Map 25: Gallipoli...into the meatgrinder

[Hauksbee]

    The Gallipoli campaign: the Allies try to invade Turkey

British forces, with assistance from the French navy, hatched a daring plan for an amphibious assault on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. Had they succeeded in capturing the peninsula, Allied naval forces could have sailed through the Dardanelles Strait up into the Sea of Marmara and supported an attack on the Ottoman Empire's capital of Istanbul. That would have opened the door to direct Allied communication between the Western and Eastern Fronts. Instead, Turkey kept the Allied troops bottled up and after months of fighting, they retreated. Heavy participation of volunteers from Australia and New Zealand in the campaign makes it an iconic moment in those nations' military histories even as the Turkish victory is celebrated in that country

 

Edited October 31, 2014 by Hauksbee