Russia, the Balkans and the Dardanelles – Granville Fortescue | 1915 First UK Edition | First World War and Gallipoli

Author: Granville Fortescue
Publisher: Andrew Melrose, London
Date: 1915
Edition: First UK Edition
Binding: Original dark blue cloth, lettered and ruled in gilt
Condition: Very Good
Stock Code: 004252
Location: Bookroom

Description

An attractive first UK edition of Russia, the Balkans and the Dardanelles by Granville Fortescue, published by Andrew Melrose in London in 1915, during the second year of the First World War.

Bound in the publisher’s original dark blue cloth, with gilt lettering and decorative ruling to the upper board and spine, this is an interesting contemporary account of the military and political situation in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Dardanelles during the opening years of the Great War.

Written by an experienced American soldier, journalist and war correspondent, the book examines one of the most strategically important and politically complicated regions of the conflict.

The Dardanelles, the narrow waterway connecting the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara, occupied a central position in Allied strategic planning. Control of the straits offered the possibility of opening a maritime route to Constantinople and establishing more effective communications with Russia, while potentially forcing the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

The campaign that developed in 1915 became one of the most controversial Allied operations of the First World War, culminating in the Gallipoli landings and the prolonged struggle against Ottoman forces defending the peninsula. Fortescue’s work is particularly interesting as a contemporary publication, written before the eventual outcome of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns could be assessed with the benefit of hindsight.

The book also addresses the wider strategic significance of Russia and the Balkan states, whose competing territorial ambitions, political alliances and military interests made southeastern Europe a critical theatre of the war.

Granville Fortescue (1875–1952)

Granville Roland Fortescue was an American soldier, journalist, author and war correspondent whose career combined military service with extensive international reporting.

He served in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War and subsequently established himself as a correspondent covering international conflicts and political developments. Fortescue reported on several important military events of the early twentieth century, including the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War.

His background as both a soldier and a journalist gave his writing a distinctive character, combining observations on military operations with assessments of political developments and strategic considerations. His works provide valuable examples of contemporary Anglo-American reporting on the conflicts that reshaped Europe and Asia during the early twentieth century.

The Dardanelles and the Gallipoli Campaign

The Allied campaign against the Ottoman Empire in 1915 was conceived partly as a means of breaking the strategic deadlock on the Western Front.

British and French planners hoped that naval operations through the Dardanelles might threaten Constantinople, secure access to the Black Sea and strengthen Allied communications with Russia. Following the failure of the naval attempt to force the straits in March 1915, Allied troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in April.

The subsequent campaign involved British, French, Australian, New Zealand and other Allied forces fighting against determined Ottoman resistance. The difficult terrain, inadequate intelligence, logistical problems and strength of the Ottoman defences contributed to a prolonged and costly stalemate. The eventual Allied evacuation in December 1915 and January 1916 made Gallipoli one of the defining military and political controversies of the war.

Published during 1915, Fortescue’s book belongs to the contemporary literature of this campaign and is of particular interest for the perspectives and information available while events were still unfolding.

Russia and the Balkan Question

The Balkans had played a central role in the diplomatic tensions that preceded the First World War.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo in June 1914 triggered the crisis that brought the European powers into conflict, while the competing interests of Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and the Ottoman Empire continued to influence the conduct of the war. Russia’s position as an Allied power, its military commitments on the Eastern Front and its longstanding strategic interest in the Turkish Straits were central to the wider significance of the Dardanelles operation.

Fortescue’s discussion of these interconnected theatres makes the book a useful contemporary source for understanding Allied strategic thinking during the early stages of the conflict.

Condition

Very Good. A well-preserved copy in the original publisher’s dark blue cloth, with gilt lettering and decorative ruling to the upper board and spine.

The binding is firm and tight, although there is some slight creasing, marking and rubbing to the cloth, particularly around the edges and extremities.

The front blank endpaper is lacking.

The pages and illustrations are generally very clean, with occasional slight foxing.

The book is now housed in an easily removable clear acetate archival cover to protect the original cloth binding.

The photographs form part of the description.

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An attractive first UK edition of a contemporary account of Russia, the Balkans and the Dardanelles during the First World War, retaining its original gilt-lettered cloth binding.