Gallipoli Campaign
The Gallipoli campaign was an Allied attempt to force the Dardanelles strait, capture Constantinople, knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war, and open a supply route to Russia through the Black Sea. A naval assault in February-March 1915 failed when three Allied battleships were sunk by mines, and the decision was taken to land troops to seize the Gallipoli peninsula and silence the shore batteries. On 25 April 1915 — now commemorated as Anzac Day — British troops landed at Cape Helles while Australian and New Zealand forces landed at what became known as Anzac Cove, further north. Both forces encountered fierce Ottoman resistance from cliff-tops and prepared positions. Mustafa Kemal, commanding the Ottoman 19th Division, rushed reserves to Anzac before the Allies could consolidate, famously ordering his troops 'I am not ordering you to attack, I am ordering you to die.' Allied forces were pinned in coastal beachheads for months, suffering enormous casualties from the terrain, summer heat, disease, and determined Ottoman defence. A fresh landing at Suvla Bay in August was botched by hesitant British command and failed to break the deadlock. The campaign ended in a well-executed but humiliating evacuation completed in January 1916 — the one logistical achievement of the entire operation. Some 130,000 Allied soldiers died; Ottoman casualties were comparable. The campaign became foundational to the national identities of Australia and New Zealand, and accelerated Mustafa Kemal's rise toward the leadership that would remake Turkey.
- Year: 1915 CE
- Category: Military
