The Dardanelles Commission was an investigation into the disastrous 1915 Dardanelles Campaign. It was set up under the

Special Commissions (Dardanelles and Mesopotamia) Act 1916 The Special Commissions (Dardanelles and Mesopotamia) Act 1916 ( 6 & 7 Geo. V) was set up to investigate the World War I operations in the Dardanelles Campaign and the Mesopotamian campaign. The Walcheren Campaign of 1809 and the Crimean War had ...

. The final report of the commission, issued in 1919, found major problems with the planning and execution of the campaign.

Investigation and findings

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

had been largely blamed for the failures of the British forces during the campaign since, as

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

, he had been responsible for instigating the plan and obtaining Cabinet approval to carry it out. Churchill had been forced to resign as First Lord when the

First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed ...

Lord Fisher John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, (25 January 1841 – 10 July 1920), commonly known as Jacky or Jackie Fisher, was a British Admiral of the Fleet. With more than sixty years in the Royal Navy, his efforts to reform the service helped ...

himself resigned because of escalating disagreements between him and Churchill in May 1915. Churchill continued as part of the Dardanelles Committee (later renamed the War Committee), which administered the campaign in the capacity of

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

but resigned from this post also in November 1915. For a time, he took up a position as a battalion commander on the Western Front (while remaining a Member of Parliament). He returned to parliamentary duty in 1916, where he attempted to rehabilitate his reputation, when the battalion was amalgamated with another. Churchill sought to obtain the release of government papers, which, he felt, would vindicate his own actions. In May

Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a ...

had indicated on behalf of the Prime Minister that this might be possible, but by June, Prime Minister

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

, had decided that it could not be done. Matters were complicated by the death of Field Marshal Kitchener, who had been

Secretary of State for War The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...

, on 6 June 1916. Instead, Asquith agreed to the setting up of a Commission of Enquiry into the affair, which was announced on 18 July 1916. The

Earl of Cromer Earl of Cromer is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, held by members of the Baring family, of German descent. It was created for Evelyn Baring, 1st Viscount Cromer, long time British Consul-General in Egypt. He had already been cr ...

, known to Churchill, was to be the chairman. Churchill anticipated that he would be able to attend meetings of the commission, but they were held in secret. Instead he had to be content with giving evidence himself in September and arranging for other witnesses whom he felt important to be heard by the commission. Witnesses of those involved in the expedition were interviewed, with its final report issued in 1919. It concluded that the expedition had been poorly planned and executed and that difficulties had been underestimated; problems were exacerbated by supply shortages and by personality clashes and procrastination at high levels.

Appointees

The following were appointed:From: 'Appendix 1', Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 10: Officials of Royal Commissions of Inquiry 1870–1939 (1995), pp. 85–8. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16611. Date accessed: 12 August 2007. *

(initial chairman, died 29 January 1917) * Sir William Pickford, chairman *

Andrew Fisher Andrew Fisher (29 August 186222 October 1928) was an Australian politician who served three terms as prime minister of Australia – from 1908 to 1909, from 1910 to 1913, and from 1914 to 1915. He was the leader of the Australian Labor Party ...

, former Prime Minister of Australia *

Thomas Mackenzie Sir Thomas Mackenzie (10 March 1853 – 14 February 1930) was a Scotland, Scottish-born New Zealand politician and explorer who briefly served as the List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand, 18th prime minister of New Zealand in 1912, and ...

, former Prime Minister of New Zealand * Sir Frederick Cawley, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster * Lord Clyde, Privy Counsellor *

Stephen Gwynn Stephen Lucius Gwynn (13 February 1864 – 11 June 1950) was an Irish journalist, biographer, author, poet and Protestant Nationalist politician. As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party he represented Galway city as its Member of Parliament ...

, MP for Galway *

Walter Roch Walter Francis Roch (20 January 1880 – 3 March 1965), sometime MP (Lib.) for Pembrokeshire from 1908 to 1918 was a Welsh politician and landowner, whose political career ended when he continued to support H.H. Asquith over David Lloyd Geor ...

, MP for Pembrokeshire * Admiral of the Fleet Sir William May * Field Marshal The Lord Nicholson

Notes

References

Jenkins, Roy Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labo ...

, ''Churchill'', 2001, , Macmillan * Carlyon, Lee, ''Gallipoli'', 2001, Doubleday, {{ISBN, 0-385-60475-0

External links

diggerhistory
Summarised conclusions of the report

Summary page of general conclusion from UK national archives Gallipoli campaign Public inquiries in the United Kingdom