What were the causes of the Gallipoli Campaign?
New Zealand's path to Gallipoli began when the outbreak of war between the United kingdom and Germany in august 1914. Prime minister William Massey asked New Zealand to help and support as they NZ is part of British empire. the 8454- strong expeditionary force (NZEF) left Wellington in October 1914 with the Australian forces. In early November 1914 Ottoman (turkey) empire entered the war with the side of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria.This changed their plans especially in the middle east because that is where the Ottoman forces posed a direct threat to Suez canal- this is an important British shipping lane between Europe and Asia.They wanted to help the Russian by supplying food and etc so in order to that they had to knock the Ottoman empire out of the war. NZEF) waited in Egypt until April 1915 and then it was transported to Greek island of lemnons to prepare for the invasion of Gallipoli. The peninsula was important because it guarded the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait – a strategic waterway leading to the Sea of Marmara and, via the Bosporus, the Black Sea.The Allied plan was to break through the straits, capture the Ottoman capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul), and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war. Access to the straits and the Sea of Marmara would also provide the Allies with a supply line to Russia, and open up new areas in which to attack the Central Powers.
In 1914 Winston Churchill declared that he had a solution to turn the war in the favor of the Allies by sending troops to invade the Turkish beach known as Gallipoli which Churchill believed to be the “key” to winning the war. Churchill knew that with the taking of Gallipoli would come with heavy loss to the allies but believed that it would end the war He proposed to thread his naval fleet through the needle of the Dardanelles, the narrow 38-mile strait that severed Europe and Asia in northwest Turkey, to seize Constantinople and gain control of the strategic waterways linking the Black Sea in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. Churchill believed the invasion would give the British a clear sea route to their ally Russia and knock the fading Ottoman Empire that had reluctantly joined the Central Powers in October 1914, out of the war, which would persuade one or all of the neutral states of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania to join the Allies in their attempts to win the war .“Are there not other alternatives than sending our armies to chew barbed wire in Flanders?” This quote taken from Churchill is a is a good primary source to help show what was one of the main cause's of the Gallipoli Campaign because it clearly represents what steps were taken on the road to Gallipoli and why certain steps were taken so the Gallipoli Campaign could be possible. This quote is a very useful piece of evidence to use when investigating the causes of this event because it clearly specifies why Winston Churchill decided to go forward with the Gallipoli Campaign.
This map shows the route that the Allied forces took during the Gallipoli Campaign which gives a clear indication as to what caused the Gallipoli Campaign because it shows the route that the troops took and not only that but this map shows the direct route that the Allied forces would of been able to gain if the Gallipoli Campaign was successful. The map on the right gives a clear indication as to the possibility's that may have opened up to the Allied forces had the Gallipoli Campaign been successful with the Allied forces having access to the entire black sea opening up a potential route to Russia whilst putting pressure on the Central powers with Allied forces coming from each direction. This piece of information helps provide clear examples of why the Gallipoli Campaign was so important to the British because of the naval route they would of gained from this operation.