Military History of the First World War
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Gallipoli
Turkey entered the war on the Central Powers' side on 19th October 1914. They did so because Germany was at war with Russia, which was their traditional enemy. The British, however, quickly secured the important strategic points of the Suez Canal and the Abadan oil refinery. They used Indian troops to land at Basra in the Persian Gulf and so capture the Abadan oil fields. In November 1914 the cabinet accepted that the war would not be a short one, and alternative projects for bringing it to a conclusion were considered. Lloyd George proposed an expedition to Salonika or the Dalmatian coast. Kitchener supported this idea, especially after the Russians appealed for help at the end of 1914. Churchill supported an amphibious operation against Turkey and he persuaded Kitchener that the navy could force the Dardanelles without support from the army. The decision to attack the Gallipoli Peninsula was taken by the war council unanimously on 13th January 1915. A small success involving combined naval and land forces on the 19th February, 1915, encouraged the British to try something bigger. But an attempt at naval action on 18th March resulted in the loss of one third of the ships involved (either sunk disabled). The navy attacked the Dardanelles with some French support on 18th March. They ran out of ammunition after one day, and two British battleships and one French ship were sunk by mines during the retreat. It was decided to revert to the army, but the transports were not ready, so the general in command, Hamilton, decided to return to Alexandria in order to refit. During the three weeks this took the Turks were able to reinforce their defences of the peninsula from two to six divisions. The landing on the Gallipoli peninsula took place on the 25th April. Two landings were made - the 29th division at Cape Helles and the Anzac forces (Australian and New Zealand troops) further north. Neither operation went according to plan and the invading forces were soon pinned down by stiff Turkish resistance, aided by the mountainous and hence defensive terrain. The Turkish reinforced their forces and mounted a counter-attack on the 19th May, which was repulsed with heavy Turkish losses. British forces at Cape Helles made repeated attempts to widen the beach head from April to July, but none succeeded and the casualties were heavy. In August another attempt to break the deadlock was made, with Anzac forces attempting to capture a ridge in combination with another landing at Suvla Bay. Whilst Suvla Bay was taken the Anzac operation failed and the stalemate was not broken. The British decided to withdraw and the Anzac force was evacuated in December 1915 and Cape Helles abandoned in January 1916. Allied losses were 180,000 casualties; the Turkish lost about 350,000.
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Contents of
Military History of the First World War
1 The Central Powers and the Entente
2 The run-up to the war: The July Crisis, 1914
3 Military Planning in Advance of the War
4 Serbia and the Eastern Front, 1914
5 The Battle for the Marne
6 The Race to the Sea and the First Battle of Ypres
7 First Battle of Ypres
8 The Pacific
9 Africa
10 The Eastern Front during 1915
11 Italy enters the war
12 The Balkans
13 The Western Front
14 Gallipoli
15 The Western Front, 1916
16 Verdun
17 The Battle of the Somme
18 The Trentino Offensive
19 The Brusilov Offensive
20 Romania
21 The Russian Front in 1917
22 Mesopotamia
23 The Nivelle Offensive
24 The Third Battle of Ypres (The Battle of Passendaele)
25 Cambrai
26 Caporetto
27 German offensive in Russia, 1918
28 Ludendorff's offensive in the West
29 Allied counter-offensive
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