Who was Responsible for the Dardanelles Naval Fiasco?*

In 1916 the Dardanelles Royal Commission was convened to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Dardanelles naval fiasco of the previous year. Lords Fisher and Kitchener, former heads of the Royal Navy and British Army respectively, were ultimately found to have been culpable, in having failed to adequately warn the Cabinet War Council of the dangers implicit within the naval operation. Winston Churchill, the political head of the Royal Navy was also admonished, though to a lesser degree. It is the contention of this paper that the findings of the Dardanelles Commission were seriously flawed and that Fisher and Kitchener were unjustly castigated, as convenient scapegoats. This proposition will be tested against all of the relevant evidence available, including hitherto‐neglected primary sources, in order to determine who in fact was responsible for that disaster.