Winston Churchill and the Extraordinary DARDANELLES DISASTER of World War I

The extraodinary story of the British Navy's disastrous attempt to pass through the Dardanelles to Constantinople marked a turning point in World War I. In a new book, acclaimed naval military expert Dan van der Vat offers a fascinating retelling of the story, and analyzes the role of the young Winston Churchill. As First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill attempted to break the deadlock of the First World War with a daring plan to force the Dardanelles Straits. The plan quickly faltered and subsequent attempts to land troops at Galipolli resulted in massive Allied casualties. The failure also brought about Churchill’s removal from office. In The Dardanelles Disaster, Dan van der Vat argues that the disaster at the Dardanelles prolonged the war by two years, led to the Russian Revolution, forced Britain to the brink of starvation, and contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East.

With a narrative rich in human drama, The Dardanelles Disaster highlights all the diplomatic clashes from Whitehall to the Hellespont, Berlin to Constantinople, and St. Petersburg to the Bosporus. Van der Vat analyzes Churchill s response to the obstacles he faced and describes the fateful actions of the Turkish, German, and British governments. With never before published information on Colonel Geehl s minelaying operation, which won the battle for the Germans, The Dardanelles Disaster is essential reading for everyone interested in great naval history, Churchill s early career, and World War I.

THE DARDANELLES DISASTER: Winston Churchill's Greatest Failure Reviewed in Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly looks at Dan Van der Vat's riveting account of Winston Churchill's greatest-and almost career-ending-defeat in 1915 as the British Navy's made a disastrous attempt to pass through the Dardanelles to Constantinople. Widely regarded as a turning point in the history of World War I, acclaimed naval military expert Van der Vat argues that the disaster at the Dardanelles prolonged the war by two years, led to the Russian Revolution, forced Britain to the brink of starvation, and contributed to the destabilization of the Middle East.

Here's the PW review of The Dardanelles Disaster: Winston Churchill's Greatest Failure: "Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty is the central figure in naval historian van Der Vat's (The Ship that Changed the World) account of a disaster that prolonged the Great War by two years and laid the groundwork for the collapse of the czarist and Ottoman empires. The plan to take the Dardanelles strait was Churchillian in its conception: the boldest strategic concept of WWI, designed to simultaneously outflank a deadlocked Western Front and open a supply route to Russia. Its promise was thwarted by incompetent execution—beginning with Churchill's insistence on the navy forcing the Dardanelles alone, without ground troop support. The Royal Navy's predictable inability to push its battleships past the guns and minefields defending the Dardanelles forts in March 1915 followed the Allies' failure to intercept the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau before they reached Turkish waters and triggered the German-Ottoman alliance. An improvised land campaign undertaken with poorly trained troops whose senior commanders set unsurpassed standards of ineptitude ensued. General readers will find enlightening this extended demonstration of the contributions command can make to catastrophe."

Dan Van der Vat's THE DARDANELLES DISASTER in Library Journal

Naval historian Dan Van der Vat's new book, The Dardanelles Disaster: The Extraordinary Story of Churchill's Most Spectacular Defeat , is reviewed in Library Journal: "In 1915, the Royal Navy and Allied troops sought to open the Dardanelles strait, which the Ottoman Empire had closed to the Allies in 1914. The operation was overseen by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, and it was a massive failure that devolved into the horrific Battle of Gallipoli. Van der Vat provides a narrative, hewing very much to maneuver details, both in battle and in Whitehall offices, and then indicating how the World War I Turco-German alliance impacted not only that war's duration but the course of history to come. Van der Vat aims at general readers, but will also interest strict military history enthusiasts."

Robert Lloyd George's DAVID & WINSTON in The Weekly Standard

Another round of applause for Robert Lloyd George's thoughtful study of the friendship between David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill in The Weekly Standard: "For all of the big and small studies of various stages of Churchill's career--the early adventures in Cuba, the Northwest Frontier, and in Sudan, the heroics of the Boer prison camp escape--little has been written about the epic friendship of his political life, the one with the Liberal party giant David Lloyd George. The account of that friendship by Robert Lloyd George, great-grandson of the great man, goes far to fill the lacuna. The subtitle may overreach a little--a friendship that "changed the course of history"--but not by much. For an unbroken period of 44 years, the two were close friends, sometimes rivals for power and sometimes, together, decisive partners in events of global significance: The 1914 declaration of war against Germany, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the Norway debate in the House of Commons that brought Neville Chamberlain down and Churchill to power. When Lloyd George died in March 1945, Churchill, still prime minister, worked through the night preparing the eulogy he would deliver at the Welshman's funeral the next morning. An unlikelier pairing for a half-century of political friendship would be hard to envisage. Lloyd George, 11 years older than Churchill, was born into humble farming circles in Wales and left school at 15. A lay preacher in his teen years in nonconformist chapels, he began his law career by defending poachers out of an office in a back room of his house. He entered parliament at 27 as a Liberal member determined to fight for the rights of the poor and disadvantaged. Churchill, by contrast, was a grandson of the Duke of Marlborough and the son of a Tory cabinet minister. His American-born mother had a string of well placed Establishment lovers who ensured that young Winston always secured a ringside appointment as a war correspondent in the late Victorian colonial wars. But it was four years after he first entered Parliament as a Tory in 1900 that the friendship with Lloyd George began. The Welshman--he was both the last Liberal prime minister and the only Welshman to occupy the post--joined forces with Churchill on the issue of free trade, something both men instinctively thought good for Britain and for the working man. Soon that conviction, and a growing appreciation for the Liberal social agenda, led Churchill to "cross the floor" of the House and join the Liberals. But it was Lloyd George who decisively influenced Churchill to "discover the poor," as one contemporary put it, and push through Parliament the most progressive social legislation that had ever been enacted in Great Britain: old age pensions, unemployment compensation, and other social reforms that culminated in the "People's Budget" of 1909. During the years leading up to World War I, Churchill, as first lord of the admiralty, pushed through an expensive modernization and build-up of the Royal Navy. This briefly raised tensions with Lloyd George, who was chancellor of the exchequer and responsible for the budget. But Churchill demonstrated great loyalty to Lloyd George by defending him against charges of financial impropriety when the Marconi Company won a government contract for empire-wide wireless communications. That gesture proved invaluable after Gallipoli: Churchill was forced to resign from the cabinet, and would have remained out of office for the rest of the war but for the stubborn backing he received from Lloyd George, who became prime minister in 1916." - David Aikman.

Robert Lloyd George's DAVID & WINSTON in The New Criterion

The October issue of The New Criterion offers a lengthy feature article by Robert Messenger on Winston Churchill's friends and rivals. Messenger looks at two recent books, Overlook's David and Winston: How a Friendship Changed History and Gandhi & Churchill, by Arthur Herman, published by Bantam. Robert Lloyd George, great grandson of David Lloyd George, writes Messenger "helps us understand one of the least remembered aspects of Churchill's career: his time as the coming man of the Liberal Party."

DAVID & WINSTON Reviewed in The Atlantic Monthly

From the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly: "The two men who led the British to victory in successive world wars—David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill—were only 11 years apart and were partners in government for most of the first quarter of the 20th century. David and Winston reminds us that Churchill— generally seen through the prism of his later years as an arch-reactionary Tory—was, with his senior colleague, an important figure in the radical Liberal government that laid the foundation for Britain’s social-security system. Robert Lloyd George’s argument that his great-grandfather enduringly influenced Churchill becomes a little thin in the 1930s and 1940s, when the two men clashed over the policy toward Nazi Germany and a host of domestic issues. Nonetheless, his book illuminates the lasting personal relationship between them. It also shows an attractive and generous side of Churchill’s character and conduct—as do these two other books about people who, unlike Lloyd George, worked for Churchill, not with him. The Great Man seems to have been the exception to the rule that no man is a hero to his valet. Although he was a demanding and sometimes ill-tempered boss, he apparently inspired endless loyalty and affection in those who labored to serve and protect him under often trying circumstances."

Robert Lloyd George's DAVID & WINSTON in Washington Times

The enduring friendship between British statesmen David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill is the subject of Robert Lloyd George's David & Winston, published this month and honored recently at a reception at the home of Overlook Publisher Peter Mayer (left). Yesterday in The Washington Times critic Martin Rubin wrote: "David & Winston should make readers look at its subjects a little differently from the common perception which the received wisdom has given us of them and is a worthwhile contribution to the ongoing historical analysis of these fascinating statesmen. "

Overlook Preview: DAVID AND WINSTON by Robert Lloyd George

The lifelong friendship between Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George, forged on the debate floors of Parliament and fostered by their passion for practical politics, was quite possibly one of the most influential in modern British—and perhaps worldwide—history. In his new book, David & Winston, Robert Lloyd George takes an intimate look at the friendship of his great grandfather and Churchill and how that friendship changed the lives and politics of two of Britain’s greatest statesmen.

Drawing on never-before-seen family archives, Lloyd George delves into nearly every facet of the often tumultuous relationship between the two historic men. From their first meeting, debating on the floor of the House of Commons, to Lloyd George’s conversion of Churchill from conservative to liberal progressive soon after, to their war-time lunches under the shadow of Nazi invasion and beyond, the reader is granted an insider’s look into the mutual appreciation and respect both men had for each other; a respect that endured throughout both their long lives, through peace-time and war. The many facets of their relationship are explored through personal documents and accounts—letters, public statements, and anecdotes—which Lloyd George makes liberal use of, electing to let the two men speak for themselves as much as possible. The book is also populated with political cartoons and photographs detailing the public perception of the two statesmen, who were often portrayed as an inseparable pair, and reactions to their policies. Both personal and far-reaching, David & Winston is vastly engrossing and a necessary exploration of the effects of such a friendship on both the state and the world stage. David & Winston will be available in bookstores in April 2008.