16. He Orchestrated Britain's Failed Attack On Gallipoli During World War I... In Which Close To 60,000 Men Lost Their Lives
The Gallipoli or "Dardanelles" Campaign in World War I was an unmitigated disaster, with the Allies suffering 187,959 casualties (including 56,707 deaths) during the eight-and-a-half-month assault on the south-Turkish Peninsula between April 1915 and January 1916. As one of the political and military engineers behind the disastrous campaign against the Ottoman Empire, Churchill was forced to resign as First Lord of the Admiralty in May 1915 when Prime Minister Herbert Asquith formed an all-party coalition government. Resigning from the government in November 1915, Churchill remained as an MP but signed up to serve on the Western Front as a soldier. It took him another 25 years before he would fully establish himself in frontline British politics - with many viewing him as a maverick warmonger in the meantime.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
