What was the larger strategic significance of the failure of the Essay

What was the larger strategic significance of the failure of the Gallipoli expedition 1915-1916 - Essay Example The result was a huge loss of manpower and resources on both the sides. The Gallipoli Expedition also known popularly as the "Dardanelles operation of 1915" is regarded as one of the major failure for the Allied forces in World War I. It affected both the Central powers as well as the Entente alike. Several lessons were learned from the expedition with the most important of them being the following Trust the instincts and act with common sense as the situation prompts while planning the attacks instead of following the bookish lessons. Trust the war tactics and the people instead of depending on the technology completely Archaic titles and birth privileges are just not enough to win the military war, but merit and true valour. The Dardanelles expedition influenced the politics of the European nations as well as the Middle East countries in many different ways. The larger strategic significance gained from the failure of the Gallipoli expedition in 1915-1916 led the Entente to reform their war tactics and win the World War I. The failure came as a hit to the Anglo-French coalition's pride. The blow awakened them literally from falling into disaster practicing their traditional war strategies. On the other hand it led to major reforms in countries like Turkey opening the gates of the democracy in the Middle East. The Gallipoli Expedition The Gallipoli expedition was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Western nations. The Anglo-French armies were largely assisted by nations like New Zealand and Australia. ANZAC or the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps played a major role in the campaign. The Entente were headed by General Sir Ian Hamilton and the Ottoman Turks were led by Kemal Pasha Ataturk. It is important to explore the reason behind the origin of the World War if we have to understand the importance of the Dardanelles expedition. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Australia and his wife Sophie were murdered by Serbian terrorists on 28th June 1914. Serbi a was an independent state but was annexed by the Austria in 1908 amidst great protests. The prince's ideas of reforms were quite unpopular among the elite as well the freedom movements in Serbia. There were several nationalistic movements in the country which feared the Serbs might be repressed further by the reforms as the Prince Ferdinand was next in line to throne. Hence they carried out the assassination which triggered many long standing disputes between the various major European powers. The World War I termed as the 'Great War' took nearly 20 million lives and left more than 21 million wounded (Fromkin, 1989). The causes for the origin of the war were much debated and its effects were felt for a long time in the world. Historians like Wolfgang Mommsen analyzed various reasons for the German uprising and termed it was a measure to divert the public from other issues like inequality created due to industrialization, democratization and the other core issues the average German citizen had started to question his rulers (Keiger, 1983). Each country in Europe was influenced by a different principle starting from militarism to imperialism and nationalism. Each was in direct conflict with the other. The assassination of the Archduke made them take sides. Major military Powers like the Great Britain, France and Russia joined hands on one side forming the Entente while the Germany, Austria and Hungary along with other small nations joined together on the opposite side forming the Central Powers.1 The growing power of Germany alarmed both its eastern and western neighbours the Russia and France. Hence, they formed an alliance together with the Great Britain to defend