Editing Gallipoli (section)

====World War I: Gallipoli Campaign (1914–1918)====
{{Main|Gallipoli Campaign|Gallipoli Peninsula Historical Site}}
[[File:Landing at Gallipoli (13901951593).jpg|thumb|Landing at Gallipoli in April 1915]]
[[File:Gallipoli ANZAC Cove Sphinx 2.JPG|thumb|The Sphinx overlooking Anzac Cove]]

During World War I (1914–1918), French, British, and allied forces (Australian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Irish and Indian) fought the [[Gallipoli campaign]] (1915–1916) in and near the peninsula, seeking to secure a sea route to relieve their eastern ally, [[Imperial Russia|Russia]]. The Ottomans set up defensive fortifications along the peninsula and contained the invading forces.

In early 1915, attempting to seize a strategic advantage in World War I by capturing the [[Bosporus Strait]] at [[Istanbul]] (formerly [[Constantinople]]), the British authorised an attack on the peninsula by French, British, and British Empire forces. The first Australian troops landed at [[ANZAC Cove]] early in the morning of 25 April 1915. After eight months of heavy fighting the last Allied soldiers withdrew by 9 January 1916.

The campaign, one of the greatest [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] victories during the war, is considered by historians as a humiliating [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] failure. [[Turkey|Turks]] regard it as a defining moment in their nation's history and national identity,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gallipoli: a Turkish view {{!}} Australian War Memorial |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/visit/exhibitions/gallipoli#:~:text=The%20events%20of%201915%20created,status%20within%20Turkey's%20national%20identity |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=www.awm.gov.au}}</ref> contributing to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey eight years later under President [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]], who first rose to prominence as a commander at Gallipoli.

The Ottoman Empire instituted the [[Gallipoli Star (Ottoman Empire)|Gallipoli Star]] as a military decoration in 1915 and awarded it throughout the rest of World War I.

The campaign was the first major military action of [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] (or [[Australian and New Zealand Army Corps|ANZACs]]) as independent [[dominion]]s, setting a foundation for Australian and New Zealand military history, and contributing to their developing national identities.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 June 2024 |title=Chapter 1 - The Significance of the Gallipoli Peninsula |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Finance_and_Public_Administration/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/gallipoli/report/d01b#:~:text=The%20national%20significance%20of%20the,and%20remembrance%2C%20into%20iconic%20status. |website=Parliament of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Gallipoli in brief {{!}} NZ History |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/the-gallipoli-campaign/gallipoli-in-brief#:~:text=In%20New%20Zealand%20(and%20Australia,grew%20out%20of%20this%20pride. |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz}}</ref> The date of the landing, 25 April, is known as "[[Anzac Day|ANZAC Day]]". It remains the most significant commemoration of military casualties and [[veteran|"returned soldiers"]] in Australia and New Zealand.

On the Allied side, one of the promoters of the expedition was Britain's [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], [[Winston Churchill]], whose bullish optimism caused damage to his reputation that took years to repair.

Prior to the Allied landings in April 1915,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6k5HzkboGvcC |title=The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power |first=Sean |last=McMeekin |date=7 May 2012 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674058538 |via=Google Books |access-date=25 November 2021 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425062721/https://books.google.com/books?id=6k5HzkboGvcC |url-status=live }}</ref> the Ottoman Empire deported [[Ottoman Greeks|Greek residents]] from Gallipoli and the surrounding region and from the islands in the [[sea of Marmara]], to the interior where they were at the mercy of hostile Turks.<ref name="Terrible Fate">{{cite book |last=Lieberman |first=Benjamin |title=Terrible Fate: Ethnic Cleansing in the Making of Modern Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXlfAgAAQBAJ |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |date=December 2013 |pages=96–97 |isbn=978-1442223196 |access-date=3 May 2020 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425062722/https://books.google.com/books?id=UXlfAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Greeks had little time to pack and the Ottoman authorities permitted them to take only some bedding and the rest was handed over to the Government.<ref name="Terrible Fate"/> The Turks then plundered the houses and properties.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thenationalherald.com/128395/the-meaning-of-gallipoli-to-hellenism/ |title=The Meaning of Gallipoli to Hellenism |access-date=15 October 2017 |archive-date=15 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015202301/https://www.thenationalherald.com/128395/the-meaning-of-gallipoli-to-hellenism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A testimony of a deportee described how the deportees were forced onto crowded steamers, standing-room only, then on disembarking, men of military age were removed (for forced labour in the [[labour Battalions (Ottoman Empire)|labour battalions]] of the Ottoman army).

The [[Metropolitan bishop]] of Gallipoli wrote on 17 July 1915 that the extermination of the Christian refugees was methodical.<ref name="Persecution_of_the_Greeks_in_Turkey_1914_1918">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/persecutionofgre00consrich |title=Persecution of the Greeks in Turkey, 1914–1918 |date=1919 |publisher=Constantinople [London, Printed by the Hesperia Press]}}</ref> He also mentions that "The Turks, like beasts of prey, immediately plundered all the Christians' property and carried it off. The inhabitants and refugees of my district are entirely without shelter, awaiting to be sent no one knows where ...".<ref name="Persecution_of_the_Greeks_in_Turkey_1914_1918"/> Many Greeks died from hunger and there were frequent cases of rape of women and young girls, as well as their forced conversion to [[Islam]].<ref name="Persecution_of_the_Greeks_in_Turkey_1914_1918"/> In some cases, [[Muhacirs]] appeared in the villages even before the Greek inhabitants were deported and stoned the houses and threatened the inhabitants that they would kill them if they did not leave.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |last2=Ze'evi |first2=Dror |title=The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=THSPDwAAQBAJ&q=greek%2BGallipoli%2Bdeportee |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=April 2019 |page=338 |isbn=978-0674916456 |access-date=3 May 2021 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425062720/https://books.google.com/books?id=THSPDwAAQBAJ&q=greek%2BGallipoli%2Bdeportee |url-status=live }}</ref>