Gallipoli

One of the most famous battles in history, Gallipoli forced Churchill from office, established Turkey's iconic founder Mustafa Kemal ('Ataturk') and marked Australia's emergence as a nation in its own right. It had begun as a bold move led by the British to ultimately capture Constantinople, but this definitive new history explains that from the initial landings - which ended with so much blood in the sea it could be seen from aircraft overhead - to the desperate attacks of early summer and the battle of attrition that followed, it was a lunacy that was never going to succeed. Drawing on unpublished personal accounts by individuals at all levels and from all sides - not only from Britain, Australia and New Zealand, but unusually from Turkey and France too - Peter Hart combines his trademark eye for vivid personal stories with a strong narrative to bring a modern view of this military disaster to a popular audience. 'The scene was tragically macabre: the image of desolation, the flames spared nothing. As for our young men, a few minutes ago, so alert, so self-confident, all now lying dead on the bare deck, blackened burned skeletons, twisted in all directions, no trace of any clothing, the fire having devoured all.' Vice Admiral P. E. Gueprette recalls the damage to the French ship Suffen during a naval battle in 1915.

Review: Superb... a serious and important work on Gallipoli. It is researched in fine detail and written in Peter Hart's increasingly excellent style. If you are interested in this campaign, or the Great War, or just appreciate a well written book, then this is for you. -- David McLoughlin * Press Association *

An impressive and timely reminder of the futility of war. -- Alex Miller * Morning Star *

[A] stirring account -- Richard Fitzpatrick * Irish Examiner *

A perceptive and refreshingly candid study of a doomed campaign. The author skilfully combines a crisp, compelling and highly readable narrative with succinct and objective analysis...The master of popular military history has done it again -- Peter Simkins

A marvelous, ghastly book * The Economist *

An excellently readable account * FT *

A supremely effective attack * Mail on Sunday *