The Causes of Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Campaign began with a failed naval attack by British and French ships on the Dardanelles Straits in February 1915 and continued with a land invasion on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April, involving British and French troops as well as the Australian and New Zealand forces (ANZAC). The Ottoman Empire had entered the battle in alliance with Germany and Austria and was creating a path across the Russian Front, promptly to destroy the Russian army. Russia’s Tsar Grand Duke Nicholas II sent a message to his allies, the British, requesting that they preoccupy of the Ottoman Empire as an attempt to reduce the pressure on the Russian Front.
Causes- Primary Source(s):
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/gallipoli-the-new-zealand-story-1984 During this video, even at the beginning of it, it explains a little bit about the significance of Gallipoli to New Zealand, and provides other helpful information about this event.
Causes- Secondary Source(s):
Winston Churchill had decided to attack on Turkey in order to occupy more land by taking down Germany’s allies one by one, also to shorten the time or the war. He had miscalculated and therefore, the Gallipoli Campaign had started. Being under the British, Australian and New Zealand were allies of the British and so their forces (ANZAC) joined in the war, and also to show loyalty to Britain. [Skwirk, The Gallipoli Campaign]
Not too helpful, but this source and article does provide a somewhat useful information on to why the Anzacs landed at Gallipoli and gave a broad statement of the main reason why this whole thing started- "The British and French attempt to knock the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) out of World War One had begun. It became known as the 'Gallipoli Campaign'". [Gallipoli and the Anzacs, 2016 DVA and BOSTES NSW]
Causes of Gallipoli from a Historian's point of view...
A Historian, Professor Broadbent had stated a brief cause of Gallipoli and has thought of his own theory to why Gallipoli could've helped the Allied Powers especially Russia securing the Western Front. He stated that Britain had to do something in the Dardanelles Straits area because Russia was threatening to pull out of the war in January, 1915. He also said that if Russia pulled out, that meant the Eastern Front would then be able to be brought across to the Western Front, which would have threatened the whole of the Western Front. So Professor Broadbent had stated that Gallipoli worked for the Allies, and in that, it kept the Russians in the war and it also kept the Eastern Front secure. He also agreed that the British succeeded in this strategic sense, and said it was possible Gallipoli helped the ultimate victory on the Western Front by keeping the Eastern Front army away. "If you think that keeping a whole Turkish army occupied in their own area, not being able to be sent to Palestine or the Eastern Front or even up to help Germany...if you think about that as being a possibility should Russia leave the war, then you have to say, well, maybe Gallipoli helped". [Professor Harvey Broadbent, Article: Gallipoli 2015: Through 'enemy eyes'; historian Harvey Broadbent tells the Turkish side of the story. ABC News, 2015] It was a diversionary war that needed to keep on going, as to why he assumes Gallipoli started and why the British kept it going.
If an attack in the Dardanelles was an Allied success, the Allies would be able to shorten the war, rearm and relieve Russia and break German artillery forces. Forcing the Dardanelles and taking the Gallipoli Peninsula was everything the Allies wanted in one campaign.