Gallipoli Then and Now

Gallipoli. Virtually unheard of prior to 1915, the very name of the Turkish peninsula bordering the Dardanelles - the narrow waterway linking the Mediterranean with the Black Sea - now conjures up visions of privation and hardship and death which even surpass the horrors of the trench warfare on the Western Front. The barren landscape was the backdrop to a horrific campaign between April 1915 and January 1916 in which upwards of 1000,000 men lost their lives. For the Allies it was a battle fought in vain for the invasion forces were withdrawn for no gain, but for the Turkish army it was a marvellous victory in what they refer to as their Canakkale War.