Introduction
Gallipoli is an elongated peninsula that lies approximately250
km southwest of Istanbul, which was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from
1453 to 1923 and has since then been the largest city in the republic of
Turkey which was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923.
During World War One (1914-18) this peninsula was the location of a military campaign that lasted nearly a year, from February 1915 to January 1916. The Allies (Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand) attacked the Ottoman Empire, which fought with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). A victory over the Ottoman Empire would help the last major ally (Russia) and at the same time weaken the Central Powers. It was (perhaps) a good plan in theory, but it could not be implemented in practice .
This campaign is not only one of the most horrible of the war because there were thousands of casualties on both sides. It is also one of the most significant because it had great consequences - both short term and long term, both for individuals and for large populations.
Today large parts of the peninsula are preserved for historical reasons. There are still many traces of the battles that took place during the war, and after the war (1923-26) a number of cemeteries and memorials to the fallen on both sides were established.
A few years ago I had a chance to visit this peninsula and some of these memorials. In the first part of this blog I will cover the military campaign: What happened? Why did things go wrong for the Allies? What were the consequences? In the second part I will tell you what you can see on the peninsula today. But before I begin I will present some basic observations.
Name and Geography
First the name of the campaign. In the western and English-speaking world people usually talk about Gallipoli campaign. The name comes from the Turkish city of Gelibolu that has given the peninsula its name. But the Turks usually talk about the Canakkale campaign (pronounced “Chanákkale” with stress on the second syllable). Canakkale is located opposite the peninsula on the Asian side of the narrow strait called the Dardanelles. Today it is the largest city in the region with ca. 75,000 inhabitants.
Second the geography. If you wish to sail from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, you must first pass through the narrow strait named the Dardanelles, then cross the Marmara Sea, covering an area of 11,655 square kilometers, and finally pass the narrow strait called the Bosporos. Throughout this trip you will have Europe on the left side and Asia on the right side .
The Dardanelles is ca. 60 km long. The width is up to
six miles, but at the narrowest point is only 1.2 miles from coast to coast. Gallipoli Peninsula is the northern side of the
strait .
The Bosporus Strait is ca.30 km long. The width is up to 3.3 miles , but at the narrowest point is only 0.7 miles from coast to coast.
Around 600 BC Greeks pioneers established a town called Byzantium on the western side of the strait. In AD 330 the city was renamed Constantinople. In 1453 the city was renamed Istanbul, and today it has grown so much that it lies on both sides of the Strait, partly in Europe and partly in Asia.
A government, which controls the two straits, the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, controls the strategically important route to and from the Black Sea. In 1915, Britain and France wished to deprive the Ottoman Empire control of this sea route, so that their ally Russia, had free passage to and from the Black Sea.
Four Phases
The Gallipoli campaign can be divided into four phases. The first was a purely naval operation that took place in February and March 1915, when the Allies twice tried to force the Dardanelles. On 19 February they attacked with 18 British warships, but it was in vain. One month later, on 18 March, they attacked again, this time with 14 British and four French warships, but again it was in vain.
The Turks had built forts and erected guns on both sides of the Strait. In addition, they had dropped several mines in the strait and set up a submarine net at the narrowest point (from Kilye Bay to Nara Burnu approximately five kilometers north of Canakkale).
During the second attack three Allied ships hit a mine. All three sank quickly, and almost all on board perished. One ship was French: the Bouvet (French); two ships were British: the Ocean and the Irresistible.
The second phase was a combined naval and military operation which began on 25 April 1915. British troops (29th Division) landed on five different beaches around the peninsula's southern tip, Cape Helles. The five beaches were given codenames: S, V, W, X and Y Beach .
At the same time troops from Australia and New Zealand (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC) landed on the western coast approximately twenty kilometers north of Cape Helles in the bay, which is called Anzac Cove today. This beach had the codename Z Beach.
In addition, two diversions were supposed to keep some of the Turkish troops away from the actual front: one was carried out by French troops that went ashore at Kumkale on the Asian side of the Strait, south of Gallipoli, while the other was carried out by British ships that sailed up to Saros Bay off Bulair on the peninsula’s narrowest point, but in this case there was no landing .
The Allied forces came ashore, but the Turks resisted . Both sides dug in, and it became a war of attrition, just as it was on the front between France and Germany. It cost many thousands of dead and wounded to move the front a few feet forward or back.
The third stage was a new offensive, which began on 6 august 1915. The British attacked at Cape Helles, ANZAC attacked from Anzac Cove, and new British troops landed at three different beaches barely ten kilometers further north at Suvla Bay. The three beaches were codenamed A, B and C Beach. The front moved a little bit, but the Allies did not achieve a breakthrough, and certainly no victory.
The fourth and final phase was an evacuation that was carried out in two steps. All troops were evacuated from Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove on the night between the19th and the 20th of December 1915, while all the troops were evacuated from Cape Helles on the night between the 8th and the 9th of January 1916.
The evacuation was a great success. No Allied soldiers lost their lives during this phase. Ironically it was the only success throughout the campaign. Both the first, second, and third stages had been terrible disasters that killed and injured thousands of people on both sides. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give the following casualties:
• Commonwealth (England, Australia and New Zealand): 36,000 dead
• France: 10,000 dead
• The Ottoman Empire: 86,000 dead
• Total number of dead: 132,000 dead
Why Did Things Go Wrong?
At the time England was a superpower, especially in the maritime field. The Ottoman Empire was a great power in decline. In Western Europe, it was known as “the sick man of Europe.” The Gallipoli Peninsula is a tiny piece of land, a narrow isthmus, whose length is less than100 miles . Given these facts, it is relevant to ask: Why were the Allies unable to conquer
this area ? There are several reasons:
(1) The Allies overestimated their own strength. England and France were used to having their way in international politics. But this did not happen this time.
(2) The Allies underestimated the Ottoman Empire’s ability and willingness to resist, which was fatal. The Turks had previously lost large territories in North Africa and the Balkans, but now it was about their homeland, and therefore they fought very hard. The Ottoman Empire was weakened, but not broken.
(3) The Allied leaders were in many respects completely incompetent. They did not know the local situation well enough. They used maps that were outdated and inadequate. They had not prepared the ordinary soldiers well enough for their task. There was poor communication between the various departments of the invasion force.
(4) Collaboration between the Allied naval and military units was poor. The two sides did not have much respect for each other. Each of them had enough in itself.
(5) The Turkish side was well prepared when the invasion came. After two unsuccessful naval attacks in February and March the Turks could easily figure out that a military invasion was the next step. The British gave the Turks more than a month (from March 18 to April 25) to prepare for an invasion, and the Turks used this time very efficiently.
(6) The Ottoman Empire was allied with Germany. The Turkish army in the area were led by a talented German general named Otto Liman von Sanders (1885-1929). His second in command was a talented Turkish officer named Mustafa Kemal, later known as Atatürk (the father of the Turks) (1881-1938).
Gallipoli is an elongated peninsula that lies approximately
During World War One (1914-18) this peninsula was the location of a military campaign that lasted nearly a year, from February 1915 to January 1916. The Allies (Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand) attacked the Ottoman Empire, which fought with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). A victory over the Ottoman Empire would help the last major ally (Russia) and at the same time weaken the Central Powers. It was (perhaps) a good plan in theory, but it could not be implemented in practice .
This campaign is not only one of the most horrible of the war because there were thousands of casualties on both sides. It is also one of the most significant because it had great consequences - both short term and long term, both for individuals and for large populations.
Today large parts of the peninsula are preserved for historical reasons. There are still many traces of the battles that took place during the war, and after the war (1923-26) a number of cemeteries and memorials to the fallen on both sides were established.
A few years ago I had a chance to visit this peninsula and some of these memorials. In the first part of this blog I will cover the military campaign: What happened? Why did things go wrong for the Allies? What were the consequences? In the second part I will tell you what you can see on the peninsula today. But before I begin I will present some basic observations.
Name and Geography
First the name of the campaign. In the western and English-speaking world people usually talk about Gallipoli campaign. The name comes from the Turkish city of Gelibolu that has given the peninsula its name. But the Turks usually talk about the Canakkale campaign (pronounced “Chanákkale” with stress on the second syllable). Canakkale is located opposite the peninsula on the Asian side of the narrow strait called the Dardanelles. Today it is the largest city in the region with ca. 75,000 inhabitants.
Second the geography. If you wish to sail from the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea, you must first pass through the narrow strait named the Dardanelles, then cross the Marmara Sea, covering an area of 11,655 square kilometers, and finally pass the narrow strait called the Bosporos. Throughout this trip you will have Europe on the left side and Asia on the right side .
The Dardanelles is ca. 60
The Bosporus Strait is ca.
Around 600 BC Greeks pioneers established a town called Byzantium on the western side of the strait. In AD 330 the city was renamed Constantinople. In 1453 the city was renamed Istanbul, and today it has grown so much that it lies on both sides of the Strait, partly in Europe and partly in Asia.
A government, which controls the two straits, the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, controls the strategically important route to and from the Black Sea. In 1915, Britain and France wished to deprive the Ottoman Empire control of this sea route, so that their ally Russia, had free passage to and from the Black Sea.
Four Phases
The Gallipoli campaign can be divided into four phases. The first was a purely naval operation that took place in February and March 1915, when the Allies twice tried to force the Dardanelles. On 19 February they attacked with 18 British warships, but it was in vain. One month later, on 18 March, they attacked again, this time with 14 British and four French warships, but again it was in vain.
The Turks had built forts and erected guns on both sides of the Strait. In addition, they had dropped several mines in the strait and set up a submarine net at the narrowest point (from Kilye Bay to Nara Burnu approximately five kilometers north of Canakkale).
During the second attack three Allied ships hit a mine. All three sank quickly, and almost all on board perished. One ship was French: the Bouvet (French); two ships were British: the Ocean and the Irresistible.
The second phase was a combined naval and military operation which began on 25 April 1915. British troops (29th Division) landed on five different beaches around the peninsula's southern tip, Cape Helles. The five beaches were given codenames: S, V, W, X and Y Beach .
At the same time troops from Australia and New Zealand (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC) landed on the western coast approximately twenty kilometers north of Cape Helles in the bay, which is called Anzac Cove today. This beach had the codename Z Beach.
In addition, two diversions were supposed to keep some of the Turkish troops away from the actual front: one was carried out by French troops that went ashore at Kumkale on the Asian side of the Strait, south of Gallipoli, while the other was carried out by British ships that sailed up to Saros Bay off Bulair on the peninsula’s narrowest point, but in this case there was no landing .
The Allied forces came ashore, but the Turks resisted . Both sides dug in, and it became a war of attrition, just as it was on the front between France and Germany. It cost many thousands of dead and wounded to move the front a few feet forward or back.
The third stage was a new offensive, which began on 6 august 1915. The British attacked at Cape Helles, ANZAC attacked from Anzac Cove, and new British troops landed at three different beaches barely ten kilometers further north at Suvla Bay. The three beaches were codenamed A, B and C Beach. The front moved a little bit, but the Allies did not achieve a breakthrough, and certainly no victory.
The fourth and final phase was an evacuation that was carried out in two steps. All troops were evacuated from Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove on the night between the19th and the 20th of December 1915, while all the troops were evacuated from Cape Helles on the night between the 8th and the 9th of January 1916.
The evacuation was a great success. No Allied soldiers lost their lives during this phase. Ironically it was the only success throughout the campaign. Both the first, second, and third stages had been terrible disasters that killed and injured thousands of people on both sides. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission give the following casualties:
• Commonwealth (England, Australia and New Zealand): 36,000 dead
• France: 10,000 dead
• The Ottoman Empire: 86,000 dead
• Total number of dead: 132,000 dead
Why Did Things Go Wrong?
At the time England was a superpower, especially in the maritime field. The Ottoman Empire was a great power in decline. In Western Europe, it was known as “the sick man of Europe.” The Gallipoli Peninsula is a tiny piece of land, a narrow isthmus, whose length is less than
(1) The Allies overestimated their own strength. England and France were used to having their way in international politics. But this did not happen this time.
(2) The Allies underestimated the Ottoman Empire’s ability and willingness to resist, which was fatal. The Turks had previously lost large territories in North Africa and the Balkans, but now it was about their homeland, and therefore they fought very hard. The Ottoman Empire was weakened, but not broken.
(3) The Allied leaders were in many respects completely incompetent. They did not know the local situation well enough. They used maps that were outdated and inadequate. They had not prepared the ordinary soldiers well enough for their task. There was poor communication between the various departments of the invasion force.
(4) Collaboration between the Allied naval and military units was poor. The two sides did not have much respect for each other. Each of them had enough in itself.
(5) The Turkish side was well prepared when the invasion came. After two unsuccessful naval attacks in February and March the Turks could easily figure out that a military invasion was the next step. The British gave the Turks more than a month (from March 18 to April 25) to prepare for an invasion, and the Turks used this time very efficiently.
(6) The Ottoman Empire was allied with Germany. The Turkish army in the area were led by a talented German general named Otto Liman von Sanders (1885-1929). His second in command was a talented Turkish officer named Mustafa Kemal, later known as Atatürk (the father of the Turks) (1881-1938).
* * *
Go to the next installment:
Go to the next installment:
* * *
No comments:
Post a Comment