What was the Gallipoli

campaign?
 Presentation objectives
 To understand what was the Gallipoli
campaign.
 To examine the motivation of why the
Gallipoli campaign was drawn up.
 To examine what points of the Gallipoli
campaign were unrealistic.
 What was the Allied position in the
First World War in 1915?
By the beginning of 1915, it was clear that no immediate
breakthrough would be made on the Western Front.

The Russians became

under increasing attack
from Germany in the east.
Britain was worried that
Russia would fall which
would lead to Germany Under the leadership of Winston
being able to move more Churchill, who was First Lord of the
troops from the east to Admiralty, the British put forward a
fight on the Western Front. plan to help the Russians fight the
Germans in the east.
 What was the plan of the Dardanelles
The Dardenelles is a strait attack?
of water and was an
important supply route to
Russia.

Gallipoli is the
peninsula at the
mouth of the
Dandanelles
strait.
 What was the plan of the Dardanelles
attack?
The aim of the plan was to knock Turkey, Germany’s ally
out of the war and to support Russia.
 What was the plan of the Dardanelles attack?
Allied troops would capture the
Allied troops were to be
Turkish forts on the peninsula and
landed on the Gallipoli
then move north-east to capture the
peninsula by ship.
Bosporus strait.

At the same time, the navy

would sail through the
Dardanelles and attack
through the sea.
 What were the advantages of the plan?

 It could knock Turkey out of the war.

 If successful, the Allies could attack Austria
and Germany from a different front, forcing
them to split their armies.
 Control of the Dardanelles and Bosporus
would allow Allied ships to supply Russia
safely and keep the Eastern Front going.
 It could bring the war to an end quickly.
 What were the disadvantages of the
plan?
 Lord Fisher, the First Sea Lord, did not want to commit his best ships
to the campaign. He wanted his best ships to counter the German
threat in the Baltic.
 Fisher was sceptical of the plan fearing that Allied ships could be an
easy target for Turkish guns and German submarines.
 All of the Gallipoli beaches were in range of the Turkish forts.
 Lord Kitchener thought that Allied troops would be better used on the
Western Front.
 The Allies intelligence on Turkish defences at Gallipoli was very poor.
 Gallipoli was a remote area which the Allies would find difficult to
reach. The nearest Allies bases were 600 miles away in Egypt.