The Gallipoli campaign was launched by Allied forces in 1915. (a) Describe the Allied landings at Gallipoli in April 1915. [4] (b) Why did the Gallipoli cam...

(a) The Allied landings at Gallipoli in April 1915 [4 marks]

British, Australian, New Zealand (ANZAC), and French forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire on 25 April 1915. The campaign aimed to capture Constantinople (Istanbul) and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war, while also opening a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles strait. The landings took place at two main points: Cape Helles at the southern tip and Anzac Cove further north, both under heavy Turkish fire. Troops established beachheads but failed to advance significantly inland against determined Ottoman resistance. The campaign had been championed by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty.

(b) Why the Gallipoli campaign failed [6 marks]

• Turkish defenders, commanded by Mustafa Kemal (later known as Ataturk), held the high ground overlooking the beaches and fought with exceptional determination.
• Allied intelligence was poor, and military planners had seriously underestimated Ottoman military capability and the difficulty of the terrain.
• Supply lines across the Mediterranean were long, vulnerable, and difficult to maintain.
• A second landing at Suvla Bay in August 1915, intended to break the deadlock, also failed due to hesitant leadership and strong Turkish resistance.
• Disease, particularly dysentery and enteric fever, severely weakened Allied forces, causing more casualties than combat.
• The narrow beaches offered little room for manoeuvre against well-positioned defenders who occupied the ridges above, creating conditions similar to the trench deadlock on the Western Front.

(c) How important was the Gallipoli campaign in the overall course of the First World War? [10 marks]

The Gallipoli campaign was important in several respects, though it did not decisively alter the war's overall outcome.

Its failure had significant strategic consequences. It failed to open a supply route to Russia through the Dardanelles, leaving Russia isolated from its western allies and contributing to the economic and military difficulties that led to the Russian Revolution of 1917. The campaign boosted Ottoman morale and established Mustafa Kemal as a national hero who would later lead the Turkish independence movement. It diverted Allied military resources, equipment, and shipping from the Western Front and other theatres at a critical period.

The campaign also had lasting political consequences. It contributed to Winston Churchill's temporary removal from office and his resignation from the Admiralty. For Australia and New Zealand, the Gallipoli landings on 25 April became ANZAC Day, a defining national experience that shaped both countries' identities.

However, the war was ultimately decided on the Western Front, and the Gallipoli failure, while costly in lives (over 250,000 Allied casualties) and prestige, did not fundamentally change the strategic balance between the major powers. Its greatest long-term significance may have been in demonstrating the extreme difficulties of amphibious operations against defended coastlines, a lesson that influenced planning for the D-Day landings in 1944.