Synopses & Reviews
One of the most famous battles in history, the WWI Gallipoli campaign began as a bold move by the British to capture Constantinople, but this definitive new history explains that from the initial landings--which ended with so much blood in the sea it could be seen from airplanes overhead--to the desperate attacks of early summer and the battle of attrition that followed, it was a tragic folly destined to fail from the start.
Gallipoli forced the young Winston Churchill from office, established Turkey's iconic founder Mustafa Kemal (better known as "Ataturk"), and marked Australia's emergence as a nation in its own right. Drawing on unpublished eyewitness accounts by individuals from all ranks--not only from Britain, Australia and New Zealand, but from Turkey and France as well--Peter Hart weaves first-hand stories into a vivid narrative of the battle and its aftermath. Hart, a historian with the Imperial War Museum and a battlefield tour guide at Gallipoli, provides a vivid, boots-on-the-ground account that brilliantly evokes the confusion of war, the horrors of combat, and the grim courage of the soldiers. He provides an astute, unflinching assessment of the leaders as well. He shows that the British invasion was doomed from the start, but he places particular blame on General Sir Ian Hamilton, whose misplaced optimism, over-complicated plans, and unwillingness to recognize the gravity of the situation essentially turned likely failure into complete disaster.
Capturing the sheer drama and bravery of the ferocious fighting, the chivalry demonstrated by individuals on both sides amid merciless wholesale slaughter, and the futility of the cause for which ordinary men fought with extraordinary courage and endurance--Gallipoli is a riveting account of a battle that continues to fascinate us close to a hundred years after the event.
Review
"The human element still defines this compelling account of an operation Hart dismisses as a 'lunacy that never could have succeeded,' driven by wishful thinking as opposed to the professional analysis of ends and means...He is at his best, however, in explaining and presenting the 'near-superhuman courage and endurance' of the combatants. That remains Gallipoli's enduring appeal." --Publishers Weekly
Review
"[Peter Hart] has skillfully blended his analysis of the campaign with scores of personal accounts from both sides that fought at Gallipoli, and there are numerous maps to help readers better understand the progress of the fighting. Those who are interested in the First World War will find this a most compelling book, as we seek 'to resolve the conundrum of how somthing so stupid, so doomed from the outset, can remain so utterly fascinating.'" --Army History
"Gallipoli is replete with lengthy and compelling quotations by Australian, British, French and Turkish soldiers, most never before published. Hart's intimate familiarity with the battlefield, where he leads regular tours, adds a level of understanding absent from other books. Overall, Gallipoli is an important contribution to the growing literature on this epic and tragic campaign." --Edward G. Lengel, Military History
"The human element still defines this compelling account of an operation Hart dismisses as a 'lunacy that never could have succeeded,' driven by wishful thinking as opposed to the professional analysis of ends and means...He is at his best, however, in explaining and presenting the 'near-superhuman courage and endurance' of the combatants. That remains Gallipoli's enduring appeal." --Publishers Weekly
"An important reevaluation, largely from the Allied point of view. An excellent summary of an iconic campaign, offering many lessons for war planners." --Library Journal
"HERE is a marvellous, ghastly book...What makes Mr Hart's version so bracing is his method. He is a specialist in oral history at London's Imperial War Museum, and this book, like others he has written or co-written, gains richness and texture from the use of first-hand testimony." --The Economist
"This thorough updating of one of WWI's great 'might have beens' makes a good acquistion as we approach the centennial of the battle." --Booklist
Review
andquot;Patrick Gariepy . . . presents a detailed history of an underappreciated major military campaign doomed from the start, offering a prime model of costly disaster resulting from a bad plan poorly executed.andquot;andmdash;William D. Bushnell, Military Officer
Synopsis
World War I has long captured the macabre imagination for the seemingly willful manner in which nations sent their young men to die in droves while fighting over essentially the same patch of land for four long years. The vision of those senseless deaths becomes even harsher and more depraved when we consider how many soldiers were killed by poison gas.
In May 1915 the long and bloody Second Battle of Ypres gained notoriety for the participantsand#8217; use of poison gas, the first time the weapon had been used in battle. With both sides realizing the importance of victory in Ypres, moral considerations were set aside. Although other, more costly battles of World War I have often overshadowed the Second Battle of Ypres despite the unprecedented use of gas in the latter, that battle now receives an examination commensurate with its significance.
In Trial by Gas, George H. Cassar focuses on the conflictand#8217;s second half: the battles at Frezenberg Ridge and Bellewaarde Ridge, both of which were fought primarily by British units, taking the reader inside the trenches and behind the desks of those making the decisions. Cassarand#8217;s intimate account offers an accurate, clear, and complete chronicle of a battle with a remarkably enduring impact despite its indecisive outcome.
Synopsis
Gardens of Hell examines the human side of one of the great tragedies of modern warfare, the Gallipoli campaign of the First World War. In February 1915, beginning with a naval attack on Turkey in the Dardanelles, a combined force of British, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, and French troops invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula only to face crushing losses and an ignominious retreat from what seemed a hopeless mission. Both sides in the battle suffered huge casualties, with a combined 127,000 servicemen killed during the action.
Patrick Gariepy has pieced together the battle from combatantsand#8217; own words.and#160;Drawn from diaries and letters and from stories passed down through generations of families, these firsthand accounts offer an honest, heartfelt, and sometimes painful testimony to a doomed campaign fought by the men who lived through the fury, terror, and grief that was Gallipoli. Gardens of Hell is a sensitive acknowledgment of the enormous human cost of military folly and failure.
About the Author
PATRICK GARIEPY (1963and#8211;2012) served in the U.S. Army in Military Intelligence and as a German interpreter. He spent twenty-six years gathering information from families of men who had died at Gallipoli, as well as from numerous archives. His work has been featured on National Public Radioand#8217;s
Weekend Edition and on television and radio programs across the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
Table of Contents
Preface
1 Dodging the Issue
2 Navy in Action
3 Gathering of the Forces
4 Plans: countdown to disaster
5 25 April: Landings at Anzac
6 25 April: Landings at Helles
7 25 April: Drama at V Beach
8 25 April: Kum Kale and Diversions
9 Anzac: the Holding Pen
10 Helles: The Real Fight for Gallipoli
11 Helles: Writing on the Wall
12 New Beginnings: Hamilton's Plans
13 August: Helles Sacrifice
14 August: Anzac, Diversions and Breakout
15 August: Suvla Bay Landings
16 21 August 1915: A Useless Gesture
17 Should They Stay or Should They Go?
18 The Beginning of the End
19 Last Rites at Helles
20 Myths and Legends
Acknowledgments
Appendix: A Gallipoli Tour
Appendix B: Glossary of Military Terms
Notes and References