The Gallipoli Campaign is generally viewed as a disastrous failure of the First World War, inadequately redeemed by the heroism of the soldiers and sailors who were involved in the fighting. But before the first landings were made, the concept of a strike at the Dardanelles seemed to offer a short cut to victory in a war without prospect of end. The venture, and what was required of the men undertaking it who were enduring heavy casualties, eminently deserve reconsideration in the centenary year of the campaign. What fuelled and what drained morale during the eight months of extraordinary human endeavour? A balanced evaluation of the Gallipoli gamble, and of the political and military leadership, are the challenging tasks which Peter Liddle sets himself in his new study of the campaign and the experience of the men who served in it.

In Australia, Anzac Day, the anniversary of the first landings at Gallipoli, is one of the most important dates in the national calendar. Yet in Britain, the campaign is largely forgotten. The key to this contrast lies in the way in which the campaign's history has been recorded. To many Australians, the Anzac legend is a romantic war myth that proclaims the prowess of Australian participants in the campaign. It is an exercise in nation-building. In Britain, the campaign is also remembered in romantic terms, but the purpose here is to assuage the pain of defeat. Reconsidering Gallipoli broadens the debate over the cultural history of the First World War beyond the Western Front. The final chapter traces the influence of the early accounts on subsequent portrayals including Alan Moorehead's 1956 book, Bean's post 1965 rehabilitation, Peter Weir's 1981 film, and revisionist attacks on the legend.

Expertly written and beautifully presented, this book of outstanding photographs, documents and art work captures the spirit of the British people as they faced and successfully came through the prolonged challenge of the First World War. Using previously unpublished material from the Liddle Collection in the University Library at Leeds and supporting this with photographs from private and public collections from many parts of the British Isles, Britons Experience the Great War brings the experience of soldiers, sailors and airmen graphically close. It is, however, not just the fighting fronts which are so well represented: from the industrial, agricultural, domestic, educational and war resistance scenes, the response to war of workers, wives, sweethearts, students, children, rebels and resisters is made clear. Fund raising, rationing, humour, anxiety and grief are documented in this book in a way which provides touching testimony of the spirit of the times.With almost four hundred illustrations, the book spans the British Isles and the most remote fighting fronts.

Shortly and formally the Battle of Gallipoli, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, can be described as a failed amphibious operation launched by the Allies in a strategically important region of Turkey in 1915-1916. It was a battle very unusual for the First World War. It stood apart from the gruesome picture of bloody and ineffectual battles of the Western front, and resembled rather colonial wars of the preceding century.

Nationalism was declared to be dead too early. A postnational age was announced, and liberalism claimed to have been victorious by the end of the Cold War. At the same time postnational order was proclaimed in which transnational alliances like the European Union were supposed to become more important in international relations. But we witnessed the rise a strong nationalism during the early 21st century instead, and right wing parties are able to gain more and more votes in elections that are often characterized by nationalist agendas. This volume shows how nationalist dreams and fears alike determine politics in an age that was supposed to witness a rather peaceful coexistence by those who consider transnational ideas more valuable than national demands. It will deal with different case studies to show why and how nationalism made its way back to the common consciousness and which elements stimulated the re-establishment of the aggressive nation state. The volume will therefore look at the continuities of empire, actual and imagined, the role of "foreign-" and "otherness" for nationalist narratives, and try to explain how globalization stimulated the rise of 21st century nationalisms as well.

In a series of concise, thought-provoking chapters the authors summarize and make accessible the latest scholarship on the middle years of the Great War 1915 and 1916 and cover fundamental issues that are rarely explored outside the specialist journals. Their work is an important contribution to advancing understanding of Britains role in the war, and it will be essential reading for anyone who is keen to keep up with the fresh research and original interpretation that is transforming our insight into the impact of the global conflict. The principal battles and campaigns are reconsidered from a new perspective, but so are more general topics such as military leadership, the discord between Britains politicians and generals, conscientious objection and the part played by the Indian Army. The longer-term effects of the war are also considered facial reconstruction, developments in communication, female support for men on active service, grief and bereavement, the challenge to religious belief, battlefield art, and the surviving vestiges of the war. Peter Liddle and his fellow contributors have compiled a volume that will come to be seen as a landmark in the field. Contributors: Andrew BamjiClive BarrettNick BosanquetJames CookeEmily GlassGraeme GoodayAdrian GregoryAndrea HetheringtonRobert JohnsonSpencer JonesPeter LiddleJuliet MacdonaldJessica MeyerDavid MillichopeNS NashWilliam PhilpottJames PughDuncan RedfordNicholas SaundersGary SheffieldJack SheldonJohn SpencerKapil Subramanian

This book offers a fresh account of the Anzac myth and the bittersweet emotional experience of Gallipoli tourists. Challenging the straightforward view of the Anzac obsession as a kind of nationalistic military Halloween, it shows how transnational developments in tourism and commemoration have created the conditions for a complex, dissonant emotional experience of sadness, humility, anger, pride and empathy among Anzac tourists. Drawing on the in-depth testimonies of travellers from Australia and New Zealand, McKay shines a new and more complex light on the history and cultural politics of the Anzac myth. As well as making a ground breaking, empirically-based intervention into the culture wars, this book offers new insights into the global memory boom and transnational developments in backpacker tourism, sports tourism and “dark” or “dissonant” tourism.