How Did Day one of the Landing at Gallipoli Contribute to the Military Failure of This Campaign?

Between 1914 and 1918 World War One was fought in Europe between two major powers, the Allies and the Central Powers. The Central Powers consist of Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The Allied powers are Serbia, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and the United States. When Britain declared war on Germany, Australia got involved in World War One as it is apart of the British Empire. Australia had to then fight against Turkey at Gallipoli from April 1915 until December 1915. The landing at Gallipoli in 1915 was considered a military failure from day one of the campaign. Many of the soldiers had struggled throughout the landing and were not impressed with who decided to land where they did on the first day. The majority of the soldiers died as soon as they set foot on the land, this is believed that it was because of the lack of communication with those in charge.

The Australian soldiers at Gallipoli had many struggles throughout the landing and this contributed to the military failure of this campaign. “On the afternoon of April 24 1915, the Anzacs boarded troopships, destroyers and battleships for their short overnight journey to Gallipoli. One thousand six hundred Anzac troops left transport ships anchored off the Gallipoli Peninsula and packed themselves into smaller boats. These boats landed at a bay that was to become known as Anzac Cove.The Turksish Commander of the war was awoken at his headquarters with new that ‘the English’ had landed and so then Turkish bullets suddenly started hitting the Australians and managed to kill more than seven hundred soldiers.” (“Gallipoli and the Middle East”,1915-18.A.K.Macdougall,2004, Victoria). This failure contributed to Hill 971 and then Maltepe can be put down to other reasons than just landing at Anzac Cove. This included poor planning, not enough troop numbers, landing in the early hours of the morning, the slowness of getting the weapons ashore, faulty navigation maps, the difficulties of the terrain and the unpredictability of battle and command.

Another issue that contributed to the military failure of the Gallipoli campaign was the decision on where they were going to land. “Winston Churchill, the first lord of the Admiralty