• How Did The Gallipoli War Affect The ANZAC Soldiers?

How did the Gallipoli war affect the ANZAC soldiers?

Due to the outbreak of World War One on the 4th of August 1914, thousands of Australian and New Zealand men volunteered to fight for their country. Not long after, the unsuccessful attempt by the allied powers, known as the Gallipoli Campaign came along in 1915, and ended with an evacuation on January 9th, 1916. What the soldiers did take into consideration, or could even imagine, were the conditions and experiences that they would face in their daily lives, the danger and lethality of the battlefields and the weaponry and military items that they had to use, which also had a major affect on them in many ways.

Life during the Gallipoli campaign defiantly had a major impact on the soldiers

This statement suggests that life on the battlefields did not only consist of life-threatening bursts of frantic activity, hygiene was a major problem and the quality of the food was always a constant complaint as it was given in monotonous portions. The ANZAC diet normally consisted of bully beef, hard biscuits, tea and jam. Small portions of bread sometimes arrived, with bacon and cheese. As a result of this bad diet and additional fly-spread diseases, hygiene was also a major problem. With the Gallipoli soldiers living in trenches filled with sluggish water and insufficient sanitation, being

According to a graduate of the Royal Military Collage, Roberts, C, ‘The dangers and revolution in weaponry resulted in considerably larger, more lethal and dangerous battlefields for the soldiers.’ (2013, p16). This statement suggests that the soldiers were affected in many ways because of the types of dangerous weaponry and military items that they were using. The most common machinery during the Gallipoli campaign consisted of, mortars, bombs, heavy-machine guns and light-machine guns. Although mortars had fallen out of fashion somewhat before World War One, several armies continued to use them, as they were short-range infantry-support weapons designed to lob shells in a high arc to hit targets usually sheltering behind trenches, hills or constructed defense like walls. Heavy-machine guns also appeared in ever-greater numbers as the Gallipoli campaign progressed as they could confidently fulfill the roles of at least 80 armed-rifle soldiers. Meaning that they were usually associated with very defensive roles. Light-machine guns were also developed as a new type of weapon as they were considered to be more man-portable as they could easily be carried around so that they soldier could keep up with the attacking. These few army weapons had an affect on the soldiers as they were very heavy, especially the heavy-machine gun and killed hundreds of troops in a short amount of time. In