Video: The reason Gallipoli failed

On the 9th of January 1916, the last remaining Allied troops on the Gallipoli peninsula were evacuated. Despite catastrophic predictions, the withdrawal went off without a hitch and the entire force escaped with only a few casualties. It was the only bright spark in a campaign marked by failure.

After naval attempts to force the Dardanelles straight failed, the amphibious landings had fared even worse. Fierce Ottoman opposition stopped the Allies in their tracks and trench warfare quickly took hold. There were heavy casualties on both sides, not only from the fighting but from the terrible conditions. After a succession of failed attacks, the decision was finally made to withdraw.

In this episode of IWM Stories, Alan Wakefield explores what went wrong at Gallipoli and why the evacuations were the only success.

Find out more about Gallipoli:

Everything you need to know: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-gallipoli-campaign

20 remarkable photos: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/20-remarkable-photos-from-gallipoli

Why Gallipoli was the worst fighting front: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/9-reasons-why-gallipoli-was-one-of-the-worst-fighting-fronts-of-the-first-world-war

Life on the frontlines at Gallipoli: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/voices-of-the-first-world-war-gallipoli

Plan your visit to IWM: https://www.iwm.org.uk/

Explore the film footage used in this video, and licence it for use: https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/c/1907

The First World War Retold: https://shop.iwm.org.uk/p/26674/The-First-World-War-Retold

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Creative Commons Attributions:

Battleship drawing based on HMS Agamemnon by Emoscopes - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

00:00 Introduction 00:50 Strategic Situation 02:05 Navy plan 04:34 Naval operations 05:50 Army plan 07:09 Turkish forces 08:16 Land campaign phase 1 10:27 Land campaign phase 2 12:50 Evacuations 14:33 Why Gallipoli failed