January 1, 1970

Churchill was always a risk-taker and often his enthusiasm swept aside any anxieties others may have felt. He pushed for the high-risk offensive operation of the Dardanelles, saying ‘this is the hour … for a fine feat of arms’. But the defeat was resounding.

At Gallipoli, the risks proved too great – both for the thousands killed and for Churchill himself. After the disastrous campaign in the Dardanelles, with enormous loss of life, Churchill was discredited and forced to give up his position as First Lord of the Admiralty. A token position as the Duchy of Lancaster couldn’t satisfy him and, unable to bear political impotence and inaction, he resigned from the Government in November 1915 and went to join the army in the trenches of Flanders.

Churchill wrote a note for the Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, with a quotation from Napoleon (after Trafalgar) on the theme that war could not be waged without running risks: ‘We are defeated at sea because our admirals have learned – where I know not– that war can be made without running risks.’