675. The First World War: Slaughter at Gallipoli (Part 5)
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Why was the Battle of Gallipoli such a disaster for the Allies?
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At dusk, all lights were put out and the troops rested for the ordeal at dawn. It was a beautiful calm night with a bright half moon. As the moon waned, the boats were swung out, the Australians received their last instructions, and men who six months ago were living peaceful civilian lives began to disembark on a strange, unknown shore in a strange land to attack an enemy of different race. The boats had almost reached the beach when a party of Turks entrenched ashore opened a terrible fusillade. The Australians rose to the occasion. They did not wait for orders or for the boats to reach the beach, but sprang into the sea, formed a sort of rough line and rushed the enemy's trenches. Their magazines were uncharged, so they just went in with cold steel.
I have never seen anything like these wounded Australians in war before. Though many were shot to bits, without hope of recovery, their cheers resounded throughout the night. They were happy because they knew they had been tried for the first time and had not been found wanting. There has been no finer feat in this war than this sudden landing in the dark and storming the heights, and, above all, holding on while the reinforcements were landing. These raw colonial troops, in these desperate hours, proved worthy to fight side by side with the heroes of Mons, the Aisne, Ypres, and Nerve Chapelle. So that was the first report of the Allied landings at Gallipoli in Turkey on the 25th of April, 1915.
And it was written by a chap called Ellis Ashmead Bartlett, and he was the war correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. And when it was reproduced in the newspapers in Australia a couple of weeks later, it caused an absolute sensation. And his praise for the courage of the ANZAC troops, so the Australians and the New Zealanders, became a source of immense national pride down under. And it was all the sweeter because, as you could tell from my expert reproduction of his accent, Ashmead Bartlett wasn't Australian. You would, of course, expect... an Australian commentator to big up Australian performance. But this chap was British. And so to quote one Australian historian, And there it was, worthy to fight side by side.
We belonged and we've been told so by a pom. I don't think it said by a pom. It says by an Englishman. No, he didn't. He said by an Englishman. He did say by an Englishman. So as our Australian listeners will know and our Kiwi listeners as well, this is one of the foundational moments in their national identity. Perhaps the key moment. I don't know. And it's also, of course, intriguingly and suggestively a key moment in the formation of what will become in due course the Republic of Turkey. So, Dominic, it is a really historically significant episode. Absolutely it is. For countries that are as different as Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. But it's also... It's not a story in which Britain comes out well.
I mean, it's kind of, let's be blunt, it's a cataclysmic disaster.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Why was the Battle of Gallipoli such a disaster for the Allies?
0:01–8:31
2
How did the Battle of Gallipoli shape national identity in Australia and New Zealand?
8:31–24:21
3
What role did Winston Churchill play in the Gallipoli campaign?
24:21–47:49
4
How did the Turkish forces prepare for the Allied landings at Gallipoli?
47:49–1:06:05
5
What challenges did the ANZAC troops face during their landing?
1:06:05–1:14:16
Speakers
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