What was the larger strategic significance of the failure of the Gallipoli expedition 1915-1916 - Essay Example

? What Was The Larger Strategic Significance Of The Failure Of The Gallipoli Expedition In 1915-1916? Introduction The Gallipoli Expedition was an example of technology trying to surpass traditional war tactics. The Entente launched hi-tech machine guns, super fast firing rifles and all types of modern artillery against the nineteenth century war tactics and Ottoman patriotism. The result was a huge loss of manpower and resources on both the sides. The Gallipoli Expedition also known popularly as the "Dardanelles operation of 1915" is regarded as one of the major failure for the Allied forces in World War I. It affected both the Central powers as well as the Entente alike. Several lessons were learned from the expedition with the most important of them being the following Trust the instincts and act with common sense as the situation prompts while planning the attacks instead of following the bookish lessons. Trust the war tactics and the people instead of depending on the technology completely Archaic titles and birth privileges are just not enough to win the military war, but merit and true valour. The Dardanelles expedition influenced the politics of the European nations as well as the Middle East countries in many different ways. The larger strategic significance gained from the failure of the Gallipoli expedition in 1915-1916 led the Entente to reform their war tactics and win the World War I. The failure came as a hit to the Anglo-French coalition's pride. The blow awakened them literally from falling into disaster practicing their traditional war strategies. On the other hand it led to major reforms in countries like Turkey opening the gates of the democracy in the Middle East. The Gallipoli Expedition The Gallipoli expedition was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Western nations. The Anglo-French armies were largely assisted by nations like New Zealand and Australia. ANZAC or the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps played a major role in the campaign. The Entente were headed by General Sir Ian Hamilton and the Ottoman Turks were led by Kemal Pasha Ataturk. It is important to explore the reason behind the origin of the World War if we have to understand the importance of the Dardanelles expedition. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Australia and his wife Sophie were murdered by Serbian terrorists on 28th June 1914. Serbia was an independent state but was annexed by the Austria in 1908 amidst great protests. The prince's ideas of reforms were quite unpopular among the elite as well the freedom movements in Serbia. There were several nationalistic movements in the country which feared the Serbs might be repressed further by the reforms as the Prince Ferdinand was next in line to throne. Hence they carried out the assassination which triggered many long standing disputes between the various major European powers. The World War I termed as the 'Great War' took nearly 20 million lives and left more than 21 million wounded (Fromkin, 1989). The causes for the origin of the war were much debated and its effects were felt for a long time in the world. Historians like Wolfgang Mommsen analyzed various reasons for the German uprising and termed it was a measure to divert the public from other issues like inequality created due to industrialization, democratization and the other core issues the average German citizen had started to question his rulers (Keiger, 1983). Each country in Europe was influenced by a different principle starting from militarism to imperialism and nationalism. Each was in direct conflict with the other. The assassination of the Archduke made them take sides. Major military Powers like the Great Britain, France and Russia joined hands on one side forming the Entente while the Germany, Austria and Hungary along with other small nations joined together on the opposite side forming the Central Powers.1 The growing power of Germany alarmed both its eastern and western neighbours the Russia and France. Hence, they formed an alliance together with the Great Britain to defend themselves leading to the birth of Entente in 1894. Germany’s attempts to set up a naval force similar to that of Britain’s Royal Navy alarmed them forcing them to join with the Entente. Germany on the other hand was busy making treaties with many small nations to strengthen itself in case of war. It signed a treaty with the Ottoman Empire of Turkey providing military and financial support to the nation. Importance of Gallipoli Peninsula’s Location Gallipoli is a small peninsula located on the northern side of Turkey. Gallipoli gained such an importance because of its strategic location in between the Gulf of Saros and Dardanelles. With the outbreak of the war, the Anglo-French troops had very little chance to contact Russia and gain help from them as Germany was situated in between France and Russia. The Entente saw Turkey as an alternative route to reach Russia. Gaining control over the area will also isolate Germany from the rest of the world. Capturing Gallipoli will give the allied forces control to the Sea of Marmora, and easy access to Constantinople, the Turkish capital. Capturing Turkey would be an easy way to threaten German forces and find a best location to land the allied troops against Germany. Russia badly needed a route to stay in touch with its allies without having to cross through the German borders. Winston Churchill is blamed to be the father for this devastating brainchild which caused several casualties on both sides. Though he is blamed widely to have depended on the navy completely for the failure of the expedition, historians regard, any person in his position would have done the same. Conquering Gallipoli was important in 1915 due to the following reasons. 90% of Russia's food supplies and 50% of all her exports travelled through Turkey. The countries economy was very much dependant on the route. Turkey's alliance with Germany was seen as a major obstacle for the Entente win. The battle of Tannenburg has left Russian forces in severe shortage of rifles and ammunition. The war clouds created a severe food shortage in the west. They were in need of the Middle East and the Russian grains to feed their citizens as well as the soldiers. Gallipoli Strait was important for such food and ammunition transfer. There was an immediate necessity to boost the morale of the citizens in the Entente countries. Great Britain and France had to prove to their citizens that winning a World War was possible. They miscalculated Gallipoli would be an easy victory which they can showcase to their citizens and soldiers to inspire them. Further, they needed to convince Russia that they were taking some steps on their sides to keep up the treaty. Else there was the danger of Russia pulling out of the war.2 Given the importance of the Dardanelles straits, the world expected Winston Churchill to use complex tactics and the prized strategic values to win the war. But the battle did not follow any modern as well as the traditional war fare lessons. The straits were largely defended by the natural geography. Germans supported the Turks with continuous supply of arms. The northern side of the strait was lined by Gallipoli Peninsula, and the south by the shores of Ottoman Empire. Gallipoli expedition or Dardanelles operation of 1915 began on February 19th. The Anglo-French squadron attacked Turkey waters with eleven battle ships, four cruisers, sixteen destroyers and one fully equipped battle cruiser. The attack lasted till March 18th but they were not able to move forward along the straits. The fortresses in the area were well guarded and positioned on cliff-tops. They used landmines on the beaches and the guards in the cliff tops had a direct aim on the shipping lanes. The western soldiers struggled to fight in the hot climate and the new war tactics used by the Ottomans. They lost three of their battleships. It was decided to expand the army. Two more battleships, eight more cruisers, twenty four more destroyers were added to the original squadron. More than 80,000 men from the Anglo-French army fought under the command of general Ian Hamilton and General d’Amade. The expedition had already killed more than 80,000 men before they could make a small progress landing near Seddul Bahr. They were not able to progress any further as all the attempts to capture the beach heads were spoiled by the Turkish army. The stubborn resistance of the Turkish troops left the Anglo-French army spell bound. Most of the soldiers from the Turkish side fought to their death with bare hands even though they have lost their ammunition. All the offensive actions taken by the Anglo-French army from April to June ended in a drastic failure. They started to retreat back after seven months from December 1915 and evacuated to Salonika by January 9, 1916. Totally 145,000 men were killed from the Allied side and the causality on the Turkish side was much higher with the dead count reaching 186,000 men. 3 There are several reasons for the failure of this expedition starting from poor preparation, non communicating leadership to the minor squabbles prevalent among the allies. The immediate effect of the Gallipoli expedition was the entry of Bulgaria into the World War I on the German side. The expedition affected both the central power and the entente severely. The Turkish side saw the immense loss of manpower with nearly 60% of the total soldiers who took part in the war getting killed. The Istanbul Men’s high school and the Istanbul Darulfunun or university lost all its students. All the students enrolled in the Medical school of Darulfunun were killed on 19th May, 1915 when their battalion succumbed to the Allied forces. The university did not have a single student to graduate from the class of 1915 in 1921 their supposed year of course completion4. Lieutenant Colonel H. M. Farmar commented on the British attacks as follows Had the British tried to concentrate for an attack in-depth in a given time, for fewer troops could have been landed with the means available, than the numbers which the enemy could have collected in the opposition, and the problem of the Turks would have been made far easier than it actually was (Farmar, 2009). The Gallipoli expedition was managed by Winston Churchill’s own will predominantly. He failed to realize the mistakes Hamilton was making at an early stage. Caught up in several other strategic discussions both Churchill and Lord Kitchener were not able to give proper guidance to Hamilton or monitor his activities frequently. Hamilton was a trained general, but he insisted on following certain bookish tactics to the core. He was not able to overcome the minor differences he had with his colleagues who often paid little respect to him. Kitchener did not give him the right to replace or warn them. Both Churchill and Kitchener neither allowed Hamilton to fight according to his will nor fight better. The Gallipoli expedition has affected several people mainly the families if diseased soldiers in innumerable ways. The famous poet Ted Hughes grew up in a house where his father and uncle participated in Gallipoli expedition. His father was one among 17 survivors who escaped the thousands massacred by the Turkish troops. Hughes later agreed most of the inspiration for his bloody war poems came from his father narration about the Gallipoli slaughter (Meyers, 2013). Reasons for the Failure of Gallipoli Attack Historians give several reasons for the failure of the Gallipoli attack. The British royal navy was no match to the modern German artillery used by the Turkish soldiers. Their battleships were obsolete and quite old, unfit for a war against a modern technology. The leadership of the Anglo-French troops lacked communication because the French and the Brits had lots of internal conflicts between themselves. The ANZACs The ANZAC forces which arrived from Australia and New Zealand were hailed as major war heroes. It was the first war for them as a unified nation. The soldiers fought gallantly but lacked experience and tactics. They were misinformed regarding every order passed by the Anglo-French armies. On 19 February 1915, the allied forces bombed the coasts of Turkey. They carried out another attack on 25th February. A rumour spread among the allied forces stating there was a severe shortage of ammunition among the Turkish forces and victory was near. However the beaches have been mined in several places by the Ottoman forces. The troops which progressed forward were killed instantly and the age old weapons of the British warships were not enough to detect the hidden mines. The final attack came on 18th March, 1915. It is considered as the major ground attack in the Gallipoli campaign became a massive failure. The Anglo-French commanders continued to depend upon the naval power completely instead of increasing ground attacks which was a major reason for failure of the campaign. Significant Land Battles General Sir Ian Hamilton was a charismatic personality with the distinguished family background. He was promoted to the position at a very young age. He was a brilliant man well educated and trained in war tactics. His major drawback was his disability to communicate properly and inexperience. He did not know how to construct organized battles. He spent the rest of his life writing about war memoirs and training people. When asked whether he regretted Gallipoli campaign he answered the significance of the Dardanelles operation was under represented in the history and he did what any general in command would do. Ian Hamilton was suspended from any further military operation after the Gallipoli expedition. His seven months as General in Gallipoli signifies one of the worst time for the Anglo-French allies. The Entente learned that valour should be honoured in war instead of influence and family background after sacrificing the life of thousands of soldiers. Turkish Bravery ANZAC, the first royal naval infantry division, the 29th British territorial infantry division, the French 1st infantry division and the 29th Indian infantry brigade all fought in the Gallipoli expedition. The Allied forces first major ground attacks started when they arrived north of Gallipoli in February, 1915. They were joined by the ANAZC's on the Aegean coast. They tried to besiege the Seddulbahir fort, but the Ottoman resistance was remarkable. They did not allow most of the reinforcements to set their feet on the ground by firing continuously. There was no shortage of arms and ammunition from their side as their German counterparts kept filling them with constant supply of arms. Just 2 battalions of Turks prevented the whole Britain army from landing on the Turkish coast. On 28th April, the Entente launched the first Battle of Krithia and lost in a short time with huge number of casualties. ANZAC Valour The allied forces especially the ANZACs gave a tough fight to the Turks in the May 19th attack on the ANZAC troops. Nearly 42,000 Turkish soldiers died on the attack while 680 ANZAC's lost their lives. Severe ground battles took place on 4th June, 28th June, 5th July and 12th July. But, they allied forces were defeated every time though both the sides suffered heavy losses. It is often said that Australia became a true nation or 'came of age' only when the ANZACs started to fight together for their country. The survivors of the Great War were the first group of people to experience as true sense of nationhood in the country (Alistair, 1994). The AZTAC’s were well disciplined soldiers, but lacked proper guidance in the foreign field. Sir Ian Hamilton did not know how to persuade them to fight tactically and use their valour to the best. They proved their might on the several other wars which occurred during the World War I. The Second Battle of Krithia was launched immediately. Historians like A.P. Herbert had a vivid way of explaining the Gallipoli expedition. They expressed it in a strangely romantic and innocent way depicting the soldiers as heroic victims. One of the descriptions about the expedition, ANZAC's particularly read, because of the courage with which they fought, because of their devotion to duty and their comradeship, because of their ingenuity, their good humour and their endurance, because these hills rang with their voices and rand with their blood' this place is in one sense a part of Australia (Macleod, 2004). Churchill’s Naval Only Policy Winston Churchill did the same mistake the Germans did after many decades in the Second World War. He believed naval forces and air strike was enough to capture the strait. Just like London resisted the German air strikes and military advancements for years, the Turks resisted this attacks and their strong ground fleet caused havoc to the allied forces. The Ottoman Empire entered the First World War much later than the others in October 1914. The reason to why the Ottoman kings chose to enter an alliance with the German’s is a matter of great debate till date. Financial help from various foreign countries were pouring into Turkey with a view of annexing it with them. The National Bank of Turkey was set up in the country with strong financial help from the Great Britain. The Bank was instrumental in improving the finance of the area to a great extent (Kent, 1996). The Ottoman leaders thought Germany would be their trusted companion to the international threats and aid them in solving the internal problems better than the allied forces. They always had a strong doubt that the allies were after their oil wealth and will try to dominate them sooner or later. Winston Churchill was a distinguished Member of Parliament who served as the home secretary from 1910 to 1911. He became an important military engineer behind many of the World War I operations. He led some abortive missions like Antwerp and the Gallipoli. The Gallipoli expedition garnered wide spread protests from several experienced military leaders even before it was drafted fully. It was Churchill's insistence that led to the materialization of a plan which gathered such huge oppositions from British Military. Though the Britain government's war cabinet did not oppose the plan to capture the Gallipoli strait, people like Admiral Sir Sackville Carden and Admiral John Fisher opposed the naval only plan. Sir Sackville Carden, was the Commander in Chief for the British Naval forces stationed in the Mediterranean. He was strictly against launching a "naval only" attack on the strait. He was coerced by Winston Churchill in various ways to draw a plan which he used to win the trust of the parliament. 5 The Russian Commander in Chief Grand Duke Nikolai also criticized the plan about attacking the strait from the north in a telephonic conversation. Admiral John Fisher who played a major role in taking forward the operation was also against the naval only plan. But, he was promised proper support form ground fleets would be offered to him. Hence, he kept silent in the War Cabinet meetings which were dominated by Churchill. Admiral Fisher who was the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy expressed his growing concerns about Churchill's plan to the British War Minister Lord Kitchener. But, Churchill's influence prevented Lord Kitchener from reconsidering the plan. The relations between Admiral Fisher and Churchill started to get worse day by day. The initial attacks on the Gallipoli Strait started on 19th February 1915 and lasted still 25th February, 1915. Sir Sackville Carden who was forced to draft a naval only plan, suffered a nervous exhaustion before the attack to capture the narrow strait on 18th March, 1915. He was replaced by Sir John de Robeck, who led the failure attack on the Narrows. Ian Hamilton was made responsible for the Gallipoli campaign on 12th March, 1915 by Lord Kitchener. Following the failure of the Gallipoli Campaign, both Churchill and Admiral Fisher resigned after the failure of the expedition. Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston and Sir William Birdwood were his colleagues. But, both of them differed from him in several ways. The allied troops had several differences among themselves. Hamilton was unsure of any decision and his colleagues repeatedly disobeyed his orders. Though they were efficient leaders themselves, they ceased to respect Hamilton. Many of his the effective strategies and plans backfired due to the internal politics. General Hamilton stayed off-shore and stared giving orders from a ship called Arcadian. A new ANZAC division was formed. Hamilton suggested they progress in the night time as the Turkish machine gun posts were hard to budge. But, Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston was against this decision and took his army to the anticipated attack in broad daylight, suffering more than 6000 casualties. Many such incidents kept occurring constantly showcasing the differences between the allied forces, squandering the confidence of the soldiers. Meanwhile, the Turks fought unified under their distinguished leaders. Hamilton was replaced by Lt. General Sir Charles Monro in October. He ordered the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula as he received information regarding the Germans opening a new route to supply arms to the Ottoman Empire. The evacuation began on 7th December 1915 and ended on 9th January, 1916. General Hamilton severely opposed the move as he believed victory was within reach. The Gallipoli attack became the starting for a series of Gulf war’s which followed the attack. Though the Turks emerged victorious, their suffered unprecedented losses. The Turks needed this much awaited victory because they have been hit badly by the Balkan wars. The Ottoman Empire had left the country in bad state and every Turk was ready to defend what little they had with their life. Aubrey Herbert who witnessed the city writes There falls perpetual snow upon a broken plain, And through the twilight filled with flakes the white earth joins the sky. Grim as a famished wounded wolf, his lean neck in a chain The Turk stands up to die (Moorhead, 1967). The instincts, intuition and experienced advises of many were pushed aside brutally by Winston Churchill who wanted to concede his Antwerp failure with Gallipoli expedition. But, Gallipoli proved to be even greater failure and Winston Churchill was demoted to a powerless position after he resigned from the cabinet owning the blame for the expedition’s failure. Rejection of Italy’s Help Britain was offered a 60,000 men troop initially by Italy. But, the British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey was confident about pulling the Ottoman Empire to fight on the Entente side. So, they denied the proposal. When Britain asked Italy for ground support during the Gallipoli expedition, Italy had seen a change of leadership and it required the approval of Bulgaria to lend such an aid. But, it was denied as Bulgaria joined the German's shortly. The Entente Bought in the AZTAC's from far away Australia instead with little experience. The greatest mistake Hamilton did was to the command the force to break through the south from Suvla bay. He sent extra reinforcements, replaced the commanders and the changed the structure of the army. But, the attacks against Hill 60 and Scimitar Hill proved drastic failures. The allied troops were not trained to fight in the hot trenches. When Hamilton requested more forces, the Britain war minister Kitchener has already lost all hopes in him. He was given just 25000 men when he asked for nearly 95000 reinforcements. Meanwhile, Churchill too was under enormous pressure to keep the French and the British parliaments convinced that Gallipoli will become a fruitful expedition. The British government did send 125, 000 troops to the Salonika even though Lord Kitchener opposed the move from the beginning. The failure of the Salonika wars got reported to London by journalists like Keith Murdoch and Hamilton started to face severe criticisms. He lost respect among his commanders and troop and was called back shortly. The Turks themselves agreed that the techniques used by Churchill and his war cabinet were outdated. Had Hamilton got the 100,000 troops he asked for instead of the 25000 men reinforcement, he could have won the battle. Even the Turkish admirals who were quite sure, no enemy would penetrate them agreed they were on the losing side and if the Anglo-French troops had bought in more ships than evacuating, they would have conquered Constantinople easily. Had Hunter-Weston followed the ordered of Hamilton to the core, several casualties would have been averted too. Gallipoli expedition was important to the allied forces strategically. The military commanders of the Entente were arrogant towards their own men and the Turks which was one major reason for the failure of the expedition. Suppose the Gallipoli expedition had proved successful, the results of the World War I would still be the same. But, the Russian fleets which were trapped in the Black Sea would have come to the Allied forces aid in the right time. Defeating Germany would have been much easier. In fact, the Russian troops did warn the Anglo-French army about attacking the Gallipoli peninsula from the north, as they considered it a suicide mission. The Gallipoli expedition was taught as a lesson from which various lessons were learned for the decades to follow. Many of the mistakes done in the expedition were repeated by the Central Powers. Though Gallipoli expedition was a complete failure by all means, it weakened the Ottoman Empire to a great extent paving way for major political changes in the country. The Aftermath of the Expedition The Gallipoli victory was short lived. The ANZAC's and the Anglo-French soldiers, who evacuated from the Darndanelles, took refuge in Egypt. They defeated the British further at Kul Al Amara in 1916. They tried to drive the Brits away from Egypt by capturing the Suez Canal. But, this ambition was spoiled after the Battle of Romani. Turkey suffered immense losses in the hands of the allied troops. The Ottoman Empire faced the Arab rebellion and underwent a civil war under Mustafa Kemal. Turkey emerged as an independent nation after the World War. But, it was ruined economically after the expedition and the civil war. The Central Powers which the Turkey supported suffered colossal losses in the World War I which affected the growth of the nation further. However, the nation emerged like a phoenix from the ashes transforming itself into a modern nation. The ANZAC's were reorganized completely and their valour was put to best use in the Battle of Beersheba. The ANZAC day is celebrated with nationwide patriotism in Australia and New Zealand on April 25th. It was the first event where Australia took part with a national feeling. Lord Kitchener did not suffer any major aftermath. But, his reputability was destroyed and his colleagues never viewed him as a man capable of making proper decisions again. Ian Hamilton's career came to a stall. Winston Churchill himself took much part of the blame. But, he managed to re-emerge as an important leader shortly after the war. End of the Great War World War I came to an end with the Czarist Russia falling to the hands of the Bolshevik's. It withdrew from the war and the German economy became worse than ever forcing it to come to negotiations with the allied force. The World War I claimed millions of lives de-evolving itself into a mass massacre. Both the allied forces as well as the Central Powers did not achieve what they actually wanted to. Being the first important campaign in the World War I, Gallipoli incident represented the end result of the war in a strange way. There were some positive effects of the Gallipoli expedition too. The ANZAC's became very famous for their steadfast valour. They are known as one of the most formidable band of soldiers in the modern world till date. The revolts in Turkey put an end to the Ottoman Empire and paved way for the rise of strong Arab nationalism in the Middle East. They grew up to gain enormous power which led them to control the oil reserves of the world. The western world is still trying to gain a grip on them in spite of several Gulf Wars. The Antwerp and Gallipoli expeditions taught valuable lessons to Winston Churchill which made him lead the country effectively through the Second World War. His military strategies and the leadership style changed profoundly after the failure of the Gallipoli campaign. The World War I had the seeds of the World War II in several of its negotiation treaties like the Versailles treaty (Mulligan, 2010). Churchill was able to defend the world against the Germans effectively only because of the lessons he learned in this expedition. Modern Historians comment, if Hamilton or Churchill would have heeded to the advices from Admiral Fisher or Carden, a small army could have won the war easily. They pin point how a well consolidated attack from the South of Sulva Bay would have fulfilled the objective of opening up the much needed South Eastern front with a little help from the Russians. Hamilton’s hasty and pointless decisions led thousands of soldiers to die from land mines buried in the Turkish beaches. To this day the ANZAC’s are known as 'Diggers' owing to their slogan "Dig, dig, dig and you will be perfectly safe" which was framed in relevance to finding diffusing land mines. Writings about Gallipoli usually blame certain personalities like Churchill and General Ian Hamilton for the failure of the campaign. But, looking deeply we could see no victory is influenced by a single personality. A series of events and conflicts lead to victory or failure of the war. The personalities of the leaders influence the outcome significantly, but they are not the sole reason for the victory or defeat (Travers, 2001). The myth of British naval superiority over other countries and the confidence of the British people in their ability to win others was a major reason for the hit. Churchill ordered the old ships which were halted for a long time to be used in the campaign instead of using the modern warfare with overconfidence amidst severe protests from Admiral Fisher (Wilson, 1985). The lessons learned from the expedition proved beneficial to one party while many other continued to repeat similar mistakes throughout history, for example Vietnam. One major lesson the expedition taught is the need for the leaders to communicate effectively with their sub ordinates. The British forces understood the necessity to maintain an effective junior command which follows the order of their top commander. Conclusion The Gallipoli Expedition was a combination of a series of events that went wrong. However, its larger strategic values had significant effects on the way the Great War was fought. The three major lessons learned through the expedition are summarized below. Lesson 1: Restructure the War Strategies One of the greatest lessons the Gallipoli expedition taught is that war strategies should be changed or adjusted according to the situation. Many suggestions were made from the Russian side as well as the experienced people like Admiral Fisher to Churchill to attack from the South. Hamilton ceased to consider their suggestions and kept on sending men into death trap repeatedly without any clear vision. He acted as a puppet for Churchill as well as Kitchener which cost his respect among the army. Things would have been different had he taken any measures to make his higher officials understand the strategies they suggested he follow did not work and it was time to try something different. He failed to restructure his war strategies it was most important. Lesson 2: Trust people instead of Technology The initial blow to the campaign came when Churchill’s "Naval only" strategy failed. The narrow straits of the Dardanelles kept the battleships miles away from the attacking targets. With scanty ground fleets, mines and fierce Ottoman soldiers, the mission suffered a major setback from the very first attack on the Northern side of Gallipoli. This was followed by a series of hasty decisions and ill planned conquests, which led to failure after failure. Churchill was advised by various people to use the ground fleet effectively along with the naval attacks. But, he believed blindly in their modern warfare and failed to recognize the importance of the land fleet. Gallipoli expedition is a strong proof for how technology alone cannot win wars without roper human effort. Lesson 3: Archaic title alone is not enough for military victory, but merit and talent. Gallipoli incident paved way for a merit based promotions in the UK military which was highly influenced by the family name and royal blood. The world knew the unscrupulous moves of Churchill, Lord Kitchener and General Hamilton all hailing from esteemed families were the main cause of the failure of the war. The rulers understood being born in to a noble family alone is not a qualification to lead huge armies in the war front. Gallipoli expedition was a brutal slide show with major bloodshed. It is actually a tip of the iceberg considering the ample violence unveiled in the World War I. The world we live in today is influenced by its legacy in innumerable ways. References 1. Thomson, Alistair, Anzac memories: living with the legend (Melbourne; New York: Oxford University Press 1994). 2. Fromkin, David, A peace to end all peace: the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Middle East (London: Deutsch, 1989) 3. Keiger, John F. V., France and the origins of the First World War (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1983) 4. Kent, Marian (ed.), The Great Powers and the end of the Ottoman Empire (London: Cass, 2nd ed. 1996 5. Mulligan, William, The origins of the First World War (Cambridge: CUP, 2010) 6. Moorehead, Alan, Gallipoli (London: H. Hamilton, 2nd ed. 1967). 7. Macleod, Jenny, Reconsidering Gallipoli (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004) 8. Thomson, Alistair, Anzac memories: living with the legend (Melbourne; New York: Oxford University Press 1994). 9. Travers, Tim, Gallipoli 1915 (Stroud: The History Press, 2001) 10. Wilson, Keith, The policy of the Entente: Essays on the determinants of British foreign policy 1904-1914 (Cambridge: CUP, 1985) Read More