Relevance: Prelims/Mains: G.S paper I: World History
Why in news?
- Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has compared Kashmir to Çanakkale — the World War I battle that built several national identities.
About:
- The Battle of Çanakkale, also known as the Gallipoli campaign or the Dardanelles campaign, is considered to be one of the bloodiest of World War I. This battle took place on the Gallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu in modern Turkey), from 17 February 1915 to 9
January 1916. - The Entente powers, Britain, France and Russia, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the Dardanelles straits that provided a supply route to Russia.
- The Allies’ attack on Ottoman forts at the entrance of the Dardanelles failed and was followed by an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915 to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul).
- In the end, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force withdrawn. It was a costly defeat for the Allies and the campaign was considered a great Ottoman victory.
Battle legacy:
- The battle resulted in a demotion for Winston Churchill, then Britain’s First Lord of the Admiralty, and the emergence on the Turkish side of the young military hero, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The event is today one of the central pillars of the modern Turkish identity.