Gallipoli Campaign

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale , was a campaign of the First World War that took place on the Gallipoli peninsula . The Entente powers, Britain and France, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire by taking control of the straits that provided a supply route to Russia, the third member of the Entente. The invaders launched a naval attack followed by an amphibious landing on the peninsula, to capture the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The naval attack was repelled and after eight months' fighting, with many casualties on both sides, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn. It was a costly and humiliating defeat for the Allies and for the sponsors, especially Winston Churchill.

The campaign was a major Ottoman victory in the war. In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the history of the state, a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire retreated. Arabs formed a substantial force in the Gallipoli Peninsula being part of the 72nd and 77th regiments. According to several sources, Arabs made up two thirds of the 19th Division under Colonel Mustafa Kemal . The struggle formed the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey eight years later, with Kemal, who rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli, as president. The campaign is often considered to be the beginning of Australian and New Zealand national consciousness; 25 April, the anniversary of the landings, is known as "ANZAC Day", the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in the two countries, surpassing Remembrance Day .

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