100 years ago, an epic cavalry charge opened the way for Jerusalem’s liberation.

The liberation of Jerusalem by Allied forces 100 years ago was undoubtedly one of the great moments of history that should be remembered not only as a military success, but also as a stupendous spiritual victory.

The man in charge, General Edmund Allenby, is said to have carried with him a message from British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who “wanted Jerusalem as a Christmas present for the British nation”.

The PM’s War Cabinet was in the meantime working on plans for Jewish restoration to their ancient land, but felt that any public announcement of sympathy towards Zionism should be coupled with a military breakthrough.

The Last Great Cavalry Charge in History

And at 4:30pm on 31 October 1917, about 800 bayonet-wielding ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand) horsemen set off in three columns at a canter across a 5km plain to Beersheba on an epic cavalry charge that, in author Kelvin Crombie’s words, would change the course of world history, triggering a chain of events that would lead to the creation of modern Israel.

The Aussie soldiers were evidently riding a death-defying gauntlet of shrapnel, high explosives and machine-gun fire from some 4,000 entrenched Ottoman troops, and their rapid advance prevented the intended complete destruction of local wells, which would have been disastrous for over 50,000 troops and their animals.¹

The epic cavalry charge of the ANZACs would change the course of world history. 

British-led forces had already been repelled twice in their efforts to break through a Turkish/German line of defence stretching from Gaza to Beersheba, the Israeli city now known as capital of the Negev desert region.

Photo thought to show the charge of the Australian Light Horse Brigade, 1917. See Photo Credits.But the Turks were taken by surprise as they did not suspect that anyone would be so foolish as to attack the fortress from the desert. Unfortunately for them, as one wag has put it, nobody has ever accused the Aussies of being in their right minds – enthusiastically charging out on what has been dubbed ‘the last great cavalry charge in history’ even after riding 60 miles through the white-hot, searing sands of an unforgiving Judean desert.

The Australians suffered just 31 troopers killed and 36 wounded as they captured 750 Turks, nine artillery pieces, three machine guns, and tons of other munitions and supplies. Even more importantly, they seized 17 of the 19 wells intact, recovering 90,000 gallons of fresh, drinkable water from the town, enabling the Army to stave off death by dehydration.²

Paving the Way for Balfour Declaration’s Fulfilment

It was surely significant that the Balfour Declaration, through which the British Government promised to do all in its power to establish a national home for the Jews, was signed on the very same day, and subsequently conveyed to Britain’s Jewish leaders. The Battle of Beersheba thus paved the way for the fulfilment of this pledge, and within just six weeks Allenby’s forces ended 400 years of Ottoman rule in the region.

A park dedicated to the Australian soldiers was opened in 2008. It was a $3 million project funded by the philanthropic Pratt Foundation, whose chief executive Sam Lipski told journalists at a ceremony there five years ago that the history of Zionism and the Middle East could have been very different had the ANZACS not defeated the Turks at Beersheba.³

Yet for many young Aussies, the annual pilgrimage to Gallipoli in Turkey – the site of a tragic military defeat in 1915 that cost some 8,000 Australian lives – has become a rite of passage, whereas the stunning military victory at Beersheba remains relatively unknown.

It is surely significant that the Balfour Declaration was signed on the very same day. 

The Liberation of Jerusalem

General Allenby enters Jerusalem unmounted, in reverence of Jesus, 1917. See Photo Credits.The Royal Flying Corps also played a vital role in the liberation of Jerusalem by dropping pamphlets calling upon the Turks to surrender, an event evidently foretold by Isaiah some 2,700 years earlier: “Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it” (Isa 31:5). As it happens, this passage was also the required reading in all Anglican (Church of England) churches that week.

As a result, Jerusalem surrendered without a shot being fired, perhaps also helped by the similarity of Allenby’s signature to the Arabic (Al-Nebbi) for the prophet Mohammed. Victory in Jerusalem coincided with the Hanukkah festival recalling Jewish liberation from Greek-Syrian tyranny in the second century before Christ.

On 11 December Allenby declared British military rule from the ancient steps of the Tower of David, right opposite Christ Church, headquarters of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people (CMJ) who had done so much to convince political and church leaders of Israel’s destiny under God. He arrived at the Old City on horseback, but dismounted at Jaffa Gate before entering the holy enclave on foot, declaring: “It does not behoove me, a Christian, to enter the City of my Messiah mounted.”

The Role of Evangelical Christians

Without in any way minimising the contribution of the ANZAC troops towards Israel’s re-birth, the ground had been well prepared over the previous century by British evangelical Christians such as William Wilberforce, Lord Shaftesbury, Charles Spurgeon and Bishop JC Ryle, who believed that Jewish redemption is a fundamental aspect of biblical truth, and prayed to that end.

They in turn influenced the movers and shakers of the age, backed up (through divine providence) by the rise of Jewish Zionism under Theodor Herzl. The result was the Balfour Declaration.

The ground had been well prepared over the previous century by British evangelical Christians who believed that Jewish redemption is a fundamental aspect of biblical truth, and prayed to that end. 

An interesting footnote is that most of Lloyd George’s 1917 War Cabinet were evangelical Christians – ironically, the only member strongly opposed to the policy, Edwin Montague, was Jewish. Balfour, the Foreign Secretary, had already served as Prime Minister and declared on his deathbed that aiding Jewish restoration was possibly the most worthwhile thing he had done. Also in the cabinet was South Africa’s Jan Christiaan Smuts, who had long predicted that a great Jewish state would arise once more.⁴

Notes

1 Crombie, K, 1998. Anzacs, Empires and Israel’s Restoration: 1798-1948. Vocational Education & Training Publications.

2 Dan Goldberg, Haaretz newspaper, 30 October 2012, though some facts are gleaned from an anonymous blogger.

3 Ibid.

4 Gardner, C. The Magnificent Ten. Prophecy Today UK, 3 February 2017.