Desert Warfare: Did you mean...?

Artist's impression of camel riders in the desert. The camel was a common mode of transport in Africa and the Middle East during ancient, medieval and early modern times.

Desert kites on the Ustyurt Plateau (left) and in the northern Nefoud (right).

Assembly in the Desert, painting by Jeanne Lombard, 1934.

A photograph of General Erwin Rommel and his Chief of Staff, Fritz Bayerlein during the North Africa Campaign of the Second World War (1939-45). (Imperial War Museums)

The Art of War (Sunzi bingfa) is a 5th-century BCE military treatise written by the Chinese strategist Sun-Tzu (aka Sunzi or Sun Wu). Covering all aspects of warfare, it seeks to advise commanders on how to prepare, mobilise, attack, defend...

Extracts of satellite images from Google Earth and Bing of kites from the Harrat-al-Sham in Jordan (above left), Qaratein area in Syria (above right), Ustyurt Plateau in Kazakhstan (bottom left) and the mountains of Palmyre in Syria (bottom...

A cell at the extremity of a pointed appendice from a kite in Armenia (up). The same configuration in Jordan, a cell under excavation (down).

In February 1941, Erwin Rommel arrived in Libya to save an Italian army in disarray. But instead of following orders to defend his position, Rommel attacked. Leading from the front, he pushed the understrength British and Commonwealth forces...

The Jordan Desert, aka Al Harr’a Desert, the location of many c. 1000 BCE Safaitic inscriptions.

A July 1942 photograph of a British Eighth Army Humber Mk II armoured car during the Western Desert Campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45). (Imperial War Museums)