exactly what they ve been doing on the western front against the germans, and they re fiascos both times. it cost a lot of british soldiers lives, in the thousands. it was a very humiliating defeat for them, so they retreated. so djemal pasha, sitting in jerusalem, he sort of becomes the hero, and this is one of the really kind of outstanding ottoman victories, these two battles of gaza. after the british are beaten back, the arab revolt plans an assault of its own. for the arab revolt, the really important city was damascus. prince faisal knew the importance of damascus, wanted to be in damascus. it s a very important place historically, religiously and strategically. damascus was the first real capital for the islamic empire outside of arabia.
both times. it cost a lot of british soldiers lives, in the thousands. it was a very humiliating defeat for them, so they retreated. so djemal pasha, sitting in jerusalem, he sort of becomes the hero, and this is one of the really kind of outstanding ottoman victories, these two battles of gaza. after the british are beaten back, the arab revolt plans an assault of its own. for the arab revolt, the really important city was damascus. prince faisal knew the importance of damascus, wanted to be in damascus. it s a very important place historically, religiously and strategically. damascus was the first real capital for the islamic empire outside of arabia. and it was so for almost a century under the dynasty that we call the amyiads.