Gallipoli : The End of the Myth

by Robin Prior

• ISBN13: 9780300168945
• ISBN10: 0300168942
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2010-12-07
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

The Gallipoli campaign of 191516 was an ill-fated Allied attempt to shorten the war by eliminating Turkey, creating a Balkan alliance against the Central Powers, and securing a sea route to Russia. A failure in all respects, the operation ended in disaster, and the Allied forces suffered some 390,000 casualties. This conclusive book assesses the many myths that have emerged about Gallipoli and provides definitive answers to questions that have lingered about the operation. Robin Prior, a renowned military historian, proceeds step by step through the campaign, dealing with naval, military, and political matters and surveying the operations of all the armies involved: British, Anzac, French, Indian, and Turkish. Relying substantially on original documents, including neglected war diaries and technical military sources, Prior evaluates the strategy, the commanders, and the performance of soldiers on the ground. His conclusions are powerful and unsettling: the naval campaign was not "almost" won, and the land action was not bedeviled by "minor misfortunes." Instead, the badly conceived Gallipoli campaign was doomed from the start. And even had it been successful, the operation would not have shortened the war by a single day. Despite their bravery, the Allied troops who fell at Gallipoli died in vain.

Author Biography

Robin Prior is visiting professorial fellow, University of Adelaide, and visiting fellow, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy. He is the coauthor of Passchendaele: The Untold Story and The Somme, both published by Yale University Press. He lives in South Australia.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
List of Maps	p. viii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
The Origins of the Naval Offensive	p. 1
From Ships to Troops	p. 20
The Worst-Laid Plans	p. 35
The Rise and Fall of the Naval Attack	p. 44
No Going Back	p. 60
The Military Plan	p. 72
Bodies Everywhere: The Helles Landings	p. 89
A Perfect Hail of Bullets: Landing and Consolidation at Anzac	p. 110
The Killing Fields of Krithia	p. 129
Last Throw in the South	p. 145
The Plans of August	p. 160
The Assault on Sari Bair	p. 169
Suvla Bay: The Scapegoat Battle	p. 190
'War as we must': The Political Debate	p. 210
A Campaign Not Won	p. 221
Reflections on Gallipoli	p. 237
Notes	p. 253
Bibliography	p. 272
Index	p. 277
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.