Gallipoli Campaign and the ANZACs

The Gallipoli Campaign took place between April 1915 and January 1916, on the Gallipoli peninsula. It was an attack by the allied forces (the British Empire, including the ANZACs, and the French) against the Ottoman Empire and the Germans. The purpose of the attack was to break the stale mate on the western front and to relieve pressure on the Russian forces, who were fighting the Turks in the Caucasus region.

The attack was known as one of the biggest failures of World War One due to the inexperienced forces, bad military leadership and a general lack of the surprise element. However, it did somewhat relieve the pressure in Caucasus.

The Gallipoli Campaign: Resources

Books:

The Amazing Tale of Ali Pasha was a fabulous book about an elderly man’s recollection to a young reporter of his time in Gallipoli and the tortoise which accompanied him and brought him luck. We read this in two days flat. Not because it was short, but because it was that good. Highly recommend.

Scarecrow Army is a fiction book peppered with facts throughout, told in a truly interesting way. It’s focus is on the ANZAC army and their landing in what would become known as ANZAC cove on the Gallipoli peninsula, and the horrors which followed. Another highly recommended book.

Comprehension Resources

We use Twinkl a lot. An educational site with resources covering every topic possible, we used their Gallipoli resources as well as their ANZAC resources:

The girls read through the information and answered age appropriate questions about the Gallipoli Campaign and the ANZACs.

Gallipoli, the First Day App

I’m not sure how to link to an app but this resources is well worth searching in your App Store and uploading to your computer:

This resource has everything you will ever need to know about the first twenty four hours of the Gallipoli Campaign and the ANZACs who fought there. From diary entries to interviews with the veterans themselves, as well as a minute by minute replay of those first 24 hours, this is a learning experience not to be missed. There are also teaching plans for older children to use alongside.

Re-enactment of the Gallipoli Campaign and the ANZACs

We made some boats from Smartie containers, lolly sticks and gaffa tape. Seriously, one can make literally anything from gaffa tape. Best invention ever! Well, that and running water…

Here are our little ANZAC boats:

The girls then found the Gallipoli peninsula on our map and set up some Turkish soldiers and boats landing on ANZAC cove:

This map has definitely been worth it for illustrating each of the battles we study:

And a close up:

An Interview with an ANZAC soldier

This was a variety of one of the activities given in the supplement that came with the Gallipoli app. The girls read and listened to all the diary entries and interviews and came up with ten questions and ten realistic answers based on the primary evidence they had found. The goal was to have an interview, where Becca was the interviewer and Abs was the soldier being interviewed. I had them dress up for the occasion (try to ignore Abs’ non regulation slippers…):

Becca asked each of her questions and Abs answered with her well researched answers. This was a great activity to encourage working together, researching and then putting the information together in a useable way:

The girls had a lot of fun and it kept them busy for a few afternoons last week:

The end of the interview:

Getting a photo taken for the ‘press’:

ANZAC Cookies

I bought some ANZAC cookies for the girls to try. They were amazing! I’m not sure how authentic they were, because I can’t believe anything so gorgeous would have been around during the Great War! I mean, I’ve tasted the trench cake…

For more World War One posts, click on the history page link below and scroll down:

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