Gallipoli Disaster Begins With a Naval Gamble - Ottoman World War I

TL;DR

Britain's gamble to force warships through the Dardanelles to capture Istanbul collapsed in naval disaster, triggering the catastrophic Gallipoli land campaign.

Key Points

• 1.Churchill's naval plan aimed to end the Ottoman war in one stroke. Vice Admiral Carden proposed a four-stage plan approved January 13, 1915, to force 18 Allied battleships through the 41-mile Dardanelles, threatening Istanbul and relieving Russian pressure in the Caucasus.
• 2.The Dardanelles defenses were formidable but vulnerable. The 14-mile defended segment held 72 heavy guns at the Narrows, hundreds of mines, and searchlights, though gunners were poorly trained, ammunition scarce, and fire control relied on vulnerable telephone wires.
• 3.March 18 became a catastrophic Allied defeat. A secret Ottoman mineline laid the night before sank Bouvet in two minutes with 639 dead, then crippled Inflexible, Irresistible, and Ocean; the Entente lost 3 battleships, 3 more severely damaged, and over 1,000 killed.
• 4.The failed naval assault forced a full land invasion of 78,000 men. General Hamilton convinced Kitchener on February 19 that the straits required ground forces; the ANZAC Corps, 29th British Division, Royal Naval Division, and French Corps were assembled at Mudros by April 19.
• 5.Ottoman General Liman von Sanders had a full month to prepare 50,000 defenders. He concentrated forces at Cape Helles, Bulair, and Gaba Tepe, built roads, dug trenches, laid barbed wire and minefields, and kept the bulk of his force in mobile inland reserve.
• 6.The ANZAC landing at Gallipoli on April 25 was immediately disrupted by terrain and Mustafa Kemal. Troops landed 1.6 km off target onto steep cliffs; Kemal led over 10,000 men in successive counterattacks, retaking Baby 700 by 16:30 and inflicting roughly 20% casualties — over 500 dead and 2,500 wounded — on 16,000 landed troops.
• 7.Cape Helles landings were bloodiest at V and W Beaches, while Y Beach was abandoned despite initial success. The 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers lost roughly 300 of 700 at V Beach; Lancashire Fusiliers fought through mines and wire at W Beach; Y Beach troops who landed unopposed re-embarked on April 26 after communication failures left them unsupported, leaving the British with over 2,000 Cape Helles casualties.