Why Gallipoli was one of the worst failures of World War One

After the initial outbreak of war in August 1914, much of the fighting had taken place in western and eastern Europe between the major powers of Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.

However, by the start of 1915, after the war had been going for several months, neither side of the conflict could break the stalemate.

This was particularly evident on the western front, where each army had dug trench systems to defend themselves. 

Due to the length of time it took to dig the trenches and how hard it was to capture the enemy's trenches, there was very little movement during battles.

In an attempt to break this deadlock, the First Lord of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill, came up with a bold new strategy.

His idea was to target the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire, which had allied with the Central Powers against Britain, France, and Russia, had become a significant threat in the eastern Mediterranean.

Churchill proposed a direct naval attack on the capital city of the Ottoman Empire: Constantinople.

It was hoped that a surprise attack of this nature would force the Central Powers to divert troops away from the western front, which would then make the situation easier for the allied armies.

So, on the 19th of February 1915, the British navy began bombarding Turkish coastal defenses in the Dardanelles, in order to create a safe passage for their ships on the way to Constantinople.

However, the attack proved to be a disaster, and by the 18th of March, three British battleships had been sunk with little damage delivered in return.

As a result, the plan of attack was changed. The British army commander, General Sir Ian Hamilton, decided to carry out a large land invasion of the Dardanelles to neutralise the coastal defenses.

It was thought that if the army could make the path safe for the ships, Britain could once again try to sail their navy to Constantinople and attack it.

To achieve the land invasion, the 29th Division of the British army was assigned to this task.

It was to be accompanied by two divisions of the newly formed Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).

The ANZAC troops had been en route to England but were redirected to British-controlled Egypt so that they could be sufficiently trained in preparation for the landing. 

In addition, French troops were also involved, with the Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient ordered to land alongside the British forces at Cape Helles.

The Gallipoli invasion occurred early in the morning of the 25th of April 1915.

Each of the main armies were instructed to land at different locations along the coast of Gallipoli.

British and French troops would land at Cape Helles before dawn, while the ANZACs, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood, were sent further north to Gaba Tepe. 

However, the early morning darkness and changing weather conditions meant that the ANZAC ships travelled too far north and, instead, landed at Ari Burnu.

As the troops disembarked on the shore in the morning light, they encountered heavy Turkish defenses.

It became clear that they had not landed in the intended location, as there was not meant to be such strong resistance.

With very little natural shelter on the beach to protect the allied soldiers from enemy fire, the ANZAC troops had to fight up a line of steep cliffs.

By the end of the day, they had failed to push back the Turkish soldiers, and only held the beach.

As a result, the ANZACs began digging trenches to protect themselves from Turkish counterattacks.

Therefore, the ANZAC troops are often referred to as 'diggers'.

At the completion of the landing, both sides suffered high rates of casualties, with around 2000 Australian and New Zealanders killed in one day. 

Very soon after, the British planners realised that the situation on the Gallipoli peninsula was now the same as the western front: both sides had created lines of defensive trenches and entered a deadlock.

Rather than solving the problem of a stalemated war, they had only made it worse.

The next few months were difficult, with hot summer temperatures and attempted attacks by both sides, resulting in high death rates and very little progress.

As the campaign wore on health issues increased among the soldiers. Diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, and cholera, which were exacerbated by the harsh living conditions in the trenches, meant more and more men were unable to take part in the fighting.

On the Turkish side, the Ottoman general Mustafa Kemal (later known as Atatürk) decided to take the offensive.

On 18–19th of May, the Turkish forces launched a coordinated assault on the ANZAC positions, involving 42,000 soldiers. 

However, due to the strong defensive positions, the ANZACs were able to stand their ground and killed 10,000 of the attackers.

Then, the British army decided to try and break the deadlock. Their idea was to send even more soldiers to overwhelm the Ottomans.

So, just like the original attack, a second invasion force was sent to land at Suvla Bay.

However, the British commanders didn't want a repeat of the disastrous first landing.

Therefore, to try and distract the Turks from this new landing force, the ANZAC troops currently at Gallipoli were ordered to launch an attack on the Turks at two locations known as Lone Pine and the Nek.

The attack at Lone Pine on the 6th of August saw another 2000 Australians and New Zealanders killed or wounded over four days of fighting.

To their credit, the allied soldiers had managed to capture the strategic objective at Lone Pine.

The Australian forces would even hold it for the remainder of the campaign.

However, at the Nek on the 7th of August, soldiers from the Australian Light Horse made bayonet charges on the Turkish trenches.

They were quickly halted by Turkish machine guns.

The last significant battle took place on 21 August at Hill 60 and Scimitar Hill. The two invasion forces, the ANZACs and the British at Suvla Bay, attempted a coordinated attack in order to combine their forces.

However, after heavy casualties, the attempt failed and both armies returned to their original starting positions.

Despite these catastrophic losses, the new British troops were able to land at Suvla Bay as intended.

Unfortunately, the increased troops numbers made no difference to the situation.

After attempting new waves of attacks, the Allies still were unable to break through the Ottoman defenses. 

During October of 1915, it became increasingly evident that the Gallipoli campaign was turning into a disaster.

Mounting death tolls, wasted resources, and no benefit from all the effort, meant that it was time to consider ending it all together.

In October, a new British army commander, Sir Charles Monro, finally decided that the Gallipoli campaign had been a failure.

His concerns turned to working out how to evacuate all of the troops safely from the beaches.

During the first few weeks of December, the soldiers and equipment were secretly loaded onto ships under the cover of night and evacuated in small groups.

By the 20th of December, the Turks finally suspected something was happening and launched an attack on the beach, only to find it empty. 

The Allied troops had gone. Miraculously, they were able to complete the escape plan without suffering a single combat casualty.

However, the death toll of the entire campaign was grim. After seven months of fighting, over 45,000 Allied soldiers and 86,000 Turkish soldiers had been killed.

For the Allies, it was all for no military gain.