The Ottoman Empire: The Battle Of Gallipoli

The Battle of Gallipoli involves many different aspects, including what the Ottoman Empire entailed, the naval and infantry attack on the Ottoman Empire, and the creation of Turkey as a country. Life under Ottoman rule had its good and bads. “The Ottomans had a complex society with a lavish court and a strong army”(Esposito). The country was very rich and had strong army that could compete with some of the most powerful countries in the world. People might have felt safe from other countries, but with there being a dictator anything could happen. That is the main thing that was bad about the Ottoman Empire, the fact that one person had all the power and wouldn’t be stopped by anyone. They had a system that made the most promising young
men receive top notch education and joined the ruling class. A lot like the other Middle East countries, the Ottoman’s had a small ruling class and large subject population. “The ruling class consisted of two groups, those of Turkish or Muslim heritage and the devsirme class of Christian converts”(Esposito). The ruling class called the subject class reeya. The subject class form groups called millets, each millet had their own customs and language. A religious leader would somewhat supervise these millets. Most of the time, millets stayed independent, but would sometimes come together for festivities. Religious problems between millets were very common. Guilds mainly existed in urban areas. This is where the craftspeople, entertainers, and merchants hung out. “Literature, visual arts, and music thrived under Ottoman rule, influenced by Turkish, Arab, Persian, Byzantine, and European culture” (Esposito). Most of the rulers supported the arts. The main things poets’ wrote about was war and the emotions that followed. Leaders would open up buildings for artists to make rugs and other furniture. Under Ottoman rule illumination thrived. Rulers would have buildings for writers to make illustrated texts. Outside of cities, poet-musicians were the main form of entertainment. Turkish folk was spread through songs. Another form of entertainment in the countryside was shadow puppetry. Winston Churchill, being the cabinet minister in charge of the navy, came up with the idea of the naval attack. Everyone thought he knew what he was talking about. In mid-February of 1915, Britain ordered its fleets to go fire away at the Ottomans. “Eight British battleships and four French battleships cruised up the strait and blasted their guns into the Ottoman placements” (Batten). The Ottomans had an equally defensive power. The defenses sunk two British ships and one French ship. The Ottomans morale was low from their previous battle but was lifted from the victorious defense of the Dardanelles canal. Britain soon called off the attack. The British cabinet came up with an infantry attack next.
The general only had maps of the place updated to 1906. The Anzacs landed on shore a mile away from where they were supposed to. The Anzacs had a long, excruciating ascent up the hills. The Ottoman’s later spotted them and had the high ground. Due to the high round they were able to hold their ground. The Ottoman’s, in their confidence, tried a counter-attack. The Anzacs cut down the men running at them. “The Turks couldn’t drive the Anzacs off the beach, nor could the Anzacs penetrate to the top of the cliffs” (Batten). Even though the things weren’t going good for either side, no one gave in. On the beach things turned brutal. The men got sun burned and there only contained salty tinned beef. Sickness swept through out the ranks but nothing broke the Anzacs
spirits. Word got out of how bad things were at Gallipoli.
Australians and New Zealanders let their anger known and soon the British Government fired the Lieutenant-General. To replace the general they picked Charles Monro, a ratherly young general but had dozens of years of experience. After being on Gallipoli for a short time, Monro knew Gallipoli was a lost cause. “The cost of Gallipoli had grown too steep, and the end appeared nowhere in sight” (Batten). 250,000 allied soldiers were dead and about 300,000 turks had lost their lives in the battle of Gallipoli. The withdrawal moved quickly and by January 1916, not one allied soldier was on the Gallipoli beaches. The day of the landing has become the most valued Australian holiday because it united them. Turkey is in the middle of Europe and Asia. Turkey is located in southeast Europe and southwest Asia. The country is divided between the two continents by a treeless plateau rimmed with mountains. “Its neighbors are Greece and Bulgaria to the west, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania to the north and northwest, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east, and Syria and Iraq to the south” (“Turkey”). Turkey has a population of 81,619,392 with its largest city being Istanbul with eleven million people. Their government is Republican Parliamentary Democracy and have a president and prime
minister. The Ottomans took over the modern day Turkish area and have generated a lot of Islamic art, architecture, and literature. The Balkan Turks had been trying to regain control from the Ottomans for a long time. By about the sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire started to decline. In the eighteenth century, Russia declared themselves the protectors of the Balkans. “Turkish weakness stimulated a revolt of young liberals known as the Young Turks in 1909” (Turkey). The Young Turks were able to get some sort of control of the area. The Young Turks and what was left of the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany in World War I. With the loss of the war they lost some territory and ultimately led to the fall of the Ottoman Empire giving control to what is now day Turkey. The success of the Young Turks in the battle of Gallipoli didn’t have an effect on the outcome of the war. It helped Turkey be in total control of the country and the Ottoman Empire politics were thrown down the drain. Losing the war wasn’t all good for Turkey though. They lost a lot of land and had to go under treaties decided by the opposing parties. Turkey will also always be on watch from the other countries as well.