The Battle for Gallipoli

What do you know about Gallipoli? Probably not much more than I did: a battle in WWI; the British did some stupid things; a lot of brave soldiers were killed; a defeat for the Allies. Oh, and Turkey was involved in some way.

As part of our “Aegean Tour” we visited the ancient cities of Pergamon and Troy, plus the Turkish region of Gallipoli. And learned perhaps more than we wanted to know about the last place (if a little knowledge really is a dangerous thing, by now we’re pretty safe).

Gallipoli is a peninsula in modern day Turkey; Istanbul is located at its northern end. Between its east coast and the mainland is the strait known as the Dardanelles (aka the Hellespont, for history buffs). During The First World Wa Turkey did not exist, it was part of the Ottoman Empire, which was neutral at the start of the war. England was allied with Russia and France (for once!)  against Germany and the Austria-Hungary Habsburg Empire. To aid Russia, England wanted access to the warm-water ports of the Black Sea, which were only accessible through the Dardanelles and past Istanbul. England (in the person of Winston Churchill) did a dreadful job of wooing the Ottomans, who ended up siding with Germany.

The territory (from http://www.historyinanhour.com/2014/04/25/the-gallipoli-campaign-summary/)

But England still wanted access to the Black Sea, which meant gaining control of Constantinople, so it sent a naval fleet up through the Dardanelles. The Ottomans were totally ready for them, and with sea mines and shore batteries gave England a big black eye.

ANZAC Cove, where the Allied forces landed on 25 March 1915 (at 4:30 in the morning, as our guide kept insisting)

England moved to plan B, which was a land assault on the Gallipoli peninsula. Using troops from the Commonwealth — the still-impressive remains of its once-vast empire — Britain landed troops on the western shore in May of 1915 and moved inland. Things did not go as they’d hoped: the Turkish army was well prepared and things bogged down for months, in the dreary trench warfare for which WWI is so (in)famous. In August New Zealand soldiers pushed heroically forward and took the high ground, only to be pushed back a couple of days later. With no further progress but many deaths through illness, thirst, hunger , and eventually freezing cold, the British finally called it quits in December and staged a magnificent retreat, withdrawing 100,000 men from the peninsula in a month with no combat casualties.

Looking north to Suvia Cove on the west coast, the second invasion site

Allied trenches, half filled in 100 years later (and these trenches are why Aussie soldiers are called "diggers"!)

This Plan B was carried out by troops primarily from Australia and New Zealand, along with some Indians and a few Gurkhas (from Nepal). This combined force came to be known as the Australian-New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC, a name also applied to the area over which the battle were fought (the central part of the Gallipoli Peninsula ).

One of many memorial sites on the peninsula commemorating the fallen Allied soldiers

This event — the battle for Gallipoli — and the valor shown by the ANZAC soldiers in the face of incredible hardships is a source of great pride for the people of Australia and New Zealand, and is celebrated in both countries every year with a memorial at dawn. It’s worth noting that only three of the 18 people on this tour were not from one of these two countries. And one of the Kiwis told us that the Gallipoli Campaign was presented as a Big Deal in school. New Zealand (and Australia) has a short history (well, the White people’s part is short) and unlike our own short history , they have no glorious Revolution or devastating Civil War to talk about. And it was clear this tour targeted ANZAC aficionados. 

We visited all three landing sites, all major battlefields, and every graveyard / memorial (every tombstone is marked “ it is believed [insert name here] is buried in this graveyard,” No one knows where anybody is, really.) it’s clear the Aussies and Kiwis take these areas very seriously, as part of their national heritage. What’s particularly interesting is that the Turks take it very seriously, too. They have gone to great lengths to preserve and protect the sites, and to honor the ANZAC forces. Of course, it was a great victory for the Turks and widely celebrated by them, too. It’s fair to say they were magnanimous in victory.

Ottoman soldier helping a wounded "digger" (Australian)

Another aspect of this campaign for the Turks was the emergence of one of their generals, Mustafa Kemal, today known as Ataturk. As head of the 19th Division, one of the two Ottoman divisions on the Peninsula, he drove the New Zealanders off the hill and neutralized the Allied forces until they finally withdrew. From this success as a military leader Ataturk created the modern Turkish state.

Ataturk is very widely loved in Turkey. His picture is everywhere, steely-eyed and charismatic. He can be compared to George Washington as Father of his Country, if George Washington were also a pop star like, oh, say George Clooney or Ricky Martin.

Mustafa Kemal, Commander of the 19th Division of the Ottoman troops, now known as Ataturk, father of modern Turkey

Ataturk seems to me to actually be quite a guy, showing wisdom and compassion in setting up this new country. He recognized the importance of keeping religion out of governance. To avoid a fundamentalist theocratic (“rule by the religious”) he built safeguards into the constitution. separating mosque and state. So even though 99% of the population is Muslim, Turkey remains a secular state (so far).

Near ANZAC Cove, site of the initial invasion by Allied forces, is this monument to those who fell in the battle. It is a quote attributed to Ataturk in 1934, and says, in part, "You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace, after having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

Such concillitory sentiments are all to rare today!

https://journals.worldnomads.com/stowaway/photo_big/53/72589/Turkey/Gallipoli-Memorial-at-Anzac-Cove-by-Ataturkbr-andquotThose-heroes-that-s

The steely gaze of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk