The Gallipoli campaign and the Anzac legend which
emerged from it have had a significant impact on
ideas about Australia's national identity.
Although a military defeat, the bravery and sacrifices associated with the
eight-month struggle have had a profound effect on how Australians view this
period.
For many people, both then and now, the participation of Australian
soldiers in the Gallipoli campaign was the symbol of Australia's coming of
age as a nation.
The experience on the Gallipoli Peninsula formed the framework for a view
of the characteristics which identified the 'true Australian'. It also reinforced
the 19th century image of the unique attributes of the Australian 'bushman'.
Australians could be recognised by their willingness to endure hardship,
their bravery and resourcefulness, their spirit of independence and their
reluctance to unquestionably accept the authority of others.
The ‘Anzac Digger’
There were five particularly 'digger-like' qualities which emerged from the
ANZACs when faced with hardship during the Gallipoli Campaign. These
included:
1. the ability to remain cheerful, larrikin sense of humour even in the most difficult of
times
2. The ability to be resourceful when they had no supplies, for example by making hand
grenades from empty tin cans
3. the spirit of mateship in which a soldier would risk his own life for his mate's
4. Australian courage, which was shown on the very first landing at Anzac Cove where
the soldiers continued to charge up on to the beach straight into the line of Turkish fire
5. the notion of a ‘fair go’ and that people all deserve the same amount of respect, no
matter what their background is.
6. A dislike of authority.
It is precisely this type of person and this type of soldier who gave the ANZACs their
reputation and instilled a new national pride in Australia
The war on the Western Front had reached a stalemate. The war on the
Eastern Front was going badly for the Russians
What the British hoped to
gain:
1.Open sea access in order to
send supplies to Russia.
2.Allow British and French
battleships to gain control
of the 61km long
Dardanelles and
Constantinople and force
Turkey to withdraw from the
war.
3.Use infantry (ground
troops) to destroy landbased guns protecting the
Dardanelles.
4.Gain control of land from
which to open a new front
against Austria-Hungry.
The Gallipoli Landing 25 April 1915
The Gallipoli Campaign began badly because:
 The failed naval attack in February and March 1915 by British and
French battleships had alerted the Turks to the likelihood of a land
attack
 The Turks then had six weeks' advance warning to prepare their
defences
 By the time the Allied troops landed on the beaches of the Gallipoli
Peninsula in April 1915, the Turks, under German General Liman von
Sanders, had organised reinforcements, strengthened defences, laid
mines, constructed trenches and established themselves on the high
ground around both sides of the Gallipoli Peninsula and further
inland
 On a number of beaches, troops left their landing craft to face an
unrelenting barrage of Turkish machine-gun fire.
 The Anzacs were landed two kilometres out of position. They faced
steep cliffs and machine guns placed along the cliff tops.
http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/gallipoli/gallipoli2.htm
The Gallipoli Landing 25 April 1915
The Gallipoli Campaign began badly because:
 The failed British and French naval attack in the Dardanelles in
February and March 1915 had alerted the Turks to the likelihood of
a land attack
 The Turks then had six weeks' advance warning to prepare their
defences
 The Turks had organised reinforcements, strengthened defences,
laid mines, constructed trenches and established themselves on the
high ground
 The Anzacs were landed two kilometres out of position. They faced
steep cliffs and machine guns placed along the cliff tops.
Note: The Anzac landing 25 April 1914 was at
4:15 am and they therefore landed in darkness
Anzacs Miniseries 1985
Anzac landing 01:00 – 9:40
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIoQ44R-4WE
The Landing – 25 April 1915
• By nightfall of the first day, the Anzacs had advanced about
900 metres at a cost of about 2000 casualties, including 621
dead.
• Over the next week, another 27 000 soldiers landed at Anzac
Cove, where they tried to gain control of the beach and
construct trenches — all under constant Turkish fire from as
close as 30 metres away.
• Soldiers armed with entrenching tools and sandbags had to
quickly construct trenches and dugouts to provide some
protection. The task was difficult because the men mainly had
to lie on their stomachs to dig.
Battles of Gallipoli -Lone Pine and The Nek
In August, the British decided to try a new tactic to break the
stalemate at Gallipoli. Anzac troops were to attack the
Turkish strongholds at Lone Pine and The Nek in the hope
of distracting attention from Allied troops landing at Suvla
Bay and Allied attacks at Sari Bair. The aim was to gain
control of Sari Bair and link the Anzac front with Suvla Bay.
LONE PINE August 6 – 10 1915
The Anzacs succeeded in taking Lone Pine but at a huge
cost to both sides. Over four days of bitter hand-to-hand
fighting the Anzacs suffered 2300 casualties and the Turks
suffered 6000. Seven Australians gained Victoria Crosses
as a result of this action.
The Nek - 7 August 1915
The attack at the Nek was even worse. Four waves of effectively
suicidal charges by the 3rd Light Horse Brigade went ‘over the
top’ to attack the Turkish trenches at ‘Baby 700’, only 27 metres
away.
The attack failed for a number of reasons:
• Allied preliminary artillery shelling ceased 7 minutes too early
which allowed the Turks time to return to their trenches and
prepare for an assault.
• After the 2nd wave of Light Horsemen went over the top, Major
Antill believed that some men had reached the Turkish trenches
and insisted, despite protests from other commanders, that a
third wave should also go over the top.
• Colonel Hughes, commander of the 3rd Light Horse, then
cancelled the attack. This was too late for the fourth wave, who
had already left their trenches.
In a forty-five minute period, there were 372 casualties among the
Light Horse, of whom 234 died
Gallipoli Film 1981
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eeijbtbnjQ
EVACUATION – DECEMBER 1915
Allied troops began withdrawing from Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay in
early December 1915. They devised a number of tricks to prevent the
Turks realising that they were moving out:
 Australian troops maintained silence for long periods of time and
then, when the Turks appeared to find out what was happening, they
opened fire.
 They made dummies and dressed them in uniforms and put them
about the cove to give the impression that the area was fully manned.
 They also organised a method whereby water dripping into a pan
attached to a trigger would make a rifle fire itself.
 By 19 December, the evacuation was complete, with only two
casualties. By this time, there were 26 000 casualties among the
Anzac troops, including about 10 000 deaths.
Today we will :
9 May 2013
• Examine the creation of the Anzac Legend
• Determine – Was Simpson a Hero?
• The commemoration of Anzac Day
• Hand in History and Geography books if I haven’t
marked them yet.
• Remind your parents to book an interview with me
for Parent Teacher night next Monday (if they
haven’t done so already)
The Creation of Anzac Legend
For many people, both then and now, the participation
of Australian soldiers in the Gallipoli campaign was
the symbol of Australia's coming of age as a nation.
British war correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett
(1881–1931) helped create the Anzac Legend with his
newspaper report on the Gallipoli landing 8 May 1915.
Ashmead-Bartlett's article on the 8th of May 1915 was the first report on the
landing of the 25th April that Australian newspapers published. It found an
appreciative and ready audience among those who:
were concerned about Australian soldiers' reputation for being
‘undisciplined’, gained while they were training in Egypt
had been concerned that Australians might have behaved poorly when
faced with their first military engagement
wanted to see Australian soldiers at least equal the efforts of British and
Canadian troops (who had performed well in France)
were looking for some sense of a positive national identity for Australia that
was distinct from that of Great Britain
were concerned about how people of other nationalities would judge
Australia in the world arena.
Ashmead-Bartlett's articles became the standard for interpreting events and
experiences on the Gallipoli Peninsula and identifying the characteristics of
the ‘true Australian’.
Simpson and his Donkey - A Controversy
Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick
(1892–1915) was an Englishman who
had lived in Australia since 1910 after
deserting his position in the merchant
navy. Hoping to get back to England, he
enlisted in the AIF in August 1914 under
the name ‘John Simpson’. He ended up
at Anzac Cove.
 Simpson's actions there were mentioned in official
reports and became part of a 1916 book entitled
‘Glorious Deeds of Australasians in the Great War’.
 The account was propaganda, designed to make
readers proud of Australia's war efforts. It greatly
exaggerated what Simpson had done and singled
him out as a hero at a time when Australia needed
new recruits.
 Simpson served 24 days between his arrival at
Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 and his death.
 He was meant to serve as a stretcher-bearer transporting seriously
wounded men from the front lines back down to Anzac Cove. Instead,
he worked by himself, with a donkey, delivering water as he made his
way up the heights above the beach, through the dangerous Shrapnel
and Monash Gullies and then bringing the wounded back down on his
donkey.
 He and the two wounded he was transporting were shot dead in
Monash Gully on 19 May 1915.
For many people, Simpson typifies the man of the ‘Anzac Legend’.
Others note that he was English, a reluctant recruit, and someone
whose help and support of relatively few and not seriously wounded
men, while noteworthy, were not really the features that define a ‘hero’.
On 25 April 1916 the
landing at Gallipoli one year
earlier was commemorated.
This tradition has continued
as Anzac Day on 25th April
each year.
Red poppies which Australian
servicemen later saw in the
fields in France on the
Western Front in 1916 & 1917
have become the emblem of
World War I and Anzac Day.