119 force was preparing to operate in that area. 00:23:08.220 --> 00:23:10.079 They even planted fake stories in the British 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:12.799 newspapers and deliberately broadcast intercepted 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:15.559 messages about a major military horse race meeting 00:23:15.559 --> 00:23:17.039 that was scheduled to take place on September 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.759 19th, which, coincidentally, was the exact day 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:21.940 Allen B actually planned to launch his massive 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:23.960 assault on the coast. They wanted the Ottomans 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:26.500 to think. The British can't be attacking. They're 00:23:26.500 --> 00:23:29.380 getting ready for a horse race. It is a comprehensive, 00:23:29.859 --> 00:23:33.539 multi -domain deception. They are actively manipulating 00:23:33.539 --> 00:23:36.420 visual intelligence, signals intelligence, and 00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:39.099 human intelligence. But if we connect this to 00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:41.559 the bigger picture, we have to acknowledge a 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:43.779 fundamental truth about warfare. What's that? 00:23:44.140 --> 00:23:47.319 None of this elaborate theater, the canvas horses, 00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:50.000 the dragging heros, the fake headquarters, none 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.240 of it matters if the enemy can simply fly an 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:54.660 airplane over your lines and see the truth for 00:23:54.660 --> 00:23:57.960 themselves. Deception on this scale only works 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:00.279 if the enemy is entirely deprived of the means 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:02.859 to verify it. Yes, you have to blind the eye 00:24:02.859 --> 00:24:05.480 in the sky. And this is where air superiority 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:08.119 becomes the absolute linchpin of the whole operation. 00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:11.059 The Royal Air Force, alongside the Australian 00:24:11.059 --> 00:24:14.079 Flying Corps, was tasked with completely dominating 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:16.539 the skies west of the Jordan River. They had 00:24:16.539 --> 00:24:18.960 to ensure no German or Ottoman reconnaissance 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:20.759 plane could see what was happening on the coast. 00:24:20.900 --> 00:24:23.640 And they achieved absolute dominance. The flight 00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:25.599 statistics tell the story clearly. Let's hear 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.539 the numbers. In June of 1918, hostile enemy airplanes 00:24:29.539 --> 00:24:32.900 crossed over the British lines roughly 100 times 00:24:32.900 --> 00:24:35.240 in a single week. So they had a clear view of 00:24:35.240 --> 00:24:38.210 the battlefield. They did. But then the RAF and 00:24:38.210 --> 00:24:41.150 the Australians went to work. They relentlessly 00:24:41.150 --> 00:24:43.950 hunted down enemy aircraft. By the last week 00:24:43.950 --> 00:24:47.210 of August, that number had dropped from 100 crossings 00:24:47.210 --> 00:24:50.950 a week to just 18. Wow. And during the critical 00:24:50.950 --> 00:24:53.470 three -week buildup in September, right before 00:24:53.470 --> 00:24:55.930 the attack, the total number of enemy flights 00:24:55.930 --> 00:24:59.740 dropped to exactly four. For 18 days before the 00:24:59.740 --> 00:25:02.079 battle, only two or three German aircraft were 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:04.319 seen flying at all. They practically grounded 00:25:04.319 --> 00:25:07.200 the entire enemy air force. Ottoman and German 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:09.200 planes couldn't even start their engines without 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:11.460 being immediately engaged by allied fighters. 00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:13.960 It is a total intelligence blackout. Think about 00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:15.819 the modern equivalent of this. If you are running 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:18.400 a massive global business, and your competitor 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.059 manages to completely blackout your market research, 00:25:21.660 --> 00:25:24.279 sever your data feeds, and shut down your communication 00:25:24.279 --> 00:25:27.450 servers, You are making critical decisions in 00:25:27.450 --> 00:25:29.829 a total vacuum. You only see the reality that 00:25:29.829 --> 00:25:32.349 they want you to see. Because of this absolute 00:25:32.349 --> 00:25:35.509 air supremacy, Lyman von Sanders and the Ottomans 00:25:35.509 --> 00:25:38.369 never saw the massive five to one concentration 00:25:38.369 --> 00:25:40.670 of troops hiding in the Orange Groves on the 00:25:40.670 --> 00:25:43.170 coast. They only saw the dummy camps and the 00:25:43.170 --> 00:25:45.369 dragging arrows in the east. And that profound 00:25:45.369 --> 00:25:49.069 engineered information asymmetry sets the stage 00:25:49.069 --> 00:25:51.799 for the battle itself. Which brings us to September 00:25:51.799 --> 00:25:55.640 16th, 1918. The hammer is finally raised. As 00:25:55.640 --> 00:25:58.319 a preliminary opening move, the Arab Northern 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:01.240 Army under Lawrence attacks the vital railway 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:03.650 junction at Dara. far behind the Ottoman lines 00:26:03.650 --> 00:26:06.630 to the east. This is the final distraction. Lawrence 00:26:06.630 --> 00:26:08.970 and his forces, joined by thousands of local 00:26:08.970 --> 00:26:11.190 tribesmen, start tearing up the rail lines and 00:26:11.190 --> 00:26:13.289 attacking the garrison. And Lyman von Sanders 00:26:13.289 --> 00:26:16.250 reacts exactly how Allenby hoped he would. He 00:26:16.250 --> 00:26:18.650 views the attack on Dora as the prelude to the 00:26:18.650 --> 00:26:20.509 main assault he expects from the Jordan Valley. 00:26:20.589 --> 00:26:22.990 So he takes the bait. He takes the bait. Lyman 00:26:22.990 --> 00:26:25.069 sends the garrison from a crucial central town 00:26:25.069 --> 00:26:28.349 called Awafule eastward to reinforce Dora, pulling 00:26:28.349 --> 00:26:30.769 vital troops away from the very area where the 00:26:30.769 --> 00:26:33.730 real blow was going to land. It seems like Allenby's 00:26:33.730 --> 00:26:36.589 trap has worked perfectly. But despite all the 00:26:36.589 --> 00:26:39.349 brilliant deception and air supremacy, the fog 00:26:39.349 --> 00:26:42.390 of war is never perfectly dense. There's always 00:26:42.390 --> 00:26:45.480 a wild card. Oh, a wild card. At the very last 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:47.900 minute, an Indian deserter from the Allied lines 00:26:47.900 --> 00:26:50.240 crosses over the trenches and surrenders to the 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:53.059 Turks. And this deserter tells them everything. 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:56.079 He warns them that a massive, overwhelming attack 00:26:56.079 --> 00:26:59.240 is coming directly at the coastal sector. This 00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:01.920 is such an incredible moment of historical drama. 00:27:02.059 --> 00:27:04.759 It really is. I want you to imagine this scenario. 00:27:05.539 --> 00:27:08.519 You are Rifat Bey. You are the commander of the 00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:10.740 Ottoman Exitate Corps stationed right on the 00:27:10.740 --> 00:27:13.369 coast. An enemy deserter is brought into your 00:27:13.369 --> 00:27:16.269 tent and he literally hands you the exact enemy 00:27:16.269 --> 00:27:18.930 playbook. He tells you a colossal force of infantry 00:27:18.930 --> 00:27:21.569 and cavalry is massing just a few miles right 00:27:21.569 --> 00:27:23.670 in front of your trenches. Ruffet Bay listens 00:27:23.670 --> 00:27:27.190 to the deserter and he believes him. He realizes 00:27:27.190 --> 00:27:29.670 his men are sitting in a deathtrap. He wants 00:27:29.670 --> 00:27:31.710 to withdraw his forces immediately to pull them 00:27:31.710 --> 00:27:33.490 back into the hills where they can survive. But 00:27:33.490 --> 00:27:35.309 he can't just order a retreat on his own. He 00:27:35.309 --> 00:27:37.750 has to run it up the flagpole. He reports this 00:27:37.750 --> 00:27:40.490 explosive intelligence to his immediate boss, 00:27:40.730 --> 00:27:43.349 Javed Pasha, and to the overall army commander, 00:27:43.670 --> 00:27:46.450 Lyman von Sanders. And their response is fatal. 00:27:46.829 --> 00:27:49.789 They tell Rafet Bey no. They explicitly forbid 00:27:49.789 --> 00:27:52.559 him to withdraw his troops. Lemon von Sanders 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:55.680 is entirely convinced that this deserter is a 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.619 planted intelligence bluff. He has bought into 00:27:58.619 --> 00:28:01.140 the Jordan Valley Deception so thoroughly and 00:28:01.140 --> 00:28:04.619 for so long that he dismisses the absolute truth 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:06.940 when it is handed to him on a silver platter. 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:09.279 Have you ever been in a situation, maybe in a 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:12.079 company or an organization, where a lower level 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:14.859 employee or whistleblower points out a massive 00:28:14.859 --> 00:28:17.539 fatal flaw in the system, but senior management 00:28:17.539 --> 00:28:20.200 flat out refuses to listen because the truth 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:22.779 contradicts the preconceived strategy. It's the 00:28:22.779 --> 00:28:25.440 exact same psychological trap. Lyman's refusal 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.519 to act on this intelligence, his confirmation 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:30.359 bias, essentially dooms his entire army. Because 00:28:30.359 --> 00:28:32.640 just a few days later, the reality of the situation 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:36.160 arrives. On September 19th at 1 vr a .m. in the 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:38.299 pitch black of the night, the true offensive 00:28:38.299 --> 00:28:40.660 begins. And it doesn't begin with a cavalry charge 00:28:40.660 --> 00:28:43.660 or an artillery barrage. It begins from the sky. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:47.359 A single British heavy bomber, a massive aircraft 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:50.369 for its time called the Handley Page 0400 takes 00:28:50.369 --> 00:28:53.869 off. It flies deep over the Ottoman lines and 00:28:53.869 --> 00:28:57.210 drops its full payload of 16 112 pound bombs 00:28:57.210 --> 00:28:59.569 directly onto the main telephone exchange and 00:28:59.569 --> 00:29:03.490 railway station at Alafule. 16 112 pound bombs. 00:29:03.809 --> 00:29:05.970 For a listener today, that might not sound like 00:29:05.970 --> 00:29:08.930 a nuclear payload, but in 1918, this isn't just 00:29:08.930 --> 00:29:11.089 dropping explosives to cause random casualties. 00:29:11.529 --> 00:29:14.630 This is a highly precise surgical decapitation 00:29:14.630 --> 00:29:17.130 strike. Alafule was the central nervous system 00:29:17.130 --> 00:29:19.980 for the Ottoman defense. By destroying that single 00:29:19.980 --> 00:29:22.779 telephone exchange, the British instantly severed 00:29:22.779 --> 00:29:25.599 the communication lines between Lyman von Sanders's 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:27.960 central headquarters in Nazareth and the entire 00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:30.039 Ottoman Seventh and Eighth Armies at the front. 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:32.500 This raises an important question regarding modern 00:29:32.500 --> 00:29:34.900 warfare and organizational structure. If you 00:29:34.900 --> 00:29:36.759 instantly remove the ability of a command center 00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:39.119 to communicate with its extremities, how quickly 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:41.779 does a cohesive structure dissolve into isolated, 00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:44.119 paralyzed units? The Ottomans were about to find 00:29:44.119 --> 00:29:46.160 out in the most brutal way possible because for 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:48.599 two vital days, Lyman von Sanders had no idea 00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:50.839 what was happening to his front lines. And what 00:29:50.839 --> 00:29:53.819 was happening was annihilation. Three and a half 00:29:53.819 --> 00:29:57.279 hours after those bombs fell at 430 a .m. on 00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:59.819 September 19th, the silence of the early morning 00:29:59.819 --> 00:30:04.099 is shattered. 385 allied guns open up simultaneously 00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:06.339 on the coastal defenses. We're talking field 00:30:06.339 --> 00:30:10.039 artillery, heavy 60 pounders, medium howitzers, 00:30:10.059 --> 00:30:12.779 and they even had two naval destroyers offshore 00:30:12.779 --> 00:30:15.619 firing massive shells into the Ottoman trenches 00:30:15.619 --> 00:30:18.289 from the Mediterranean. The earth is literally 00:30:18.289 --> 00:30:20.910 shaking. But the nature of this bombardment is 00:30:20.910 --> 00:30:24.029 critical to understand. Unlike the massive week 00:30:24.029 --> 00:30:26.250 -long bombardments of the Western Front that 00:30:26.250 --> 00:30:28.470 just churned the mud and gave the enemy plenty 00:30:28.470 --> 00:30:31.230 of warning to bring up reserves, this was entirely 00:30:31.230 --> 00:30:33.410 different. It was short, incredibly intense, 00:30:33.769 --> 00:30:36.210 and terrifyingly accurate. It lasted just 20 00:30:36.210 --> 00:30:39.309 minutes. At 4 .50 a .m., the artillery bombardment 00:30:39.309 --> 00:30:42.009 lifts and begins to creep forward. Okay, for 00:30:42.009 --> 00:30:43.769 someone who might not be a military historian, 00:30:44.309 --> 00:30:46.809 what exactly is a creeping barrage? A creeping 00:30:46.809 --> 00:30:50.130 barrage is a highly synchronized complex artillery 00:30:50.130 --> 00:30:52.910 tactic. Instead of just firing at the enemy trenches 00:30:52.910 --> 00:30:55.630 and then stopping when your men attack, the artillery 00:30:55.630 --> 00:30:58.130 fires a continuous curtain of high explosives 00:30:58.130 --> 00:31:01.309 that advances or creeps forward at a set pace. 00:31:01.549 --> 00:31:04.269 Usually about 50 yards every minute, right? Yes, 00:31:04.450 --> 00:31:07.059 roughly. The British and Indian infantry advance 00:31:07.059 --> 00:31:10.099 right behind this wall of explosions. It forces 00:31:10.099 --> 00:31:12.619 the enemy defenders to stay huddled at the bottom 00:31:12.619 --> 00:31:15.460 of their trenches for survival until the exact 00:31:15.460 --> 00:31:18.180 second the barrage passes over them, at which 00:31:18.180 --> 00:31:20.319 point the attacking infantry is already on the 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:22.640 lip of their trench looking down at them. Because 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:25.019 the Ottomans had no strategic reserves in the 00:31:25.019 --> 00:31:27.839 rear to plug any gaps, their defensive line was 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:30.559 like a pane of glass. It was hard on the surface, 00:31:30.579 --> 00:31:32.700 but once you crack it, it shatters completely. 00:31:33.019 --> 00:31:35.420 The Allied infantry breaks through the 7th and 00:31:35.420 --> 00:31:38.160 20th Ottoman divisions almost immediately. The 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:41.180 Ottoman line ceases to exist and through that 00:31:41.180 --> 00:31:44.200 gaping hole on the coast, the cavalry pours in. 00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:47.240 This is the exact operational bound that Allenby 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:49.849 had been planning for months. The desert mounted 00:31:49.849 --> 00:31:52.529 corps doesn't stop to fight the surviving Ottoman 00:31:52.529 --> 00:31:54.990 infantry in the trenches. They leave the mopping 00:31:54.990 --> 00:31:57.470 up to the foot soldiers. The cavalry rides right 00:31:57.470 --> 00:32:00.109 past them, heading north at full speed to get 00:32:00.109 --> 00:32:02.509 behind the enemy armies. We have a striking, 00:32:02.710 --> 00:32:05.029 highly evocative quote from Lieutenant Colonel 00:32:05.029 --> 00:32:07.630 Rex Osborne, who witnessed this massive charge. 00:32:08.269 --> 00:32:11.970 He described seeing 94 squadrons disposed in 00:32:11.970 --> 00:32:15.069 great breadth and in great depth, hurrying forward 00:32:15.069 --> 00:32:18.170 relentlessly on a decisive mission. Can you just 00:32:18.170 --> 00:32:22.430 imagine the sheer visceral thunder of 94 squadrons 00:32:22.430 --> 00:32:24.910 of horses galloping up the coastline at dawn? 00:32:25.069 --> 00:32:27.329 It's an incredible image. And the tragedy for 00:32:27.329 --> 00:32:29.009 the Ottoman front line commanders is that they 00:32:29.009 --> 00:32:31.210 can't even pick up a telephone to warn the rear 00:32:31.210 --> 00:32:33.009 guard that the British cavalry is behind them 00:32:33.009 --> 00:32:35.670 because the phone lines are blown up at 1 a .m. 00:32:35.730 --> 00:32:38.109 They are completely isolated. And to make matters 00:32:38.109 --> 00:32:41.170 worse for the Ottomans, the RAF is ensuring total 00:32:41.170 --> 00:32:44.490 continuous paralysis from the air. The air campaign 00:32:44.490 --> 00:32:46.829 didn't stop with the bomber strike. Throughout 00:32:46.829 --> 00:32:50.329 that entire day of September 19th, pairs of British 00:32:50.329 --> 00:32:54.029 SE .5 fighter planes flew in continuous two -hour 00:32:54.029 --> 00:32:56.630 relays over the main German airfield at a town 00:32:56.630 --> 00:32:59.490 called Jenin. They didn't even need to engage 00:32:59.490 --> 00:33:02.170 in romanticized aerial dogfights, they just circled 00:33:02.170 --> 00:33:04.069 over the runway with bombs and machine guns. 00:33:04.410 --> 00:33:06.190 Whenever they saw any movement on the ground, 00:33:06.329 --> 00:33:08.849 a mechanic trying to start an engine, or someone 00:33:08.849 --> 00:33:10.990 trying to open a hangar door to get a plane out, 00:33:11.269 --> 00:33:13.190 they instantly bombed it or strafed it. They 00:33:13.190 --> 00:33:15.789 kept the entire enemy air force pinned to the 00:33:15.789 --> 00:33:18.109 ground by force while the cavalry raced up the 00:33:18.109 --> 00:33:21.130 coast unchecked. It is terrifying efficiency. 00:33:21.509 --> 00:33:23.930 What we are seeing here is a combined arms assault 00:33:23.930 --> 00:33:27.230 executed to absolute perfection. You have artillery, 00:33:27.670 --> 00:33:30.390 infantry, cavalry, and air power all working 00:33:30.390 --> 00:33:32.589 in flawless synchronization. And by the end of 00:33:32.589 --> 00:33:35.069 that very first day, the remnants of the Ottoman 00:33:35.069 --> 00:33:37.930 Eighth Army are in a completely disorderly panicked 00:33:37.930 --> 00:33:40.450 retreat into the hills, being relentlessly strafed 00:33:40.450 --> 00:33:42.849 by Australian planes from above. The headquarters 00:33:42.849 --> 00:33:44.910 of the Ex -Sec Corps on the coast is completely 00:33:44.910 --> 00:33:49.089 overrun. The commander, Shavad Pasha, who just 00:33:49.089 --> 00:33:51.390 the day before had told Reset Bey not to retreat, 00:33:51.950 --> 00:33:54.769 now literally has to flee for his life. The collapse 00:33:54.769 --> 00:33:57.329 is total. The speed of the Allied advance is 00:33:57.329 --> 00:33:59.609 staggering, and it leads to the encirclement 00:33:59.609 --> 00:34:02.400 phase of the operation. During the early dark 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:05.079 hours of September 20th, the cavalry secures 00:34:05.079 --> 00:34:07.980 the crucial narrow passes through the Carmel 00:34:07.980 --> 00:34:11.079 Range. They pour through these choke points and 00:34:11.079 --> 00:34:13.099 capture the vital communication and transport 00:34:13.099 --> 00:34:16.659 centers of Afula and Bison deep in the Ottoman 00:34:16.659 --> 00:34:19.000 rear. Another brigade attacks the town of Nazareth, 00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:20.860 which was the location of Laman von Sanders' 00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:23.760 supreme headquarters. The attack is so sudden 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:26.239 that the overall commander of the Ottoman forces, 00:34:26.480 --> 00:34:29.340 Laman von Sanders himself, barely escapes the 00:34:29.340 --> 00:34:31.920 town in his pajamas. Fleeing in a car just minutes 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:34.239 before the British cavalry arrives. This is the 00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:36.199 operational masterpiece that Allenby envisioned. 00:34:36.579 --> 00:34:39.300 He has thrown a massive, unbreakable lasso around 00:34:39.300 --> 00:34:42.260 the rear of the Ottoman armies. And now the Ottoman 00:34:42.260 --> 00:34:45.239 Seventh Army, which is commanded by Mustafa Kemal, 00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:48.400 a man who will later become famous as Atatürk, 00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:51.340 the revered founder of modern Turkey, realizes 00:34:51.340 --> 00:34:54.139 the horrific reality of his situation. He is 00:34:54.139 --> 00:34:56.519 completely outflanked. His railway connection 00:34:56.519 --> 00:34:59.940 is cut. The coastal road is gone. He is surrounded. 00:35:00.199 --> 00:35:02.599 His only possible escape route is to the east 00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:05.019 along a rugged dirt road that leads down into 00:35:05.019 --> 00:35:08.239 a steep, narrow gorge called the Wadi Farah heading 00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:10.880 toward the Jordan River. On the night of September 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:13.840 20th, with his options exhausted, Kamal orders 00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:16.760 his army to evacuate the city of Nablus and begin 00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:19.530 a desperate retreat down this gorge. But as soon 00:35:19.530 --> 00:35:22.309 as daylight breaks on September 21st, this massive, 00:35:22.550 --> 00:35:25.610 slow -moving column is spotted by British reconnaissance 00:35:25.610 --> 00:35:27.590 aircraft. And what falls in that gorge is one 00:35:27.590 --> 00:35:30.150 of the most horrific, devastating examples of 00:35:30.150 --> 00:35:32.289 the destructive power of early air -to -ground 00:35:32.289 --> 00:35:34.510 warfare in military history. It becomes known 00:35:34.510 --> 00:35:37.250 as the Wadi Farah Massacre. The retreating Ottoman 00:35:37.250 --> 00:35:39.869 column, which consists of thousands of men, horses, 00:35:40.150 --> 00:35:43.230 heavy artillery guns, and supply wagons, is hopelessly 00:35:43.230 --> 00:35:45.710 trapped in this narrow, rocky defile. There is 00:35:45.710 --> 00:35:48.440 nowhere to hide. and no room to deploy anti -aircraft 00:35:48.440 --> 00:35:51.699 defenses. The RAF and the Australian Flying Corps 00:35:51.699 --> 00:35:54.780 begin a relentless systematic bombing campaign. 00:35:55.380 --> 00:35:57.920 Waves of aircraft pass over the trapped army 00:35:57.920 --> 00:36:00.420 every three minutes without pause. They drop 00:36:00.420 --> 00:36:03.300 bombs into the packed column and then swoop down 00:36:03.300 --> 00:36:05.920 low to strafe the panicked men and animals with 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:08.570 machine gun fire. The Allied command had actually 00:36:08.570 --> 00:36:10.869 planned to keep this aerial operation going for 00:36:10.869 --> 00:36:13.789 five hours, rotating squadrons to maintain the 00:36:13.789 --> 00:36:16.269 pressure. But the destruction was so absolute 00:36:16.269 --> 00:36:18.929 that the Ottoman 7th Army was completely routed 00:36:18.929 --> 00:36:21.369 and ceased to exist as a fighting force in just 00:36:21.369 --> 00:36:24.710 60 minutes. The aftermath in the Wadi was apocalyptic. 00:36:25.110 --> 00:36:26.989 The wreckage of the destroyed column stretched 00:36:26.989 --> 00:36:29.730 for six continuous miles along the floor of the 00:36:29.730 --> 00:36:31.889 gorge. When the British cavalry finally rode 00:36:31.889 --> 00:36:34.570 through the area to secure it, they counted 87 00:36:34.570 --> 00:36:37.969 abandoned artillery guns, 55 destroyed motor 00:36:37.969 --> 00:36:41.050 lorries, and over 800 four -wheeled wagons smashed 00:36:41.050 --> 00:36:43.769 to pieces. T .E. Lawrence summed up the sheer 00:36:43.769 --> 00:36:46.329 brutal disproportion of this new era of warfare 00:36:46.329 --> 00:36:48.550 perfectly. When reflecting on the destruction 00:36:48.550 --> 00:36:51.769 in the Wadi Farah, he wrote, The RAF lost four 00:36:51.769 --> 00:36:54.409 killed. The Turks lost a corps. If we connect 00:36:54.409 --> 00:36:57.170 this to the bigger picture, this specific moment 00:36:57.170 --> 00:37:00.070 in the Wadi Farah marks a profound, undeniable 00:37:00.070 --> 00:37:02.570 tactical shift in military history. What you 00:37:02.570 --> 00:37:05.849 are witnessing is the bloody death knell of 19th 00:37:05.849 --> 00:37:08.969 century warfare, the idea of massive marching 00:37:08.969 --> 00:37:11.829 columns moving across open ground, trying to 00:37:11.829 --> 00:37:14.909 survive in a 20th century battle space that is 00:37:14.909 --> 00:37:17.909 entirely dominated by air power. The Ottomans 00:37:17.909 --> 00:37:20.769 had prepared for a static trench like defense. 00:37:20.969 --> 00:37:23.489 They had machine guns and dugouts, but they were 00:37:23.489 --> 00:37:27.090 entirely unequipped and unadapted for rapid multidimensional 00:37:27.090 --> 00:37:29.050 mobile warfare that came at them from the flanks 00:37:29.050 --> 00:37:31.690 and from the sky simultaneously. So what does 00:37:31.690 --> 00:37:33.989 this all mean for you listening right now? Because 00:37:33.989 --> 00:37:36.730 there is a deeply relevant lesson here about 00:37:36.730 --> 00:37:39.309 adaptability. The Ottomans built strong trenches. 00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:42.039 They amassed heavy machine guns. They felt perfectly 00:37:42.039 --> 00:37:44.619 secure in their static defense. But because they 00:37:44.619 --> 00:37:46.320 couldn't adapt to an enemy that was moving at 00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:49.059 a completely different speed, an enemy that was 00:37:49.059 --> 00:37:51.619 attacking their communications networks and literally 00:37:51.619 --> 00:37:54.800 raining fire from the sky, their formidable defenses 00:37:54.800 --> 00:37:56.900 became nothing more than a death trap. Think 00:37:56.900 --> 00:37:59.099 about your own career, your business, or how 00:37:59.099 --> 00:38:01.679 your organization operates. If you are relying 00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:04.880 on a static defense, relying on the way things 00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:07.539 have always been done. While the world and your 00:38:07.539 --> 00:38:09.380 competitors are moving at the speed of flight, 00:38:09.699 --> 00:38:12.360 you are incredibly vulnerable. The paralysis 00:38:12.360 --> 00:38:14.800 induced by speed and surprise during this battle 00:38:14.800 --> 00:38:17.440 was absolute. According to the biographer of 00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:19.739 Harry Chevelle, the general who commanded the 00:38:19.739 --> 00:38:22.320 Desert Mounted Corps, Allenby's operational plan 00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:25.219 looked forward in principle and even in specific 00:38:25.219 --> 00:38:28.340 detail to the blitzkrieg tactics that would tear 00:38:28.340 --> 00:38:34.159 across Europe in 1939. sheer surprise and relentless 00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:36.980 speed completely unraveled a massive entrenched 00:38:36.980 --> 00:38:40.219 army in a matter of days. And once that solid 00:38:40.219 --> 00:38:42.639 center falls, the dominoes start crashing down 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:44.840 everywhere. While the 7th and 8th armies are 00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:47.019 being annihilated on the coast and in the wadis, 00:38:47.139 --> 00:38:49.239 we have to look back east, across the Jordan 00:38:49.239 --> 00:38:52.800 River. Remember Chader's force. The Anzacs, the 00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:55.099 West Indies Regiment, and the Jewish volunteers 00:38:55.099 --> 00:38:57.360 who spent all that time dragging harrows and 00:38:57.360 --> 00:39:00.019 faking the big attack earlier in the week. Now 00:39:00.019 --> 00:39:02.329 it was their turn to strike for real. With the 00:39:02.329 --> 00:39:04.650 western front collapsed, Chader's force moves 00:39:04.650 --> 00:39:08.130 out. On September 22nd, they capture the critical 00:39:08.130 --> 00:39:11.349 Jizzer -Ed -Damiya bridge over the Jordan River. 00:39:11.690 --> 00:39:13.650 Then they push forward aggressively, capturing 00:39:13.650 --> 00:39:16.070 the town of Es -Salt. And finally, on September 00:39:16.070 --> 00:39:19.309 25th, they capture the major city of Amman. The 00:39:19.309 --> 00:39:21.690 Ottoman 4th Army, which had been guarding this 00:39:21.690 --> 00:39:24.849 eastern sector, was completely unaware of the 00:39:24.849 --> 00:39:27.070 absolute destruction of their sister armies on 00:39:27.070 --> 00:39:29.489 the coast. Remember, communications were severed. 00:39:29.630 --> 00:39:32.130 They only realized the war was lost when shattered 00:39:32.130 --> 00:39:34.489 refugees and fleeing soldiers started pouring 00:39:34.489 --> 00:39:37.150 into their lines from the west. Once the commanders 00:39:37.150 --> 00:39:39.309 of the fourth army realized they were the last 00:39:39.309 --> 00:39:43.090 ones left standing, they began a panicked, disorganized 00:39:43.090 --> 00:39:45.710 retreat north towards Dara. And just like the 00:39:45.710 --> 00:39:48.489 forces in the Wadi Farah, they are harassed endlessly 00:39:48.489 --> 00:39:51.809 by air attacks from above and ambushed relentlessly 00:39:51.809 --> 00:39:55.150 by Arab irregulars from the dunes. And this colloqued 00:39:55.150 --> 00:39:58.550 creates a fascinating, highly complex and very 00:39:58.550 --> 00:40:01.739 dark psychological situation on the ground. The 00:40:01.739 --> 00:40:03.420 Ottoman garrison that had been stationed far 00:40:03.420 --> 00:40:05.960 down south in Maran is desperately trying to 00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:08.260 retreat north to join the rest of the survivors. 00:40:08.440 --> 00:40:10.679 They find their path entirely blocked at a place 00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:14.380 called Ziza by the Anzac mounted division. But 00:40:14.380 --> 00:40:16.500 the British Empire forces aren't the only ones 00:40:16.500 --> 00:40:19.510 hunting them. They are also being closely pursued 00:40:19.510 --> 00:40:22.349 by the local Arab forces. And the Ottoman soldiers 00:40:22.349 --> 00:40:24.429 know exactly what they have done during their 00:40:24.429 --> 00:40:26.949 years of occupying those lands. They know the 00:40:26.949 --> 00:40:29.550 harsh realities of their rule and the atrocities 00:40:29.550 --> 00:40:31.809 they've committed against the local Arab villages. 00:40:32.170 --> 00:40:35.909 So they face a horrific choice. Rather than face 00:40:35.909 --> 00:40:38.090 the wrath and vengeance of the local tribesmen 00:40:38.090 --> 00:40:40.789 they had oppressed for so long, the entire Ottoman 00:40:40.789 --> 00:40:43.170 garrison at Ziza makes a remarkable decision. 00:40:43.289 --> 00:40:46.090 They choose to surrender intact to the Australians 00:40:46.090 --> 00:40:48.730 and New Zealanders. They essentially beg the 00:40:48.730 --> 00:40:50.969 Anzacs to take them prisoner and protect them, 00:40:51.230 --> 00:40:53.550 just to avoid being slaughtered by the Arab forces 00:40:53.550 --> 00:40:56.650 closing in behind them. It is a stark, tragic 00:40:56.650 --> 00:40:59.110 illustration of the deep hatreds and blood deaths 00:40:59.110 --> 00:41:02.449 sown by military occupation. And those deaths 00:41:02.449 --> 00:41:04.670 were collected as the campaign neared its end. 00:41:04.889 --> 00:41:08.050 As the allied cavalry and the Arab forces relentlessly 00:41:08.050 --> 00:41:10.570 pursue the remaining fleeing Ottomans toward 00:41:10.570 --> 00:41:13.309 the city of Damascus, the retreating Turks in 00:41:13.309 --> 00:41:16.449 their desperation and anger commit terrible atrocities 00:41:16.449 --> 00:41:18.889 against hostile Arab villages along the route. 00:41:19.090 --> 00:41:21.769 In immediate retaliation, the Arab forces declare 00:41:21.769 --> 00:41:25.070 a policy of taking no prisoners. At a village 00:41:25.070 --> 00:41:28.090 called Tafas, after discovering a massacre committed 00:41:28.090 --> 00:41:31.070 by the fleeing Turks, the enraged Arab forces 00:41:31.070 --> 00:41:35.039 wipe out nearly 5 ,000 Ottoman soldiers. Jamal 00:41:35.039 --> 00:41:37.840 Pasha, a high -ranking Ottoman commander, only 00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:40.380 narrowly escapes with his life. The pursuit from 00:41:40.380 --> 00:41:42.719 the battlefield all the way to Damascus is brutal, 00:41:42.940 --> 00:41:45.780 chaotic, and lightning fast. By September 30th, 00:41:45.860 --> 00:41:47.800 the Australian cavalry units are intercepting 00:41:47.800 --> 00:41:49.820 the Damascus garrison as they try to flee through 00:41:49.820 --> 00:41:52.300 the Barata Gorge. On October 1st, the historic 00:41:52.300 --> 00:41:54.559 city of Damascus officially falls to the Allies. 00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:57.420 They take 20 ,000 Ottoman prisoners in the city 00:41:57.420 --> 00:42:00.130 alone. And amidst all this chaos, there is a 00:42:00.130 --> 00:42:02.550 logistical detail that I find genuinely miraculous. 00:42:03.309 --> 00:42:05.829 The Allied command actually manages to feed those 00:42:05.829 --> 00:42:08.829 20 ,000 prisoners and all of the thousands of 00:42:08.829 --> 00:42:11.829 cavalry horses without depriving the local inhabitants 00:42:11.829 --> 00:42:14.369 of Damascus of their essential food supplies. 00:42:14.650 --> 00:42:17.190 Given the state of the supply lines at the end 00:42:17.190 --> 00:42:19.610 of such a long, rapid and destructive advance, 00:42:20.190 --> 00:42:22.250 it's an incredible feat of supply management 00:42:22.250 --> 00:42:24.469 and humanitarian restraint. But looking at the 00:42:24.469 --> 00:42:26.909 military outcome, the scale of the victory is 00:42:26.909 --> 00:42:29.389 almost hard to overstate. The entire campaign, 00:42:29.449 --> 00:42:32.170 from the moment that first creeping barrage opened 00:42:32.170 --> 00:42:35.429 up at Megiddo to the triumphant fall of Damascus, 00:42:35.789 --> 00:42:39.369 results in the surrender of 75 ,000 Ottoman soldiers. 00:42:39.829 --> 00:42:42.969 75 ,000 combat troops. That is not just a tactical 00:42:42.969 --> 00:42:46.230 defeat. That is the total evaporation of an empire's 00:42:46.230 --> 00:42:48.489 military capability in the Middle East. It's 00:42:48.489 --> 00:42:51.969 a collapse so absolute, so swift that it almost 00:42:51.969 --> 00:42:54.329 defies belief, especially when you compare it 00:42:54.329 --> 00:42:57.110 to the bloody inch -by -inch grinding slaughters 00:42:57.110 --> 00:42:58.750 that were still happening over on the Western 00:42:58.750 --> 00:43:01.670 Front at the exact same time. The historian Edward 00:43:01.670 --> 00:43:04.409 Erickson contextualized the psychological impact 00:43:04.409 --> 00:43:07.110 of this defeat brilliantly. He compared the Battle 00:43:07.110 --> 00:43:09.630 of Megiddo to what the Germans famously called 00:43:09.630 --> 00:43:12.170 the Black Days of the German Army on the Western 00:43:12.170 --> 00:43:15.030 Front. Erickson noted that the sheer scale and 00:43:15.030 --> 00:43:17.210 speed of the disaster at Megiddo proved to the 00:43:17.210 --> 00:43:19.489 Turkish general staff and to all but the most 00:43:19.489 --> 00:43:21.989 fanatically diehard nationalists in the government 00:43:21.989 --> 00:43:26.409 that the war was entirely irrevocably lost. Their 00:43:26.409 --> 00:43:28.789 armies were gone. The empire was defenseless. 00:43:29.190 --> 00:43:31.369 And sure enough, the political reality caught 00:43:31.369 --> 00:43:34.889 up to the military reality. By October 31st, 00:43:35.030 --> 00:43:37.030 hostilities officially ceased with the signing 00:43:37.030 --> 00:43:40.010 of the armistice of Mudros. The Ottoman Empire's 00:43:40.010 --> 00:43:42.420 war is over. So we have covered the geography, 00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:44.619 the deception, the artillery, the air power, 00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:46.880 and the collapse. What General Edmund Allenby 00:43:46.880 --> 00:43:48.739 achieved at the Battle of Megiddo was nothing 00:43:48.739 --> 00:43:51.699 short of breathtaking. He completely rewrote 00:43:51.699 --> 00:43:54.900 the rulebook of modern war. He broke the seemingly 00:43:54.900 --> 00:43:58.079 unbreakable stalemate of World War I trench warfare, 00:43:58.460 --> 00:44:01.260 and he didn't do it just with brute bloody force. 00:44:01.780 --> 00:44:04.239 He did it with a brilliantly orchestrated symphony 00:44:04.239 --> 00:44:07.739 of creeping barrages, rapid mobile cavalry exploiting 00:44:07.739 --> 00:44:11.679 the gaps, and an entirely unmatched use of overwhelming 00:44:11.679 --> 00:44:14.730 air power. He achieved decisive, world -changing 00:44:14.730 --> 00:44:17.630 results at a comparatively incredibly low human 00:44:17.630 --> 00:44:20.449 cost for the Allied forces. He proved fundamentally 00:44:20.449 --> 00:44:23.650 that a rigid, static defense is easily shattered 00:44:23.650 --> 00:44:25.750 if the attacking force can dictate the terms 00:44:25.750 --> 00:44:28.090 of engagement and the speed of the battle. By 00:44:28.090 --> 00:44:30.670 completely blinding Lehman von Sanders with an 00:44:30.670 --> 00:44:33.329 elaborate web of deception and total air superiority, 00:44:33.710 --> 00:44:36.409 and by immediately decapitating the Ottoman communications 00:44:36.409 --> 00:44:38.710 network with that single perfectly placed bomber 00:44:38.710 --> 00:44:41.429 strike, Allenby ensured that the battle was effectively 00:44:41.429 --> 00:44:43.949 won before the very first infantrymen even charged 00:44:43.949 --> 00:44:46.289 out of their trenches. Which leaves us with a 00:44:46.289 --> 00:44:48.329 final provocative thought for you to mull over 00:44:48.329 --> 00:44:51.210 as you go about your day. We've talked about 00:44:51.210 --> 00:44:53.570 adaptability, but let's talk about the illusion 00:44:53.570 --> 00:44:57.920 of security. The Ottoman commanders felt perfectly 00:44:57.920 --> 00:45:00.699 secure behind their heavily armed machine gun 00:45:00.699 --> 00:45:03.460 laden trenches in the Judean hills. They looked 00:45:03.460 --> 00:45:05.719 at their defenses and thought they were impregnable. 00:45:06.260 --> 00:45:09.480 But Allenby proved a timeless truth. If an enemy 00:45:09.480 --> 00:45:12.519 or a competitor or a disruption in your industry 00:45:12.519 --> 00:45:15.679 can cut your communications, blind your vision 00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:18.340 and move at a speed far faster than your ability 00:45:18.340 --> 00:45:21.400 to react, your formidable defenses don't protect 00:45:21.400 --> 00:45:24.099 you at all. They just become your tomb. You are 00:45:24.099 --> 00:45:26.480 trapped by the very walls you built to keep yourself 00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:29.619 safe. It is a profound historical lesson that 00:45:29.619 --> 00:45:31.760 applies far beyond the battlefield. You have 00:45:31.760 --> 00:45:34.300 to actively ask yourself in your own life, in 00:45:34.300 --> 00:45:36.300 your career trajectory or in your overarching 00:45:36.300 --> 00:45:39.239 business strategy, are you relying on a static 00:45:39.239 --> 00:45:41.760 defense? Are you pouring all your energy into 00:45:41.760 --> 00:45:44.079 building depot trenches and thicker walls in 00:45:44.079 --> 00:45:46.000 a world that is fundamentally moving at the speed 00:45:46.000 --> 00:45:47.980 of flight? Because if you are relying on the 00:45:47.980 --> 00:45:50.599 old rules to protect you, the next Megiddo might 00:45:50.599 --> 00:45:53.369 be waiting just over the horizon. Thank you so 00:45:53.369 --> 00:45:55.429 much for taking this deep dive with us today. 00:45:56.010 --> 00:45:58.889 It has been an incredible journey from the blinding 00:45:58.889 --> 00:46:01.929 dust of the Jordan Valley to the thundering skies 00:46:01.929 --> 00:46:04.230 over the Plain of Armageddon. Keep questioning 00:46:04.230 --> 00:46:06.110 your assumptions, keep adapting to the speed 00:46:06.110 --> 00:46:08.530 of the world around you, and we will see you 00:46:08.530 --> 00:46:09.730 on the next deep dive.