The Gallipoli campaign - Article Example

The Gallipoli campaign The Gallipoli Campaign also referred to as Dardanelles Campaign took place between 1915 and 1916. At this time, the Allied Powers wanted to be in control of the sea route from Europe to Russia (Broadbent 17). However, they were unsuccessful. In this war, the Allied Powers comprised of the British army, the French Army, and Australian New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). The start of the campaign was marked by a failed naval attack launched on Dardanelles Straits by both the French and the British ships followed by an unsuccessful land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula that claimed hundreds and thousands of lives (Broadbent 18).

It is estimated that more than 130,000 Allied soldiers died. Surprisingly, the Turks fiercely put up a resistance that proved impossible for the Allied forces to crack. Throughout the Wars in Europe, the Ottoman Empire had remained neutral for it was still recouping from internal civil strives and political instabilities (Broadbent 12). However, by 1914, the Turks had fully recovered and entered the World War 1 on the side of the Central Powers- Germany and Austria-Hungary (Hart 8-13). Turkey as a country lies between the Europe and Russia.

In this case, it was impossible for Europe to link up with Russia with Turkey at the center as a Central Power (Hart 8-13). The Allied Forces therefore wanted to capture the straits so as to be able to establish links with the Russians through the Black Sea (Hart 8-13). Capture of the Dardanelles Straits would have also made it easy for the Allied forces to kick the Turks out of the war (Hart 8-13). Nevertheless, even though the Gallipoli Campaign was only seen as a great loss on the side of the Allied forces, the war brought equal losses to both sides.

The Allied forces lost a huge number of soldiers and warships while Turkey’s national resources were largely damaged and not forgetting the high number of Turk soldiers who lost their lives in this War (Hart 8-13). Further, Broadbent (57-61) argue that the Allied forces wasted a lot of resources in the Gallipoli Campaign that would have been vital to them on the major war front.It was unrealistic how the Allied forces lost this particular battle but critics argue that the loss was as a result of poor execution of warring strategies (Hart 8-13).

The British and her allies were steered by ill-fitted goals, insufficient artillery, overconfidence, inaccurate intelligence and maps, poor plans, tactical deficiency, in experienced troops as well as the inadequate logistics and equipment (Broadbent, 19-20). The Turks on the other hand had an advantage of being conversant with the terrain of the land and with the Allied forces lacking adequate maps, tactics and experience, the Ottoman commanders utilized the high grounds around the beach as the major tactic to prevent the Allied forces from advancing inland and further confining them into narrow beaches where they were more susceptible to attacks (Hart 8-13).

Critics also argue that as a result of inadequate intelligence, the British and her allies were slow in this operation (Hart 8-13). The Turks in this case had enough time to plan and position themselves. It has also been observed that after the Allied forces succeeded in forcing the Turks to stay off the sea in the initial phases of the war, they never pushed harder (Hart 8-13). Also, inaccurate intelligence and maps landed British ships onto undetected land mines what further weakened their attacking force (Hart 8-13).

It is like the Allied forces had not strategized on how to counter the Turks or should we say they had undermined the potential of the Turks. In any case, the Allied forces were evacuated in 1916 marking the end of the Gallipoli War. Work CitedBroadbent, Harvey. Gallipoli: The Fatal Shore. 2005. Camberwell, Victoria: Viking/Penguin. ISBN 0-670-04085-1 Hart, Peter. "The Day It All Went Wrong: The Naval Assault before the Gallipoli Landings". Wartime (Canberra: Australian War Memorial). 2013a. Vol.62: 8–13.

ISSN 1328-2727