Gallipoli

by Hart, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780199836864
• ISBN10: 0199836868
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

One of the most famous battles in history, the WWI Gallipoli campaign began as a bold move by the British to capture Constantinople, but this definitive new history explains that from the initial landings--which ended with so much blood in the sea it could be seen from airplanes overhead--to the desperate attacks of early summer and the battle of attrition that followed, it was a tragic folly destined to fail from the start. Gallipoli forced the young Winston Churchill from office, established Turkey's iconic founder Mustafa Kemal (better known as "Ataturk"), and marked Australia's emergence as a nation in its own right. Drawing on unpublished eyewitness accounts by individuals from all ranks--not only from Britain, Australia and New Zealand, but from Turkey and France as well--Peter Hart weaves first-hand stories into a vivid narrative of the battle and its aftermath. Hart, a historian with the Imperial War Museum and a battlefield tour guide at Gallipoli, provides a vivid, boots-on-the-ground account that brilliantly evokes the confusion of war, the horrors of combat, and the grim courage of the soldiers. He provides an astute, unflinching assessment of the leaders as well. He shows that the British invasion was doomed from the start, but he places particular blame on General Sir Ian Hamilton, whose misplaced optimism, over-complicated plans, and unwillingness to recognize the gravity of the situation essentially turned likely failure into complete disaster. Capturing the sheer drama and bravery of the ferocious fighting, the chivalry demonstrated by individuals on both sides amid merciless wholesale slaughter, and the futility of the cause for which ordinary men fought with extraordinary courage and endurance--Gallipoliis a riveting account of a battle that continues to fascinate us close to a hundred years after the event.

Author Biography

Peter Hart is Oral Historian of the Imperial War Museum and works as battlefield tour guide at Gallipoli. He is author of The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front and 1918: A Very British Victory

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Dodging the Issue	p. 1
Navy in Action	p. 22
Gathering of the Forces	p. 45
Plans: Countdown to Disaster	p. 57
25 April: Landings at Anzac	p. 76
25 April: Landings at Helles	p. 119
25 April: Drama at V Beach	p. 139
25 April: Kum Kale and Diversions	p. 170
Anzac: The Holding Pen	p. 180
Helles: The Real Fight for Gallipoli	p. 205
Helles: Writing on the Wall	p. 253
New Beginnings: Hamilton's Plans	p. 275
August: Helles Sacrifice	p. 284
August: Anzac, Diversions and Breakout	p. 292
August: Suvla Bay Landings	p. 330
21 August 1915: A Useless Gesture	p. 369
Should They Stay or Should They Go?	p. 385
The Beginning of the End	p. 402
Last Rites at Helles	p. 432
Myths and Legends	p. 452
Notes	p. 463
Acknowledgments	p. 499
A Gallipoli Tour	p. 503
Glossary of Military Terms	p. 508
Index	p. 511
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