The Great Class War 1914-1918 by Jacques R. Pauwels

Author:Jacques R. Pauwels [Pauwels, Jacques R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War I, Modern, 20th Century
ISBN: 9781459411050
Google: ub7FDQAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1459411056
Publisher: Lorimer
Published: 2016-04-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

From the Dolomites to the Dardanelles

In 1915, countless allied lives, mainly Australian and New Zealander, are wasted in a vain attempt to advance toward Istanbul via the Gallipoli Peninsula and thus to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war. In the meantime, the Ottomans also have to confront the Russians, and it is in this context that the Armenians become the victims of a veritable genocide. Italy enters the conflict on the side of the Entente, but suffers heavy losses. Bulgaria, on the other hand, joins the Central Powers and thus a new front opens up deep in the Balkan Peninsula ...

In the spring of 1915, the military leadership of the Entente believed it would be possible to win the war via an offensive strategy purporting to pierce the German positions on the western front. But a number of generals as well as political leaders in Paris and London doubted that this strategy would work and started to look for other options. One of the sceptics was Winston Churchill, who was at the time First Lord of the Admiralty; in other words, the cabinet minister in charge of the Royal Navy — not to be confused with its military chief, known as the First Sea Lord, a position occupied as of October 1914 by the aforementioned John Fisher.

Churchill conjured up a plan to attack the Ottoman Empire, supposedly the weak link in the chain of the Central Powers. The idea was to capture Istanbul and thus open a passage to the Black Sea via the Bosporus. This would have created a connection by sea to the Russian ally, who needed to be supplied with all sorts of equipment. It might thus also become possible to finish off the Ottomans, cause neighbouring countries such as Bulgaria and Romania to join the war on the side of the Entente, and perhaps even to march all the way to Vienna via the Balkans.

The plan was implemented. Things got going in February–March 1915 with attempts by ships of the British and French navies to squeeze through the Dardanelles, but they were repulsed by the Ottoman defenders, who proved to have been greatly underestimated. The latter had not only laid mines, but also made excellent use of the artillery in their coastline fortresses. It was therefore decided to land British and French forces, supplemented by troops newly arrived via Egypt from Australia and New Zealand, the men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the Anzacs. The landings started on April 25 on the coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula, which stretches between the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles. The men managed to disembark, but could not penetrate far inland and had to settle for a handful of bridgeheads with names such as Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay. The Ottomans had expected the landings and were well prepared; they were also led by competent officers, Germans as well as Turks, including Mustafa Kemal and Otto Liman von Sanders. (After the war, the former

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