Many reason for this campaign was to do with Russia as well as everywhere else. In 1915 the Tsar wrote to Britain asking for help, this was because they were being attacked by Germany and Turkey and needed to be relieved of pressure. Otherwise they might collapse and cause great disaster not just for Russia alone. However this campaign was not just to relieve pressure it was to free the route to Russia via Dardanelles because of the food supplies for Russia were low and we needed grain.
The British interest. This is what the British commanders felt was most important to the campaign as it involved Britain. The Suzz Cannel, which was part of the British Empire at the time, was under threat as Turkey would now try and take control over it. It also was a direct route to our colonies, and supply routes so we needed to keep it safe. We needed a lot of support in the land advance however the British navy wasn’t being used effectively; they decided that it would be a good idea to use the older ships. This wasn’t going to help much as it would decrease the success of the campaign. As well as the navy not being used effectively the armed air force wasn’t being used at all during this campaign and if it had it would have increased the success. Also this would increase Churchill’s profile and image, which he wanted, because he needed people to believe in him to be successful.
It was during this point in time that the western front of the war was in a stalemate, with no one moving no more than 10 miles either. Therefore one of the reasons for the Gallipoli campaign was to relieve pressure on the western front and to boast the moral of those troops. It would boast their moral because it would show them that the enemy could be beaten. Also it would create a high-pressure attack on Germany and therefore their troops would be taken and so relieving pressure.
There were both long term and short-term aims to this campaign. The long-term aims included the increased profile of Churchill, stopping oil supplies to Germany, showing the colonies that Britain would put them back in their place if they tried to break away, the new government, which could be more supportive of the allies, and the protection of the Suez Cannel.
The short-term aims included helping relieve pressure from Russia, open up the supply route so we can give and receive supplies from Russia, to break up the alliance between Turkey and Germany, to encourage the Balkan countries to join the allies and allow troops though so another front can be opened up, Turkey had good geographical positioning and good resources so we needed to knock them out of the war so the Germans didn’t have that advantage, the stale mate on the western front was effecting the moral of the soldiers so if their was a victory here it would boost it, the navy had nothing to do so this was a project to use those resources to our advantage, and by attacking Turkey it could start a revolt which would mean Turkey being under chaos and having to pull out of the war.
I therefore conclude that the most important reason why the Gallipoli campaign should succeed was so the allies were able to help the Russians. It was important for the success of the Gallipoli campaign because the Tsar had sent a desperate letter to the allies explaining that Russia was in a terrible state as there was no way for supplies to get through because their only other supply route had frozen. Also they were under pressure from both Turkey and Germany, so needed to be relieved because it was getting harder for them to hold out, as they didn’t have efficient equipment. Therefore it was important for the allies to get to Constantinople and knock out Turkey. There where many important reasons for the campaign to succeed and the main one which where important at the time of the battle were in the interest of Britain. So over all the main reason for the success of the battle would be that Russia was a huge ally and that we needed the Suez Cannel for trade.
