Geo-Political Military
Anzacs, Empires & Israel's Restoration 1798-1948 (1998)
Napoleon's invasion of the Eastern Mediterranean in 1798 provoked a battle between the European empires for control of that strategic region, placed as it was between Europe and the wealth of the Far East, especially India.
This battle also resurrected Jewish hopes of a return to their ancient homeland - the Land of Israel, a hope strongly supported by countless Bible-believing Christians. It witnessed too the active involvement of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand (Anzacs) in the region - at Gallipoli in Turkey, in the Sinai, at Gaza, Beersheba, Jerusalem and Jericho in Turkish Palestine, in Syria, in Transjordan, at Tobruk in Libya, in Greece, Crete and at El Alamein in Egypt.
Their contribution, alongside other soldiers of the British Empire, played a significant role in enabling Israel's restoration, as part of Britain's imperial ambitions. But Britain's role ended when the State of Israel was founded in May 1948 - 150 years after Napoleon's invasion.
Anzacs and Israel: A Significant Connection (2010)
Napoleon's invasion of the Eastern Mediterranean in 1798 provoked a keen interest among the European empires for involvement in that strategic region. Thereafter Britain was especially concerned with that regions's influence on the link to her Eastern Empire of India, Australia, New Zealand, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya. Simultaneously many people believed that the time was drawing near for the restoration of Israel after 1800 years of national dispersion. Another major event in the Eastern Mediterranean was the Gallipoli campaign of 1915.
This book describes the significant contribution of the Anzacs in the establishment of modern Israel as a result of the Gallipoli campaign and other critically-important battles fought in the Eastern Mediterranean during both World Wars, such as the Charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade at Beersheba, and the famous battles of Tobruk and El Alamein.
Journey to Beersheba: The Story behind the Charge of the Light Horse in 1917 and the re-enactment in 2007 (2011)
That initial charge on 31 October 1917 was part of the Battle of Beersheba in which British, New Zealand and Australian soldiers defeated the Turkish Army. On that same day the British War Cabinet in London agreed to establish a Jewish National Home in the land of Israel - once the land had been captured from the Turks.
This book reveals the events leading up to what transpired in Beersheba and London on 31 October 1917. The author, Kelvin Crombie, is an Australian, who was the guide for the Australian Light Horse Association re-enactment group. The book also details how he first received an interest in these subjects while growing up in the Australian bush, and how as a young man he went to live in Israel.
Woven into his story are numerous events and personalities, which included him becoming a local guide at Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem, and conducting his first In Step with Allenby and the Light Horse tour in 1988. As the historical tapestry was wonderfully displayed in the events of 31 October 1917, the tapestry in his own personal journey to Beersheba was in many ways completed through the events in Beersheba on 31 October 2007.
El Alamein: Halting an Impending Holocaust in the Middle East (2012)
Between July and November 1942 the future of the Middle East lay in the balance as German and Italian soldiers fought against soldiers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Poland and Free French and other smaller entities. As the German thrust to the Suez Canal was thwarted outside the small Libyan town of Tobruk in 1941, now Field Marshal Rommel's new move towards the most coveted piece of real estate in the world was blocked near a small Egyptian location name El Alamein.
There was, however, something much bigger at stake here than a mere military battle - the very survival of over half a million Jewish people, most of whom lived in British Mandated Palestine. In January 1942 the Nazi leadership declared its intentions to annihilate all eleven million Jewish people in Europe. Nearly a million had already been murdered, mostly by murder squads known as Einsatzgruppen. Then in July 1942, the Nazi leadership ordered the despatch to the Middle East of a specialised SS murder squad - The Einsatzkommando Egypt - which was to enlist local collaborators to help fulfil their allotted task.
This book looks at the Middle East campaign of 1940-1942 and how the Allied victory which culminated at El Alamein in November 1942 thwarted both the military objectives of the German-led army to capture the Suez Canal, and the possibility of the Holocaust entering into the Middle East. It also looks at the relationship between the Arab nationalist movement and its main spokesman, Haj Amin el-Husseini (the Mufti of Jerusalem), with Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Gallipoli: the Road to Jerusalem (2014)
The Gallipoli Campaign which began on 25 April 1915 was one of the biggest Allied defeats of World War One. Yet it stirred the imaginations and passions of many, evoking thoughts for some of the reconquest of the ancient Byzantine capital of Constantinople, and for Jewish and Arab nationalists of the establishments of independant nations.
The Gallipoli (or Dardanelles) Campaign was pivotal in the formation of the modern Middle East, as it ultimately resulted in the collapse of the 400 year old Ottoman Turkish Empire, which led in turn to the establishment of the Arab nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - and the Jewish nation of Israel.
Gallipoli was the beginning of a road that led to Beersheba, Jerusalem and Damascus. Those military successes by the soldiers of the British Empire (assisted by Feisal and Lawrence), created the political environment for the establishment of those new nation entities.
The destinies of many nations were associated with Gallipoli, including Australia and New Zealand (the Anzacs) which fought their first battle there as sovereign nations.
This book is an updated version of Anzacs, Empires and Israel's Restoration 1798-1948 (published in 1998), but includes more archival material and culminates on 25 April 1920, when the League of Nations legally laid the formations for Israel and for some of those Arab nations to come into existance.
The Battle for Zion: The Story of The Anzacs and Israel (1998)
The Battle of the Pyramids, Gallipoli, Beersheba, Tobruk, El Alamein. Great battles of the modern period which shaped the destiny of the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand - and the world. But there was another dimension to the military strategies of Napoleon, Allenby, Chauvel, Rommel and Montgomery.
All of these battles played a significant role in the restoration of modern Israel. The Battle for Zion endeavours to uncover this hidden dimension of the period between 1798, when Napoleon invaded the Eastern Mediterranean, and 1948 when the State of Israel was established. Throughout this period, the land of Israel, because strategically important for the British Empire, especially for the security of India, Australia and New Zealand.
Within this broader perspective, Kelvin Crombie reveals how the Anzacs played a significant part in defeating the Turkish Empire in World War One, thereby providing the Jewish people the possibility of returning to their land after 1800 years of national dispersion. And during World War Two he reveals how the Anzac soldiers helped safeguard the 500,000 Jewish people in Palestine from the Nazi threat by defeating the German-Italian forces.
Beersheba 1917 (2012)
On 31 October 1917 soldiers from Britain, Australia and New Zealand captured the town of Beersheba in the south of present day Israel. This was the first victory in the British-led campaign to capture the area of Turkish controlled Palestine.
This victory is often associated with the famous charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse Brigade - although much of the fighting this day was accomplished by the British infantry, while the New Zealanders and other Australian Light Horse units also played a pivotal role in the overall victory. On the same day the British War Cabinet in London decided upon their final policy for the land of Israel once it had been captured. In what became as the Balfour Declaration, Britain promised a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. The events of 31 October 1917 bring together the destiny of Israel and the Gentile nations.
The British-led force and British War Cabinet were almost entirely comprised of Gentiles, many of whom were committed followers of Jesus. Together these two events laid the foundation for the ultimate establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. It was significant that these two history making events were associated with Beersheba, a town associated with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Many thousands of years ago the God of Israel promised the land of Canaan (Israel) to Abraham and his physical descendants by a covenant oath. The events of 31 October 1917 were an indication that such an oath had not been broken - nor forgotten.
Gallipoli: The Road to Jerusalem (2015)
A documentary has been made to follow-on from the book of the same title.
This documentary covers the 1915 Dardanelles (Gallipoli) Campaign in Turkey, which is regarded as one of the biggest Allied defeats of the First World War. Many Australians and New Zealanders, however, deem the 25th April 1915, when their soldiers landed at Gallipoli as a 'baptism of fire' and the real beginning of their nationhood.
Was there another dimension to the Gallipoli Campaign other than the battles fought there?
Kelvin seeks to answer these questions as he journeys to Britian, Europe, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, New Zealand and Australia. He discovers, in the process, that a road began in Gallipoli which was destined to lead to Jerusalem.
31 October - Destiny's Date?
... to come
