Source E tells us how there was complete lack of communication, which is summed up completely by telling us that two fifths of the British and Anzac force outnumbered the entire Turk force. The force at S beach sat around and relaxed all day whilst the forces at V beach were slaughtered by machine-gun fire. At Y beach a similar situation happened to S beach – they sat around all day waiting. The waiting around happening on S beach and Y beach was wholly down to the extremely poor planning. The generals gave no orders, and one would assume that they didn’t because they didn’t know what they were supposed to do after. Therefore I feel that this source, is very good evidence to suggest that the failure at Gallipoli was down to poor planning and Churchill: the generals didn’t have a clue what to do or expect when they arrive! I feel that this source is also unlikely to be biased because these soldiers would have been at the fighting (primary source). And would have no reason to lie.
Source F shows us a map of the Dardanelles and tells us that a campaign poorly planned and rushed into is destined for failure. This statement is somewhat ironic because this is exactly what happened. As you can see from the map, the Dardanelles are extremely narrow, and there clearly was no room to maneuver troops and wherever they turned there was either sea, mountains or Turks. The terrain was against the British from day one, yet little research or planning had been done into this. Thus the Brits and Anzacs were trapped in boiling heat with little water for most of the time. This source most definitely suggests poor planning on Churchill’s part as he didn’t properly look at maps showing the terrain or how narrow the area was. I know that the army was unprepared for the terrain and they had little knowledge of the area that they were landing on.
Source G tells us how the author feels that going into Gallipoli at all was a poor idea, because it is far too narrow to attack in. He also says that the campaign could have succeeded if fought somewhere else, which I thoroughly agree with. I feel this because one of the main reasons the campaign failed was because of the extreme heat and the lack of knowledge of the terrain and surroundings. This source is illustrated in Source F, as you can see just how narrow the land is and also, how many forts and defensive structures there are. I also think that this source illustrates how poorly the campaign was planned, as it is quite clear when one looks at a map, how narrow the Dardanelles were.
Source H again tells us about the complete lack of intelligence regarding maps and how it affected the troops. The troops thus underestimated there task and were casual, which led to slaughter at V beach, because they didn’t know about machine-gun placements. This article is extremely likely to be reliable, because it is from a GCSE textbook and the author will have looked at a variety of primary and secondary sources to build up a bigger picture of what occurred. She also talks about how Churchill’s errors of judgment led to our downfall. Need I say more? This source is explicitly stating that poor planning and Churchill led to the failure of the campaign.
Source I shows just how narrow the peninsula was and how cut off it was from Turkey – the troops still had a hell of a long way to go before they entered main Turkey, and although they just wanted to control the Dardanelles, it was still a pretty large task. As we can see from the map, to gain control of the Dardanelles from being dropped off would involve around 100km walking, and at the same time dealing with attacks from the Turks. Had the plan been executed swiftly it would have succeeded I think. This source doesn’t show poor planning as much as some of the other sources, because it doesn’t really suggest anything.
Source J is other evidence. We watched Gallipoli. This film showed the harsh lives of the campaign including a mere litre of water per man, when in those conditions they should have been drinking about 10. It also shows how those that landed on V beach were mown down by machine gun, because lack of planning had not revealed these strategic positions. Had more planning been done into the area these thousands of lives could have been saved. Another piece of poor planning was the lack of maps. The army landed on the beach with little or no idea of what to expect. In fact they were overconfident and didn’t expect any Turks at all. Those at Y and S beach sat around waiting because they had no orders given to them, which showed ignorance and mainly the absence of planning altogether.
Overall I think that these sources certainly give sufficient evidence to support that the lack of planning on Churchill’s part was to blame mainly for the loss of the campaign. The army had old maps with few details and was not at all prepared for the trench warfare that proceeded. However, it was not entirely down to bad planning; the soldiers went in overconfident and underestimated the Turks to such an extent a day was wasted sitting around relaxing – perhaps a turning point in the campaign.
