Gallipoli Campaign facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gallipoli Campaign
Part of the Middle Eastern Theatre (First World War)
Gallipoli Campaign, April 1915
Date 25 April 1915 – 9 January 1916 Location Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman Empire Result Decisive Ottoman victory

The Gallipoli Campaign was an Allied attack on the Gallipoli peninsula during World War I. The campaign took place between April 25, 1915 and January 9, 1916. The Allies, the British Empire and French forces, were fighting the Ottoman Empire and Germany.

The reason for the campaign was to break the stalemate on the Western and Eastern Front and to help the Russians.

HMS Irresistible sinking due to Ottoman Artillery in the coast. 18 March 1915

The campaign started with a naval attack along the Dardanelles. Naval mines sank or damaged several ships and soon the Turks fought back and stopped the Allies from entering the Sea of Marmara. It was decided that if the Russians were to receive any British help, a land invasion was necessary.

On April 25, 1915, Allied forces landed at various locations along the Gallipoli peninsula. Many British soldiers were landed in the wrong places resulting in heavy casualties. The British landed at Cape Helles and the ANZACs landed at a place later known as Anzac Cove. However, the Allies did not push on. Instead, they were told to dig trenches and wait for a Turkish attack. There was trench warfare until an evacuation of all Allied troops was finally ordered. The campaign is widely viewed as an Allied failure.

The British historian A.J.P. Taylor wrote this of the Gallipoli campaign: "The Gallipoli expedition was a terrible example of an ingenious strategical idea carried through after inadequate preparation and with inadequate drive."

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the Turkish defenders, and became a hero to the Turks. Years after the war ended, he became their first president. He paid tribute to the ANZAC soldiers who died there.

Images for kids

• 

  Graphic map of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli, showing the Allied bridgeheads at Cape Helles and ANZAC Cove

• 

  Panoramic view of the Allied fleet in the Dardanelles

• 

  French troops land at Lemnos, 1915.

• 

  Dispositions of the Ottoman 5th Army

• 

  Heavy artillery from the German inland gun emplacement, 1915

• 

  Landing at Gallipoli, April 1915

• 

  Landing of the covering force from battleships (red) and destroyers (orange) at Anzac Cove, 25 April 1915

• 

  The landing of Australian troops at ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey, 25 April 1915

• 

  Troops of the 29th Indian Brigade landing at Cape Helles

• 

  Cape Helles landing beaches

• 

  Anzac, the landing 1915 by George Lambert, 1922 shows the landing at Anzac Cove, 25 April 1915.

• 

  HMAS AE2

• 

  Ottoman machine-gun teams equipped with MG 08s

• 

  Esat Pasha delivering orders to the batteries at Anzac Cove

• 

  Troops of the 29th Indian Brigade in trenches at Gallipoli, 1915

• 

  French gunners with a 75 mm gun near Seddülbahir, 1915

• 

  Australian light horseman using a periscope rifle

• 

  Gurkha Rifles of the 29th Indian Brigade in bivouacs, Gallipoli, 1915

• 

  Captain Leslie Morshead in a trench at Lone Pine after the battle, looking at Australian and Ottoman dead on the parapet

• 

  Troops from the Royal Irish Fusiliers serving in Gallipoli in Autumn 1915

• 

  W Beach, Helles, on 7 January 1916, just prior to the final evacuation

• 

  Respect to Mehmetçik Monument (Anzac soldier injured in the arms of Turkish troops)

• 

  The Sphinx, one of the battlefield's most distinctive physical landmarks

• 

  John Hancox ANZAC original grave, 1915

• 

  Gallipoli campaign epitaph at Lone Pine Cemetery

• 

  The Çanakkale Martyrs' Memorial at Gallipoli Peninsula Historical Site, commemorating the loss of Ottoman and Anzac soldiers on the Gallipoli Peninsula

• 

  Anzac Day march in Wagga Wagga, Australia, in 2015

• 

  The Çanakkale 1915 Bridge on the Dardanelles strait, connecting Europe and Asia, is the longest suspension bridge in the world.

• 

  The Australian Turkish Friendship Memorial in Kings Domain, Melbourne honours WWI fallen soldiers and is a tribute to Australian-Turkish relations

See also

In Spanish: Batalla de Galípoli para niños