The Gallipoli campaign was an Allied attempt during the First World War to force a passage through the Dardanelles, knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war and open a supply route to Russia. It ran from the naval attacks of early 1915 to the final evacuation in January 1916.
What began as a bold strategic idea became one of the war's most famous failures, and a founding national story for Australia, New Zealand and modern Turkey alike.
Why the Allies attacked the Dardanelles
By 1915 the Western Front had settled into deadlock, and Allied leaders looked for a way to break the stalemate elsewhere. The Dardanelles, the narrow strait leading to Constantinople, offered a tempting target: force it, and the Ottoman capital lay open and Russia could be resupplied.
The plan appealed to those who wanted a war-winning stroke away from the trenches of France. Its weakness was that it underestimated the defenders and the difficulty of the ground.
Stalemate, the August offensive and evacuation
Through the summer both sides dug in. A major Allied offensive in August, including the landings at Suvla Bay and the assaults at Lone Pine, Chunuk Bair and The Nek, failed to break the deadlock despite heavy losses.
By winter, with no prospect of success, the Allies decided to withdraw. The evacuation in December 1915 and January 1916 was, ironically, the best-run operation of the campaign, carried out with almost no casualties.
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