Gallipoli 'Sunday 25th April 1915. "The First World War 1914 - 1918" some 61,522 brave Australian soldiers lost their lives on the battlefield from April 25, 1915 to January 8, 1915.

World War 1 was a 'total' war. It was fought not only by millions of soldiers and sailors in many parts of the world but by civilians on the home front. Spectacular military and naval battles counted less in winning final victory than did a nation's capacity for maintaining its supplies of food and munitions and providing fresh reserves of manpower for the armed forces. 

The opposing armies dug complicated systems of trenches and underground shelters which extended for hundreds of miles. For three years both sides attempted to break through the trench barriers by launching frontal attacks which were for the most part completely futile and produced tremendous numbers of casualties. In 1916 the battle of Verdun and the Somme cost over one and a half million killed and wounded, and at Passschendaele in 1917 Allied losses alone amounted to 400,000. The Gallipoli landings in 1915 were an unsuccessful attempt to break this stalemate by opening a new supply line to Russia through the Dardanelles. The British navy maintained its supremacy and was able to impose a blockade which practically eliminated German seaborne trade. Germany's imports of raw material and food were greatly reduced and chronic shortages resulted in stringent food rationing. To break the blockade, German submarines began to sink British merchant ships without warning. Britain retaliated by preventing neutral nations from carrying any goods to Germany, and in 1917 German submarines began to sink any ships, not excluding neutrals, that traded with Britain and her allies. It was this 'unrestricted' submarine campaign which prompted the U.S.A. to declare war on Germany in April 1917. Equally important was the fact that a German victory, which then appeared likely, would have prevented the Allies from paying for the vast quantities of war materials which had been supplied on credit from the U.S.A. 

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