Gallipoli

For a short time in 1915 British, French, Australian, New Zealander and Turkish soldiers killed themselves over a few stretches of beach, vying for the goal of Constantinople, aka Istanbul.

Gallipoli is a dated book, written in the 1950s it still makes reference to the now defunct U.S.S.R. It is however rich with information and interesting facts. Moorehead doesn’t just tell this story of bitter defeat and pointless death from the side of the Brits or Turks; nor just from the side of the soldiers or politicians. Rather he encompasses all sides: common soldiers on either side of the trenches, the political forces in Britain and Turkey, the Officers of either Army and the inner wars between the agendas of those men who were caught up in what seemed the battle of a life time and which is now more than a mere obscure foot note in the pages of the dead. He describes the geography of Gallipoli and the strategic routes each side took in their campaigns against each other in words as good as any.

It is one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read, a fact illustrated with my almost having finished the book 8 months ago in Denver International waiting for my flight to Riverton. For its tremendous insight and fact-laden pages I’m going to give Gallipoli a 5. If you can read, you might want to check this book out.