A terrible beginning

摘要

HERE is a marvellous, ghastly book. The story is well known. In the spring of 1915 an Allied expedition comprising troops from Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland and India attempted to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. The objective was to gain control of the Dardanelles Strait, and then to press on and take Constantinople. The operation was supposed to remove Turkey from the first world war at a stroke. But the result was a bitterly contested stand-off that lasted for eight months. The Allied forces were evacuated at the end of 1915, after both sides had suffered appalling hardships and losses.