Anzac Day 25th of April.
ANZAC Day for those not acquainted with Australian traditions, is celebrated on the 25th of April every year & commemorates the forging our nation in the charnel house of Europe in WWI. In particular, the Gallipoli landings in Turkey. The ANZACS were to support the joint French & English naval invasion through the Dardanelles. The attack which was planned on the 25th of April 1915 was a joint expedition by the French & British along with colonial troops. The aim was to overtake the Ottoman forts that controlled the passage of the Dardanelles straits. This would enable the Navy to clear mines and continue to their objective of reaching Istanbul where the Turks would then be so surprised & overawed that they would bow to their clever British & French overlords immediately conceding defeat. As often happens in war hubris is paid for in blood.
The problem with the whole Gallipoli Campaign was that although it was carried out under the cover of darkness the Turks with their German allies were not complete fucking idiots & realised that a land assault would take place. The British had already unsuccessfully tried to bribe the Ottomans into becoming allies by offering 4 million pounds. The Germans had offered 5 million & a vast array of nasty people fucking war tools and support. So between the 18th of March when the combined British & French fleet were routed & the 25th of April 1915, the Turks & the Germans were as busy as Wile E Coyote with preparations. They fortified the Gallipoli peninsula with barbed wire, mines & boat obstacles, dug in & waited for the inevitable. Despite arguments as to where & when the Allies would land the Turks & Germans did a fine job beefing up defences.
To cut a long story short, Gallipoli was where a lot of fine young Australian & New Zealand men died for a King and empire that saw them as little more than fodder. The war had absolutely nothing to do with Australia & absolutely everything to do with treaties that were drawn in the previous century against belligerent empires with vast armies who were spoiling for a fight. The outdated Napoleonic troop formations against modern ordnance, machine guns and fields of barbed wire defences did little more than reduce men to compost. Of those who I think had the most blood on their hands for this Campaign were Winston Churchill, Ian Hamilton, Alexander Godley & Aylmer Hunter-Western. Firstly Winston Churchill for devising the plan. Secoundly for the above mentioned general & officers who willingly let thousands of men perish in confrontations against well defended positions supported by artillery & enfilading fire.
The Australian dead in the 9 month Gallipoli campaign numbered 8709 with 19,441 wounded. That figure blows out to over 130,000 when you count the French, British, colonials & Turks. That figure would continue to rise throughout the European campaigns in the years to come. While the exact death toll may never be known, over 26 million people died in villages, fields, roads and seas. Many of the dead were colonial troops. The repercussions of squandering their youth on foreign fields by powers that saw them as completely expendable, would be the hammer blow to the once mighty European empires. In four years the war had erased the existence of a whole generation. On the 11th of November 1918 when the armistice was signed in the famous Foch's carriage, history was to repeat itself 22 years later with the French capitulation. The Germans would have their revenge. Though the static war of attrition was over in 1918, another version of hell would take its place & with it 64 million souls. To put this in perspective, that's over two & half times the entire Australian population
As part of the bigger picture our nations legacy was forged in the fires of hell which were those European Campaigns. The first chapter of a federated nation written in the blood & entrails of young men, sacrificed on the altar of Imperialism. I know that to some my words may seem unpatriotic, but what's so patriotic about the slaughter of men who are in the flower of their youth for some foreign power at the other end of the world? It certainly wasn't WWII where we were fighting for our sovereignty. Now ANZAC day commemorates all the servicemen who have taken part in conflicts since. Every year on this day I ask myself, what the fuck did we learn from this costly lessen paid for in tonnes of flesh & grief?
ANZAC Day for those not acquainted with Australian traditions, is celebrated on the 25th of April every year & commemorates the forging our nation in the charnel house of Europe in WWI. In particular, the Gallipoli landings in Turkey. The ANZACS were to support the joint French & English naval invasion through the Dardanelles. The attack which was planned on the 25th of April 1915 was a joint expedition by the French & British along with colonial troops. The aim was to overtake the Ottoman forts that controlled the passage of the Dardanelles straits. This would enable the Navy to clear mines and continue to their objective of reaching Istanbul where the Turks would then be so surprised & overawed that they would bow to their clever British & French overlords immediately conceding defeat. As often happens in war hubris is paid for in blood.
The problem with the whole Gallipoli Campaign was that although it was carried out under the cover of darkness the Turks with their German allies were not complete fucking idiots & realised that a land assault would take place. The British had already unsuccessfully tried to bribe the Ottomans into becoming allies by offering 4 million pounds. The Germans had offered 5 million & a vast array of nasty people fucking war tools and support. So between the 18th of March when the combined British & French fleet were routed & the 25th of April 1915, the Turks & the Germans were as busy as Wile E Coyote with preparations. They fortified the Gallipoli peninsula with barbed wire, mines & boat obstacles, dug in & waited for the inevitable. Despite arguments as to where & when the Allies would land the Turks & Germans did a fine job beefing up defences.
To cut a long story short, Gallipoli was where a lot of fine young Australian & New Zealand men died for a King and empire that saw them as little more than fodder. The war had absolutely nothing to do with Australia & absolutely everything to do with treaties that were drawn in the previous century against belligerent empires with vast armies who were spoiling for a fight. The outdated Napoleonic troop formations against modern ordnance, machine guns and fields of barbed wire defences did little more than reduce men to compost. Of those who I think had the most blood on their hands for this Campaign were Winston Churchill, Ian Hamilton, Alexander Godley & Aylmer Hunter-Western. Firstly Winston Churchill for devising the plan. Secoundly for the above mentioned general & officers who willingly let thousands of men perish in confrontations against well defended positions supported by artillery & enfilading fire.
The Australian dead in the 9 month Gallipoli campaign numbered 8709 with 19,441 wounded. That figure blows out to over 130,000 when you count the French, British, colonials & Turks. That figure would continue to rise throughout the European campaigns in the years to come. While the exact death toll may never be known, over 26 million people died in villages, fields, roads and seas. Many of the dead were colonial troops. The repercussions of squandering their youth on foreign fields by powers that saw them as completely expendable, would be the hammer blow to the once mighty European empires. In four years the war had erased the existence of a whole generation. On the 11th of November 1918 when the armistice was signed in the famous Foch's carriage, history was to repeat itself 22 years later with the French capitulation. The Germans would have their revenge. Though the static war of attrition was over in 1918, another version of hell would take its place & with it 64 million souls. To put this in perspective, that's over two & half times the entire Australian population
As part of the bigger picture our nations legacy was forged in the fires of hell which were those European Campaigns. The first chapter of a federated nation written in the blood & entrails of young men, sacrificed on the altar of Imperialism. I know that to some my words may seem unpatriotic, but what's so patriotic about the slaughter of men who are in the flower of their youth for some foreign power at the other end of the world? It certainly wasn't WWII where we were fighting for our sovereignty. Now ANZAC day commemorates all the servicemen who have taken part in conflicts since. Every year on this day I ask myself, what the fuck did we learn from this costly lessen paid for in tonnes of flesh & grief?
nirvash:
I think the first chapters of most nations are written with the blood of young men and women. And it is always tragically so. I think the more apt question is what have we forgotten?