Turkish fort during the British Turkish War on Gallipoli Peninsula as seen from the Strait of the Dardanelles in Turkey
The Dardanelles, formerly known as Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart, the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately The strait is 61 kilometres (38 mi) long but only to 6 kilometres ( to mi) wide, averaging 55 metres (180 ft) deep with a maximum depth of 103 metres (338 ft). Water flows in both directions along the strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a surface current and in the opposite direction via an undercurrent. Like the Bosphorus, it separates Europe (the Gallipoli peninsula) from the mainland of Asia. The strait is an international waterway. In 1915, the western Allies sent a massive invasion force of British, Indian, Australian, and New Zealand troops to attempt to open up the strait. At the Gallipoli campaign, Turkish troops trapped the Allies on the beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula. The campaign results did damage to the career of Sir Winston Churchill, then the First Lord of the Admiralty, who eagerly promoted the use of Royal Navy sea power to force open the straits. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, later founder of the Republic of Turkey, was a commander for the Ottomans during the battle. The straits were mined by the Turks to prevent Allied ships from penetrating them, but in minor actions, two submarines, one British and one Australian, did succeed in penetrating the minefields. The British one sank an obsolete Turkish pre-dreadnought battleship off the Golden Horn of Istanbul. Sir Ian Hamilton's Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was unsuccessful in its attempt to capture the Gallipoli peninsula, and its withdrawal was ordered in January 1916, after 10 months fighting and more than 200,000 casualties.
Size: 3780px × 2530px
Location: The Dardanelles, Turkey
Photo credit: © Dimitry Bobroff / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: aegean, allies, anzac, armies, asia, ataturk, battles, beaches, bosphorus, bosporus, british, campaign, churchill, dardanelles, enemies, enemy, europe, forces, fort, forts, gallipoli, hellespont, kemal, marmara, memorial, memorials, mustafa, ottomans, peninsula, republic, sea, strait, turkey, turkish, western, winston
