Background
The ancient fortress of Megiddo stood on Tell el Mutesellim, at the mouth of the Musmus Pass near El Lajjun, controlling the routes to the north and the interior by dominating the Plain of Armageddon. Across this plain (also known as the Plain of Megiddo), several armies from the ancient Egyptians, to the French under Napoleon had marched and fought towards Nazareth in the Galilean Hills. By 1918 this plain, which had become known as the Esdraelon Plain, was still strategically important as it linked the Jordan Valley and the Plain of Sharon 40 miles (64 km) behind the Ottoman front line, and together, these three valleys formed a semicircle round the main Ottoman positions in the Judean Hills held by their Seventh and Eighth Armies.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Megiddo (1918)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedys conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didnt approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldnt have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (19081973)
“In the true sense ones native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (18691940)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)