WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.319 Welcome to today's custom tailored dipedive. 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:05.599 Great to be here. Yeah, I want you to start by 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:08.839 picturing something in your mind's eye. Imagine 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:13.279 a military guard detail. Right. Their assignment 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:17.079 is straightforward. I mean, almost boring. Stand, 00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:20.280 watch, protect a single shipping canal and make 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:23.120 sure nobody crosses a specific line in the sand. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:27.239 A classic static defense. Exactly. But then through 00:00:27.239 --> 00:00:30.149 this bizarre sequence of historical events, momentum 00:00:30.149 --> 00:00:32.310 shifts, and just sheer strategic brilliance, 00:00:32.890 --> 00:00:36.009 that same defensive guard detail accidentally 00:00:36.009 --> 00:00:38.250 ends up conquering 50 miles of territory. It 00:00:38.250 --> 00:00:40.310 really is wild when you lay it out like that. 00:00:40.429 --> 00:00:44.670 They destroy three entire enemy armies, and ultimately 00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:47.210 they redraw the map of the modern world. Yeah, 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:49.289 it really sounds like the plot of a geopolitical 00:00:49.289 --> 00:00:51.590 thriller. It does. But this is exactly what happened 00:00:51.590 --> 00:00:53.869 during the First World War. And for a curious 00:00:53.869 --> 00:00:55.649 learner like you who wants to understand not 00:00:55.649 --> 00:00:58.109 just what happened in history, but the mechanics 00:00:58.109 --> 00:01:00.630 of how and why it happened, this deep dive is 00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:03.369 going to be incredibly rewarding. We aren't just 00:01:03.369 --> 00:01:05.890 looking at a dry sequence of battles here. This 00:01:05.890 --> 00:01:08.349 is a master class in adaptability. It's a study 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:12.230 in overcoming mass. seemingly impossible bottlenecks. 00:01:12.549 --> 00:01:15.109 Right and a prime example of how a few strategic 00:01:15.109 --> 00:01:18.450 pivots can just completely alter a prolonged 00:01:18.450 --> 00:01:21.489 bloody stalemate. Yeah. Okay let's unpack this 00:01:21.489 --> 00:01:24.340 from the very beginning. Our mission today is 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:27.519 to trace the dramatic evolution of the Egyptian 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:31.219 Expeditionary Force, or the EEF. The EEF. We 00:01:31.219 --> 00:01:34.319 have a highly detailed historical overview of 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.079 this force from World War I, and we're going 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:39.359 to follow them from their birth as this small 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:41.700 reactive unit all the way to their transformation 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.459 into an unstoppable offensive juggernaut. It's 00:01:44.459 --> 00:01:46.260 a massive transformation. So let's look at the 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:48.450 early phases of the war. Formed on March 10th, 00:01:48.450 --> 00:01:50.670 1916, General Archibald Murray is in charge. 00:01:51.010 --> 00:01:53.090 The British Empire throws together this sort 00:01:53.090 --> 00:01:55.390 of mashup force. They take the Mediterranean 00:01:55.390 --> 00:01:57.689 Expeditionary Force and combine it with the force 00:01:57.689 --> 00:02:00.250 in Egypt. Exactly. So what was their actual practical 00:02:00.250 --> 00:02:02.930 mandate at this point? Well, their original job 00:02:02.930 --> 00:02:05.730 description was incredibly narrow and entirely 00:02:05.730 --> 00:02:08.490 defensive. They had one overarching objective, 00:02:08.710 --> 00:02:11.490 which was to guard the Suez Canal and protect 00:02:11.490 --> 00:02:13.930 the British protectorate of the Sultanate of 00:02:13.930 --> 00:02:15.590 Egypt. Just hold the line. Just hold the line. 00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:18.240 You have to remember the context of the era for 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:21.800 the British Empire. The Suez Canal was the vital 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:24.340 lifeline. The jugular vein. Yes, the absolute 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:26.919 jugular vein. It connected the troops and resources 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:30.099 of India and the Pacific directly to the European 00:02:30.099 --> 00:02:32.860 theater. Right. If the canal fell to the Ottoman 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:35.800 Empire, the entire war effort could effectively 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:40.659 starve. So this newly formed EEF was essentially 00:02:40.659 --> 00:02:43.259 parked in the sand to act as a massive shield. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:46.939 But then we see this massive catalyst for growth. 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:49.020 And ironically, it comes from a catastrophic 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:51.919 failure elsewhere. Gallipoli. Exactly. The British 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:54.500 and allied forces were withdrawing from the infamous 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:57.219 disastrous Gallipoli campaign. And as they pull 00:02:57.219 --> 00:02:59.639 out, those surviving troops come pouring into 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:01.840 Egypt. You need somewhere to go. Right. So suddenly 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:05.520 the EEF swells in size. It turns into this massive 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:08.240 reserve pool. And the original idea was just 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.340 to let these exhausted troops rest, refit, and 00:03:12.340 --> 00:03:15.159 then ship them off as reinforcements to the meat 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.340 grinder of the Western Front in Europe. That 00:03:17.340 --> 00:03:20.680 was the plan on paper. But war rarely adheres 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:23.219 to a schedule. Tell me about it. While they are 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:25.879 gathering this massive force in Egypt, local 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:28.520 threats force their hand. You have the Western 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:30.680 Frontier Force, which is a component of this 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:33.419 overall structure, fighting the Senussi campaign 00:03:33.419 --> 00:03:36.740 out in the western desert from 1915 to 1917. 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:40.699 And more critically for our timeline, the Eastern 00:03:40.699 --> 00:03:42.840 force actually gets attacked. They have to actively 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.580 defend the canal of the Battle of Romani in August 00:03:45.580 --> 00:03:49.180 1916. And this is where we see the first major 00:03:49.180 --> 00:03:50.719 momentum shift, because they don't just hold 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.379 the line at Romani and sit back down in their 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:54.300 trenches. No, they don't. They repel the Ottoman 00:03:54.300 --> 00:03:56.080 invading force and then they completely flip 00:03:56.080 --> 00:03:58.379 the script. They push the Ottomans all the way 00:03:58.379 --> 00:04:01.199 back across the Sinai Peninsula toward Palestine. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.400 It's a huge turning point. They start racking 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:07.000 up active victories. At Maktaba, in December 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:11.819 1916, and then at Rafa in January 1917. The shield 00:04:11.819 --> 00:04:14.740 has suddenly become a sword. Exactly. But moving 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:16.759 an army across the Sinai isn't just a matter 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:19.259 of marching, is it? I mean, it's a desert. Not 00:04:19.259 --> 00:04:22.639 at all. And what's fascinating here is the structural 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.639 and psychological shift that takes place to make 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:28.420 that pursuit possible. Moving across the Sinai 00:04:28.420 --> 00:04:30.800 is a logistical nightmare. I can imagine. You 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:32.939 are fighting the environment as much as the enemy. 00:04:33.379 --> 00:04:36.000 You have to lay railway tracks and water pipelines 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:38.480 just to keep your men and horses alive in the 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:40.680 deep desert. Building infrastructure while under 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:44.319 fire. Basically, yes. And to facilitate this 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.800 push, the command forms something called the 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.860 Desert Column within the Eastern Force. Which 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:51.540 sounds like a pretty significant tactical evolution. 00:04:51.779 --> 00:04:54.220 It is a massive leap. You don't dedicate resources 00:04:54.220 --> 00:04:56.860 to forming a specialized Desert Column if your 00:04:56.860 --> 00:04:59.120 only plan is passive defense. Right. You only 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:02.000 do that if you plan to move. Precisely. This 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.100 represents an organizational awakening. They 00:05:05.100 --> 00:05:08.040 realize they have the capacity for actor pursuit. 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:11.319 And by doing this, they successfully recapture 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:13.740 substantial Egyptian territory that had been 00:05:13.740 --> 00:05:16.120 threatened, and they pushed the front line all 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:18.699 the way to the edge of Ottoman -controlled Palestine. 00:05:19.139 --> 00:05:21.329 It is an incredible pivot. But you know, you 00:05:21.329 --> 00:05:23.610 can't just march forward indefinitely without 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:26.529 hitting a wall. No, you inevitably hit resistance. 00:05:26.750 --> 00:05:29.990 And in this next phase of the campaign, the EEF 00:05:29.990 --> 00:05:33.870 hits a massive, painful wall. In March and April 00:05:33.870 --> 00:05:36.949 of 1917, the Eastern Force suffers two crushing, 00:05:37.170 --> 00:05:39.709 bloody defeats on Ottoman territory. At Gaza. 00:05:39.930 --> 00:05:41.930 Yes, the first and second battles of Gaza. The 00:05:41.930 --> 00:05:44.129 momentum they had built up just completely evaporates. 00:05:44.230 --> 00:05:46.589 Those defeats at Gaza were a harsh reality check. 00:05:46.810 --> 00:05:49.949 What follows is a miserable grinding period known 00:05:49.949 --> 00:05:52.689 as the stalemate in southern Palestine. This 00:05:52.689 --> 00:05:55.449 lasts from April all the way to October 1917. 00:05:55.449 --> 00:05:57.449 It's just brutal. General Murray, the commander 00:05:57.449 --> 00:05:59.589 at the time, tries to consolidate his position, 00:05:59.589 --> 00:06:01.350 but the offensive spirit is completely dead. 00:06:01.410 --> 00:06:03.930 The energy is gone. The army is bogged down, 00:06:04.250 --> 00:06:07.029 staring across the lines at a heavily entrenched 00:06:07.029 --> 00:06:09.889 enemy. They are taking casualties, exhausting 00:06:09.889 --> 00:06:12.670 their supplies, and are completely unable to 00:06:12.670 --> 00:06:15.750 move forward. It is the classic definition of 00:06:15.750 --> 00:06:18.220 a military bottleneck. I look at this scenario 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:20.699 and I think of it through a modern organizational 00:06:20.699 --> 00:06:25.180 lens. How so? Well, what do you do when a massive 00:06:25.180 --> 00:06:28.120 organization is failing, the current leadership 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:31.240 is stuck, and you are just bleeding resources? 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:33.779 You bring in new leadership. You bring in a turnaround 00:06:33.779 --> 00:06:37.699 CEO. Enter General Edmund Allenby in June 1917. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.459 He arrives to take command and he doesn't just 00:06:40.459 --> 00:06:42.639 give a motivational speech. Right. He initiates 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:45.199 a total systemic reorganization. He really does. 00:06:45.459 --> 00:06:48.029 He looks at the forest and realizes the old operational 00:06:48.029 --> 00:06:50.550 architecture simply isn't suited for the breakthrough 00:06:50.550 --> 00:06:53.730 they need. So to use your analogy, he completely 00:06:53.730 --> 00:06:56.009 restructures the departments. I love this. That 00:06:56.009 --> 00:06:58.589 desert column we mentioned, he upgrades it, turning 00:06:58.589 --> 00:07:01.209 it into the desert -matted corps. He also formally 00:07:01.209 --> 00:07:03.730 organizes the infantry troops into two distinct 00:07:03.730 --> 00:07:05.870 bodies. The XX Corps and the XXI Corps. Exactly. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:09.620 I buy the turnaround CEO analogy, but restructuring 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:12.480 on paper is one thing. How did he actually get 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:15.680 these exhausted defeated troops to execute a 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.420 completely new style of warfare? I mean, what 00:07:18.420 --> 00:07:22.339 does renaming a column to a core actually achieve 00:07:22.339 --> 00:07:25.100 on the battlefield? It achieves a crucial separation 00:07:25.100 --> 00:07:28.259 of capabilities. Think of it like a surgeon separating 00:07:28.259 --> 00:07:30.680 the heavy blunt instruments from the precision 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.639 tools. Okay, I'm with you. By creating the desert 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:36.319 mounted core, Allenby is separating his highly 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:39.160 mobile cavalry from the slower moving infantry. 00:07:40.019 --> 00:07:42.560 The infantry becomes the hammer designed to strike 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.540 hard, fix the enemy in place, and brave fortifications. 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:48.019 And the cavalry? The cavalry becomes the scalpel. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:50.740 They are designed to move independently, exploit 00:07:50.740 --> 00:07:53.240 gaps with incredible speed, and operate on the 00:07:53.240 --> 00:07:55.399 flanks without being tied to the slow pace of 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:57.319 the foot soldiers. If we connect this to the 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.379 bigger picture for you listening, this Gaza bottleneck 00:08:00.379 --> 00:08:02.920 is a phenomenal example of why doing the same 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:05.879 thing twice and failing both times requires a 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:08.639 total systemic reorganization. It's the definition 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.279 of insanity to try it a third time. Exactly. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.079 Allen B knew that if he just threw the same army 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:17.000 with the same structure at Gaza for a third time, 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.740 he'd get the exact same bloody failure. So he 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:22.120 didn't just bring new orders. He brought a new 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:25.180 operational structure. He spent months drilling 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:27.660 this new structure, making sure his hammer and 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:30.459 his scalpel knew exactly how to operate independently. 00:08:30.699 --> 00:08:33.100 And he had to, because the Ottoman defenses at 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:36.070 this point were formidable. They stretched in 00:08:36.070 --> 00:08:38.769 an almost continuous, heavily fortified line 00:08:38.769 --> 00:08:41.509 from the coastal city of Gaza all the way inland 00:08:41.509 --> 00:08:44.279 to a desert town called Beersheba. Here's where 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:46.759 it gets really interesting. The obvious move, 00:08:46.899 --> 00:08:48.639 the one that Ottomans were almost certainly bracing 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.360 for, was another head -on clash at Gaza. Of course. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.519 But Allenby makes a massive lateral move. Instead 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:56.480 of banging their heads against the wall at Gaza 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.220 a third time, on October 31, 1917, he sends two 00:09:00.220 --> 00:09:02.320 of his corps to attack the inland anchor of the 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:05.559 line. Beersheba. Beersheba. The tactical brilliance 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:07.879 of targeting Beersheba cannot be overstated. 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:10.120 Why is that? Well, Beersheba was held by the 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:13.090 Ottoman III Corps. These were battle -hardened 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:16.190 veterans who had fought at Gallipoli. Furthermore, 00:09:16.649 --> 00:09:19.549 the Ottomans assumed the deep desert itself protected 00:09:19.549 --> 00:09:21.490 that flank. They thought the environment was 00:09:21.490 --> 00:09:25.129 their defense. Right. But Allenby recognized 00:09:25.129 --> 00:09:27.409 that a continuous defensive line is essentially 00:09:27.409 --> 00:09:30.610 a chain under tension. Beersheba was the anchor 00:09:30.610 --> 00:09:32.409 holding that tension. Break the anchor, break 00:09:32.409 --> 00:09:34.809 the chain. Exactly. If you shatter the anchor, 00:09:35.049 --> 00:09:37.190 the entire defensive structure is compromised. 00:09:37.929 --> 00:09:40.370 Furthermore, Beersheba had vital water wells. 00:09:40.620 --> 00:09:43.639 In the desert, capturing the enemy's water supply 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:46.139 is just as devastating as capturing their ammunition. 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:48.759 And once that line broke at Beersheba, the Ottoman 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:51.440 defense completely unraveled. It wasn't just 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.120 one localized victory. It was a devastating domino 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:56.340 effect. A cascade of victories. Within days, 00:09:56.519 --> 00:09:58.879 the EEF rolled through the defenses. You get 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.500 the Battle of Tela -il -Kuelfe, the Third Battle 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:04.179 of Gaza, the Battle of Herrera and Sharia. It's 00:10:04.179 --> 00:10:07.149 relentless. The pressure is so immense that the 00:10:07.149 --> 00:10:09.450 Ottomans are forced to abandon Gaza entirely 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:11.570 under the cover of night on November 6th and 00:10:11.570 --> 00:10:14.889 7th. The EEF essentially chases the unraveling 00:10:14.889 --> 00:10:17.370 Ottoman forces all the way across the map. Because 00:10:17.370 --> 00:10:19.750 the bottleneck was broken, the pursuit could 00:10:19.750 --> 00:10:22.809 finally begin. And the ultimate prize of this 00:10:22.809 --> 00:10:26.049 phase was Jerusalem. The big prize. The momentum 00:10:26.049 --> 00:10:28.870 was back, but this time it was fueled by Allenby's 00:10:28.870 --> 00:10:31.549 highly organized, efficient machine. Following 00:10:31.549 --> 00:10:33.669 a crucial victory at the Battle of Mugar Ridge, 00:10:34.070 --> 00:10:36.450 the pursuit to Jerusalem begins. And the culmination 00:10:36.450 --> 00:10:39.970 of that push is historic. Lasting from mid -November... 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:42.720 All the way to December 30th, the campaign pushes 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.240 directly into the Judean Hills and Jerusalem 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:48.000 is captured. A massive psychological blow to 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:50.419 the Ottomans. Huge. By the end of this campaign 00:10:50.419 --> 00:10:53.240 phase, the EEF has swallowed up 50 miles of Ottoman 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:55.360 territory in a stunning reversal of fortune. 00:10:55.500 --> 00:10:57.200 From the miserable stalemate they were stuck 00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:59.980 in just a few months prior. Right. It is a textbook 00:10:59.980 --> 00:11:02.700 example of how a shift in strategy, combined 00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:04.799 with the proper reorganization of assets, can 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:06.860 completely shatter a deadlock. They achieved 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:10.299 exactly what they set out to do. But as often 00:11:10.299 --> 00:11:13.059 happens in large -scale conflicts, you are never 00:11:13.059 --> 00:11:16.120 operating in a vacuum. No. Geopolitics and the 00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:19.120 wider war always find a way to interfere with 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.860 local success. Enter the massive plot twist. 00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:25.759 Yes. Just as the EEF is dominating, just as they 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.379 have captured Jerusalem and have the Ottomans 00:11:28.379 --> 00:11:31.340 entirely on their heels, a massive crisis erupts 00:11:31.340 --> 00:11:34.399 in Europe. This is early 1918. Exactly. March 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.360 1918. The German army launches a devastating 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:39.740 spring offensive known as Operation Michael. 00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:42.090 on the Western Front. And the British high command 00:11:42.090 --> 00:11:44.210 panics. Absolute panic. They are taking massive 00:11:44.210 --> 00:11:46.870 casualties in France and they desperately need 00:11:46.870 --> 00:11:48.809 veteran troops to plug the holes in their own 00:11:48.809 --> 00:11:52.250 lines. So London looks at the map, sees the EEF 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:54.309 having success in the Middle East, and makes 00:11:54.309 --> 00:11:57.649 a brutal, pragmatic calculation. They strip Allenby 00:11:57.649 --> 00:12:00.909 of his best guys. They do. They transfer these 00:12:00.909 --> 00:12:03.669 crucial veteran forces out of the EEF and send 00:12:03.669 --> 00:12:06.899 them directly to France. Suddenly, Allende loses 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:08.759 his veteran punch right when he has the enemy 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:11.259 on the ropes. And they're replaced by who? Largely 00:12:11.259 --> 00:12:14.820 untested, green troops. Wow! The struggle of 00:12:14.820 --> 00:12:17.500 that sudden deficit is immediate. You can't just 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:20.080 lose a huge chunk of your experienced fighting 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.100 force and maintain the same level of aggression. 00:12:22.340 --> 00:12:24.460 No, the blunt force approach no longer works. 00:12:24.779 --> 00:12:27.480 Without those troops, the EEF launches two attacks 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:30.029 in the spring. The first and second trans -Jordan 00:12:30.029 --> 00:12:32.570 attacks on Amman, Shunet, Nimran, and Es -Salt 00:12:32.570 --> 00:12:35.750 in March and April 1918. And they fail. They 00:12:35.750 --> 00:12:38.450 both fail. They just don't have the sheer punching 00:12:38.450 --> 00:12:40.610 power they had a few months ago. This raises 00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:43.070 an important question, one that military strategists 00:12:43.070 --> 00:12:46.230 still study to this day. How do you achieve total 00:12:46.230 --> 00:12:48.809 victory when your best resources are suddenly 00:12:48.809 --> 00:12:51.149 taken away from you? It's the ultimate test of 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:54.149 leadership. It is. You can no longer rely on 00:12:54.149 --> 00:12:56.490 overwhelming veteran force. You have to rely 00:12:56.490 --> 00:12:58.690 on overwhelming cunning. You have to outthink 00:12:58.690 --> 00:13:01.269 the enemy rather than just outfight them. Right. 00:13:01.610 --> 00:13:04.129 And Allen B.'s answer to this severe deficit 00:13:04.129 --> 00:13:07.450 in manpower is a breathtaking execution of maneuver 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:10.169 warfare, culminating in the Battle of Megiddo. 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:12.450 I love the mechanics of this battle because it 00:13:12.450 --> 00:13:14.950 is so perfectly orchestrated. I want you to visualize 00:13:14.950 --> 00:13:17.710 this like a heavy door swinging on a hinge. That's 00:13:17.710 --> 00:13:20.690 a great way to picture it. Allenby uses his infantry, 00:13:20.970 --> 00:13:23.470 his hammer on the coast. Their job isn't to destroy 00:13:23.470 --> 00:13:26.289 the whole enemy army. Their job is simply to 00:13:26.289 --> 00:13:29.240 kick the door open. just breach the line. Right. 00:13:29.419 --> 00:13:32.000 They hit the Ottoman defenses incredibly hard 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:35.200 with infantry attacks at Tulkarm and Tabsar, 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:37.940 and they punch a massive hole in the front line. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.659 And this is exactly where that reorganization 00:13:40.659 --> 00:13:43.740 from a year prior pays off brilliantly. The separation 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.840 of forces. Yes. Once the infantry kicks the door 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.470 open, the desert -mounted corps The scalpel, 00:13:50.710 --> 00:13:53.429 that highly mobile cavalry force, slips straight 00:13:53.429 --> 00:13:55.850 through the gap. They don't even engage the frontline 00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:58.350 troops. They completely bypass them. They ride 00:13:58.350 --> 00:14:01.490 rapidly up the coast, turn inland, and wrap around 00:14:01.490 --> 00:14:03.330 the back of the enemy before the Ottomans even 00:14:03.330 --> 00:14:05.909 realize what is happening. They completely encircle 00:14:05.909 --> 00:14:08.669 the Ottoman infantry who are still actively fighting 00:14:08.669 --> 00:14:11.110 in the Judean hills. The Ottomans are suddenly 00:14:11.110 --> 00:14:13.230 trapped in a massive net. They are fighting the 00:14:13.230 --> 00:14:15.629 British infantry in front of them, and the British 00:14:15.629 --> 00:14:17.970 cavalry has already cut off their escape routes 00:14:17.970 --> 00:14:20.929 miles behind. them. It is a total systemic collapse 00:14:20.929 --> 00:14:22.990 of the Ottoman military presence in the region. 00:14:23.309 --> 00:14:25.529 The scale of the destruction is just staggering. 00:14:26.210 --> 00:14:29.830 Because of this encirclement, the EEF achieves 00:14:29.830 --> 00:14:32.750 lightning fast captures of key strategic points 00:14:32.750 --> 00:14:36.029 across the region. Just one after another. Nazareth, 00:14:36.169 --> 00:14:40.590 Afula, Baisan, Jenin, Samak, Tiberias, they all 00:14:40.590 --> 00:14:43.610 fall in rapid succession. And the human cost 00:14:43.610 --> 00:14:47.039 for the Ottoman side is devastating. During the 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:50.019 ensuing battles of Sharon and Nablus, the EEF 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:53.039 utterly destroys three entire Ottoman armies. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:55.899 Three entire armies. Wiped out. They take thousands 00:14:55.899 --> 00:14:58.179 of prisoners and secure massive stockpiles of 00:14:58.179 --> 00:15:01.000 weapons and equipment. The Ottoman military machine 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.220 in the theater is essentially wiped off the map 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:05.639 in a matter of days. And from there, it's just 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:08.100 a relentless sprint to the finish line. They 00:15:08.100 --> 00:15:10.279 chase the German and Ottoman remnants all the 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:12.720 way to Damascus and then push even further north 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.460 to Aleppo. The Ottoman Empire is completely broken 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:17.960 by this unstoppable advance. They have absolutely 00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:20.519 no choice left but to surrender, which forces 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:23.200 the Ottoman Empire to sign the Armistice of Mudros 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:26.580 on October 30th, 1918. Which officially ends 00:15:26.580 --> 00:15:29.960 the campaign and completely shifts the geopolitical 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:33.240 reality of the globe. The fighting stops, but 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:35.759 the administrative reality of that victory takes 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.529 hold immediately. The captured territories are 00:15:38.529 --> 00:15:41.169 carved up. So what does this all mean? It means 00:15:41.169 --> 00:15:43.529 the implementation of a totally new world order 00:15:43.529 --> 00:15:46.370 in the region. The ground captured by this specific 00:15:46.370 --> 00:15:49.250 military force leads directly to the creation 00:15:49.250 --> 00:15:52.389 of the British mandate of Palestine, as well 00:15:52.389 --> 00:15:54.830 as the mandate for Syria and Lebanon. The modern 00:15:54.830 --> 00:15:57.750 map begins to form. Exactly. I want to bring 00:15:57.750 --> 00:16:00.600 this back to the very beginning. A defensive 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.440 force raised merely to stand in the sand and 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:06.320 watch a shipping canal ended up dismantling an 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:08.480 empire and drafting the borders of the modern 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.960 Middle East. We often think of historical victories 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.500 as a result of having the best troops, the most 00:16:13.500 --> 00:16:16.500 supplies, and overwhelming force. But I want 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:18.120 to leave you with a final thought to ponder. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:20.500 Please do. The next time you look at a modern 00:16:20.500 --> 00:16:23.080 political map of the Middle East, consider the 00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:25.259 nature of how those lines were actually drawn. 00:16:25.470 --> 00:16:28.950 Consider how the specific dusty paths taken by 00:16:28.950 --> 00:16:32.149 the desert -mounted corps in 1918 chasing an 00:16:32.149 --> 00:16:35.850 army from Beersheba to Damascus literally drew 00:16:35.850 --> 00:16:38.409 the geographical boundary lines that continue 00:16:38.409 --> 00:16:40.750 to define the geopolitics of our world today. 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:43.399 It's wild to think that a cavalry maneuver over 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:45.759 100 years ago is still dictating the map. It 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:47.620 truly is. Well, thank you so much for joining 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:49.919 us on this deep dive. We hope you walk away with 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:52.419 a totally new understanding of how adaptability, 00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:55.240 strategic reorganization, and turning a massive 00:16:55.240 --> 00:16:57.759 bottleneck into a breakthrough can quite literally 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.740 change history. It's been a fascinating journey. 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:01.879 It really has. Thanks for tuning in and until 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:03.039 next time, keep exploring.