Espionage Escapades | Daredevils of the Desert | Tales of Innocence
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Under orders from the French, but working with the British, Indy teams up with old friend, T.E. Lawrence to assist in the allied plan to conquer Jerusalem by Christmas. He is ordered to sneak into the ancient town of Beersheba and protect the city's water supply that would certainly be destroyed by the occupying Germans at the first sign of defeat. Indy poses as a trader and teams up with a beautiful female spy to infiltrate the ancient town. The plan takes an unexpected turn when Indy and his companion are captured just before the allied attack is launched. The action reaches new heights as soldiers of the Australian Lighthorse lead a brave and magnificent cavalry charge on the town.
Key Topics: | World War I in the Middle East; Australian Lighthorse |
Historic People: | T.E. Lawrence-- scholar, archaeologist, diplomat and British military hero |
DescriptorScholar, archaeologist, diplomat and British military hero whose famous exploits forever made him Lawrence of Arabia. Beginning in 1911, Lawrence studied Arabic and archaeology in the Middle East. When war broke out, his knowledge of Arabic and Middle Eastern geography made him an invaluable part of the British Army. The relationships he forged earlier allowed him to serve as a trusted diplomat to Arabs during and after the war. Exclusive Documentary PreviewBooksLawrence, T.E. Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph. London: Jonathan Cape Publishers, 1936. Wilson, Jeremy. Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorised Biography. London: Heinemann, 1989. Websites |
DescriptorOften falling in the shadow of the Western Front, WWI in the Middle East was every bit as harsh and unforgiving as the fighting in the rest of the world. The fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI began the turmoil and confusion that still rocks the Middle East to this day. Exclusive Documentary PreviewBooksFromkin, David. A Peace to End All Peace. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1989. Gelvin, James L. The Modern Middle East: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Websites |
DescriptorName for the Australian cavalry and mounted infantry. The Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade are credited with the last successful cavalry charge in history (Battle of Beersheba in 1917... shown in this episode). The ALH are also known for wearing Ostrich plumes in their hats. BooksJones, Ian. The Australian Light Horse: Australians at War. United Kingdom: Time Life Books, 1987. Hollis, Kenneth. Thunder of the Hooves: A History of 12 Australian Light Horse Regiments 1915-1919. Australian Military History Publications, 2008. WebsitesAustralian Lighthorse Association |
DescriptorPart of the larger Sinai and Palestine Campaign, the Allies made a bold move of crossing the desert without adequate water supplies in hopes of securing Beersheba and avoiding the stronger defenses at Gaza. In the end, the bold plan proved successful due to the 4th Lighthorse Brigade who led history's last successful cavalry charge. BooksGrainger, John D. The Battle for Palestine, 1917. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006. Jones, Ian. The Australian Light Horse: Australians at War. United Kingdom: Time Life Books, 1987. Hollis, Kenneth. Thunder of the Hooves: A History of 12 Australian Light Horse Regiments 1915-1919. Australian Military History Publications, 2008. WebsitesAustralian Lighthorse Association- Battle at Beersheba |
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Below you will find information about each documentary that supplements Daredevils of the Desert.
Lines in the Sand: The Middle East and the Great War![]() | The Ottoman Empire once spanned three continents, stretching from Budapest to Basra to Algiers. Founded around 1300 , it created a rich, multi-ethnic world that was Islamic in faith and tolerant in practice. But by the early 20th century, the Empire was under attack from without and challenged from within. When World War broke out in 1914, the Ottomans had to choose sides. They cast their lot with Germany and Austria, and against Britain, France, and Russia. That decision would lead to the Empire's final destruction -- and the creation of the modern Middle East. Produced and written by Sharon Wood. Running Time: (0:34:29)
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Colonel Lawrence's War: T.E. Lawrence and Arabia![]() | He was an action hero as well as an intellectual hero. T.E. Lawrence escaped a safe office job during World War I to become a guerilla war mastermind in desert combat, fighting alongside Arabs to throw off the rule of the Ottoman Empire. But despite British promises of Arab independence, the Middle East would end up being carved by European colonial treaties, and Lawrence faced the challenges of keeping his word to his trusted compatriots of the desert. Produced and written by Sharon Wood.. Running Time: (0:36:05) This documentary is also available with the bonus features for Chapter 1: My First Adventure ![]() |
Disclaimer: All resources (including books and websites) provided on indyintheclassroom.com are intended to be used by educators. Indyintheclassroom.com is not responsible for the content on linked websites.
Copyright: All images on Indyintheclassroom.com are used with permission or are in the public domain. Exceptions are noted. For additional information see our Copyright section. |
Below are current event articles that relate to events, topics, and people found in Daredevils of the Desert.
A blogger passionate about historic photography techniques serendipitously found some old photos inside his newly-purchased camera. As in, World War I old. Last week, Anton Orlov of the Photo Palace blog was cleaning the Jumelle Belllieni stereoscopic camera that he'd bought at an antique store a few days prior, and found the images completely by accident. According to his blog, he opened the film chamber and saw the negatives on a stack of glass plates.
Uncontrollable shaking, terrifying nightmares and severe convulsions were among the most devastating symptoms suffered by the many First World War soldiers who suffered shell shock. By the end of the war, more than 80,000 men who had endured the horrors of battle were struggling to return to normality. And here, disturbing footage compiled by British Pathé film archivists and released to MailOnline today, brings home the terrifying reality that for many the war never really ended. At the time, most shell shock victims were treated harshly and with little sympathy as their symptoms were not understood and they were seen as a sign of weakness. But at Newton Abbott's Seale Hayne in Devon, the approach was very different due to the revolutionary approach of a doctor called Arthur Hurst, an army major, who believed he could cure every shell shock victim.
On January 17, 1917, British code breakers in Room 40, the cryptoanalysis office of Great Britain’s Naval Intelligence, intercepted a telegram from Germany. At first, they suspected the coded message was a routine communication. But, soon enough, the cryptologists found that what they held in their hands was a top-secret missive that would shift the tides of World War I. Chances are that you have studied the Zimmermann Telegram in a history class, but have you ever actually seen the coded message? German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann sent the diplomatic message to Heinrich von Eckardt, the German ambassador in Mexico City, instructing him to speak to the president of Mexico. He proposed that the two nations strike an alliance; if Mexico waged war against the United States, thereby distracting Americans from the conflict in Europe, Germany would lend support and help Mexico reclaim Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
A previously unknown postcard sent by Adolf Hitler when he was a soldier in World War I has been uncovered in a European history project. Hitler's postcard, sent in 1916 when he was recovering from a war wound, was found in Munich, Germany. Oxford University is providing expert advice to the Europeana 1914-1918 project which runs history roadshows. When the postcard was identified, the university's Dr Stuart Lee said he "felt a shudder run through me". "I found it hard to believe that at a local event to record ordinary people's stories, I was seeing a previously unknown document in Hitler's own hand," said Dr Lee.
At midnight on November 12, 1870, two French balloons, inflated with highly flammable coal gas and manned by desperate volunteers, took off from a site in Monmartre, the highest point in Paris. The balloons rose from a city besieged "the Franco-Prussian War had left Paris isolated, and the city had been hastily encircled by the Prussian Army" and they did so on an unlikely mission. They carried with them several dozen pigeons, gathered from lofts across the city, that were part of a last-ditch attempt to establish two-way communication between the capital and the French provisional government in Tours, 130 miles southwest.
The executioners of the Ottoman Empire were never noted for their mercy; just ask the teenage Sultan Osman II, who in May 1622 suffered an excruciating death by "compression of the testicles" as contemporary chronicles put it at the hands of an assassin known as Pehlivan the Oil Wrestler. There was reason for this ruthlessness, however; for much of its history (the most successful bit, in fact), the Ottoman dynasty flourished - ruling over modern Turkey, the Balkans and most of North Africa and the Middle East thanks in part to the staggering violence it meted out to the highest and mightiest members of society.
The world's last surviving First World War veteran has died - marking the end of an era in British history. Florence Green, who joined the war effort in September 1918, when she was aged just 17, passed away in her sleep at a Norfolk care home just two weeks before her 111th birthday. The great-grandmother, who lived through all but 400 days of the 20th century, signed up to the Women's Royal Air Force two months before the end of the First World War. She was the last surviving person to have seen active service in the Great War following the death of British-born sailor Claude Choules in Australia last year.
Flanders fields today bears little sign of the four years of war that claimed so many thousands of lives and ravaged this small corner of the Western Front. But further down, deep below the surface there remains a constant reminder of the bravery and daring of the men who risked their lives for their country.
Like hundreds of thousands of young American men, Henry Johnson returned from World War I and tried to make a life for himself in spite of what he had experienced in a strange and distant land. With dozens of bullet and shrapnel wounds, he knew he was lucky to have survived. His discharge records erroneously made no mention of his injuries, and so Johnson was denied not only a Purple Heart, but a disability allowance as well. Uneducated and in his early twenties, Henry Johnson had no expectations that he could correct the errors in his military record. He simply tried to carry on as well as a black man could in the country he had been willing to give his life for.
It was the great flash point of the 20th century, an act that set off a chain reaction of calamity: two World Wars, 80 million deaths, the Russian Revolution, the rise of Hitler, the atomic bomb. Yet it might never have happened - we're now told had Gavrilo Princip not got hungry for a sandwich.
Disclaimer: All resources (including books and websites) provided on indyintheclassroom.com are intended to be used by educators. Indyintheclassroom.com is not responsible for the content on linked websites.
Copyright: All images on Indyintheclassroom.com are used with permission or are in the public domain. Exceptions are noted. For additional information see our Copyright section. |
Espionage Escapades | Daredevils of the Desert | Tales of Innocence
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