Gallipoli 9. Timeline for Gallipoli and 'dramatis personae'

Lord Kitchener (L) on one of his
visits to ANZAC with General
Birdwood on his (R)

The Gallipoli Campaign played out over almost exactly a year, from the War Council decision in January 1915 to the evacuation of the last troops from Cape Helles in January 1916. Despite the heroics of individuals and several high points it was considered as a debacle - and still is. Churchill and Kitchener were the highest profile political casualties. Churchill, whose unrelenting support and pressure for continuing naval and military actions brought him long lasting unpopularity with many, went in late May, after severe naval losses. Kitchener, as War Minister, survived into 1916 but his political reputation suffered

Churchill, whose belief in
the need for Gallipoli never
wavered

severely from his indecisive and error ridden handling of the (admittedly complex) operation.
The main episodes of the timeline, with some of the key players are recorded below.  


January 1915
13th   British War Council resolves that the Admiralty should prepare for a naval expedition in February to the Dardanelles to force the straits.
28th   British Government decides definitely to make naval attack and passes the order to Admiral Carden, Commander of the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet. 

February 1915

16th    British Government, after disagreements and delays, agrees to send an army division (the 29th) to the Dardanelles to follow up and support the naval actions.
19th    The Allied naval attack on the Dardanelles forts commences.

March 1915

Otto Liman von Sanders,
Military Commander of the
Ottoman Empire 1913-18.
After the war he revealed
that at several points the
Turks had been close to
collapse and defeat.
'A close run thing'.

Eleftherios Venizelos.
One of the main statesmen
of the Balkans crisis. Three
times Greek PM and strongly
pro-allies he clashed with
his pro-neutral King,
Constantine.

Sir Ian Hamilton
appointed C-in-C of
British MEF aged 62.
Twice recommended for VC
in earlier career, he did not
recover from the Gallipoli
failures.

4th     French Government decide to send Expeditionary Force to the Dardanelles.

5th     Greek Premier (M. Venizelos) offers Greek fleet and troops to Entente for operations at the Dardanelles. King Constantine overruled him, prompting his first resignation of the year.

7th     New Greek PM Gounaris requests explanation of British occupation of Lemnos, and reply pleads military necessity, but guarantees Greece eventual cession of Lemnos by Turkey.

12th   General Sir Ian Hamilton appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean (Dardanelles) Expeditionary Force, taking over command on 17th.

18th   A further allied Naval attack on the Dardanelles forts is repulsed. The French battleship "Bouvet" and British battleships "Irresistible" and "Ocean" are sunk with great loss of life..
25th    General Liman von Sanders is appointed to command Turco-German Forces, Dardanelles

April 1915

Col. Blimp No. 1?
Maj-Gen Aylmer
Hunter-Weston. Pilloried
post war as unthinking
and unfeeling.

25th    Allied Forces effect landings at Cape Helles at the southern tip on several beaches, S to Y. Further up the western coast the ANZAC landing takes place with Empire troops diverted from Egypt en route to the Western Front.
28th    First Battle of Krithia begins, seeking the high ground of Achi Baba. The small village at the foot of the highest point in the south was to become an attritional battleground over the next three months. Casualties were very high on both sides. The Allies tried from all side to take the village, with the French on the right, and the 29th Division, commanded by Hunter-Weston in the centre and on the left.

May 1915

6th     Second Battle for Krithia begins and continues fiercely for two days.

13th   H.M.S. "Goliath", a pre-Dreadnought battleship is sunk by torpedoes from a Turkish destroyer in the southern straits. Two other pre-Dreadnoughts, the HMS Triumph and HMS Majestic would suffer the same fate during May.
15th   Lord Fisher resigns as First Sea Lord, triggering the collapse of the British Government
27th   A British squadron leaves eastern Mediterranean to join Italian fleet in the Adriatic.
          Winston Churchill resigns as First Lord of the Admiralty 

June 1915

4th     Third Battle of Krithia begins. Again heavy losses on both sides for little gain. It ends on 6th with a Turkish counter attack. One more attack, sometimes referred to as the 4th Battle for Krithia, is made on the village and heights is made from late June to early July from the west via Gully Ravine.
7th      First meeting of Dardanelles Committee of the new British Cabinet [replaced the previous War Council until its disbandment in 1916]

August 1915

 

Admiral Sir Sackville Carden             Commander Roger Keyes               Mustapha Kemal with

E. Med Fleet Commander                Naval Chief of Staff, E. Med                Turkish troops at

in 1915, replaced by de Robeck         Enterprising and intrepid.                     Gallipoli during

after failed March attacks.                  Later a national hero.                                   Suvla.

1st.      Constantinople harbour raided by a British submarine.
6-15th Operations of the landing at Suvla. The main battle, for control of the heights of Sari Bair was from 7-10th.
8th      Turkish battleship "Barbarousse-Hairedine" sunk by British submarine "E.-11" in the Dardanelles.

21st     Battle of Scimitar Hill is the last serious effort to gain a significant bridgehead at Suvla Bay

October 1915

Sir Charles Monro. Appointed
to replace Hamilton in October
His rapid appraisal of the mess at
Gallipoli prompted the Churchill
rebuke "He came, he saw, he
capitulated"

                         

                                 Col. Blimp No 2?                               

                           Frederick William Stopford.              

                           The principal scapegoat for the

                           August failures, he slept, allegedly,
                          during the Suvla Bay landings. He
                         was quickly replaced by Gen Byng.


2nd      Prime Minister for the second time, Venizelos  asks British and French Governments to land troops at Salonika as soon as possible in response to the advance of German and Austrian forces in the Balkans. Within days allied troops arrive at Salonika, many of them had been destined for Gallipoli.
15th    Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, is recalled to London. General Sir Charles Monro is appointed to succeed, and Birdwood is placed in temporary command of MEF. Monro arrives to take charge on 28th.

November 1915

4th      Lord Kitchener leaves England for the Dardanelles. On arrival, he accepts Monro's assessment and immediately puts him in command of the new Salonika Force. Birdwood is left in command on Gallipoli to prepare for evacuation. 

December 1915

8th        The evacuation of Suvla and Anzac is ordered.
19-20th Evacuation of Suvla and Anzac completed successfully without casualties.
28th      Orders given for the evacuation of the remainder of forces at Cape Helles in the south.

January 1916

7-8th     Evacuation of Cape Helles successfully completed with minimal casualties.
9th        Monro vacates command of the MEF and Birdwood vacates command of the Dardanelles army.

July 1916

18th      Prime Minister Asquith announces the setting up of a Commission of Enquiry into the failed campaign - The Dardanelles Commission.