That was pretty obvious in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as dry, and hard of a read it is; it spells out that British (or any really) Imperialism is a death-knell to those who are mired in between sacrifice for the many or the few. As the campaign progressed his awareness as to how far out he was from "British Rule" and that no way could he go back - and could only go forward and be a martyr for those wanted the wealth and power of a land they didn't want to give anything else up for.