The Gallipoli campaign began 100 years ago today.
February 19, 2015 1:29 PM   Subscribe

"The new dawn lights the eastern sky; Night shades are lifted from the sea": British and French ships entered the Dardanelles and opened their attack on Turkish forces, one hundred years ago today. This bold naval assault, planned by Winston Churchill, will falter, leading to the brutal Gallipoli campaign, an Allied defeat and Turkish triumph. posted by doctornemo (19 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Hopefully the Turkish celebrations are tasteful and muted.
posted by Renoroc at 1:38 PM on February 19, 2015


An account of the deluge at Suvla late in the campaign is one of the most shocking things I have ever read.

Also, an interesting fact about Gallipoli is that while Churchill was the cheerleader, one of the soldiers--the second to last person to be evacuated--was Attlee.
posted by Thing at 1:48 PM on February 19, 2015


It's impossible to point to one specific instance of that war as being the most senseless and tragic loss of life, but if you had to, Gallipoli would probably be it. It is really astonishing that Churchill went on to play any role in government at all afterwards. For an American audience, I'm not sure if there's anything directly comparable to it. Imagine the Vietnam war compressed into a single battle, maybe.
posted by feloniousmonk at 3:06 PM on February 19, 2015


Our Graves In Gallipoli
posted by kmz at 3:13 PM on February 19, 2015 [3 favorites]


Hopefully the Turkish celebrations are tasteful and muted

As opposed to the Australian ones, for example, full of drunken bogans, scattering tower garbage over the cliffs to "honour" something they don't understand. The way this gave has been coopted into our national mythology grosses me or every year.
posted by smoke at 3:27 PM on February 19, 2015 [8 favorites]


Australians are welcome in Turkey. There is great friendship between our two countries because we went to invade them and we lost. Imagine if we had won?
posted by vicx at 3:28 PM on February 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


Truth told, they should invade us now so we can beat them. Then we'd be even.
posted by um at 6:25 PM on February 19, 2015


Steel springs
posted by Slackermagee at 7:22 PM on February 19, 2015


Hard to think of Gallipoli without And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda running through my head.
posted by fredludd at 8:44 PM on February 19, 2015 [5 favorites]


Hopefully the Turkish celebrations are tasteful and muted.

Ataturk's 1934 words inscribed on the Anzac Cove memorial:
Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... you are now lying 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 lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.
posted by Gelatin at 5:00 AM on February 20, 2015 [8 favorites]


vicx: Imagine if we had won?

You did, just not at Gallipoli.

smoke: The way this gave has been coopted into our national mythology grosses me or every year.

Why? It's a pretty defining moment for Australia the country as opposed to Australia the piece of the British Empire. Canadian and American consciousness was pretty deeply shaped by the War of 1812 though all the participants are pretty upfront that the war was stupid. The Battle of Kosovo looms incredibly large in the minds of the losing side. Remembrances and celebrations of war don't mean people think they won that conflict or even think it was a good idea.
posted by spaltavian at 6:37 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


I just read Lawrence In Arabia last year, which is a lot about T.E. Lawrence, but also about the whole of the Middle East portion of WWI. One thing that really shocked me in it was learning that Gallipoli was even more pointless and tragic than I already knew. Many British officers already stationed in Cairo had been strongly suggesting invading at Alexandretta (near today's border of Turkey and Syria). The main reason Alexandretta was nixed? France had designs on possessing Syria after the war, which would be hindered if there was an invasion force of British soldiers there. So they went to Gallipoli instead.

But the "even sadder" part is that it was later found that the Ottoman troops that were stationed at Alexandretta during the time it would have been invaded, were largely comprised of Arabs who were highly disloyal to the Turks, and were eager for a reason to change sides. Had the British invaded there, they would have found almost no resistance. The whole nightmare of Gallipoli could have been avoided, and the whole result of WWI in the region might have been quite different.
posted by dnash at 9:05 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Even after a century has passed, the Great War remains an episode of collective madness on the part of ostensibly civilized human beings. The British effort to storm the Dardanelles with pre-Dreadnaught battleships was an abject failure. The landings at Gallipoli simply reinforced that failure in the worst way possible. If any campaign of the Great War typifies its madness, it is Gallipoli.

Yet the bootless sacrifice of the Anzacs was, paradoxically enough, a catalyst for the national cultures of Australia and New Zealand. Likewise, without Gallipoli, and the steadfast defense of Antalya by the man who would become Kemal Ataturk, a modern Turkiye may never have arisen from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. The paradoxes of history remain, notwithstanding the hecatombs of victims claimed by its inexorable dialectic.
posted by rdone at 9:27 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Why? It's a pretty defining moment for Australia the country as

I really disagree actually, on nearly every count.It was not a critical step in the foundation of our national identity; and I feel "ANZAC" has always been used as a political tool by successive governments; Gallipoli only rose to prominence as part of our national foundational myth decades after the fact; it's a foundational myth only accessible to white, settler Australians - part of a history the vast majority of Australians today and for many years have no connection with; its jingoistic frequently ahistorical treatment pushes my buttons as I generally despise patriotism, especially its manifestation in Australia which is often used as a glossy kind of racism and tool for avoiding the difficult questions about our history and national character; and it nauseates me how Howard used it to propel the noxious, fictional, and to me very silly idea/myth of mateship - something else that slots, in its latter day incarnation at least, comfortably into a male southern-cross tattooed, navel-gazing, arrogant and racist Australian worldview. It is inherently political, but its biggest proponents always try to deny this.
posted by smoke at 1:48 PM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


smoke: " Gallipoli only rose to prominence as part of our national foundational myth decades after the fact; ..."

But isn't this generally the case? Society often doesn't and can't see the significance of something in the heat of it.

I agree that the jingoism and ultra-patriotism that many imbue the 'ANZAC legend' with is problematic at best. But it's something that genuinely means a lot to a lot of people, me included. I'm pretty disgusted by any form of celebration or glorification of war, but regularly attend the local ANZAC day services and, by contrast to what I've seen of bigger affairs that are all about pomp and ceremony and an opportunity for politicians to show how they are bonded to the common man, the local service is a solemn affair that brings together a community in remembrance of the sacrifice the community made. In the reading of the name of every local person killed during that period of insanity and in hearing so many family names I know, I'm reminded of the essential uselessness of such actions and the incredible cost to communities they bring. I'm pleased to see that, in recent years, the 'NZ' part of ANZAC has been acknowledged much more, too, with the flying of the NZ flag alongside the Australian. ANZAC is not about Australia - it's about two fledgling countries that stood together as equals with many other countries and that did so as individual countries rather than a possession of the King of England.

There is a lot of Australia's history (and every other western country) that has its roots in racism and inequality of people. That doesn't mean it's wrong to remember the past. If you want to pick a commemoration that is truly tainted with the blood of those aspects of Australia's past, ANZAC day isn't it. Australia day is a much better target.
posted by dg at 3:16 PM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


I agree with you, that it can mean a lot of different things to different people - I don't think everyone has to feel the way I do about ANZAC Day. I was really just responding to the idea that it was a natural and seminal moment in the formation of the "Australian" identity - that's not really true, it was neither natural, nor seminal. Also it's something that's bound very tightly to one particular construction of the Australian identity, a construction which is not accessible or attractive to many Australians.
posted by smoke at 4:18 PM on February 20, 2015


Ataturk's 1934 words inscribed on the Anzac Cove memorial

Thanks for posting that, Gelatin. I've always found that inscription one of the most moving things I've ever encountered.
posted by Myca at 5:38 PM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


With smoke on this one - Gallipoli is a crap basis for a national mythology. So many lies and half truths in it, co-opted by little Johnny and his mates, alienating to so many other Australians. Aussie citizens ought to know about our defeat of conscription, our battles in 1918, before Gallipoli.
posted by wilful at 2:15 AM on February 21, 2015


With smoke on this one - Gallipoli is a crap basis for a national mythology. So many lies and half truths in it

You're kind of switching gears here. Not my place to say whether Gallipoli should be the basis of a national mythology, but it seems that it is in an empirical sense. If smoke is arguing that's really just "official" PR that doesn't actually resonate in the minds of the people, they I defer to his greater knowledge of day to day life in Australia.
posted by spaltavian at 9:46 AM on February 21, 2015


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