Today we celebrate a holiday that commemorates the birth of a nation in blood: Anzac Day
Today is a great day of celebration that unites a nation in the memory of a tragic event, but which marks the birth of a nation: ANZAC Day.
The historical background
The Australian Federation was born on January 1, 1901 and was granted self-government, practically quasi-independence, with the status of Dominion in 1907.
The Great War saw Australia on the international stage for the first time, alongside the United Kingdom. The first major military task that fell to the Australian and New Zealand Expeditionary Force (ANZAC) was the attempt to open access to the Black Sea from the Mediterranean.
On the early morning of April 25, 1915, Allied forces, including the A, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Ottoman Turkey. This marked the beginning of the Gallipoli Campaign, a land element of a broad strategy to defeat the Ottoman Empire.
The idea was to conquer the forts overlooking the Dardanelles Strait so that the powerful Allied fleet could reach Istanbul, conquer it and open the passage to the Black Sea. The idea would have been achievable if carried out efficiently and quickly.
The problem was the lack of adequate command by the English generals who acted too slowly, allowing the Turks to move troops onto the peninsula, build fortified lines and bring in powerful German artillery. The Australian and New Zealand soldiers fought with great courage, allowing themselves to be massacred (we recommend the film Gallipoli to understand the situation), while the English generals sat calmly on the ships, causing them to be massacred.
Over the course of 8 months, the Anzacs advanced only slightly from the positions they had taken on the first day of the landing. By November 1915 it was clear that the stalemate would not be broken. Lord Kitchener, the British Chief of Staff, recommended evacuation. In late December, the Anzacs were evacuated from the peninsula with very few casualties. By January 20, 1916, all Allied troops had been withdrawn.
The Gallipoli Campaign was a military defeat, but the battles fought at Gallipoli consolidated the military reputation of the Anzacs and, above all, marked the birth of a nation in common pain and pride.
A deeply felt national holiday
Anzac Day is therefore an extremely heartfelt national holiday in Australia, celebrated in the various monuments that remember the fallen in the wars in which the country participated, with military parades and picnics.
Veterans celebrations in Sydney
Every city has its war memorial, but the largest and most impressive is located in Canberra, the capital
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The article Today we celebrate a holiday that commemorates the birth of a nation in blood: Anzac Day comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/oggi-si-celebra-una-festa-che-ricorda-la-nascita-di-una-nazione-nel-sangue-lanzac-day/ on Thu, 25 Apr 2024 07:00:13 +0000.