The Pros And Cons Of The Battle Of Gallipoli

In April of 1916, the British and ANZAC, a military unit comprised of Australians and New Zealanders, soldiers were deployed on the Gallipoli peninsula following several months of naval bombardment. These British and ANZAC soldiers fought against Ottoman soldiers for control of the Dardanelles channel. The battle quickly devolved into trench warfare, just like it had on the Western Front, and disease quickly spread among the Allies. As the number of dead increased, the operation was deemed a complete failure, and the Ottoman Empire retained control of the Gallipoli peninsula. The idea of forcing the Dardanelles had been discussed by the British government from 1904 to 1911, but it was not executed, as naval and military leaders opposed it.

The British wanted to avoid the Western Front due to the aforementioned brutalities of trench warfare. As Britain was closer to the Western Front, it had heard more of the tragic tales of the war and thus preferred to fight on the Eastern Front. Forcing the Dardanelles was reexamined after the Grand Duke’s proposal, as it was a way to avoid engaging in battles of attrition while assisting Britain’s allies. Thus, these respective situations of Britain's allies prompted it to seek conflict on the Eastern Front. British desires to abstain from the Western front and fight against the Ottoman Empire were amplified by Eurocentric ideas and propaganda. Keith Murdoch was an Australian soldier who fought at Gallipoli. His letter to Andrew Fisher and Henry Herbert Asquith, the prime ministers of Australia and the United Kingdom respectively, remains to this day, cementing Gallipoli’s military failure. In the private letter, Murdoch primarily blames British officers for their negligence and praises Australian troops for their

At the bottom of the cartoon, a caption saying “Another Sick Man” can be seen, portraying the Ottoman Empire as simply another China. However, the failure at Gallipoli shows that the empire was not as weak as it was depicted to be. Eurocentric biases led Europeans to believe that the Ottoman Empire was a frail, oriental state, and although the empire was on the decline, the British severely underestimated the military resources necessary for success at Gallipoli, which can be seen from Murdock’s reports. Thus, Euro-dominating ideas were a major factor in the negligent execution of the Gallipoli campaign. Winston Churchill’s belief system made him passionate about Gallipoli, which led to the ultimate commencement of the Gallipoli Campaign. The man on the receiving end of most of the responsibility for the failure at Gallipoli was the First Lord of Admiralty, Winston