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The Ottomans, conversely to the Irish, were the victors of Gallipoli and had great reason to celebrate. On October 29, 1923, Turkey officially became an independent republic and ended more than six hundred years of Ottoman rule. Although the Ottoman Army consisted of various ethnic groups, the majority of soldiers were Turks. The military leader Mustafa Kemal Pasha, became the republic’s first leader. He was considered a hero of Gallipoli thereby strengthening the resolve of Turkish veterans and citizens to celebrate the victory at Gallipoli. As the Turks were on the losing side of the War, there was not much else to celebrate for veterans of the Central Powers in 1923. The remembrance of victory during a horrific war while at the same time rejoicing over independence provided a sense of national pride and cohesion in Turkey.
''Gallipoli'' is a detailed account of the nations involved in that battle. The book does, however; focus more on the aftermath in the participating nations. Macleod convincingly supports her argument that due to logistics, training, and politics the Allied plan could do nothing but fail. Additionally, she conveys the respect the enemy soldiers held for each other; a respect than that began as hatred. No words are wasted in this balanced account of the battle and great emphasis is placed on the ensuing cultural significance. This text does what it sets out to do; offer a “military narrative of the Gallipoli campaign and its memory during the subsequent century.”'' Gallipoli,'' with its excellent bibliography and notes, is well-suited as a supplement to World War I military text bookstextbooks. Additionally, it can be used as a cultural reference for the study of post-colonial nations, and as a tool for students of history to understand the great importance of distinguishing between memory and fact.
