Galip
THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN
The Gallipoli Campaign is recorded in British history and through popular memory as a heroic disaster: a possibly war-winning campaign that ended in complete disaster. The horror of the First World War was shown in a nutshell. It shared much with the Western Front in terms of the discomfort of the trenches and the stalemate that came with them. But it also had the difficulties of the amphibious nature of the operation as well as the different climates that the troops experienced. The Leadership that sent the Allied troops to the Dardenelles has often been criticised for the foolhardiness of the operation, but as the British Official Historian stated: There is little doubt today that the idea of forcing the straits ... was one of the few great strategically concepts of the world war. So why now does the whole campaign get bad comments as strong as the following? Why was Gallipoli so badly carried out, the most poorly armed operation since the Boer war specifically that it was poorly mounted and ineptly controlled. In order to demonstrate this it will be necessary to consider several levels of the leadership involved with the operation. Initially the political-strategically decision making must be studied as the root to the operations problems. The Naval and Army's planning must also be criticised as it led the troops to failure. Finally the tactical leadership must be considered in light of the situation developing on the ground and how the Turks reacted to the amphibious landings. Before scrutinising the expedition in any detail the background of the situation must be explained so that one can have some sort of perspective on the decisions that were made. By the end of 1914 a stalemate had developed in Europe. Already, after only three full months of fighting, there were almost one million Allied casualties and a trench system that stretched three hundred and fifty miles from the North Sea...
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