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Gallipoli: A Ridge Too Far
For the first time showcasing a unique and extensive range of Australian War Memorial photographs, ‘Gallipoli: a Ridge too far’ describes the pivotal events of that momentous year as they affected all the countries involved. The book combines fresh perspectives from the world’s leading authorities, including Turkish and German historians, together with soldiers’ letters and diary accounts.
In early August 1915, after months of stalemate in the trenches on Gallipoli, British and Dominion troops launched a series of assaults in an all-out attempt to break the deadlock and achieve a decisive victory. The ‘August offensive’ resulted in heartbreaking failure and costly losses on both sides. Many of the sites of the bloody struggle became famous names: Lone Pine, the Nek, Chunuk Bair, Hill 60, Suvla Bay. Debate has continued to the present day over the strategy and planning, the real or illusory opportunities for success, and the causes of failure in what became the last throw of the dice for the Allies.
This new book about the Gallipoli battles arises out of a major international conference at the Australian War Memorial in 2010 to mark the 95th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign. Keynote speaker Professor Robin Prior led a range of international authorities from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Germany, India and Turkey to present their most recent research findings. The result was significant: never before had such a range of views been presented, with fresh German and Turkish perspectives offered alongside those of British and Australasian historians. For the resulting book, the papers have been edited and the text has been augmented with soldiers’ letters and diary accounts, as well as a large number of photographs and maps.
Ashley Ekins is Head of the Military History Section at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. He specialises in the history of the First World War and the Vietnam War. He has published widely on the role of Australian soldiers in the First World War and contributed chapters to several books, including the volume he compiled and edited, ‘1918 Year of Victory: The end of the Great War and the shaping of history’ (Exisle 2010), and ‘War Wounds: Medicine and the trauma of conflict’ (Exisle 2011), which he co-edited with Elizabeth Stewart.
The following distinguished historians from around the world have contributed to this book: Robin Prior – University of Adelaide, Australia, Stephen Bradley – University of Wolverhampton, UK, Ashley Ekins – Australian War Memorial, Australia, Peter Burness – Australian War Memorial, Australia, Peter Pedersen – Australian War Memorial, Australia, John Tonkin-Covell – New Zealand Command and Staff College, New Zealand, Kenan Çelik – Formerly at Onzekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey, Holger Afflerbach – University of Leeds, UK, Harvey Broadbent – Macquarie University, Australia, Colonel Frédéric Guelton – French Military Archives, Vincennes, France, Elizabeth Greenhalgh – University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia, Rana Chhina – India Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research, India, Rhys Crawley – Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Australia, Janda Gooding – Australian War Memorial, Australia, Robert O’Neill – Former Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford, UK
In early August 1915, after months of stalemate in the trenches on Gallipoli, British and Dominion troops launched a series of assaults in an all-out attempt to break the deadlock and achieve a decisive victory. The ‘August offensive’ resulted in heartbreaking failure and costly losses on both sides. Many of the sites of the bloody struggle became famous names: Lone Pine, the Nek, Chunuk Bair, Hill 60, Suvla Bay. Debate has continued to the present day over the strategy and planning, the real or illusory opportunities for success, and the causes of failure in what became the last throw of the dice for the Allies.
This new book about the Gallipoli battles arises out of a major international conference at the Australian War Memorial in 2010 to mark the 95th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign. Keynote speaker Professor Robin Prior led a range of international authorities from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Germany, India and Turkey to present their most recent research findings. The result was significant: never before had such a range of views been presented, with fresh German and Turkish perspectives offered alongside those of British and Australasian historians. For the resulting book, the papers have been edited and the text has been augmented with soldiers’ letters and diary accounts, as well as a large number of photographs and maps.
Ashley Ekins is Head of the Military History Section at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. He specialises in the history of the First World War and the Vietnam War. He has published widely on the role of Australian soldiers in the First World War and contributed chapters to several books, including the volume he compiled and edited, ‘1918 Year of Victory: The end of the Great War and the shaping of history’ (Exisle 2010), and ‘War Wounds: Medicine and the trauma of conflict’ (Exisle 2011), which he co-edited with Elizabeth Stewart.
The following distinguished historians from around the world have contributed to this book: Robin Prior – University of Adelaide, Australia, Stephen Bradley – University of Wolverhampton, UK, Ashley Ekins – Australian War Memorial, Australia, Peter Burness – Australian War Memorial, Australia, Peter Pedersen – Australian War Memorial, Australia, John Tonkin-Covell – New Zealand Command and Staff College, New Zealand, Kenan Çelik – Formerly at Onzekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey, Holger Afflerbach – University of Leeds, UK, Harvey Broadbent – Macquarie University, Australia, Colonel Frédéric Guelton – French Military Archives, Vincennes, France, Elizabeth Greenhalgh – University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia, Rana Chhina – India Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research, India, Rhys Crawley – Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Australia, Janda Gooding – Australian War Memorial, Australia, Robert O’Neill – Former Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford, UK
- GenresWorld War IHistory
494 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 15, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 20, 2023
Purchased at the Australia War Memorial in Canberra, this book appealed because I thought it would be a history of the Gallipoli campaign, that tragic failure and waste in a war all too full of such battles. This is not that book. The reader is expected to have already read one of the fine histories of Gallipoli.
Rather, this is a group of monographs by historians that cover various aspects of the campaign with modern scholarship. Many of said full histories are decades old. Even without the unifying narrative, it is a powerful work that examines aspects of the futile push to knock The Ottoman Empire out of the war. This proved to be unnecessary to Allied victory but even this rather minor bit of grand strategy maneuvering came at a truly ruinous cost in lives.
A legend arose around the Gallipoli attacks after the war in the British Empire and the countries that became independent from it, many of which suffered horribly during the campaign. Australia, in particular, views WWI as a national touchstone and for good reason. The WWI section of the War Memorial is immense, easily overwhelming every other conflict combined. Sadly, this legend that Gallipoli was nearly won and had value is false. The Allied positions were always tenuous, gains were minimal at horrendous cost, and the actual objective was very likely worthless anyway. Even if the Dardanelles could have been captured there was little spare material to supply Russia via the Black Sea. The fanciful idea that providing sufficient supply to the Tsar could have not only prevented the Russian Revolution but spared humanity of the entirety of the darkest period in its history, namely the immense mountain of corpses that is Communism, is sadly not tethered to reality well at all.
Rather, this is a group of monographs by historians that cover various aspects of the campaign with modern scholarship. Many of said full histories are decades old. Even without the unifying narrative, it is a powerful work that examines aspects of the futile push to knock The Ottoman Empire out of the war. This proved to be unnecessary to Allied victory but even this rather minor bit of grand strategy maneuvering came at a truly ruinous cost in lives.
A legend arose around the Gallipoli attacks after the war in the British Empire and the countries that became independent from it, many of which suffered horribly during the campaign. Australia, in particular, views WWI as a national touchstone and for good reason. The WWI section of the War Memorial is immense, easily overwhelming every other conflict combined. Sadly, this legend that Gallipoli was nearly won and had value is false. The Allied positions were always tenuous, gains were minimal at horrendous cost, and the actual objective was very likely worthless anyway. Even if the Dardanelles could have been captured there was little spare material to supply Russia via the Black Sea. The fanciful idea that providing sufficient supply to the Tsar could have not only prevented the Russian Revolution but spared humanity of the entirety of the darkest period in its history, namely the immense mountain of corpses that is Communism, is sadly not tethered to reality well at all.
January 30, 2023
Fourteen different authors contributed to this volume which covers different aspects of the Gallipoli campaign. It was really interesting to hear perspectives from British, French, Indian, German and Turkish as well as Australian and New Zealand writers. Too often, the French and Indian contributions are forgotten. Also looks at how the Gallipoli campaign has been viewed at different times by different people.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews