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| Down Under |
| Today in History: Gallipoli |
| 2007-04-25 |
| Jules Crittenden April 25 is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand, marking the landings at Gallipoli in 1915 and the disastrous campaign there. ChurchillÂ’s idea for a second front went badly wrong, and he ended up resigning as First Lord of the Admiralty. The deaths of thousands of diggers at Gallipoli became a galvanizing event that helped establish a sense of nationhood for Australia, which until recently had been a British colony. A controversial event in which some see Australia as the victim of imperial Britain and others as an early example of Australian spirit in the face of adversity and a willingness to act in the world, at a time when AustraliaÂ’s security and economy were in large part linked to great powers elsewhere, as they are today. Today, this small nation of 20 million on the other side of the world, with total air, land and sea forces of about 50,000, puts many nations to shame with its willingness to engage. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iraq again. Timor and the Marshalls. As Foreign Minister Alexander Downer put it several years ago, Australia is not subject to the popular multinationalism of the lowest common denominator, but has stepped up to play its role. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #6 You won't know it from PRAVDA > Opinion article > HOW WE ESCAPED FROM AUSTRALIA!? Aussies have powerful "Scret Police" - shrimps and koalas wrongly imprisoned. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-04-25 23:25 |
| #5 29th Indian Infantry Brigade & Indian Mountain Artillery at Gallipoli The 6th Gurkhas gained immortal fame at Gallipoli during the capture from the Turks of the feature later known as Gurkha Bluff. At Sari Bair they were the only troops in the whole campaign to reach and hold the crest line and look down on the Straits, which was the ultimate objective. 7th Indian Mountain Artillery Brigade at Gallipoli on the 19th May, while Captain Rawson's section of the Kohat Battery was being heavily shelled, Lance-Naik Karm Singh was detailed to pass fire orders from the O.P. It was noticed that he was covering his eyes with his hand, though at no time was there any delay or interruption in the transmission of orders. Later, during a lull, it was found that a bullet had passed behind both eyes and he was quite blind. Karm Singh stuck to his duty until forcibly removed. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-04-25 12:33 |
| #4 In the dictionary, next to the word "clusterf--k", it says "see Gallipoli." Everything that could go wrong went wrong except for the spirit of those who had to fight there. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2007-04-25 10:31 |
| #3 Not to mention the sense of Turkish nationalism that came from it as well. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-04-25 10:15 |
| #2 We might add: Would a shortened war have left Germany a disaster and Russia in the hands of deranged revolutionaries? If neither were the case we can imagine a world with no Nazi party. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-04-25 09:48 |
| #1 A daring plan, the first ever major marine assault. Tragically, it did not work - but it could have, and if it had it could have had a major effect on the war. Some lessons were learned, and some forgotten and re-learned (Anzio). D-Day could have ended the same way but for a little 'luck' (Hitler's conviction that Calais was the real place and thus his general's hesitance to deploy reserves). Just think how history might have gone if Gallipoli had 'worked' and shortened WWI: might it have ended without US even entering? Would US industry and commerce developed to world domination through the 20th century? Would an undamaged Churchill have succeeded in convincing people of the danger of Hitler when he could have been easily stopped? Without a German alliance would Japan have attacked Pearl Harbor (would there have been anything there to attack)? Would Japan have concentrated its expansion only on China - and perhaps won? A few different small tactical decisions on a remote beach in 1915 might well have changed the entire history of the next century. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-04-25 08:17 |