What was Gallipoli in World War One?

Gallipoli in World War One was the eight-month Allied campaign on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey from 25 April 1915 to early January 1916. It was the first major military engagement involving Australian troops as a federated nation and produced the events from which the ANZAC tradition emerged.

The campaign was an Allied attempt to force the Dardanelles Strait, knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war, and open a sea route to Russia. The plan was driven by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, who believed an attack on the Dardanelles would shorten the war by forcing Constantinople to surrender. Earlier naval attempts to force the Dardanelles in February and March 1915 had failed, leading to the decision to land troops on the peninsula.

Australian and New Zealand soldiers, organised as the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), were assigned to land at what became known as Anzac Cove on the western side of the peninsula at dawn on 25 April 1915. The landing place was a small beach hemmed in by steep cliffs, with the troops coming under intense fire from Turkish defenders led by Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey). About 8,700 Australian and 2,779 New Zealand soldiers died at Gallipoli over the eight months of the campaign. Turkish casualties were substantially higher, with about 87,000 Turkish soldiers killed.

The campaign failed in military terms. The Allied forces, including British, French, Indian, and Newfoundland units alongside the Australians and New Zealanders, were evacuated in December 1915 and January 1916 without achieving the strategic objectives. The evacuation itself, conducted with great skill, produced no Allied casualties: the troops withdrew at night while Turkish positions continued to be fired on by automated rifles designed to make it appear soldiers were still present. Despite the failure, the qualities shown by Australian and New Zealand troops (particularly the resourcefulness, irreverence, courage, and mateship described by official war correspondent Charles Bean) became central to the national identities of both countries. ANZAC Day on 25 April is now the most significant national commemoration in Australia, marked through dawn services, marches, and ceremonies at war memorials in every town.