Everything about Dardanelles totally explained
For the Melbourne based Indie rock band see Dardanelles
The
Dardanelles (
Turkish:
Çanakkale Boğazı, Greek: Δαρδανέλλια,
Dardanellia), formerly known as the
Hellespont
(
Greek: Ελλήσποντος,
Hellespontos), is a narrow
strait in northwestern
Turkey connecting the
Aegean Sea to the
Sea of Marmara. It is located at approximately . The strait is 61 kilometers (38 mi) long but only 1.2 to 6 kilometers (0.75 to 4 mi) wide, averaging 55 meters (180 ft) deep with a maximum depth of 82 meters (300 ft). Water flows in both directions along the strait, from the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean via a
surface current and in the opposite direction via an
undercurrent.
Like the
Bosporus, it separates
Europe (in this case the
Gallipoli peninsula) and the mainland of
Asia. The strait is an
International waterway, and together with the Bosporus, Dardanelles connects the
Black Sea to the
Mediterranean Sea.
The Turkish name
Çanakkale Boğazı is derived from the major city adjoining the strait,
Çanakkale (which takes its name from its famous
castles;
kale means "castle"). The name
Dardanelles derives from
Dardania, an ancient land on the Asian shore of the strait.
History
The strait has long had a strategic role in history. The ancient city of
Troy was located near the western entrance of the strait and the strait's Asiatic shore was the focus of the
Trojan War. It was also the scene of the legendary Greek story of
Hero and Leander. The
Persian army of
Xerxes I and later the
Macedonian army of
Alexander the Great crossed the Dardanelles in opposite directions to invade each other's lands, in
480 BC and
334 BC respectively. The Dardanelles were vital to the defense of
Constantinople during the
Byzantine period, and since the
14th century they've almost continuously been controlled by the Turks.
Gaining control or special access to the strait became a key foreign policy goal of the
Russian Empire during the
19th century. During the
Napoleonic Wars, Russia — supported by
Great Britain in the
Dardanelles Operation —
blockaded the straits in
1807. Following the
Ottoman Empire's defeat in the
Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, in
1833 Russia forced the Turks to sign the
Treaty of Hunkiar Iskelesi which required the straits to be closed to warships of non-Black Sea powers at Russia's request. This would have effectively given Russia a free hand in the Black Sea.
The treaty alarmed the Western powers, who feared the consequences of potential Russian expansionism in the Mediterranean could conflict with their own possessions and economic interest in the region. At the
London Straits Convention in July
1841, the
United Kingdom,
France,
Austria and
Prussia forced Russia to agree that only Turkish warships could traverse the Dardanelles in peacetime. The United Kingdom and France subsequently sent their fleets through the straits to attack
Crimea during the
Crimean War in
1853, though this was done as allies of the Ottoman Empire. This convention was formally reaffirmed by the
Congress of Paris in
1856, following the Russian defeat in the Crimean War, and it remained theoretically in force into the
20th century.
In 1915, the Allies sent a massive invasion force of British, Indian, Australian, and New Zealand troops to attempt to open up the strait. At the
battle of Gallipoli, Turkish troops trapped the Allies on the beaches of the Gallipoli peninsula. The
Battle of Gallipoli damaged the career of
Winston Churchill, the
First Lord of the Admiralty who eagerly promoted the use of
Royal Navy battleships to force open the straits. The straits were mined to prevent Allied ships from penetrating them, although a British submarine did succeed in evading the minefields and sank a Turkish battleship off the
Golden Horn in Istanbul.
Sir Ian Hamilton's
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was unsuccessful in its attempt to capture the Gallipoli peninsula, and a withdrawal was ordered in January
1916, after 10 months and more than 200,000 casualties.
Following the war, the
1920 Treaty of Sèvres demilitarized the strait and made it an international territory under the control of the
League of Nations. This was amended under the
1923 Treaty of Lausanne which restored the straits to Turkey but allowed all foreign warships to traverse the straits freely. Turkey rejected the terms of this treaty and subsequently remilitarized the area. The reversion to this old regime was formalized under the
Montreux Convention of July
1936. The convention, which is still in force today, treats the straits as an international shipping lane but Turkey retains the right to restrict the naval traffic of non-
Black Sea nations (like
Greece or
Algeria). During
World War II, when Turkey was neutral for almost the entire length of the conflict, the Dardanelles were closed to the ships of the belligerent nations.
Further Information
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