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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Gallipoli
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(also known as the Dardanelles, 1915–16) Disastrous campaign of *World War I, boldly conceived by Winston *Churchill but bungled in execution. Gallipoli is the peninsula forming the western side of the Dardanelles, a narrow strait leading up from the Mediterranean towards the Turkish capital of Istanbul, beyond which lies the Black Sea. Turkey, which had entered the war on Germany's side, was blocking the best Allied supply route to southern Russia.
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The plan was for the British fleet to bombard its way through the heavily defended strait, while an Allied army captured the Gallipoli peninsula. Neither happened, owing to miscalculation and incompetence. The fleet withdrew after three battleships were sunk in an undetected minefield, and the troop landings on 25 April 1915 were gallant but ineffectual (the bridgehead held by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, known as ANZAC, is commemorated each year on that day). The allies withdrew in January 1916, having lost more than 200,000 men.
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