For most visitors to the Gallipoli Peninsula (both Turkish and foreign), a trip here is a pilgrimage and a remembrance of the horror of war. In World War I, Allied forces (British, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, and French troops) landed here on 25 April, 1915 to launch an attack on the Ottoman Empire (fighting on Germany's side).
The brutal nine-month campaign, which the Turks finally won under the brilliant strategic command of army officer Mustafa Kemal (later to become Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey) resulted in 130,000 dead and more than half a million casualties, and today the pine-covered hills are scattered with sobering memorials.
