Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, April–December 1915
The plan was bold.
Strike through the Dardanelles Strait, open the way to the Black Sea, and knock Ottoman Turkey out of the war.
The Allies—Britain, France, and the ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps)—would march to Constantinople and deal a decisive blow.
The Gallipoli Campaign was to be a quick victory. A war of maneuver, not trenches.
But the Dardanelles, like a treacherous vein, bled them dry.
April 25, 1915.
The landing at Anzac Cove was meant to be a swift, devastating assault.
But nothing went as planned.
The landing was met with fierce resistance from the Ottoman forces, commanded by Mustafa Kemal, later known as Atatürk.
The ANZACs—exposed on the beaches—were pinned down by heavy fire from the Turkish hills.
For eight months, the battle waged on.
The Allied forces dug in, but the terrain was hellish, and the Ottomans fought with fierce determination.
Sir Ian Hamilton, the British commander, underestimated the resilience of the Turkish defense.
His men faced scorched earth, disease, and near-daily bombardments.
The seas were clogged with wrecked ships, and the beaches with the fallen.
Meanwhile, the ANZACs—far from their homes—suffered the most.
Australian soldiers, already hardened from years of colonial warfare, faced the brutal reality of modern combat.
The stench of decay, the screams of wounded comrades, and the uncertainty of survival became their daily companions.
A soldier's diary recorded:
"We fight not for victory, but for the chance to fight another day."
By December, the campaign had failed.
The Allies, having suffered over 250,000 casualties, were forced to withdraw.
The Dardanelles remained closed.
The hope of a quick victory in the East was shattered.
Gallipoli became a symbol of failure, but also of resilience and sacrifice.
For the Australians and New Zealanders, it would forge a national identity, even as it left deep scars in their collective memory.
In the aftermath, the Ottomans—under the command of Mustafa Kemal—emerged as a force to be reckoned with.
Gallipoli marked the beginning of his rise, as he would eventually lead Turkey into the modern age.
The Allied forces, however, were left with only the taste of defeat, and the knowledge that they had gambled—and lost—on an ill-fated adventure.