Put as simply as possible, the very complicated story went like this.
	1. In 1914 New Zealand was a very different country from today. It was a very new country. For example, there were very few cars. Moving pictures had only just been invented, so there was no television. Radio too was very new and few people had one. Many people in New Zealand did not think of themselves as being New Zealanders. They were British, and part of the powerful British Empire. Anything and everything British was most highly respected. Britain was thought of as being the "Mother Country", or "Home", where many New Zealanders had been born. To help the "Mother Country" was thought to be the proper thing to do, and it made the New Zealanders proud to think they they could do something to help.
	2. In August 1914 the war between Britain and her friends in Europe (France and Russia) against Germany and her friends began. This place of fighting was called the Western Front, as it was in the western part of Europe.
	3. Very quickly New Zealand, Australia and other British Empire countries said they would help Britain, and as many soldiers as possible were sent as soon as they could be organised. The very small New Zealand army had to use British leaders to organise them as they had no generals with enough experience to lead them. Some of these leaders did not think very much of the New Zealanders as soldiers.
	4. Many men in New Zealand thought it was going to be a bit of an adventure, with not a lot of danger, and that it might be over and finished in a few months. They even worried that they might not get to Europe in time. They wanted to "do their bit" to help.
	5. Turkey decided to help Germany and in doing this shut off the sea-lanes that were used by Russia to get wheat out to the south by ship. These sea-lanes, that ran right through the middle of Turkey, were called The Dardanelles Strait.
	6. The Dardanelles Strait was also being used by the British and French to get ammunition to the Russian Army fighting against Germany on what was called the Eastern Front, as this was on the eastern side of Europe.
	7. Very quickly the Russian armies needed help against the Germans, and Europe needed wheat from Russia. The only way supplies could get through in winter was by passing north along the Dardanelles Strait, but this was being blocked by the Turks.
	8. Very quickly too, the armies in Europe on the Western Front balanced out against each other and became bogged down in what was called "trench warfare". (Men fighting out of great, deep mud-filled trenches in the ground, trying to get away from the danger of the very powerful guns of the enemy).
	9. A British leader, called Winston Churchill, came up with a plan to try to break this balance. He had four main objectives: a. To get ammunition and guns to the Russians, so that they would begin to beat the Germans on the Eastern Front. The Germans would then have to move men from the Western Front in France, enabling the British and French top break through. b. To get Russian wheat to Europe. c. To attack the Turkish capital of Constantinople (today called Istanbul), thereby causing the Turkish government to collapse. This would then take Turkey completely out of the war. d. To enable a British and French army to land in Turkey, march overland and attack Germany from the rear.
	10. The British and French Navies were given the job of smashing the fort defences along the sides of the Dardanelles Strait. At that time the British and French navies were the most powerful in the world, and it was thought to be a reasonably easy job. This attack on 18 March 1915 failed because the Turkish defences were too strong.
	11. It was then decided to send an army to capture the land along one side (the eastern side) of the Dardanelles and destroy the forts guarding the sea-lanes. This land was a peninsula called the Gelibolu Peninsula. We mispronounce it and call it Gallipoli.
	12. New Zealand and Australian soldiers were already on their way to Europe, passing through the Suez Canal in Egypt, very close to Turkey. It was decided to send them to help the British in the attack.
	13. It was all done in a very great rush. The most senior British generals did not think it would be a difficult job and gave only some of the equipment and men requested by those who had to do the attack. They gave very little thought to casualties, getting wounded men onto ships and hospital requirements or other supplies. Everything thought really important was saved for use on the Western Front in France, where the main battles were going on.
	14. The Turks realised that the British army was coming and got ready too. They were able to work faster than the British did, and by the time the British, French and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (A. N. Z. A. C.) arrived on 25 April 1915, they were ready for them.
	15. The French landed on the other (western) side of the Dardanelles in a dummy attack to try to create a diversion and fool the Turks as to what was going on. The French stayed there only a few days, then pulled out to help the British. The British landed at Cape Helles, right at the bottom of the Gallipoli Peninsula. They suffered dreadful casualties, both in getting ashore, and later trying to secure themselves there.
	16. The A.N.Z.A.C.s were landed approximately 15 km north, near a headland called Gaba Tepe. They were supposed to get ashore on a flat, open beach. In the darkness of the night the British Navy made a mistake and landed their boats up against a steep hill on a very tiny beach, only 700 paces long and 40 paces deep. This beach is now known as Anzac Cove.
	17. On the first day alone the bravery and dedication of the A.N.Z.A.C. soldiers nearly carried the day. Because the Turkish Army was ready for them the A.N.Z.A.C.s suffered appalling casualties and because so little preparation was given to wounded and hospitals many men died needlessly. The Turks too, suffered dreadful casualties.
	18. The area captured on the first day was as far as the A.N.Z.A.C.s got. They were ashore at Anzac Cove 240 days. Both sides worked themselves to exhaustion, with many, many thousands of casualties for just a few minor changes in land area.
	19. The Turks attacked the A.N.Z.A.C.s and were beaten back. The A.N.Z.A.C.s attacked the Turks and were beaten back. Things quickly became bogged down in to trench warfare, just as they were in Europe. The A.N.Z.A.C.s and British were trapped in a mess of the British generals making. No amount of bravery or dedication could get them out of it. The Turks were soon to become stronger with other countries joining the German side in the war, and sending new equipment to the Turks.
	20. Finally in November, the British generals realised that the A.N.Z.A.C.s and British and French soldiers could not break out from where they were trapped unless huge amounts of new men and supplies were sent. The generals in Europe were not willing to do this. So it was decided that all the soldiers would have to be withdrawn before all the men were totally destroyed by the Turks.
	21. To get the men off safely everything had to be done in great secrecy so that the Turks would not guess what was going on.
	22. After all the muddle, confusion and failure of the previous months, the withdrawal was the only successful part of the operation. All men were safely evacuated at night over a period of a few weeks.
	23. The last A.N.Z.A.C.s were withdrawn from Anzac Cove on 20 December 1915, and the last British were withdrawn from Cape Helles on 9 January 1916.
	24. After all the fighting the soldiers were not send home to rest, instead they went on straight to Europe to fight for another 4 years on the Western Front. Much of the bitterness and horror of Gallipoli just became lost in the terribleness of the rest of the war. The people back in New Zealand never realised the disaster that had happened. The politicians and army people made it out as some kind of strange victory, as if the whole campaign and withdrawal were always planned in such a way to happen as it did.

	1.Turkey in 1914 was a country in terrible strife in many places. People were very unhappy with their rulers. Many people felt a revolution might happen. The Turkish Army had recently been in wars in other countries and was often very badly beaten. The soldiers were very dispirited.
	2. When the Turks joined the Germans there was even more unhappiness. Many people felt the Turks should have joined the British side, not the Germans. Suddenly, when the British attacked them the people rallied around and became very determined to defend their homeland against the invaders. In planning the attacks the British had not thought about this happening.
	3. The Turks had a very strong and clever leader called Mustafa Kemal. He was not the top Turkish leader at Gallipoli, but he became the most important, both by his personal bravery and by his leadership. Quite possibly, with his leadership he was the difference between the two armies. After the war was over Mustafa Kemal went on to lead a revolution against the Turkish rulers, and became elected as first President of modern Turkey.
	4. In a way perhaps strange to us, many Turkish people today are pleased about what happened at Gallipoli. First, Turkey defeated the British and French navies, then the most powerful in the world, which gives them great pride. Next, they defeated an invading army, getting behind their own leaders. Most important, they gained the leader Mustafa Kemal, whom they later gave the title Ataturk (meaning Father of the Turks). He is now known as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a most revered leader. Without Gallipoli, say many Turkish people, they would not be the country they are today. Many Turks today often look upon New Zealanders and Australians with a special sense of friendship because of what happened all those long years ago.

	WHAT THE ANZACS FELT THEY LOST AS THEY LEFT:
	1. The Anzacs felt that it was the leadership by the British generals that let them down. Many New Zealander soldiers were very bitter about lots of their own officers who let the British officers order them to do impossible things. The felt that they had lost their dignity as men and soldiers, that they were letting down the dead men they were leaving behind.
	WHAT THE ANZACS GAINED FOR THE PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA:
	2. The Anzac soldiers were beaten in the military battles. What they won instead, was something for the people back at home, for the new countries of New Zealand and Australia. It was a spirit for the people that we now think of as the Anzac spirit and attitude. This spirit has grown out of how those soldiers in 1915 carried themselves.
	Anzac today brings up ideas of: Honour, duty, sacrifice, determination, pride, self-reliance, patience, looking after others, personal bravery, modesty, self-respect, sticking to the task, humility, patriotism, and keeping faith.
	These ideas are absolutely central to what it is to be a New Zealander. With that spirit those original Anzac soldiers left the people of New Zealand a truly priceless gift. We must not forget the effort required to make that gift.
	As New Zealanders now, we must keep faith with the past, so the New Zealanders of the future will keep faith with us.
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	What Many New Zealand And Australian Soldiers Felt As They Left: · Great sadness at leaving behind the bodies of the men they had known as friends and mates when they first arrived. · Great bitterness towards the generals who had mucked them around so much. · Great disappointment at the way they had to leave, feeling that they had been beaten, not by the Turks, but by their own leaders. · Great upset at having to kill all their animal friends who had helped them during the war. The animals had to be destroyed as there was no room for them on the ships taking the men away.
	What Went Wrong On The British and Anzac Side Overall? · The planning, right from the beginning, from the leaders in London was rushed and very confused. The orders were poorly given, often unclear as to who was in charge, and with little thought as to what the proper equipment needs would be. · The generals did not think the Turks would be brave soldiers or fight hard for their homeland. They rather thought the Turks would run away when the British Navy and Army turned up. · The British leaders were not working together as a team. The British Navy and British Army did not have a leader to co-ordinate them. · The attacks from the British Navy warned the Turks that an invasion was coming. · Not enough men or the right gear was supplied for the land attack. · Wrong leaders were appointed. Many of the officer leaders were too old and not good enough to do the sort of job asked of them. · When mistakes were made, the officers did not learn from them. They just kept doing the same sorts of things. This was what puzzled the soldiers in the trenches. The soldiers could see the mistakes, why couldn't the senior officers? · The wrong medical arrangements and poor food supplies were made. Many men died from wounds and sickness. Lack of proper medical care, along with poor food and general health care caused many thousands of unnecessary deaths.
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