The Gallipoli Peninsula was the site of a failed Allied Forces maneuver in World War I. It was the first campaign for Australians and New Zealanders to fight under their own colors as independent nations instead of as British citizens. It is also the place where Ataturk, Turkey’s soon-to-be first president, proved himself as a leader. Gallipoli is also where more than 100,000 people lost their lives because of a lot of poor decisions and the compounding of several small incidents.
The Campaign
Here’s a quick review of the campaign. In March 1915, Allied Forces from Great Britain and France tried to take the Dardanelle Strait with a naval assault. That failed. Their next attempt was to take the Gallipoli Peninsula, so they could control the strait. This would give them direct access to Istanbul.
They started the offensive by landing troops in two locations, the British on the tip and the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) a bit further up. Unfortunately, the ANZAC arm landed off their target. Where they should have landed would have given them direct access to a flat plain that runs across the peninsula. Where they did land put them at the base of the hills that go up and down and up and down. This terrain made an assault very difficult.
Over the next nine months the ANZAC forces didn’t make it further than one kilometer. There were a couple of successful, though short lived, successes taking the high ground. They were not enough to win the campaign. In the end, miscommunication, delays, the terrain, and more contributed to the death of so many on both sides and the Allied Forces retreat.
A Visit to Gallipoli
Our visit to Gallipoli took us too many of the important sites of the ANZAC campaign, from where they landed to where they were defeated. Today there are memorials and cemeteries for both sides of the event. There are also original trenches, worn from the years, visible and explorable. In some cases, the trenches were just a few meters away from each other. The overall experience is sobering to say the least. Our guide was very familiar with the events and described them very well.
