Q&A · 1:35:15-1:35:40

Why Russia did not attack the Dardanelles from the Black Sea

Russian concern about the German-Ottoman capital ships and Russia's wider internal difficulties limited the obvious-looking option of a simultaneous Black Sea attack.

Question

Why did Russia not attack the Ottoman Empire from the Black Sea during the Anglo-French Dardanelles campaign?

Short answer

The threat from Goeben and Russia's own serious difficulties made the apparent opportunity much less straightforward.

Notes

The viewer asks why Russia did not complement the Anglo-French Dardanelles operation with an attack toward Constantinople from the Black Sea. The two former German ships in Ottoman service, especially Goeben, posed an immediate threat. Russia was also contending with serious problems of its own. The reply cautions against treating a converging attack on a map as an operation that the Russian Navy could simply execute.