The Battle of Gallipoli/Çanakkale was Ottoman Albanian and German

Isa Mulaj

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The Battle of Gallipoli/Çanakkale or the Dardanelles Campaign as one of the greatest catastrophe of World War I (WWI) and major Axis victory, apart from Turkey, received little attention in the history textbooks of European countries until recently. It was most likely neglected because the Allies emerged victorious of WWI in aggregate terms. The belligerents from many nations in the Battle of Çanakkale, especially from the Balkans, ended up in the camp which they fought against – the victorious Allies. The sacrifice in that battle went missing for taking part and falling for the “wrong side.” In such a vacuum, the suffering, pride and legacy of the battle remained rightly to be exploited by Turkey to the present day. The aftermath impact of the battle was the establishment of new nation states among the Allies fighting mainly under the command of British Commonwealth, then the event was silenced. Its use by Turkey due to the territory in which the battle took place for a national pride and subsequent nationalism, does not imply that the Turks had absolute or exclusive role in waging that war. Looking more closely at the evidence, events, causes, course and consequences of the time, makes it more clear that what is presented as a Turkish sacrifice and victory, was a participation of multinational defenders with German and Austro-Hungarian support. This paper aims at unfolding some crucial aspects of the Battle in Gallipoli which in modern times show a tendency of sharing the contribution by many nations, Albanians in particular, as an inspiration of alliances not for future wars, but as a common heritage for longer term perspective and peace.

Keywords: Ottoman Empire; Battle of Gallipoli; Turkey; WWI; Allies; nation states (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F5 F51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-04-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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