After the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany in World War One, Churchill conceived a plan of forcing the Dardenelles to reopen the straights for Russian shipping, occupying Constantinople, and knocking the Turks out of the war.
By March 1915, his plan had nearly succeeded, and the Turks were nearly beaten. But communication failures left the Allies in the dark. They allowed the Turks to reorganize and deal the Allies a terrible string of defeats leading to a crushing quarter million casualties.
This book is in a series of Military History Short Reads that are meant to be read in under two hours-bringing to life the sheer heartbreaking physical horrors and tragic waste of human life fighting to achieve impossible objectives on unmapped, unknown terrain.