Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"It would be easy enough to conceal the news from the British Cabinet until the last moment, but as regards the French Government similar precautions could not be guaranteed. . . .[Winston Churchill] asked [French Ambassador] Paul Cambon to use his good offices to convince the [French] Minister of Marine to withhold all information from the coming naval attack from the French Cabinet. To this end the Ambassador addressed a personal letter to [Minister of Marine] Augagneur on January 29th [1915] in which he indicated that secrecy was vital if the fleet was to attain its objective, and suggested that only those Ministers apt to be directly involved — Prime Minister, Minister of War and Minister of Foreign Affairs — should be told."
On January 28, 1915, the British War Council — Prime Minister Asquith, Foreign Secretary Grey, Secretary of State for War Kitchener, First Lord of the Admiralty Churchill, First Sea Lord Fisher — revisited and ratified its decision of January 13 in favor of an Anglo-French naval assault on the Dardanelles in hopes of breaking through to the Turkish capital of Constantinople, and driving Turkey out of the war. The north, European shore of the Dardanelles is the Gallipoli Peninsula which would, in April, be the site of an Allied invasion.
The French and the Dardanelles: A Study of Failure in the Conduct of War by George H. Cassar, page 61, copyright © George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1971, publisher: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, publication date: 1971
1915-01-29, 1915, January
