The Gallipoli campaign Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Gallipoli campaign - Article Example It is estimated that more than 130,000 Allied soldiers died. Surprisingly, the Turks fiercely put up a resistance that proved impossible for the Allied forces to crack. Throughout the Wars in Europe, the Ottoman Empire had remained neutral for it was still recouping from internal civil strives and political instabilities (Broadbent 12). However, by 1914, the Turks had fully recovered and entered the World War 1 on the side of the Central Powers- Germany and Austria-Hungary (Hart 8-13). Turkey as a country lies between the Europe and Russia. In this case, it was impossible for Europe to link up with Russia with Turkey at the center as a Central Power (Hart 8-13). The Allied Forces therefore wanted to capture the straits so as to be able to establish links with the Russians through the Black Sea (Hart 8-13). Capture of the Dardanelles Straits would have also made it easy for the Allied forces to kick the Turks out of the war (Hart 8-13). Nevertheless, even though the Gallipoli Campaign was only seen as a great loss on the side of the Allied forces, the war brought equal losses to both sides. The Allied forces lost a huge number of soldiers and warships while Turkey’s national resources were largely damaged and not forgetting the high number of Turk soldiers who lost their lives in this War (Hart 8-13). Further, Broadbent (57-61) argue that the Allied forces wasted a lot of resources in the Gallipoli Campaign that would have been vital to them on the major war front. It was unrealistic how the Allied forces lost this particular battle but critics argue that the loss was as a result of poor execution of warring strategies (Hart 8-13). The British and her allies were steered by ill-fitted goals, insufficient artillery, overconfidence, inaccurate intelligence and maps, poor plans, tactical deficiency, in experienced troops as well as the inadequate logistics and equipment (Broadbent, 19-20). The