Hell & Confusion: Gallipoli day by day

As 1914 drew to a close, British military strategists found themselves confronted with the grim reality of trench warfare in Flanders. The search for an alternative theatre of operations led to a fateful decision that would reshape the Great War.

Our new three-volume collection presents the Gallipoli Campaign through contemporaneous documents and accounts, meticulously arranged in chronological order to reveal how events unfolded in real time.

What began as a proposed naval demonstration to assist Russian allies gradually transformed into one of the most ambitious and contentious amphibious operations of the modern era. The Turkish forces, initially underestimated by Allied command, would prove far more formidable than anticipated.

These volumes bring together an unprecedented assemblage of primary sources from across the hierarchy of war. From ministerial memoranda penned in Whitehall to the hastily written field diaries of infantrymen, each document captures the moment as it was experienced, untainted by retrospective analysis.

Volume I examines the strategic conception and early naval operations. Volume II covers the April landings and establishment of beachheads. Volume III documents the August offensives through to the eventual evacuation.

Through these authentic voices—preserved exactly as they were recorded—readers can trace the campaign's progression from strategic concept to controversial execution, forming their own assessment of whether Gallipoli represented bold strategic vision or, as some contemporaries claimed, a catastrophic miscalculation.