Gallipoli by Robert Rhodes James (Pimlico, £12.50 in UK)

The Gallipoli campaign of 1915-16 probably has been fought over as often as the Somme or Passchendaele, yet this new account appears to be scrupulously fair and refutes some of the accepted myths. The overall verdict, however, seems to be as before - that the whole thing was a dubious venture from the start, that the Turks (and Germans) were given full warning by the preceding naval bombardments to strengthen their coastal defences, that Sir Ian Hamilton was an over-permissive Commander-in-Chief, and that too many of his subordinates let him down badly. Though General Liman von Sanders conducted a brilliant defence, the campaign also threw into prominence a little-known Turkish colonel, Mustafa Kemal, later famous as the dictator Ataturk. In comparison with the bungled landing and campaign, the final evacuation was a model operation which saved some face for the defeated Allies.