Panic in Constantinople; Turks Seek Scapegoat in Armenia (Special to The Great War Project) (4-6 April) In the spring of 1915 a century ago, the situation confronting the Ottoman Empire is desperate. “The Ottomans faced invasion on three fronts,” writes historian Eugene Rogan. One is in Mesopotamia. The British hold the Basra region of southern…
Tag Archive for Ottomans
ALLIED ARMADA FAILS IN ATTACK ON TURKEY
by Mike Shuster
At Dardanelles, Turkish Defenses Sink, Cripple Six Battleships; A Colossal British Miscalculation Special to The Great War Project (17-18 March) On the morning of March 18th a century ago, the British unleash a huge naval attack on the Dardanelles, the strategic waterway in northwestern Turkey. Initially ten battleships – six British and four French –…
BRITISH ASSAULT EXPECTED IN DARDANELLES
by Mike Shuster
A Massive Concentration of Warships. Turks Fortify Strategic Waterway; Constantinople Threatened. Special to The Great War Project (14-16 March) A fleet of sixteen British battleships is gathering in the Aegean Sea just outside the Dardanelles. This is the narrow, strategic waterway that leads from the Mediterranean to Constantinople, the Ottoman capital and on to the…
BRITISH BOMBARDMENT OF THE DARDANELLES
by Mike Shuster
Turkish Forts in Ruins. Attack on Strategic Straits To ‘Knock Turkey Out of War.’ Special to The Great War Project. (19-21 February) British warships are bombarding the ancient forts in the Dardanelles in western Turkey. The British bombardment is successful. It reduces two forts there to rubble. The Dardanelles is a very narrow strait that…