A classic account of one of the most tragic battles in military history.

After the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany in World War One, Churchill conceived a plan of forcing the Dardenelles to reopen the straights for Russian shipping, occupying Constantinople, and knocking the Turks out of the war.

By March 1915, his plan had nearly succeeded, and the Turks were nearly beaten. But communication failures left the Allies in the dark. They allowed the Turks to reorganize and deal the Allies a terrible string of defeats leading to a crushing quarter million casualties.

In the years after the Easter Rising of 1916 in Ireland, a new independence movement emerged. In 1918-19 the political party Sinn Féin and its paramilitary partner, the Irish Republican Army, began a political struggle and an armed uprising against British rule. By 1922 the United Kingdom had lost a substantial portion of its territory, as the Irish Free State came amid a brutal civil war. At the same time, Ireland was partitioned, and a new unionist government was established in what was now Northern Ireland.

In late June 1922, growing animosity between Pro and Anti-Treaty factions erupted into armed conflict in the center of Dublin. For the next ten months, the Irish Free State was wracked by a bitter, bloody, and brutal civil war between those who sought to protect the new government and those who wished to destroy it. This is the story of the Irish Civil War, its origins, and its consequences.

The Easter Rising was an attempt at independence from the United Kingdom that lasted six days and occurred during WWI. The Irish rebels were thwarted on several fronts and failed to gain the freedom from British rule that they sought.

This episode offers a fair view of both sides, where neither was willing to concede. If you are interested in the history of Ireland and its fight for independence, this is a good place to start.