Soldiers on the beaches of Gallipoli following the landing. Photo: Australian War Memorial (H03500).
It’s 110 years since Australian troops landed at Gallipoli. For many of us, that’s all we know about this momentous event that continues to shape our national identity.
But how did Australian troops find themselves at what is now called Anzac Cove in Türkiye?
Simply put, the First World War broke out when Serbia refused to allow the Austro-Hungarian military into its land to root out operatives of a terrorist cell that had killed Austria-Hungary’s Crown Prince, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
The detail is more complicated. Here goes … The war really kicked off when Russia guaranteed Serbia’s security, and the German Empire backed up the Austro-Hungarians unconditionally.
To make a long story short, France and Britain were bound to Russia in an alliance known as the Triple Entente, formed to counter the rising power of Germany. When Germany attacked France by invading through Belgium, Australia was drawn into the conflict as a dominion of the British Empire, which had pledged to defend Belgian neutrality against aggression.
Clear as mud?
No? We spoke with a historian at the Australian War Memorial to clarify.
How did it involve Australia?
“As a dominion of the British Empire, we volunteered and dispatched an expeditionary force expected to fight in France, but when the Ottomans entered the war with the Germans and Austrians, priorities changed,” Senior Historian at the Australian War Memorial Craig Tibbitts says.
“At the time Australians were training in Egypt, the British command came up with a plan for an early victory against the Ottomans.
“The idea was to clear the Dardanelles Strait separating Europe and Asia and bring Constantinople (now Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire) within range of naval bombardment.
“With fighting in Europe bogged down in trench warfare, the allies were looking for a victory on another front.”
Why the Dardanelles? Why Istanbul?
The Dardanelles link the Mediterranean and Black Sea, meaning supplies could more easily be brought to the Russians so they could keep engaging the Germans on the Eastern Front, taking pressure off the Western Front as well as diverting Ottoman forces directly engaged with the Russians in the Caucasus.
The campaign essentially intended to knock out a pillar of the central alliance in an attempt to weaken the two remaining powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, who were fighting the French and British in the west and the massive Russian Empire in the east.
“But once the naval campaign failed, the plan changed from taking Gallipoli by sea to taking it by land using British, French, Australian and New Zealand forces,” Craig says.
In fact, there were more British and French soldiers there than Australians, who would go on to fight alongside each other in the fields of northern France.
The land component of the campaign is where our vision of Gallipoli comes from: men storming the beaches and charging up steep hills to brave the Ottoman guns.
But as the saying goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy.
Why did the campaign fail?
“The command underestimated the Ottomans from the start and the ill-conceived campaign was poorly resourced, both with manpower and material,” Craig says.
“There was a perception among the Australians, both in Gallipoli and eventually in Europe, that the British were using them as cannon fodder, but the truth is that plenty of British and French troops were sacrificed in ill-conceived attacks, too.
“It’s vital to understand that the Ottomans were looking down on the Anzacs from hills far above, meaning they had to fight upwards.”
It is also worthwhile noting that the Ottomans were fighting for their homeland and that their capital, Constantinople, was just a few hundred kilometres away, firmly within the sights of the British Empire.
Why is the battle so important?
“It was our first major battle of World War I, and it became a common experience. It was a huge event that struck a chord with the Australian public, partly due to the high casualties, and it didn’t take long for Anzac Day to become important to Australians. The first Anzac Day commemoration took place just a year later, in 1916, in Egypt and London. It’s become a tradition ever since.
“It’s been commemorated longer than Australia Day. It’s sort of the de facto national day.”
For a young nation that had only federated a little over a decade prior, Gallipoli represented a common experience and a common tragedy around which all Australians could gather.
A substantial number of Australians went to war – 416,000 out of a population of less than 5 million. Everyone knew someone who died in the war, went missing or was never the same upon their return. Gallipoli became the defining event of Australia’s involvement in World War I.
It is 110 years since the Anzacs stormed the beaches, but that day still lives in our public memory in a way no other event in Australian history does. The individual stories of Aussies and Kiwis fighting and dying far from home still have a resonance that Anzac Day keeps alive every year.
This year’s Anzac Day Last Post Ceremony at the War Memorial will memorialise the life of Captain Edward Frederick Robert Bage, a Melbourne engineer killed on 7 May 1915 in Türkiye, while scouting positions for trenches in no man’s land.
The AWM is open from 10 am to 4 pm every day of the year except Christmas Day. The Last Post ceremony is held daily at 4:30 pm. Venues all across the capital are taking part in commemorations, read more to find somewhere near you.
