Gallipoli

The Gallipoli campaign of World War I is often regarded as one of the most tragic and misguided battles in modern history. Attempting to establish a sea route to Russia, the Allies planned to break through the Dardanelles. Turkey, still recovering from its defeats in the Balkan Wars and the recent overthrow of its Sultan by the “Young Turks,” was not regarded as a threat.

But by the time the defeated Allied forces withdrew, they had suffered nearly a quarter million casualties, as had their opponents. Careers were derailed, including that of a young Winston Churchill, who, as First Sea Lord for the British, had planned the attack, and the battle would come to epitomize the folly of fighting for impossible objectives with inadequate means on unknown, unmapped terrain. Alan Moorehead’s classic study of Gallipoli, first published in 1956, is a vivid, heartbreaking chronicle, filled with suspense, agony and heroism.

Alan Moorehead (1910—1983) was a foreign correspondent for the London Daily Express, where he won an international reputation for his coverage of World War II campaigns, and also served as the chief public relations officer in the Ministry of Defense. Moorehead is the author of many notable books, including The Blue Nile, The White Nile, and Darwin and the Beagle.

“The story is told superbly. Because Mr. Moorehead knows what a battlefield looks, smells, and sounds like, the readers gets the ‘feel’ of the battle ... I have read no better descriptive writing about either world war.” — New York Times