Gallipoli - Why?

The Gallipoli Tour:  The bus picked us up Tuesday (October 22) at 7am, before the breakfast buffet opened.  So the hotel gave us sandwiches to take along.  We were headed to Gallipoli, where the Turks held off the British and French in 1915 and 1916.  

1.  Why did the British and French undertake what turned out a military failure that cost so many lives?

2.  Why were most of the people on our tour Aussies and Kiwis?

You military and World War I buffs, of course, know all about this, but The Dardanelles was a name I knew, and I sort of understood it was a shipping route to Istanbul.  Having been in Istanbul for a couple of weeks now, having taken a Bosphorus cruise to the edge of the Black Sea, and having ferried by the Marmara Sea,  I understand all this much better.  

For those of you who are like I was, I’m going to map this out.

Let’s start with the Black Sea.  It’s bordered by six countries.  What are they?  Start with Turkey and go clockwise.  

Turkey

No, not Greece, the Turkish border goes north of Istanbul

Bulgaria

Romania

NOT Moldova - it’s landlocked

Ukraine

Russia

Georgia

And on the western side of Turkey you can see the Aegean Sea.  Our day off Friday has been in Kușadası.  Our travel guy in Istanbul, Ilyas, got us into a hotel that’s got a balcony looking out at the Aegean Sea.  (See photo on the right.)

We could hear the waves. 

 Between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, you can see a small blue puddle - that’s the Marmara sea.   The picture below is looking toward the Marmara Sea.

Now back to Istanbul’s important location.  Further west and south of the Aegean Sea, you can see the Mediterranean Sea.  Russia is on the Black Sea, but needs to go through Istanbul to get to the Marmara Sea and then the Dardanelles to get to the Aegean Sea and then on to the Mediterranean Sea.  

But since on the map above Istanbul is just a dot, you can’t really see the wet significance.  So below is a map of Istanbul and its watery environment.  

All the white is Istanbul.  On the top and on the right is European Istanbul.  On the right is Asian Istanbul

.  The Bosphorus, coming from the Black Sea, flows into Istanbul. From the upper right.  Look closely, it says Bosphorus   The photo to the right is looking at European Istanbul from the Bosphorus. Then at the bottom you can see the Marmara Sea. .  On this map you can see how the Bosphorus connects to the Marmara Sea and divides Istanbul into the European and Asian sides.  There are lots of ferries that go back and forth.  That channel going up on the left is called the Golden Horn and ends not far above the edge of the map.  

I’ve got you to the Marmara Sea, now let’s proceed from the Marmara Sea to the Dardanelles.

You can see on the map above how narrow the Strait gets. Several websites (here’s just one) say that at the narrowest point, the Dardanelles is 1400 meters wide (about 3/4 of a mile.  We took a ferry at that point to Çanakkale where we spent the night.  

Getting close to the WHY question.  

1.  Britain and France were allied with Russia in WW I.  This was 1915.  The Russian Revolution was two years off.  Britain and France wanted to get supplies to their ally Russia. Central Europe was allied with Germany, so this was the only warm water port for Russia.  

2.  Australians and New Zealanders (ANZAC = Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) were a large part of force used to try to get control of the Dardenelles in Gallipoli.  8,709 Australians died and 19,441 were wounded.  The Kiwi numbers were 2,721 and 4,752.  The British numbers were much higher (34,072 and 78,520)  and the Turk casualties were significantly higher (56,643 and 97,007).  (From Wikipedia.)

One of the Kiwi families on the tour brought along a New Zealand flag and held it up at an ANZAC memorial.

So Gallipoli was all about opening the route to and from Russia’s Black Sea ports. 

You might have noticed I started out talking about Turkey and then switched to the Ottoman Empire.  The Empire was on its last legs - which was why the British thought they could overpower the military.  But looking back at other accounts, they use Turk and Ottoman, so I’ll leave it mixed.  

After WWI what was left of the Ottoman Empire was partitioned among the Western Allies .  However Ataturk defeated their forces and abolished the Ottoman Empire in 1922 and in 1923 declared the secular nation of Turkey.  That is grossly simplified.  You can read more about Ataturk here, and about the partition of the Ottoman Empire here.  And about the WWI Gallipoli campaign here.   Just writing this post reminded me how much I don’t know.  Fights over the Dardanelles goes way back.  

Those heroes that shed their blood 

and lost their lives . . .

You are now living in the soil of a friendly country

Therefore rest in peace

There is no difference between the Johnnies

And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side

Here in this country of ours. . .

You the mothers ,

Who sent their sons from far away countries

Wipe away your tears

Your sons are now living in our bosom

And are at peace.

After having lost their lives on this land,

They have become our sons as well

-Ataturk, 1934

By a cemetery for Turkish soldiers is a large statue of Ataturk with a group of Turkish students posing for a picture.  Ataturk was the commanding officer defending Gallipoli from the British and French and ANZAC troops.  There were also Indians.  

And this spot - the remains of the trenches of the ANZAC/British troops so near to the trenches of the Turkish troops - brought the reality of all this much closer.  The trees weren’t there back then.  It was hot, there were lots of bugs.  

That’s it.  A post like this takes me way too much time.  There are so many other stories and pictures that I’m afraid most of which you’ll never see here.  

We only have a few days left.  Can’t spend them at the keyboard.