Gallipoli Campaign

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Gallipoli Campaign

In 1915, Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, proposed a daring plan to attack the Dardanelles, a narrow section of ocean south of what is now Turkey, in order to open a supply route to Russia. Unfortunately, he made his plans based of bad intelligence.

A preliminary attack was launched in February of 1915, bombarding the artillery of the Ottoman Empire. However, in March, a fleet of British and French warships attempted to navigate the Dardanelles and ran into mines at its narrowest point (which is only a mile wide).

The British and Churchill, not wanting to admit defeat, diverted British, Australian, New Zealander and French troops from training in Egypt to their campaign in Turkey. Putting together an amphibious Allied force, a plan was put together to land on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli on April 25. Although the Allies greatly outnumbered the Turks, poor counter-intelligence efforts by the Allies allowed the Ottoman Empire to resupply and reinforce the Gallipoli peninsula. Additionally, the Allies did not understand the terrain adequately and suffered from limited knowledge of their enemy. The Turkish soldiers were also very tenacious and very able fighters. However, the bloody-mindedness of the British commanders led to nine months wasted on the peninsula, with 44,000 deaths among over 100,000 casualties.