Gallipoli means "Beautiful City." and it derives its name from the Kallipolis in greek. The Gallipoli Peninsula (Gelibolu Yarımadası in Turkish) is located in Turkish Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli played very important roles in the past and after the devastating 1354 earthquake, Ottoman Turks from Anatolia came and settled down. Gallipoli Peninsula was first Ottoman possession in Europe, and the staging area for their expansion across the Balkans. Gelibolu town with about 30,000 inhabitants of Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews became the capital and major city on Peninsula. Gallipoli was the home of Ottoman Navy to control the traffic of dardenelles. Gallipoli became a major encampment for British and French forces during the Crimean War in 1854, and the harbour was also a stopping-off point on the way to Istanbul. The peninsula did not see any more wars until World War.
The British Empire allies decided to try to obtain passage to the east to find a way to reach its troubled ally, Imperial Russia, The Ottomans set up defensive fortifications along the peninsula with the supplies from Germans. The Gallipoli Campaign (known as the Çanakkale Savaşları in Turkey) took place at Gallipoli Peninsula from 25 April 1915 to 9 January 1916, during the First World War. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides. The campaign is called the Dardanelles Campaign or Gallipoli in England, called as Les Dardanelles in France and it is known as the Gallipoli Campaign or simply as Battle of Gallipoli in Australia and New Zealand.
The Gallipoli campaign resonated profoundly among all nations involved. Gallipoli campaign was the first major battle undertaken by a joint military formation, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) and is often considered to mark the birth of national consciousness in both of these countries Australia and New Zealand. Anzac Day (25 April) remains the most significant commemoration of military casualties and veterans in Australia and New Zealand. The battle on Gallipoli Peninsula is perceived as a defining moment in Turkish history. The war was a final surge in the defence of the motherland as the centuries for Turks. The struggle laid the grounds for the Turkish War of Independence and the foundation of the Turkish Republic eight years later under Atatürk, himself a commander at Gallipoli.
After the defeat of the Russian White army of General Pyotr Wrangel in 1920, a significant number of emigre soldiers and their families evacuated to Gallipoli from the Crimea. Many of them went to European countries such as Yugoslavia where they found refuge. A stone monument was erected and a special "Gallipoli cross" was created to commemorate the soldiers who stayed in Gallipoli. The monument which was destroyed during an earthquake was reconstructed with the consent of the Turkish government in 2008-2009.
