Gallipoli campaign

Gallipoli campaign
Part of the Middle Eastern theatre of the First World War

A collection of photographs from the campaign. From top and left to right: Ottoman commanders including Mustafa Kemal (fourth from left); Entente warships; V Beach from the deck of SS River Clyde; Ottoman soldiers in a trench; and Entente positions
Date19 February 1915 – 9 January 1916
(10 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Gallipoli Peninsula, Sanjak of Gelibolu, Adrianople Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
40°14′15″N 26°16′39″E / 40.23750°N 26.27750°E / 40.23750; 26.27750
Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Allied Powers:
British Empire
Naval support:
 Russia
Central Powers:
 Ottoman Empire
Supported by:
 Germany[1]
 Austria-Hungary[2]
Commanders and leaders
  • Ian Hamilton
  • John de Robeck
  • Henri Gouraud (WIA)[3]
  • Maurice Bailloud
  • Émile Guépratte
Units involved
Land Forces
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
Egyptian Labour Corps[5]
Maltese Labour Corps[5]
Oriental Expeditionary Corps
French Foreign Legion
ANZAC
Naval Forces
Royal Navy
French Navy
Royal Australian Navy
 Imperial Russian Navy

Land Forces
5th Army
German military mission[6]
Naval Forces
Ottoman Navy
German submarines

  • U-21
  • UB-14
Strength

5 divisions (initial)
15 divisions (final)
Total: 489,000–550,000[7]

  • 345,000 British (including Irish, Indians and Newfoundlanders)
  • 79,000 French[8]
  • c. 50,000 Australians
  • c. 15,000 New Zealanders

Supported by:

c. 2,000 civilian labourers[5]
Naval Forces[9]

6 divisions (initial)
16 divisions (final)
Total: 250,000–315,500[10][8][11]

  • c. 700 Germans[12]
    Coastal and Naval Artillery Batteries
Naval Forces
  • Ottoman Navy
    • 1 Battlecruiser
    • 1 Battleship
    • 1 Light Cruiser
    • 1 Destroyer
    • 1 Torpedo Boat
    • 1 Ironclad
    • 1 Cruiser
    • 1 Coastal Defence Ship
    • 1 Minelayer
  • Imperial German Navy
Casualties and losses
Total: 300,000 casualties (60,560 dead)[14]

 United Kingdom
198,340 casualties (31,389 killed,
9,708 missing and POW
78,749 wounded
78,494 evacuated sick)[14][15]
 France
47,000 casualties (9,000 killed & missing
18,000 wounded
20,000 evacuated sick)[14]
 Australia
27,209 casualties (8,709 killed
18,500 wounded)
 New Zealand
7,571 casualties (3,431 killed
4,140 wounded)[14]
 India
4,779 casualties (1,358 killed
3,421 wounded)
Newfoundland
142 casualties (49 killed
93 wounded)

Materiel losses
  • British Empire
    Number of small arms captured
  • French Army
    Number of small arms captured
    4 artillery pieces captured
  • Royal Navy
    5 battleships sunk
    1 destroyer sunk
    3 submarines sunk
    1 troop transport sunk
  • French Navy
    1 battleship sunk
    1 battleship scuttled
    3 submarines sunk
    1 submarine captured
  • Royal Australian Navy
    1 submarine scuttled
    Total: 17 Allied vessels lost
    • 2,495 Allied sailors and troops killed
Total: 255,268 casualties (56,938 dead)[15][16]

 Ottoman Empire
255,268 casualties (56,643 killed,
97,007 wounded,
11,178 missing or POW,
69,440 evacuated sick)[16]

Materiel losses
  • Ottoman Navy
    1 battleship sunk
    1 ironclad sunk
    1 coastal defence ship sunk
    1 cruiser sunk
    • 295 sailors killed

The Gallipoli campaign, the Dardanelles campaign, the Defence of Gallipoli or the Battle of Gallipoli (Turkish: Gelibolu Muharebesi, Çanakkale Muharebeleri or Çanakkale Savaşı) was a military campaign in the First World War on the Gallipoli Peninsula (now Gelibolu) from 19 February 1915 to 9 January 1916. The Entente powers, Britain, France and the Russian Empire, sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, one of the Central Powers, by taking control of the Turkish straits. This would expose the Ottoman capital at Constantinople to bombardment by Entente battleships and cut it off from the Asian part of the empire. With the Ottoman Empire defeated, the Suez Canal would be safe and the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits would be open to Entente supplies to the Black Sea and warm-water ports in Russia.

In February 1915 the Entente fleet failed to force a passage through the Dardanelles. An amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula began in April 1915. In January 1916, after eight months' fighting, with approximately 250,000 casualties on each side, the land campaign was abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn. It was a costly campaign for the Entente powers and the Ottoman Empire as well as for the sponsors of the expedition, especially the First Lord of the Admiralty (1911–1915), Winston Churchill. The campaign was considered a great Ottoman victory. In Turkey, it is regarded as a defining moment in the history of the state, a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the Ottoman Empire retreated.

The campaign became the basis for the Turkish War of Independence and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli, as founder and president. The campaign is considered by some to be the beginning of Australian and New Zealand national consciousness. The anniversary of the landings, 25 April, is known as Anzac Day, the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in the two countries, surpassing Remembrance Day (Armistice Day).[17][18][19]

  1. ^ Travers 2001, p. 13; Prigge 2017, pp. 16–17, 54–56.
  2. ^ Jung 2003, pp. 42–43.
  3. ^ Haythornthwaite 2004, pp. 15–16.
  4. ^ Konyalı Saat. "Atatürk'ü Ölmekten Kurtaran Saate Ne Oldu?". Konyalı Saat. Archived from the original on 11 December 2024. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Aspinall-Oglander 1929, p. 395.
  6. ^ Prigge 2017, pp. 16–17, 44–47, 55–56.
  7. ^ Erickson 2001a, p. 94; Kersnovsky 1938, p. 547.
  8. ^ a b Erickson 2001a, pp. 94–95.
  9. ^ "List of Allied warships that served at Gallipoli".
  10. ^ Kersnovsky 1938, p. 547.
  11. ^ Erickson 2015, p. 178.
  12. ^ Prigge 2017, pp. 16–17.
  13. ^ "Istanbul Flotilla".
  14. ^ a b c d Clodfelter 2017, p. 417.
  15. ^ a b Erickson 2001a, p. 94.
  16. ^ a b Erickson 2001a, p. 327.
  17. ^ Dennis 2008, pp. 32, 38.
  18. ^ Lewis, Balderstone & Bowan 2006, p. 110.
  19. ^ McGibbon 2000, p. 198.