It was a great pity that the allied attack upon Turkey failed, had we won, we would have expelled the Muslims from Constantinople and given the place back to the Greeks. The taking of Constantinople was a great victory for our Muslim enemies, as it allowed them to cut off Western trade to China along the Silk Road.

Their aim was to impoverish Europe by cutting off trade with the rest of the Asian world, and enrich themselves by forcing Europe to deal only with Muslim traders if we wanted such commodities as silk and spices.

But when Vasco de Garma rounded the cape of good Hope and entered the Indian Oceon, the Muslim blockade of Europe became null and void.

While the land campaign to expel the Muslim Turks from Christian lands was a disaster, many people do not know just how close the naval forces got to forcing the straight and shelling Constantinople. The Muslim Turkish imperialist government was already fleeing the capitol and burning their documents when the news came that the French and British navies had turned back.

Curses.

Lego
You appear to have your centuries mixed up but in any event thanks for confirming that there was no justification for the Anzac attack on Turkey in terms of defending Australia. It was an unprovoked attack on a country on the other side of the world that had not attacked nor offered to attack us. If successful, Australian troops would have destroyed the homes and lives of many innocent people who were only defending their country from aggressive invasion.

Dear Mr Hume

It was an attack upon a highly aggressive imperial power which had been attacking Europe for centuries. The Ottoman Turks reached the gates of Vienna twice, had occupied Greece, were pushing into Russia, and had been fighting the Serbs for centuries with the greatest brutality.

The Ottoman Turks were the original reason why Europe launched the Crusades, because the Turks had forbidden Christian pilgrims from visiting the Holy Land. The Turks had conquered all of the Middle East and was attempting to take Persia (Iran). It was only because of Persian resistance that the whole of Europe is not now Muslim and just as backward as the rest of the Muslim world.

The attack upon Turkey was just as justified as the attacks upon Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The Good Guys beat Germany and Japan but unfortunately did not prevail in Turkey. We came very close to driving the Turks back to Turkmenistan and denying the Muslims their foothold in Europe.

However, because of the folishness of humanitarian people such as your goodself, the Muslims are using immigration to launch their next assault. Allowing your tradional enemies to cross your moat and take up residence in your keep, just to show them how non racist you are is definitely not a good idea.

Virtually all states also have long histories of aggression, including Spain, France, England, the USA. According to your theory, other nations would be justified in attacking them at any time, even when they were at peace, based on the aggressions of their predecessors centuries ago.

Not "virtually" all states, Peter Hume, all states.

The history of the entire planet revolves around the fact that stronger tribes have always expanded their borders into the territories of weaker tribes. And those weaker tribes have occupied that land since time when their ancestors expelled the previous tenents.

Civilisation always marched forward upon the point of a sword, and the march of civilisation was as inevitable as the rising off tomorrow's sun.

But civilisations act very much like people. All of us are primarily concerned with our own self interest, but most of us moderate our selfish desires because we have empathy with those who are less fortunate, and we because we understand that there is a common good. But some people are entirely selfish and care only for themselves.

I am a British descended person, who is extremely proud that my civilisation was the greatest civilising force that the world has ever known. Wherever it went, it ended Suttee, Thuggee, cannibalism, headhunting and slavery. My civilisition was exactly like every good person. It combined self interest with ultruism and compassion. It brought peace to warring tribes, introduced commerce, irrigation, education, science, medicine and justice, where all before was ignorance, superstition and capricious rule. It increased in entire peoples their capacity for pleasure and reduced their incidence of pain.

It is the only former colonial power which is still on very good and friendly terms with its former subjects.

Other civilisations, such as the Nazis, the Mongols, the Muslims were entirely selfish, and were only concerned with exploiting their subjects their own enrichment.

Without denigrating the erstwhile Author's seminal expose of Gallipoli, I too have made the pilgrimage to Turkey.

Like many Countries suffering the European meltdown, Turkey's lira plunged 28 %, and President Sezer floated the currency to resolve the crisis. Corruption is endemic & after 3 years of belt tightening austerity, still currently owes the IMF $ 11 bn.

Generally, the Turk's are not benevolent, and Tourism props up the shaky Economy. Aussie's pay double. American's ( the World over ) pay triple.And so forth.

After the 25th April, 30/35 tonnes of rubbish was removed from the revered site, which incidentally still belongs to the Turkish Empire. The desecration amongst the white marble tombstones was absolutely appalling.

So much for saving the environment, and Gillard's much vaunted Carbon Tax threshold.

Lip service is a cheap commodity.