Blair’s Reviews > A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and The Creation of the Modern Middle East > Status Update

On 25 April 1915, the Allies could have won an easy, bloodless victory by their surprise attack; but 259 days later, when they withdrew in defeat from their last positions on the blood-soaked beaches of the Dardanelles, it emerged that they had lost one of the costliest military engagements in history. 500,000 soldiers had been engaged in battle on each side, and each had suffered 250,000 casualties.