Barbed wire entanglements near Sedd-el-Bahr, at the southern end of the Gallipoli Peninsula, 1915. Ships of the Allied Fleet lie offshore. Photograph from 'Gallipoli' by John Masefield.

It will be noticed on the left of the picture that the tops of the supports holding up the barbed wire are serrated so as to add to the formidable nature of the defense.

Other views: Larger

The Gallipoli Peninsula was the site of the Gallipoli campaign, the failed Allied invasion of Turkey in 1915.

The Gallipoli Peninsula forms the north coast of the Dardanelles, the strait between the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas and the Sea of Marmora. The Turkish capital of Constantinople lay on the east coast of the Sea of Marmora, at the mouth of the Bosphorus leading to the Black Sea.

The city of Gallipoli is on the European side of the Dardanelles at the Gallipoli Strait opening onto the Sea of Marmora.

After neutral Turkey entered the war in October 1914, the Entente Allies hoped to seize the Turkish capital of Constantinople, overthrow the government, and replace it with one that was allied or again neutral.

The first attempt to achieve this was the Allied naval effort to force the Dardanelles in March 1915. With the failure of the most significant attack on March 18, the Allies turned to an invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula, begun on April 25. In each landing (at three locations), in each renewed attack, the Turkish defenders held. By January 9, 1916, the Entente Ally forces had evacuated the Peninsula, defeated by the Turks. The Allies and the Turks each suffered about 250,000 casualties during the campaign.

The Gallipoli Peninsula is a region in Turkey.