0:00:02 > 0:00:18This programme contains some strong language
0:00:18 > 0:00:21The call goes out for jihad - holy war.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Germany hoped her new ally, Turkey, would just do what it was told
0:00:25 > 0:00:29and the Allies thought Turkey would be a pushover.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33But the war in the Middle East went its own wild way.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15The Kaiser had been cultivating the Ottoman Empire long before the war began.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20He wore a fez on state visits. He was nicknamed Hajji Wilhelm,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24following rumours he'd become a Muslim and made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28The 300 million Muslims scattered across the globe
0:01:28 > 0:01:34can be assured the German emperor is, and will at all times remain, their friend.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Part of Germany's interest in Ottoman Turkey
0:01:39 > 0:01:41was that they shared a common enemy - Russia.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Turkey's position, controlling the Dardanelle Straits,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51gave her the power to lock Russia up in the Black Sea.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55And Turkey shared a volatile border with Russia in the Caucasus.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Russia is the hereditary enemy of the Ottoman Empire
0:02:02 > 0:02:06and her greatest desire is possession of Constantinople.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12The Ottoman Empire once stretched from the Arabian peninsula
0:02:12 > 0:02:15to the gates of Vienna,
0:02:15 > 0:02:19but it had lost a third of its territory in a run of disastrous wars.
0:02:23 > 0:02:29The Ottoman Empire was "the sick man of Europe" - broke and on the verge of collapse.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36The great powers have grasped us by the throat.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39The Government can't pay monthly salaries,
0:02:39 > 0:02:44all the public services are under the control of privileged foreign capital.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48It would be very easy for a patriot to go out of his mind.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54But one group of nationalist reformers planned to stop the rot -
0:02:54 > 0:02:56the Young Turks.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59In 1909, they replaced the Sultan with his brother as a puppet
0:02:59 > 0:03:02and started a programme of modernisation.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14They looked for an ally, to ward off predators and bankroll the future.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23The ambitious Minister of War favoured Germany.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Just 32 years old, Enver Pasha had risen through the ranks,
0:03:26 > 0:03:33married the Sultan's niece and lived in splendour in Constantinople, also known as Istanbul.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38Enver Pasha had been military attache in Berlin.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41The Germans had the power his country needed.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48I watched a parade of 33,000 German soldiers.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52It was so excellent, it makes one's mouth water.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56The reason I love Germany is not sentimentality,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59but the fact she is not a danger to my beloved country.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04On the contrary, our two countries' interests go hand in hand.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16Chief of the German general staff Helmuth von Moltke
0:04:16 > 0:04:18ruled out Turkey as an ally.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Turkey is militarily a nonentity.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26If Turkey was described before as a sick man,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29it must now be described as a dying man.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Flamboyant Baron Max von Oppenheim made the Kaiser think again.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40Archaeologist and consular official,
0:04:40 > 0:04:44Oppenheim passed himself off as an Islamic expert.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47He was also a German agent.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51He advocated a holy war to bring down the British Empire.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00When the Turks invade Egypt, and India blazes with flames of revolt,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03only then will England crumble...
0:05:04 > 0:05:08..for England is at her most vulnerable in her colonies.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24By the outbreak of war the Kaiser saw jihad as a way to foment revolution
0:05:24 > 0:05:27among the millions of Muslims under British rule.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Our consuls and agents in Turkey and India
0:05:34 > 0:05:39must inflame the whole Mohammedan world to wild uprising.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45For if we are to be bled to death, at least England shall lose India.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52The Ottoman Empire had found its ally - Germany.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Enver bypassed the Turkish cabinet,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01secretly signing an alliance on 2nd August 1914,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05while maintaining a public stance of neutrality.
0:06:10 > 0:06:16Constantinople became the jump-off point for subversion, to set the East ablaze.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23The German embassy became a hive of Oppenheim's raffish spies.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31One group arrived from Berlin disguised as a travelling circus.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37The word was the Emir of Afghanistan
0:06:37 > 0:06:40had 50,000 Muslims ready to invade India.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43The circus slipped out of Constantinople,
0:06:43 > 0:06:45bound for Afghanistan,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47if only they could find it.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57One of the Turks on the mission was Huseyin Rauf.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01What do we know about Afghanistan beyond its name?
0:07:01 > 0:07:04I can't visualise its place on a map.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08I don't know how to get there. Do I go via America?
0:07:17 > 0:07:22The irony was Enver Pasha and the Young Turks weren't fanatical believers at all.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27They went along with Germany's jihad idea out of opportunism.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32What Enver really wanted to draw together the Turkic peoples of
0:07:32 > 0:07:34the East into a new empire.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43MUSIC: ROUSING PATRIOTIC SONG
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Enver had an army of 800,000,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52mainly from Anatolia, but also Arabs, Macedonians, Kurds.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57It was thought to be a spent force,
0:07:57 > 0:08:01but Enver had reformed it, Germany trained it.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10Considerable progress is being made in the Ottoman army's efficiency.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Turkish forces must now be regarded as a factor
0:08:13 > 0:08:15to be taken seriously into account.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22But Turkey still had not publicly declared herself as Germany's ally
0:08:22 > 0:08:25and her cabinet was split over whether to fight,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28but Turkey was desperate for money.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33So the Germans decided to sweeten the deal and force the Turks' hand.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Two of Germany's cruisers, the Goeben and the Breslau,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42were being chased across the Mediterranean by the Royal Navy.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Rather conveniently,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48they took refuge in Constantinople on 11th August 1914.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50The presence of two German cruisers,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52riding proudly at anchor by the Golden Horn,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56undermined the Turks' pretence at neutrality.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01So they shrugged and told the world they'd bought the ships.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06Their German crews were given fezzes to wear.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12Their fancy-dress antics were the talk of Constantinople.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16The Goeben sailed up the Bosphorus, in front of the Russian embassy.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Officers and men solemnly removed their Turkish fezzes
0:09:20 > 0:09:22and put on German caps.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25The band played Deutschland Uber Alles.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28MUSIC: "Deutschland Uber Alles"
0:09:29 > 0:09:33After an hour or two serenading the Russian ambassador,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36they put on their fezzes then picked up anchor,
0:09:36 > 0:09:41leaving in the ears of the Russian diplomat the dying strains
0:09:41 > 0:09:42of German war songs.
0:09:56 > 0:09:57The Turkish fleet,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01led by the Goeben and the Breslau, steamed out of the Bosphorus.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07On 29th October 1914, they attacked several Russian ports.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Enver Pasha had the gateway to the Black Sea mined.
0:10:15 > 0:10:21The Germans paid over £5 million in gold, securing Turkey as their ally.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Turkey had joined the First World War
0:10:27 > 0:10:31pretty much on her own terms and with her own agenda.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53The Persian Muslims are threatening trouble.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55There is a dry wind blowing through the East
0:10:55 > 0:10:58and the parched grasses wait the spark
0:10:58 > 0:11:02and the wind is blowing towards the Indian border.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Fiction by novelist John Buchan,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10but based on real fears of an Islamic holy war.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17By late 1914, Enver was looking east.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22He had big ideas, both for jihad and for uniting the Turkic peoples.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Beyond the frontiers there are brethren to be liberated,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28bits of fatherland to be redeemed.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Nearly 40 years before, Russia had stolen a chunk of eastern Turkey
0:11:34 > 0:11:37along its Caucasian border.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Enver was desperate to kick the Russians off Turkish soil,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44but it was an area riven with ethnic friction -
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Russians, Turks, Georgians, Kurds,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52and on both sides of the frontier, Armenian Christians.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Loyalties in the Caucasus were hard to read, hard to be sure of.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04Here, at Erzurum Castle, in November 1914, encouraged by the Germans,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Enver Pasha took a key decision.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Though winter was closing in, he threw his army at the Russians.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Now he played the Islam card.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23300 million Muslims are sighing under their chains
0:12:23 > 0:12:29and our former fellow countrymen are praying for our victory and success.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Happy is he who falls for religion and fatherland.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38Forward, always forward for victory and fame and martyrdom
0:12:38 > 0:12:40and paradise!
0:12:49 > 0:12:52In December 1914, the Turkish 9th Corps
0:12:52 > 0:12:57marched through the high passes of the Ohuekberd mountains.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01The aim was to sweep down on the town of Sarikamis
0:13:01 > 0:13:03and encircle the Russians.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14The Russians at first panicked and retreated.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Enver's bold gamble nearly paid off.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23But then the temperature plummeted
0:13:23 > 0:13:27and the Turks struggled into worsening conditions.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Enver tried to reassure them.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35I see you don't have shoes or coats, but the enemy is afraid of you.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46The Germans complained about our slowness,
0:13:46 > 0:13:48but the snow was so deep.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Soldiers got lost at night, some tried to light fires,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56but many fell asleep, never to wake again.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01We realised in the morning that half the division had frozen to death.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10The weather and terrain killed 25,000 Turks before they even made contact with the Russians.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17The soldiers were terrified of seeing the frozen corpses
0:14:17 > 0:14:19and began deserting their posts.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26We tried to fire at Russian troops,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29but the mechanisms of the guns had iced up.
0:14:32 > 0:14:37We tremble to think what we lived through during those long and deadly days.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48The scenes made one shudder.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51The depressing sound of the trembling ox carts.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56The corpses, mouths open,
0:14:56 > 0:14:57eyes staring.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Thrown into the greedy stomach of the soil.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06THEY PRAY IN TURKISH
0:15:08 > 0:15:14On the Ohuekberd mountains, local men still say prayers for the dead of Sarikamis.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17HE PRAYS IN TURKISH
0:15:29 > 0:15:32In 1919, Imdat Demir helped bury the bones.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36THEY ALL CHANT
0:15:50 > 0:15:54Enver's grand offensive had ended in catastrophe.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59He addressed his soldiers before leaving the front.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01My friends, for almost a month I have seen
0:16:01 > 0:16:04with my own eyes how you have attacked the enemy.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08In spite of the harshness of the weather
0:16:08 > 0:16:12and all kinds of shortages you broke their resistance.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15The sultan and the whole nation congratulates you.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17I am returning to Istanbul.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20I pray that you will get more victories
0:16:20 > 0:16:22and not let the enemy rear his head any more.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26I entrust you to the safekeeping of Allah.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Now the search for scapegoats began.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34THEY CHEER
0:16:34 > 0:16:38Enver blamed defeat not on himself, but on Turkish Armenians
0:16:38 > 0:16:43serving with the Russians in the Caucasus.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Tension between Turks and their Armenian population was nothing new,
0:16:47 > 0:16:52but now Turkey feared the Armenians were bidding for independence.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00From all countries, Armenians are entering the glorious Russian army.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05Let peoples remaining under the Turkish yoke receive freedom,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08let the Armenians of Turkey, who suffer for the faith of Christ,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12receive resurrection for a new free life
0:17:12 > 0:17:15under the protection of Russia.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22The Russians advanced and the Turks fell back through Armenian areas.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31Local Armenian resistance was more imagined than real.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35The Turks responded with disproportionate, pre-emptive action.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Turkish Minister of the Interior, Mehmet Talaat,
0:17:41 > 0:17:46issued the following decree on 26th May 1915.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Because some Armenians living near the war zones
0:17:49 > 0:17:53have attacked military forces and the innocent population,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56certain measures are being adopted,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59among which is the deportation of the Armenians.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06The German ambassador in Turkey, Baron von Wangenheim,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09warned Berlin of the imminent disaster.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14A mass deportation to a destination many hundreds of kilometres away,
0:18:14 > 0:18:18without sufficient means of transport,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22via areas that offer neither accommodation nor food
0:18:22 > 0:18:25and are plagued with epidemic illness such as typhus,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29will cost many lives, especially women and children.
0:18:32 > 0:18:37The town of Harpout - key transit point of the forced Armenian exodus.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Thousands passed through here to exile in Syria,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44then part of the Ottoman Empire.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49American missionary Tracy Atkinson saw terrible sights in Harpout.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Thousands herded together, mostly women and children,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57sick lying everywhere.
0:18:57 > 0:19:03They had been on the road six weeks, not knowing where they are to go.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06They have been attacked, robbed and killed.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Armin T Wegner, a German medical officer stationed in Turkey,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16photographed the plight of the Armenians.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20The American consul on the spot reported to his ambassador.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26Sir, I have to report one of the greatest tragedies in all history.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30A revolutionary movement by some of the Armenians was discovered
0:19:30 > 0:19:34and severe measures taken to check it,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37little distinction being made between the innocent
0:19:37 > 0:19:42and those suspected of being participants in the movement.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50The Armenians were marched across these mountains.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Even those who survived were not safe when they reached Syria,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04as a German diplomat in Aleppo reported.
0:20:04 > 0:20:11Out of 2,000 to 3,000 peasant women from the Armenian plateau, brought here in good health,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13only 40 or 50 skeletons are left.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17The prettier ones are the victims of their jailers' lust,
0:20:17 > 0:20:23the plain ones succumb to blows, hunger and thirst.
0:20:23 > 0:20:29Every day, more than 100 corpses are carried out of Aleppo.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Perhaps 800,000 Armenians died in all.
0:20:35 > 0:20:43Whether this was centrally-directed genocide is still a matter of furious debate.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46The Turks deny the charge, saying the Armenians died of exposure, famine
0:20:46 > 0:20:49and the actions of bad officials.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58In June 1916, Mehmet Talaat, the Minister of the Interior who'd issued the deportation order,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01spoke to a newspaper about Turkey's role in the disaster.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08The removal of the Armenians was a military necessity.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Unfortunately, due to bad officials,
0:21:10 > 0:21:15grave excesses occurred when this order was being executed.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20At this point the minister paused and covered his eyes with his hand,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24as if to avoid the contemplation of the terrible vision.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26After which he continued.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29We are no savages. Care for the security of Turkey
0:21:29 > 0:21:33had to predominate over all other considerations.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47On 3rd January 1915, the Russian czar, panicking at the Turkish advance on Sarikamis,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49urged the Allies to attack Turkey.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51The British agreed.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55This is one of the greatest campaigns in history.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Think what Constantinople is to the East -
0:21:58 > 0:22:02more than London, Paris and Berlin all rolled into one are to the West.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Think what its fall will mean.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11This was the battle which might turn the war,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14cut Germany's route to the East,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17unlock the Balkans and open up Russia via the Black Sea.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24First, the Navy had to force its way through the Dardanelle straits.
0:22:29 > 0:22:36The French insisted on being involved, not wanting the British to dominate the Mediterranean.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40On 18th March 1915,
0:22:40 > 0:22:44a combined French and British fleet attacked the straits.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51The flagship was hit by a number of high calibre shells.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54A turret was put out of action and the crew killed
0:22:56 > 0:22:58The flames didn't spare anything.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Our young men, a few minutes earlier so alert and courageous,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04were all skeletons lying on the bare steel.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07lacquered, carbonised.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19The Turkish guns survived the naval bombardment.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23The Allied ships were sitting ducks.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32I told the battery commander to increase fire.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36He replied, "Shells are exploding on the decks of the enemy ships,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39"there is considerable damage."
0:23:39 > 0:23:42The French battleship Bouvet hit a mine.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Three battleships were sunk that day, three crippled, four damaged.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50The Allies lost over 700 men.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53It was a remarkable victory for the Ottoman Empire.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56The Allies tried again.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01This time, the Navy would support an amphibious landing of troops.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, known as Anzacs,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08joined French and British soldiers.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Contrary to myth, the Anzacs weren't tough diggers from the outback.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17They were mostly city dwellers,
0:24:17 > 0:24:22many first-generation immigrants, fighting for the mother country.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Turks, like Behzade Kerim,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30knew this would be a fight for their country's survival.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39I will sacrifice myself for my faith, my country, my dear Istanbul.
0:24:39 > 0:24:45I will crush the dirty, loathsome hands threatening my old father's happiness,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48my innocent baby's life, my beloved wife's honour.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52I shall be as hardhearted as an Englishman.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56I salute you, o, apple of my eye, Istanbul.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Those who are about to die bid you farewell.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07On 25th April 1915,
0:25:07 > 0:25:1370,000 Allied troops went ashore on the peninsula of Gelibolu - Gallipoli.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20A post-war film reconstructed the battle.
0:25:20 > 0:25:27Private Robert Atkinson witnessed what was then the greatest seaborne invasion ever.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Troops in small boats were towed ashore.
0:25:30 > 0:25:36Terrific bombardment, awful noise rolling round the cliffs. Surprised the Turks.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38Splendid gunnery by the Navy.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Awe-inspiring scene, my first experience of battle.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58The Anzacs were landed in the wrong place.
0:25:58 > 0:26:018,000 men struggled ashore on a narrow strip of sand,
0:26:01 > 0:26:05hemmed in by steep hills.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07GUNFIRE
0:26:09 > 0:26:12The men christened it Anzac Cove.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20The Turks welcomed us with shrapnel, and sprayed up the sea,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22but few of us got hit.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24There didn't seem much organisation.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27In fact, it was disorganisation.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Breaking out of Anzac Cove, the casualties soared.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37New Zealander William Malone blamed the folly of Australian officers.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41General Braund had no defensive position, no plan,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44nothing but a murderous notion that the only thing to do
0:26:44 > 0:26:49was to plunge troops over the ridge into the jungle beyond.
0:26:51 > 0:26:58It was on these Turkish hills that Australian and New Zealand national identities were forged.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19We were singing "This bit of the world belongs to us".
0:27:19 > 0:27:24We charged up a hill so steep we could only just scramble up.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Clean over a machine gun we leapt, men dropping all around.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31It was mad, wild, thrilling.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36They would have had an easier time
0:27:36 > 0:27:40if it had been left to German General Liman von Sanders.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44He held troops back for an attack nine miles away that never came.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49But a 34-year-old Turkish officer, Mustafa Kemal,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53climbed the peak of Chanak Bayir and saw Anzac troops approaching
0:27:53 > 0:27:56and his own men fleeing.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01"Why are you running away?" I asked. "The enemy, sir," they said.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06"You mustn't run from the enemy." "We've no more ammunition."
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I ordered them to fix bayonets and lie down.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12As they did so, the enemy, too, lay down.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14We had won time.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Mustafa Kemal issued a stark command.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23I don't order you to attack, I order you to die.
0:28:24 > 0:28:31By the time we are dead, other units and commanders will have come up to take our place.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36He sent an angry letter to Enver Pasha, damning their German allies.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Von Sanders did not know either our army or our country,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45he had no time to study the situation properly.
0:28:45 > 0:28:50Do not rely on the ability of the Germans headed by von Sanders,
0:28:50 > 0:28:57whose hearts and souls are not as engaged as ours are in the defence of our country.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02The Turks contained the Anzac break-out at the cove.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Gallipoli made a hero out of Mustafa Kemal.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09Within eight years he became his country's leader,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12earning the name Ataturk - father of the Turks.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18The British landing at V beach went badly.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23The plan was to run the ship River Clyde onto the shore,
0:29:23 > 0:29:26her hold no longer full of coal but men.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28But she went aground further out,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31exposing the British to withering Turkish fire.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38MACHINE-GUN FIRES
0:29:38 > 0:29:42The enemy commanders were sending the men down the ramps.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54But they could not escape the Turkish bullets.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58Our fire was very effective, knocking the enemy into the sea.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01GUNFIRE
0:30:09 > 0:30:14The shore at V beach was full of enemy corpses, like shoals of fish.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18The colour of the sea changed with the blood from their bodies.
0:30:40 > 0:30:46Other landings went well, but initial success was not quickly exploited.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51The Allies under General Sir Ian Hamilton were cursed by poor coordination.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58As on the western front, the two sides dug in to a bitter trench war.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Here, an Australian cameraman scrambles back
0:31:05 > 0:31:08to help his assistant under fire.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11GUNFIRE
0:31:17 > 0:31:21French officer Jean Giraudoux watched the war turn brutal.
0:31:23 > 0:31:25The Australians massacre the Turks.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30One Australian told me that the Turks are their national enemy.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36The conditions at Gallipoli were terrible -
0:31:36 > 0:31:40intense heat, bitter cold, little water.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Major Burge wrote home to his mother.
0:31:46 > 0:31:53Respected madam, sitting fearlessly 200 yards from two million bloodthirsty Turks,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55I take up my pen.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00I forgot to mention, I have six feet of solid earth between me and them.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03The sun is very hot and I am very thirsty.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07The only thing to drink is water from a nasty well,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11which tastes as if it had a dead mule in it.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14However, we are given purifying tablets, which are very good
0:32:14 > 0:32:19and make the water taste as if it had two dead mules in it.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34To my high-born royal wife, Ayesha,
0:32:34 > 0:32:39from your husband, Mustafa Mahomet, captain, 13th Turkish Infantry.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45Oh, Ayesha, my morning star, I pray God to bring this all to an end.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52I see lovely Constantinople in ruins and our houses burnt to the ground.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57These English are very persistent, there is no fear of death for them.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00They are very cruel, they watch us like wolves at night
0:33:00 > 0:33:03and are upon us like the devil in the day.
0:33:03 > 0:33:08Why did we join in this wicked war?
0:33:08 > 0:33:13Ayesha, I must take my leave of you and I must away to my devotion.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18God bless you, Ayesha. I wish I were at home to give you my adorations.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24But Ayesha never received Mustafa's letter.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27It was found on his dead body by a British soldier.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37The Turks lost 10,000 men in one afternoon.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42As spring turned into summer, the stench of the dead became unbearable.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46Eventually an armistice was called, to bury the dead.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Many Turkish soldiers were illiterate -
0:34:14 > 0:34:18their experiences were reflected in their songs.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22SOULFUL TURKISH SONG PLAYS
0:35:03 > 0:35:08Disease became a major killer, particularly typhus and dysentery.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13My old pal, he was smart and upright as a guardsman.
0:35:13 > 0:35:19After ten days, to see him, crawling about, his backside hanging out.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22We lowered him into the latrine,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25but he simply rolled into this trench.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28We couldn't pull him out, we didn't have any strength.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31He drowned in his own excrement.
0:35:36 > 0:35:42Allied resolve was weakening, as Lieutenant Colonel Fahrettin realised, writing to his father.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48The morale of his troops has sunk so low as to be beyond description.
0:35:48 > 0:35:54These fellows will have to embark their troops and remove them one of these nights.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02On 20th December 1915, they did just that.
0:36:04 > 0:36:10Turkish officer Izzettin Bey was woken by the duty officer at 3am.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15They had spotted many frigates and transport ships,
0:36:15 > 0:36:17they thought it was a new invasion.
0:36:17 > 0:36:23But the British were running away, their situation had become hopeless.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26What had happened was victory and the will of Allah.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Turkish troops enter abandoned Allied trenches.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40They did not fire on the retreating Allies, happy just to see them go.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46After nine terrible months, the hills of Gallipoli fell silent.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Both sides suffered around a quarter of a million casualties,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56but for the Turks it was a triumph.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59MUSIC: ROUSING TURKISH SONG
0:37:00 > 0:37:06When the enemy withdrew, Constantinople was decorated from one end to the other.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11The minarets were lit with oil lamps - everyone was full of joy.
0:37:11 > 0:37:16Pale faces began to smile, Constantinople came back to life.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33The Germans were still trying to ignite a holy war, jihad, in the Middle East.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39In the mosques, fiery speeches are made against the English.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41Excitement is increasing.
0:37:41 > 0:37:4560,000 Afghan riders are ready to march.
0:37:48 > 0:37:53German agents who'd slipped into the Ottoman Empire as a travelling circus
0:37:53 > 0:37:57were now crossing Persia, disguised as tribesmen.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00On 19th August 1915,
0:38:00 > 0:38:03they evaded Russian patrols and entered Afghanistan.
0:38:05 > 0:38:11Their mission, to raise a Muslim army against the British and invade India.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16They'd been on the road for nine months,
0:38:16 > 0:38:22spending much of their time arguing over the route and who was in charge.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26The answer to that was German spy Oskar von Niedermayer.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Then Enver Pasha had second thoughts.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41The Germans, in stirring up revolt against Russian and British masters,
0:38:41 > 0:38:44encouraged ideas of independence.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51This clashed with Enver's vision of uniting all Muslims
0:38:51 > 0:38:54in an expanded, all-Turkic empire.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58Enver pulled the Turks out of Niedermayer's mission,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01leaving the Germans to go it alone.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07When they reached Kabul,
0:39:07 > 0:39:12the Emir kept them waiting another two months before even seeing them.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16His Excellency told us why he could not receive us earlier.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21Of course, it had nothing to do with anything political.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26He compared us with tradesmen, with lots of wares he could pick from.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Everything seemed to be a business transaction for him.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35The Emir played the Germans off against the British.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40Great riches, even his country's independence, were at stake.
0:39:40 > 0:39:46He hit Niedermayer with a demand for £10 million and 100,000 rifles and guns.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54While they waited for the Emir to decide whether to invade India,
0:39:54 > 0:39:59they blundered about, offending Muslim sensibilities.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04In order to enjoy forbidden alcohol, soldiers secretly brewed schnapps.
0:40:04 > 0:40:09The first drunkard, a sight never before witnessed in Afghanistan,
0:40:09 > 0:40:12as it is religious blasphemy caused severe public anger.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18The Emir had long been on the British payroll.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22Now they upped the bribe to keep Afghanistan on side.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28There were rumours of huge money transports from India.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31We worked it out that the closer this caravan got,
0:40:31 > 0:40:35the icier our relationship with the Emir became.
0:40:40 > 0:40:46Niedermayer and the Germans realised they were pawns in the Emir's game
0:40:46 > 0:40:48and abandoned the operation.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54Jihad wasn't setting the East ablaze,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58but it still had the power to petrify the British
0:40:58 > 0:41:03and Enver had no intention of halting his expansionist plans.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09He sent Colmar von der Goltz, a distinguished German field marshal,
0:41:09 > 0:41:15to take command in Iraq and drive the war through Persia into India.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20Then 72 years old, von der Goltz kept in touch with his family.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23I never imagined that in my old age
0:41:23 > 0:41:26fate would take me so far out into the world
0:41:26 > 0:41:30and I would travel in the steps of Alexander the Great
0:41:30 > 0:41:35through countries that filled our imaginations when we were young.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Britain decided a show of strength was needed in the Middle East
0:41:40 > 0:41:48to persuade the Arabs that the British were the masters there, not the Germans or Turks.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52The capture of Baghdad would create an immense impression,
0:41:52 > 0:41:56especially in Persia, Afghanistan and on our own frontier,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59and counteract the unfortunate impression
0:41:59 > 0:42:03created by want of success on the Dardanelles.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12By May 1915, a British division under Major General Sir Charles Townshend
0:42:12 > 0:42:15was advancing up the Tigris, through Iraq,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18then part of the Ottoman Empire.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26Just 25 miles short of Baghdad, they were halted by the Turkish 6th Army.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33The British fell back on Kut, a town on a loop in the Tigris.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37The Turks surrounded them and the British settled in for a siege.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42Major Dunn, who drew this map, wrote home on Christmas Day.
0:42:42 > 0:42:48A very good dinner today - mutton, Scotch broth, salmon mayonnaise,
0:42:48 > 0:42:54chicken conflet, roast duck and green peas, Italian eggs, chocolate.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57And, of course, we toasted all our dear ones at home.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02The British were up against Colmar von der Goltz,
0:43:02 > 0:43:06now in charge of the besieging Turkish army,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08his conquest of India on hold.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13Unfortunately, the English have dug in well
0:43:13 > 0:43:17and we don't have the technical means to get rid of them.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Whether we will meet again in good health is in God's hand.
0:43:21 > 0:43:26Townshend was optimistic they'd all be rescued within days,
0:43:26 > 0:43:28but by January, food running out,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32their own cavalry came reluctantly to the rescue.
0:43:32 > 0:43:37Three weeks ago, the first horse fell under the butcher's knife.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41Since then they have been slain daily, about 20 a time.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45We have it in steak-and-kidney pie, horse mince, horse rissoles,
0:43:45 > 0:43:52potted horse, horse soup, stuffed horse meat etc, ad nauseam.
0:43:54 > 0:44:00Hundreds of British soldiers died trying to save Townshend's garrison.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04This morning there was a strong English attack.
0:44:04 > 0:44:09Between the battle lines, the field is covered with English corpses.
0:44:14 > 0:44:19The relieving force downstream again failed to get through.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22General Townshend has issued a communique.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26The eyes of India and England are on us, we shall go down as heroes,
0:44:26 > 0:44:29which doesn't do us much good.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32I'd sooner not be a hero in Kut and have plenty to eat.
0:44:39 > 0:44:44The men are dying off fast from starvation, scurvy, pneumonia.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47The Tommies are sticking it out better than the Indian troops,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50who refuse to eat mule or horse.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00On 24th April, in the last, desperate days of the siege,
0:45:00 > 0:45:04a gallant attempt was made to send a ship carrying 270 tons of food
0:45:04 > 0:45:07up the Tigris to Kut.
0:45:08 > 0:45:15Ali Ihsan was one of a group of Turks who stretched a cable across the Tigris, ensnaring the ship.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19We confiscated an English boat which contained all kinds of food,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22enough to feed 5,000 for two months.
0:45:22 > 0:45:28It was called Jullenar. We renamed it Kendi Gellen - the Godsend.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35A desperate Townshend made an offer to Turkish General Halil Pasha
0:45:35 > 0:45:38for the freedom of the garrison.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45General Townshend offered me one million pounds
0:45:45 > 0:45:47for the freedom of the English army.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50Had the offer been made in other circumstances,
0:45:50 > 0:45:55my answer would have been one word out of the barrel of my rifle.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Trying to keep my calm, I replied that I took this offer as a joke.
0:46:01 > 0:46:07Finally, on 29th April 1916, after 146 days of siege,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10Townshend surrendered.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14An even more humiliating defeat than Gallipoli.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22All up now, a terrible pity.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26Never shall I forget that morning of surrender.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30We settled down to the melancholy task of destruction.
0:46:30 > 0:46:37Poor gunners. Some were in tears as the guns they were so proud to have tended were blown to pieces.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41The Turks marched in at noon and took over the place.
0:46:41 > 0:46:45By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02Von der Goltz died of typhus just before the Turkish victory at Kut,
0:47:02 > 0:47:10but it was in line with something he wrote, an unusually modern and prophetic view.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15For me, this war is only the beginning of a long, historical development
0:47:15 > 0:47:20at whose end will stand the defeat of England's world position.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22The hallmark of the 20th century
0:47:22 > 0:47:25must be the revolution of the coloured races
0:47:25 > 0:47:28against the colonial imperialism of Europe.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34THe evening after the fall
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Turks and Arabs moved through the narrow streets of the city
0:47:37 > 0:47:41to where we had buried the much-loved field marshal a few days earlier.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46The Turkish commander wanted to bring the news of the fall
0:47:46 > 0:47:49of Kut to the dead leader whose achievement it was.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01Townshend sailed off to a comfortable captivity in Constantinople.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05During the siege, 1,750 British and Indian soldiers had died,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08but the worst lay ahead.
0:48:08 > 0:48:1212,000 men were marched through the desert to Baghdad.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16A large percentage of men were quite done for
0:48:16 > 0:48:18and couldn't march another inch.
0:48:18 > 0:48:23They lay on the ground, suffering from fever and dysentery,
0:48:23 > 0:48:28smothered from head to foot in filth and covered with flies.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31By the war's close, over 4,000
0:48:31 > 0:48:34veterans of Kut had died in prison camp,
0:48:34 > 0:48:38victims of wilful neglect by both Turkey and Britain.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45Never come back no more, boys, Never come back no more
0:48:45 > 0:48:49The camp is becoming a bore, boys, It's becoming a terrible bore
0:48:49 > 0:48:53Shut up the old shop window Put a notice over the door
0:48:53 > 0:48:59We're packing our kits for the jolly old Ritz And we'll never come back no more
0:49:00 > 0:49:04The Allies wrote off the Ottoman Empire from the start,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07but then suffered major defeats at its hands.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19The Turks would see out the war.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22It wasn't Allah or the Germans that kept them fighting,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26but self-defence and political ambition.