Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Why Did the Gallipoli Campaign Fail?

Good Essays
548 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Did the Gallipoli Campaign Fail?
Why did the Gallipoli campaign fail?

The Gallipoli attack took place on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli from April 1915 to January 1916 during the First World War. This campaign was a British plan which was expected to defeat Germany through attacking Turkey. The plan had the intention of breaking the 'stalemate' or 'deadlock', where both sides were moving neither back or forth, this was due to the trench system which was a poor idea because it was incredible for defense but nobody could attack it. Unfortunately, this battle was a failure due to a number of mistakes occurred by the British, ANZACS (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), and the French navy. The mistakes lacked intelligence to support the ideas of capturing Gallipoli successfully.
The Turks took the control of Dardanelles strait, which was an access route to the Black Sea. Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, wanted to capture the Dardanelles which then they could easily send supplies and troops to Russia. On February 19, the British navy used submarines and tanks to attack the Dardanelles not knowing the fact that the Turks have placed mines for trapping them. A massive fleet led by Admiral de Robeck containing sixteen battleships tried to sail through the Dardanelles. Due to the sea mines, nearly all of the battleships were badly damaged and three of them were sunk. In the end, this just had a bad influence for them to aim further attacks by the naval power alone. Their plan to control the Dardanelles and take the Turkish capital Constantinople was completely out of topic, and their hope that if this plan was successful the nearby countries would help them to attack Germany from the East was ruined.

The British, ANZACS and French troops were forced to dig trenches, and had to suffer from immense amount of heat and poor supplies of food. Obviously, this led to disease and many soldiers suffered from it. There were a significant number of casualties and deaths from the disease. Thus, the troop lacked number of soldiers as well.

By looking at these, we can prove that the British were not settled or ready yet to fulfill their plan. Their attack was not strong enough, but also, they did not know enough about the situation and the opponent¡¯s tactics. Another reason why the Gallipoli campaign failed was that the hills were too steep for the army to cross over. The British, ANZACS and the French navy lacked these physical abilities to fight whereas the Turks were well trained by the Germans and was confident to fight. The British did not use aircraft for reconnaissance, which would have been easier for them to check and spy the Turks. Winston Churchill had underestimated the Turks and therefore did not provide themselves with enough planning and training. Unlike what the British have thought, the Turks were trained properly by the Germans and their tactics required far more intelligence than the British. The armies were not aware of the peril that might occur when they have reached the area. The plan was brilliant, clever and aimed high. Though, they should have been more alarmed about what they were doing and what they should have done to lead the Gallipoli campaign into a success.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The purpose of this experiment is to identify the periodic trends in the solubility of the alkaline earth metals and compare the results to that of lead…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The battle of Fromelles took place on the 19th of July 1916, being one of the many battles on the Western Front involving the Australians during World War 1. This battle was 19 days after the start of battle of the Somme. Established upon the previous French agricultural fields of Flanders, the battle was considered as one of the darkest nights in Australian history, with the Australian diggers fatality rate numbering 5533 and death rate almost 2000. Through this essay, an account of the happenings leading up to and behind it, intentions of the battle, its significance, and finally why it failed with such a catastrophic consequence will be explained further in this essay. For the battle of Somme that was failing, Fromelles was intended to draw…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Gallipoli campaign had such an impact because of the naivety of those in charge, who believed that we would just come in and take over with little to no retaliation from the Turks, however as we know the Turkish retaliated with great force and on the first day 2000 were killed. I believe it was this number that really made the Gallipoli campaign catch the eye of the Australian people, the number was so large after the first day of fighting that Australian people’s eyes were opened to the horror and bloodshed of war. Also some Australian people were completely against the troops being there the especially after such heavy loss, they argued that it was a waste of perfectly good troops and that nothing was to be gained. Another reason that…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The guns were automatic that made it really easy to kill the people when they tried to go from one trench to the other. Also the gases that they used were very fatal. The gas caused many of the soldiers to get incredibly sick and die, if the gas was exposed to their skin they would get many terrible sores. Also the tunnels they built from one trench to the other.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On the 1st July 1916, the battle of the Somme began. Sources A, D, E and F suggest that the Battle of The Somme wasn’t a total failure. However, Sources B and C suggest that the British underestimated the Germans and this was the cause of their massacre.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During World War I, there were many issues that surrounded the health of troops. The lack of medical advancement and the knowledge of it, then the struggle of keeping ones self-healthy throughout combat were key points to survival. During World War I in less than a year, American troops suffered more than 318,000 injuries 120,000 were counted as casualties. The front line soldiers are always at the highest risk in any war. With World War I though, trench warfare was a dangerous place to be considering they were always at risk for disease or infection because they were in the poorest conditions. During World War I, the Black Plague was one of the most drastic plagues in history. The troops would try anything and everything to help the disease not run like a wild fire. Soldiers would use herbs to blow away bad smells of the sewer and clean the contaminated air. During the war, soldiers would…

    • 1746 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Here in the trenches condition are very terrible. Things I had seen is unbearable, these trenches are overflowed with water and things I have to do to live in these conditions. About the overflow as it rains, us standing in these large puddle. Your socks will be completely wet, which is a uncomfortable feeling. In order to survive I had to find a dead man socks to use for my own. We also went several weeks not showering because during these conditions they needed a excessive amount of soldier to fight. Having twenty guys crowded on top of you, these trenches are very narrow only enough to have bit of room for the person next to you. This made diseases to easily spread such as influenza, fever, typhoid, and malaria. One of my buddies I share a spot within the trenche just died, right in front of me.…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    WW1 produced incredibly difficult challenges for doctors, surgeons, and nurses. With the war going on, old and new medical problems were presenting themselves. Things like amputations, trench foot, trench mouth, and influenza in large amounts caused problems for doctors and nurses. Finding wartime treatments led to new medical practices. An important technique discovered during the war was debridement.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Geography was the primary factor in shaping the development of the British colonies in North America.” I agree with this statement because geography did play an important role in the making of the British colonies. In all areas, the geography influenced the way people lived, what they ate, the types of homes they lived in, the jobs they held and the farming conditions for the better, and in some areas, for the worse.…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Trenches were built to protect yourself from the enemy(s). Trenches were generally around two meters deep and two meters wide. There was three rows. The first row was called the frontline trench. The frontline was the closest to no mans land (the land controlled by neither side of a war), it was also the most dangerous because that was were most of the fighting went on. The second row was called the support trench. It was back-up to the frontline, just in case the enemy got passed. The third and last row was called the reserves. This is were they kept all the supplies and equipment. Also there was communication tunnels connecting the trenches, they were used to transport supplies and messages to the other trenches. Trenches were very unhealthy. Lice, rats and all sorts of vermin occupied the trenches. There was little to no running water, the bathrooms consisted of a bucket in the trench. Also there was dead bodies covering all of the land. Worst of all, there was rats. They would eat dead bodies, or eat out the eyes and live in the bodies of the dead. Rats would nibble the living while they slept or when they were wounded. The other horrible parasite was lice. Lice is hard to get rid of…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Trench Project

    • 1573 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Can any of us imagine what life for soldiers in the First World War was really like? All we have are pictures and books to help us imagine but none of us can really feel the pain they went through. Can you imagine the terrible conditions and revolting, slimy mud that was under their feet? The noise, the bullets, the flies, the corpses, the mud that acted like quick sand and drowned so many. Life in the trenches was an unimaginable test of strength and endurance. The trenches were often quiet terrible which led to many diseases such as trench foot, trench fever, frost bite, pneumonia, body lice and many other diseases which could kill many of the soldiers. As it rained the majority of the time, the trenches were filled with watery mud which was a danger of warfare; they could get trapped in a trench.…

    • 1573 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diseases was a big killer in World War 1 because of the little medicine and medical knowledge. The Anzacs would have experienced many diseases such as influenza, typhoid, trench foot and trench fever.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I was too inexperienced for the First War. I’m in the trenches between the borders of France and Germany. There were many soldiers lying dead on there. It was so wet, moist, and muddy that I saw many of them with necrosis and gangrene on their feet, due to keeping their foot on the trench’s filthy water. They said that this condition was so painful and agonizing that they were forced to amputate them to end the pain. Luckily, I wasn’t many of the soldiers with this infection. I hope you guys are okay, I might come back home alive til the war ends. Love you mom and…

    • 109 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life In Trench Warfare

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Many of the trenches men died of disease because it ran rampant in it. Life during trench warfare was highly boring as the soldiers had to sit there and basically nothing to do if there was no fighting going on. Many of them had nothing to do but clean their weapons and the life in the trenches showed that many of them hated it. Many of the men believed that they were going to die in the trenches and not make it back home. Many soldiers had to live in the filth and the muddy conditions. Many of the soldiers in the trenches contracted trench foot which was an infection of the feet because they are in the water and wet so often. In the winters the trenches would freeze with ice and in the summers it would fill with water. Front line soldiers were told to and had to cross no man’s land to attack the enemy which almost always failed and thousands died. Poisonous gases such as mustard gas, and many others were one of the many attempts to break the deadlock , basically a standstill and sometimes it proved effective if they were catching the enemy off guard and the wind was blowing in the right direction. Many diseases affected the men in there because of the cramped and poor hygiene. Lice and rats were there and many died of…

    • 1453 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Great War Effects

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The effect of The Great War on Australian society was one of the most challenging impacts on Australia. During the great war 60,000 men were killed and 156,000 men were wounded, the grief and sorrow felt from the loss of the men during the great war impacted for generations. Not only were our losses one of the greatest conflict in Australian history but The Great War also began the Anzac tradition, which gradually became a part of Australian identity. Given the appalling conditions of the trenches experienced by soldiers it is not surprising they suffered numerous diseases, illnesses and mental torment from the threat of being bodily harmed or wounded. The mental anguish suffered by returning soldiers would have impacted on the men who fought…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays