Q&A ยท 3:14:59-3:15:53

If the Gallipoli campaign never happened

Avoiding Gallipoli might change Australian, New Zealand, British, and Turkish political memory more than the war's immediate military outcome.

Question

How would the First World War change if Gallipoli never happened?

Short answer

The immediate military effect may be modest, but postwar politics, national memory, and relations among Britain, the Dominions, and Turkey could change substantially.

Notes

The unused Allied forces would probably join the land campaign advancing from Egypt rather than attempt the peninsula. The effect on the overall course of the First World War may be limited, while the consequences for postwar identity and relations among Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey could be much larger. The absence of the campaign might also alter lessons drawn about naval ammunition for shore attack. Military outcomes and political memory therefore move on different scales in this counterfactual.