![]() The dynamic changed on January 1, 1915, when Russia formally requested a “naval or military demonstration against the Turks to ease the pressure caused by the Turkish offensive driving through the Caucasus Mountains.” 15 British decisionmakers debated the Russian request and the larger issue of the future strategic direction of the war effort during a series of War Council meetings in early January. He was reluctant to divert troops from the continent, which he viewed as the primary focus of effort for the British.Ī dichotomy of opinion thus emerged: the politicians advocated for a second front on the Gallipoli Peninsula, while senior military officers argued against intervention in Turkey. 13 Kitchener also disagreed with opening a second front, but for different reasons. 10 Director of Military Operations Major General Charles Callwell 11 presciently observed that a campaign in Gallipoli was “likely to prove an extremely difficult operation of war.” 12 He proffered that an operation in the Dardanelles would require a force of not less than 60,000, with strong siege artillery, echeloned into Turkey in two large waves. 9 Representatives of the War Office and the Admiralty met and concluded that an attack on the Gallipoli Peninsula was not a militarily feasible operation. 7 They agreed that the Ottoman Empire was weak and that “Germany perhaps be struck most effectively, and with the most lasting results on the peace of the world through her allies, and particularly through Turkey.” 8 Thus, within weeks of the outbreak of war, British attention turned east.Īt the end of August 1914, Churchill formally requested that Secretary of State for War Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener organize a group of naval and military officers to plan for the seizure of the Gallipoli Peninsula, “with a view to admitting a British Fleet to the Sea of Marmara” and eventually knocking Turkey out of the war. Secretary of the War Cabinet Maurice Hankey, Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George, and Churchill advocated military operations against Turkey on the Gallipoli Peninsula. 5 Ultimately, the British failed to convince the French to participate, effectively scuttling Churchill’s North Sea plan.īritish political and military leaders next focused attention on Turkey and the possibility of military operations to seize the Dardanelles, 6 attack Constantinople, and open a line of communication to Russia. He proposed a joint Anglo-French amphibious assault along the Belgian coast designed to outflank German positions on the Western Front, liberate the port of Zeebrugge, and prevent Germany from using Zeebrugge and Ostende as submarine bases. ![]() 4 First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill contemplated amphibious operations in the North Sea to increase pressure on Germany. With combat in France and Belgium characterized by hopeless direct assaults on entrenched enemy positions, British strategists began planning for a new direction. This article examines the disastrous results of the attempt to open a second front and the disconnect between Allied strategic ends and means.īritish battleship HMS Irresistible abandoned and sinking, having been shattered by explosion of floating mine in Dardanelles during attack on Narrows’ Forts, Ma(Royal Navy/Library of Congress) Genesis of the Dardanelles Decision British leaders pursued short-term, politically expedient military objectives in Turkey that were both ancillary to their military expertise and contrary to achieving the overall ends of winning the war by defeating Germany. 3 The decision to open a second front in the east in 1915 ultimately failed to achieve Britain’s strategic objectives during the first full year of World War I. British strategists responded by opening a new front in the east with two strategic objectives: drive Turkey out of the war by attacking Constantinople, and open a route to beleaguered ally Russia. Rising calls from British political leaders, the media, and the public demanded action to break the stalemate. Armies had not changed their battlefield tactics in response to new, highly destructive weapons, resulting in massive casualties. ![]() The Western Front quickly became a killing ground of unprecedented violence in human history: combined British, French, and German casualties totaled 2,057,621 by January 1915. ![]() Almost immediately, however, the combatants faced each other in a long line of static defensive trenches. 1 Most Europeans expected the conflict to be short-“over by Christmas” was a common refrain-and relatively inexpensive in terms of blood and treasure. World War I began on July 28, 1914, 1 month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir-apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
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