A Bird's Eye View of a Military Disaster In October 1914, the Ottoman Empire allied with Germany and Austria in the Great War, cutting off the supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles. In response, Great Britain and France undertook a daring operation: the largest amphibious landing ever attempted to force open the Dardanelles, threaten Constantinople, and force the Ottomans to surrender. Commanding the campaign was Sir Ian Hamilton, who had witnessed the dawn of modern trench warfare in Manchuria only ten years earlier. The battle would be played out in the Gallipoli Peninsula, and become known as Gallipoli. This is Sir Ian Hamilton's personal diary of the Dardanelles campaign, and the disaster that followed - a catastrophe that caused over half a million casualties across both sides, ended his military career, and helped forge the identities of Australia and New Zealand.