Mistaken identity

As a good Aussie I shrugged off the warnings of impending terrorist attack and went to pay my respects at Gallipoli.
Imagine my surprise when I found the place almost empty of visitors and with no security presence!
Then, after 10 minutes wandering around the ubiquitous old-town I discovered the secret of WW1 which has been kept for a century.
Winnie was deceived!
The Russians wanted Constantinople taken for their own nefarious ends, mainly controlling their fleet's access to the sea, and Winnie wanted a toe-hold in Italy, controlling the Agean and access to the heart of continental Europe through Trieste.
Acting as intermediaries between the British and Russian governments, the third member of the entente, the old enemy of the UK, France, cunningly sold Winston the plan to attack Gallipoli, allowing him to think it was Italy rather than Turkey. When he discovered the deliberate ambiguity it was too late to do anything about it - but he made deGaulle suffer in the second round.
As the wiley politician later said:
"In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.|Weiterlesen