“On my journey, I fell ill and spent ten days lying on my back in my tent, my only occupation being contemplation of war...” With this statement, Lawrence of Arabia brings to the forefront, with a phrase that is purely theatrical, the beginnings of his role as the leader of the Arab uprising. By dismantling colonial notions of war from old Europe, T.E. Lawrence is the first Westerner to rethink and apply guerrilla warfare in the field of the other.

The transformation of weakness into strength proves that, above all, war is a work of the spirit. The author (for the creator of 'The Seven Pillars of Wisdom' is, among other things, also a writer...) is a theorist. He references Guibert, Jomini, Napoleon, Xenophon, Clausewitz, Moltke, Ardant, Dupuy, Foch, and especially Maurice de Saxe. “I was,” he says, “well-read.” For the modern reader, this may not be self-evident: there is a knowledge, a thought, an education, “a metaphysical side and a philosophy,” says Lawrence, concerning the matters of war.

“Armies resemble plants, immobile as a whole, deeply rooted, nourished up to the top thanks to their long stems. We could become steam that swirls in the air wherever it wants.” Beautiful and dense expressions that stun like a lightning strike. Leading men into a cerebral war, more intellectual than a mere armament, he knows and controls the power of words over the spirit that ultimately decides the outcome of battles.

In the tent of Abu Merhka, amidst the grunts of camels, a supreme commander of the Warring Kingdoms, an Athenian aristocrat, a Saxon count, an eccentric from Oxford, and a Chinese revolutionary meet. Writing (written thought) is the place that allows these gatherings. (From the text by the French author Olivier Rolin that accompanies this edition)

This text was first published in the journal The Army Quarterly, vol. 1, 1920. Lawrence rearticulated his positions on guerrilla warfare in the 1926 edition of the Britannica Encyclopedia, in the entry 'Guerrilla Warfare', titled 'The Science of Guerrilla Warfare'. The edition is accompanied by a Chronology, and an Appendix with the text by the French author Olivier Rolin 'Meeting in a Tent' which comes from the French edition of Lawrence’s text published by Mille et une Nuits, Paris, 1997.