Across the Dardanelles from Canakkale lies the Gallipoli Peninsula. Its historic significance can't be underrated--World War I would have been considerably shorter (and the course of history changed) had the British Empire's troops merely secured their position on its heights rather than on its beaches after they captured the peninsula. (The astonished Turks, who had retreated from the heights, simply turned around and established machine guns nests above the troops to pin them down, effectively delaying any further Allied movement on the Eastern Front.) Given its historic importance, the site is very low-key; take a walk along the heights and look down on the sea to get a clear understanding of why the Australians and New Zealanders below had hardly a prayer. The Turkish commander, Ataturk, first gained his reputation and fame there in 1915. Though Winston Churchill was not on the scene, he had sent the expedition, and the disaster nearly ruined him politically. There are many war cemeteries and monuments on the peninsula. 125 mi/200 km southwest of Istanbul.