Highly effectively against the unarmored British naval minesweepers that failed to clear the Dardanelles of mines useful against Allied troops occupying the lower ground on the Gallipoli peninsula. In this context, capturing the capital city of the Ottoman Empire would be “the last link in an unbreakable chain, which, with the capture of Constantinople and the resultant entry of Italy and the Balkans into the war, will extend unbroken from the western coast of Norway by way of the North Sea, the Mediterranean, the Balkans and Russia, to the eastern shores of the Baltic.” Ī 75-millimeter gun used by the Ottoman Empire. Within a wider strategic context, a key war aim of the Allies was an economic blockade Germany and Austria-Hungary to cut off their ability to import raw materials to fight an industrial-scale war. It was thought that “with Constantinople in the hands of the enemy, the whole Turkish plan of campaign would collapse”. The British, French and Russians believed that it would be relatively easy to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war by the shortcut of attacking the capital city and the heart of the empire, Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire entered the war, somewhat reluctantly, on the side of Germany and Austro-Hungary on November 11, 1914. In nine months of hard fighting, and after close to a quarter of a million casualties on each side, the Allies were forced to withdraw, and they evacuated the last of their forces in January 1916. On that date in 1915 troops from Australia, New Zealand, Britain and France landed on the Gallipoli peninsula, only 130 miles from Constantinople, the capital of Turkey and the heart of the Ottoman Empire. Image: Scientific American, April 13, 1918Īpril 25, 2015, marks the 100-year anniversary of an important battle in the First World War: it was a major defeat for the Allies (Britain, France and Russia) and a great victory for the Ottoman Turks (and their allies Germany and Austria-Hungary). The main battery of 15-inch guns was impressive, but not particularly useful against well-camouflaged land targets. Giant guns of HMS Queen Elizabeth, the most powerful battleship afloat when it shelled Turkish forts onshore.
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