Redmond calls for inquiry into failed Gallipoli campaign

Westminster, 15 January 1915 - John Redmond has demanded an investigation into the failed military campaign at Gallipoli. In particular, Mr. Redmond has asked that the events surrounding the landing at Suvla Bay be investigated.

One of the questions that Mr. Redmond has raised relates to the failure of the supply of water. This was particularly critical given the ferocious heat in the area when the invasion took place. The challenges which this presented appear to have hampered all attempts to build upon the early advantage gained in the invasion.

Prof Mike Cronin of Boston College talks about the legacy of the Gallipoli campaign

The manner in which the campaign unravelled in the months that followed is at issue in Mr. Redmond’s demand for an inquiry.

That it should come from an Irish politician is reflective of the huge number of Irish soldiers who fought and died around Suvla Bay.

The Irish Times has been critical of Mr. Redmond on many occasions in recent years, but supported his demand and said that the whole of the Irish people were also in agreement.

The paper said that ‘the mystery of the most costly and least excusable failure of the war is still unsolved. We agree with Mr Redmond that, whatever reputation may be lost in the process, the full story must be given to the world. We owe that solemn act of justice to the memory of our dead’.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]