rsonal life, he was inclined to excess. Known for his sexual promiscuity with both sexes, and hard drinking (Kinross, 1933, p. 212), he died of cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 57. Nevertheless, he earned the sobriquets given to him by a grateful country, Ghazi (Victorious) and Ataturk (Father of the Turks). He did so by pursuing unwaveringly clear sighted policies and realistic tactics which advanced the best interests of Turkey and which served him well in his pursuit of power.
Before the Allies launched their ill fated amphibious assault on the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915, Kemal served capably as a junior officer in various posts. He successfully quelled a rebellion in Syria and restored Ottoman authority in Libya. Even as a child, Kemal displayed "a keen intelligence . . . and "was always asking questions" (Spencer, 1990, p. 105). His lifelong habit of questioning the conventional wisdom of the day, one of Kemal's great strengths, periodically landed him in trouble with his superiors. He was jailed in 1905 for expressing supposedly subversive opinions (Robinson, 1963, p. 30). He opposed Turkey's entry into the First World War as an ally of Germany, a policy which he regarded as too adventuresome. His insight was later vindicated by Turkey's defeat. As a result of this stance, he was posted at the outset of the war as a military attache in Sofia.
Kemal came to the attention of Liman von Sanders, the German who effectively commanded the Turkish army. Sanders knew of Kemal's anti German views, "but he regarded him as an efficient and intelligent soldier" (Moorehead, 1956, p. 91). Put in charge of a mobile force, Kemal found himself on the morning of the first British landings on heights up which Australian troops were rapidly advancing. Rallying his small force, Kemal at once realized the critical importance of holding the heights. He "saw what . . . [no one else] had seen . . . that the . . . ridge was the key to th...