What Tom Holland has said about Gallipoli campaign

Holland argues that the campaign was strategically pointless, since even pushing the Turks off Gallipoli would achieve little.

“But it seems to me madness. Because even if you push the Turks, the Turk, sorry, off Gallipoli, so what?”

The Rest Is History: 676. The First World War: Churchill’s Calamity (Part 6) (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 24:26

Holland argues that Mustafa Kemal's Gallipoli reputation gave him the credibility later needed to cut Turkey's losses.

“People accept this is a guy who defended the homeland and threw the great imperial power back into the sea”

The Rest Is History: 676. The First World War: Churchill’s Calamity (Part 6) (Jun 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:06:15

Holland concedes that Churchill was right that breaking the stalemate might require unconventional thinking.

“if you're going to break the stalemate, perhaps you do need some left field thinking, some blue sky thinking”

The Rest Is History: 675. The First World War: Slaughter at Gallipoli (Part 5) (May 31, 2026) · Listen from 10:02