Battle of

Gallipoli
The battle of Gallipoli took place on
the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli in
1915 during the First World War. A
joint British and French operation
was mounted to capture the
ottoman capital of Constantinople,
and secure a sea route to Russia.
The attempt failed, and an
estimated 131,000 soldiers were
killed and 262,000 wounded. This
was one of the most famous World
War 1 battles.
Russia, one of the Allied powers
during the war, had problems with
its supply routes over sea. The
Baltic Sea was locked by the
German Navy, while the Black
Sea's only entrance was through
the Bosporus, which was controlled
by the Ottoman Empire. Germany
and Austria-Hungary blocked
Russia's land trade routes to
Europe, while no easy sea route
existed.
By late 1914, the Western Front, in
France and Belgium, had
effectively become fixed. A new
front was desperately needed.
Also, the Allies hoped that an
attack on the Ottomans would draw
Bulgaria and Greece into the war
on Allied side.
A plan for an attack and invasion of
the Gallipoli peninsula was
eventually approved by the British
cabinet in January 1915. The British
Secretary of State for War, Lord
Kitchener, appointed General Sir
Ian Hamilton to command the
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
that was to carry out the mission.
Naval attacks.
On February 19, the first attack
during the Battle of Gallipoli on the
Dardanelles began when a large
fleet of British and French vessels,
including the British battleship HMS
Queen Elizabeth, bombarded
Turkish artillery along the coast.
Although the attack was politically
successful — Bulgaria stopped
negotiations with Germany, Greece
offered support, and Italy also
seemed keen to enter the war on
Allied side — the military effect
was very small. Continued
bombardments and landings on
February 25 also proved
unsuccessful.
A new attack during the Battle of
Gallipoli was launched on March
18, targeted at the narrowest point
of the Dardanelles where the
straits were just a mile wide. Many
of the Turkish artillery batteries
were eliminated. Three battleships
were sunk while others were badly
damaged.
The severe losses prompted the
Allies to cease any further attempts
to force the straits by naval power
alone. This was a great relief to the
Turkish commanders as their
artillery batteries were running
short of ammunition.
Invasion.
After the failure of the naval
attacks, it had become clear that
ground troops were necessary to
eliminate the Turkish mobile
artillery. This would allow mine
sweepers to clear the waters for
the larger vessels.
The British secretary of state for
war, Lord Kitchener, appointed
general sir Ian Hamilton to
command the Mediterranean
expeditionary force that was to
carry out the mission.
In early 1915, Australian and New
Zealand volunteer soldiers were
encamped in Egypt, undergoing
training prior to being sent to
France. The infantry were formed
into the Australian and New
Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC)
which comprised the Australian 1st
Division and the New Zealand and
Australian Division. General
Hamilton also had the British 29th
Division, the Royal Naval Division
(RND) and the French Corps
expeditionary d'Orient under his
command.

Ottoman
preparations.
There was a delay of over six
weeks before many of the troops
arrived from Britain, allowing
Turkish forces time to prepare
for a land assault. Ottoman
commanders began to debate
the best means of defending the
peninsula. All agreed that the
most effective form of defence
was to hold the high ground on
the ridges of the peninsula,
there was disagreement
however as to where they
believed the enemy would land,
and hence where to concentrate
their own forces. Mustafa Kemal,
a familiar with the Gallipoli
peninsula from his operations
against Bulgaria in the Balkan
War, believed Cape Helles, the
southern tip of the peninsula,
and GABA Tepe would be the
two most likely areas for
landing. But otto liman von
sanders disagreed. In his view
the greatest danger posed was
in besika bay on the Asiatic
coast, where sanders believed
British forces would benefit from
more accessible terrain and
target the most important
ottoman batteries guarding the
straits, sanders placed two
divisions, at Bulair at the
northern isthmus of the
peninsula, where he believed
that should the area be
captured, vital supply and
communications lines would be
cut. The other at Cape Helles, on
the tip of the peninsula, and
along the Aegean coast.

Aftermath.
The fact remains that the battle
of Gallipoli was a finely balanced
struggle with neither side able to
exploit any slight advantage.
When the Allies achieved a
breakthrough, such as at Lone
Pine or the second battle of
Krithia, they lacked the reserves
to continue the advance.
Likewise when the Turks halted
an Allied attack, their counter-
attacks were unable to rout the
enemy.
The Ottoman Empire had been
dismissed by Tsar Nicholas I of
Russia as "the sick man of
Europe" but after victory over
the Allies at Gallipoli, Turkey's
visions of the empire was
renewed.

The significance of the battle of

Gallipoli is perhaps most
strongly felt in Australia and
New Zealand where it was the
first great conflict experienced
by those fledgling nations.
Before Gallipoli the citizens of
these countries were confident
of the superiority of the British
Empire and were proud and
eager to offer their service.
Gallipoli shook that confidence
and three years on the Western
Front would destroy it utterly.

By: Wendy