Happy ANZAC Day, 100 years

[Onkel Neal]

http://time.com/4304032/anzac-day-history/

For a century now, in the dark hours before daybreak each April 25, Australians and New Zealanders have gathered at dawn vigils to commemorate those who served and died in wars.

The memorial day shared by both nations occurs on the anniversary of the Anzac forces landing in Gallipoli in 1915, at the onset of World War I. But the observance does not mark a decisive victory. Rather, Gallipoli was a prolonged failure for the Allies.

Australia had only been part of the British Empire for 13 years — and New Zealand for seven — when World War I broke out, and together the countries created the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) to fight for the Allied Forces. The new troops joined with other allies in the attempt to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, a strategic position that would come with the ability to open the Dardanelles Strait. The breach in the fortifications of Turkey, a German ally, would let the Allies move into Constantinople.

Salute!

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