Gallipoli campaign

Gallipoli campaign
Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of the First World War
A collection of photographs from the campaign. From top and left to right: Ottoman commanders including Mustafa Kemal (fourth from left); Entente warships; V Beach from the deck of SS River Clyde; Ottoman soldiers in a trench; and Entente positions
Date 19 February 1915 – 9 January 1916 (10 months, 3 weeks and 2 days) Location Gallipoli Peninsula, Sanjak of Gelibolu, Adrianople Vilayet, Ottoman Empire 40°14′15″N 26°16′39″E / 40.23750°N 26.27750°E / 40.23750; 26.27750 Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
British Empire  United Kingdom  Australia  Egypt  New Zealand  India  Newfoundland  France Algeria Tunisia West Africa Naval support: Russian Empire	Ottoman Empire Supported by:  German Empire[1]  Austria-Hungary[2]
Commanders and leaders
Ian Hamilton John de Robeck Henri Gouraud (WIA)[3] Maurice Bailloud Émile Guépratte	Enver Pasha Otto von Sanders Cevat Pasha Mustafa Kemal Bey (WIA)[4]
Units involved
Land Forces Mediterranean Expeditionary Force Egyptian Labour Corps[5] Maltese Labour Corps[5] Oriental Expeditionary Corps ANZAC Naval Forces Royal Navy French Navy Royal Australian Navy  Imperial Russian Navy	Land Forces 5th Army German military mission[6] Naval Forces Ottoman Navy German submarines U-21 UB-14
Strength
5 divisions (initial) 15 divisions (final) Total: 489,000–550,000[7] 345,000 British (including Irish, Indians and Newfoundlanders) 79,000 French[8] c. 50,000 Australians c. 15,000 New Zealanders Supported by: c. 2,000 civilian labourers[5]	6 divisions (initial) 16 divisions (final) Total: 250,000–315,500[9][8][10] c. 700 Germans[11]
Casualties and losses
British Empire 198,340 casualties (31,389 killed, 9,708 missing and POW 78,749 wounded 78,494 evacuated sick)[12][13]  France 47,000 casualties (9,000 killed & missing 18,000 wounded 20,000 evacuated sick)[12]  Australia 27,209 casualties (8,709 killed 18,500 wounded)  New Zealand 7,571 casualties (3,431 killed 4,140 wounded)[12] Materiel: Royal Navy 5 battleships sunk 1 destroyer sunk 3 submarines sunk 1 troop transport sunk French Navy 1 battleship sunk 1 battleship scuttled 3 submarines sunk 1 submarine captured Royal Australian Navy 1 submarine scuttled Total: 17 warships lost 2,495 sailors and troops killed Total: 300,000 casualties 59,202 dead[12]	Ottoman Empire 255,268 casualties (56,643 killed, 97,007 wounded, 11,178 missing or POW, 69,440 evacuated sick)[14] Materiel: Ottoman Navy 1 battleship sunk 1 ironclad sunk 1 coastal defence ship sunk 1 cruiser sunk Total: 4 warships lost[15] 295 sailors killed Total: 255,268 casualties 56,938 dead[13][14]

The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defence of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli (Turkish: Gelibolu Muharebesi, Çanakkale Muharebeleri or Çanakkale Savaşı) was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli Peninsula (now Gelibolu) from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and the Russian Empire, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the Turkish straits. This would expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Entente battleships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. With the Ottoman Empire defeated, the Suez Canal would be safe and the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits would be open to Entente supplies to the Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia.

In February 1915 the Entente fleet failed to force a passage through the Dardanelles. An amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula began in April 1915. In January 1916, after eight months' fighting, with approximately 250,000 casualties on each side, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn. It was a costly campaign for the Entente powers and the Ottoman Empire as well as for the sponsors of the expedition, especially the First Lord of the Admiralty (1911–1915), Winston Churchill. The campaign was considered a great Ottoman victory. 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.

The campaign became the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli, as founder and president. The campaign is often considered to be the beginning of Australian and New Zealand national consciousness. The anniversary of the landings, 25 April, is known as Anzac Day, the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in the two countries, surpassing Remembrance Day (Armistice Day).^[16][17][18]