When did the Gallipoli campaign occur?

The Gallipoli campaign occurred from 25 April 1915 to early January 1916, a period of about eight months. The first landings took place at dawn on 25 April 1915 (now commemorated as ANZAC Day) and the final Allied evacuation was completed on 9 January 1916 at Cape Helles, with the Anzac Cove evacuation completed in December 1915.

The campaign had several distinct phases. The April 1915 landings established beachheads at Anzac Cove (Australians and New Zealanders) and Cape Helles (British, French, and Indian troops). The May to June 1915 phase saw repeated Allied attempts to advance inland from the beachheads, all defeated by Turkish defenders led by Mustafa Kemal. The August 1915 offensive involved major attacks at Lone Pine and the Nek (where the 8th and 10th Light Horse regiments suffered devastating losses), alongside fresh landings at Suvla Bay further north. The campaign settled into trench warfare similar to the Western Front by the autumn.

The British government decided to evacuate in November 1915. The evacuation was conducted with extraordinary skill: more than 80,000 troops were withdrawn from Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay between 8 and 20 December 1915 without a single casualty. Soldiers wrapped their boots in cloth to muffle footsteps, automated rifles with strings tied to water buckets continued firing after the troops had left, and Turkish forces did not realise the withdrawal was happening until it was complete. The Cape Helles evacuation followed between 28 December 1915 and 9 January 1916.

The campaign's failure had significant consequences. Winston Churchill, the principal advocate of the campaign, resigned from the British Cabinet in November 1915 and was demoted to a minor portfolio. The Australian and New Zealand forces were redeployed to Egypt and France, where most would serve on the Western Front from 1916 until the Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Turkish defenders, particularly Mustafa Kemal, became national heroes in Turkey, with Kemal eventually leading the Turkish War of Independence (1919 to 1923) and founding the Republic of Turkey. The annual ANZAC Day commemoration on 25 April is now jointly observed by Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey, with dawn services held at Anzac Cove each year attended by visitors from all three countries.