Gallipoli
A clear-eyed history of the doomed Dardanelles campaign, built from the testimony of the men who fought it.
The Verdict
Gallipoli has been wrapped in so much legend — Churchill's bold gamble, the birth of the Anzac spirit — that the military reality often disappears. Peter Hart, an oral historian, cuts through it: the 1915 Dardanelles campaign was, he argues, doomed almost from conception, and he shows why through the testimony of the men who lived its heat, thirst, dysentery, and slaughter on the cliffs. Clear-eyed about the planning failures and unromantic about the courage, it is the soldier's Gallipoli rather than the myth's.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The Gallipoli campaign without the romance
- Veterans' testimony from the cliffs
- Why the operation was doomed
- The Anzac story examined, not mythologised
Look elsewhere if you want
- A celebration of the Anzac legend
- The wider war
- Strategy over the soldier's experience
Why We Rated It 4.4
Historical Context
Gallipoli (2011) is a history of the 1915-16 Allied campaign to force the Dardanelles and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war. Peter Hart, an oral historian at the Imperial War Museum, draws heavily on participants' accounts; the campaign's failure remains central to the national memory of Australia and New Zealand.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
Read It Alongside
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0199361168
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Why did the Gallipoli campaign fail?
- Hart argues it was undermined from the start by flawed planning and an underestimation of the Ottoman defenders, compounded by terrain, disease, and supply failures.
- Does the book cover the Anzac experience?
- Yes — the Australian and New Zealand troops feature heavily, told through testimony rather than legend.