In the early morning darkness of April 25, 1915, about 16,000 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers descended upon the beach shores of Gallipoli in modern-day Türkiye.
By that evening, 2000 of them had been killed or wounded.
The Gallipoli campaign, commanded by the British Empire Force, was intended to quickly knock the Ottoman Empire – an ally of Germany – out of the war by capturing the Gallipoli Peninsula, with the ultimate objective of capturing Constantinople (today now Istanbul).
Minefields and on-shore artillery batteries thwarted early British naval attempts to force their way through the narrow straits known as the Dardanelles to capture Constantinople and relieve pressure on their Russian allies engaged with Ottoman forces in the Caucasus, so it was decided that troops would land on the peninsula to overcome Ottoman defences.
While British and French forces landed at Cape Helles on the southern tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, the ANZAC, which included the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Australian Brigades along with the 1st New Zealand Brigade and artillery units from the British Indian Army, landed on the west coast in a series of waves.
Australian and New Zealand soldiers sat in silence, in darkness, as boats edged closer to the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915.
For the vast majority of the 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders who landed that day, it was their first experience of combat.
As the ANZAC troops reached the shore, in what is now known as ANZAC Cove, they were about a mile north of the loosely planned landing site in steep, rugged terrain, meeting fierce resistance from the Ottoman forces.
Thousands of Australian and New Zealand fathers, brothers, and sons became separated from their units as they began moving up the tangle of complex spurs and ravines in the darkness, burning hot metal bullets cracking in the quiet dawn air.
Devastating artillery bombardments from the Ottoman forces proved too strong, and the Anzac position became progressively more precarious after failing to secure their high-ground objectives beforehand.
On the evening of April 25, 1915, Major-General William Bridges, commander of the 1st Australian Division, and Lieutenant-General Sir William Birdwood, commander of ANZAC, advised General Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, that the ANZACs be withdrawn from the peninsula but after consultation with the Royal Navy.
Hamilton decided against an evacuation and ordered the troops to dig in.
The once-white-sanded shores of ANZAC Cove were now stained blood red.
Boys as young as 14 lay dead, never to return home.
For the next eight months, the ANZACs remained in the same position they had taken on April 25, 1915.
The ANZACs were evacuated in late December 1915, and on January 9, 1916, when British forces completed the evacuation of Cape Helles, the Gallipoli campaign ended.
The Gallipoli campaign was a military failure.
An estimated 8141 Australian soldiers died during the eight-month-long campaign, creating a profound impact on a recently federated Australia.
Twenty-two-year-old Arthur Abernethy from Maffra, serving in the 14th Infantry Battalion, and James Kiernan, from Sale, serving in the 5th Infantry Battalion, were among the more than 8000 Australians killed in action during the Gallipoli campaign.
While the Gallipoli campaign failed to achieve its military objectives, the actions of Australian and New Zealand forces left a powerful legacy to be remembered; the traits shown in Gallipoli – bravery, ingenuity, endurance and mateship – have become enshrined as defining aspects of the Australian character.
April 25 marks the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War, widely regarded as the foundation legend of Australian military history and a potent symbol of federated Australia.
Australian and New Zealand soldiers who formed part of the allied expedition to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula became known as Anzacs, and the pride they took in that name continues to be celebrated to this day.
In 1916 the first Anzac Day commemorations were held on April 25, and were marked by various ceremonies, services and marches across Australia; in the Sydney march, convoys of cars carried the soldiers that were wounded at Gallipoli and their nurses.
More than 2000 Australian and New Zealand troops marched through the streets of London on April 25, 1916; a London newspaper headline dubbing the ANZACs “the knights of Gallipoli”.
Anzac Day became a national commemoration for the more than 60,000 Australians who died during World War I, with every state observing some form of public holiday for the first time on Anzac Day in 1927.
All of the rituals we now associate with Anzac Day – dawn vigils, marches, memorial services, reunions, and two-up games – were firmly established by the mid-1930s.
Anzac Day later served to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in the Second World War; the meaning of the day was further broadened in subsequent years to include those who lost their lives in all Australian-involved military and peacekeeping operations.
