After Istanbul, we spent a couple of days in Bursa, another major urban centre. At one time, Bursa was the last stop on the Silk Road from the Orient. From Bursa, we headed west to Canakkale on the Dardanelles Straits (which connect the Marmara Sea with the Aegean Sea and separate Europe and Asia).
The Dardanelles are a popular place with Aussie and New Zealand tourists due to the Galipoli Campaign of WWI. Turkey (at the time the Ottoman Empire) was allied with Germany, while Britain was allied with Russia. Russia needed arms/supplies from England and the only route that would not freeze in winter was via the Aegean Sea, through the Dardanelles Straits, through the Sea of Marmara, past Istanbul, through the Bosphorous, and into the Black Sea (whew! Russia really needed those arms.). So, Britain tried to gain control of the Dardanelles by attacking via the Galipoli peninsula on the European side of the straits.
The ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) troops saw their first action here on the Galipoli Peninsula. Over 50,000 Aussie, New Zealand, British, French, Indian, and a few Newfies died in the fighting. It was vicious trench warfare with the trenches at times only 8 metres apart. Over 80,000 Turks died, but the Allies never gained much ground. After 8 months, the Allies acknowledged defeat and pulled out.
If anyone is interested, there is an old Mel Gibson movie (could he have been a teenager then?) called Galipoli that follows two young ANZAC soldiers. A hostel called ANZAC House plays the movie, so we caught some of it the evening before our tour.
We had an amazing tour guide who was a retired Turkish submarine captain. His grandfather and great-uncle had both died in the Galipoli campaign so he spoke very passionately about the history. The tour was fascinating and moving. We learned tons about WWI and actually still remembered some of it the next day.
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