“The main reason for the failure of the Gallipoli campaign was poor planning” Do you agree?
In 1914 Churchill put forward his plans for a naval attack on the Dardanelles in order to seize Constantinople and open a trade route with Russia, who was in dire need of supplies. That’s why in February 1915, the initial attack on the Dardanelles began yet just under a year later, it had become apparent that the campaign had failed and poor planning was certainly a major factor in the failure. A source states that “there were no officers near us” which highlights the fact that the soldiers were left unaccompanied , which not only rendered them useless but also harmed the whole operation as valuable time was wasted, giving the Turks an opportunity to further strengthen their defences. A source states that states that soldiers were given “inaccurate maps” which meant that officers often had to blindly guide their troops through terrain which they were unfamiliar with, unlike the Turks who were clearly superior on their own strip of land. With the six week delay between the ground troops arriving, and the naval bombardment, one would have thought the campaign was well organised yet ironically the soldiers were ill equipped as supplies were short. Not only does the six week delay symbolise the Gallipoli campaign, the blunders in planning gave the Turks valuable time to strengthen their defences and when the ground forces did finally arrive, they lacked grenades and even water. Alexandria was used as the main base for the operation, and so supplies had to travel a reasonably long distance to arrive. The poor supplies harmed the already overwhelmed allied troops who simply stood no chance of defeating the Turks. Perhaps if preparation had been improved, the naval bombardment could have been consolidated quickly and ease but unfortunately that was not the case.
