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Allenby and British Strategy in the Middle East, 1917-1919, by Matthew Hughes. London: Frank Cass, 1999. xvi + 163 pages. Notes to p. 189. Bibl. to p. 213. Index to p. 224. $57.50.
Reviewed by Harold E. Raugh, Jr.
Numerous studies of the First World War have focused on the unparalleled hecatombs of casualties in the fire, wire, and mire on the Western Front. There were, however, a number of smaller and less known operations conducted by the Allies to break the deadlock of trench warfare in western Europe. One of these peripheral operations was the Palestine campaign of 1917-18, highlighted by aggressive leadership, mobility, and romanticism in the recapture of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The British-dominated Palestine campaign was a military success and contributed significantly to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, laying a foundation for the contemporary Middle East.
The Palestine campaign has generally escaped the scrutiny and analysis to which the operations on the Western Front have been subject. In this well-researched study, Matthew Hughes (lecturer in Modern History at University College, Northampton, UK) chronicles, dissects, and assesses the Palestine campaign from mid-1917 (when General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby assumed command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force [EEF]) until the British force withdrew from Syria in 1919. The focus of the first twothirds of the book ("Part One: War") is on Allenby's leadership, the decision-making processes of, and...