1915. Churchill wants a naval dash through the Dardanelles to knock the Ottomans out. When the ships are beaten back, the army goes in: British, French and Indian troops, Australians and New Zealanders on the wrong beach in the dark. A lieutenant colonel named Mustafa Kemal holds the ridge and tells his men he is ordering them to die.
Why then
By early 1915 the Western Front is deadlocked. The strait is Russia's only warm-water route to its allies, and the Ottoman Empire looks easy to topple. Mines, mobile howitzers and a failed naval attack in March turn a clever stroke into an eight-month siege under a sun that cooks the unburied.
What they wanted
London wants Constantinople and a supply line to Russia. Ottoman officers mean to keep the strait shut, and Kemal will hold the high ground at any price. The ANZACs were told they were opening a short cut.
What changed
More than 100,000 men die. The last troops slip away in January 1916 so quietly the Turks do not know the trenches are empty. Churchill loses the Admiralty. Australia and New Zealand mark 25 April as the day they became nations; Turkey has its own legend.
Still argued
Turkish historians say it was won, by men defending home. British ones still ask whether it was a near-run stroke or a fantasy from the start.