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PoppyANZAC Day and Gallipoli: 25 April

  • ANZAC Day is celebrated on 25 April every year in New Zealand and Australia to remember all the members of the armed forces who served in the two World Wars and other major conflicts
  • ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This was the name given to the New Zealand and Australian troops who fought in the Gallipoli campaign in the first World War.
  • These troops first landed on the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula, in Turkey on 25 April 1915.
  • They were supposed to capture the peninsula so that the British forces and their allies would be able to control the Dardanelles Strait between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
  • If the British had control of the strait they would be able restrict the shipping in the area and cut Turkey off from her allies, Germany and Austria.
  • Gallipoli was a disastrous campaign. The military planning was not good enough, and it was very difficult to land supplies and reinforcements on the beaches.
  • The Turkish forces were in control of the high ground and were able to stop the ANZAC and British forces from making their way to the top.
  • Both New Zealand and Australia suffered huge losses at Gallipoli. Their forces were finally withdrawn in December 1915.
  • Of the 8,556 New Zealanders who served at Gallipoli, 2,721 died and 4,725 were wounded
  • Gallipoli is remembered because it is seen as the time when New Zealand first really established its own identity as a nation.

ANZAC Day - the holiday

  • When news of the landings at Gallipoli first arrived in New Zealand, it was celebrated in a half-day holiday on 30 April 1915.
  • From then on New Zealanders marked the anniversary of the landings with public services and processions of returned soldiers.
  • ANZAC Day became an official holiday in 1921. By 1922 it had become a full public holiday with shops, banks and hotels closed, just like a Sunday.
  • The way in which ANZAC Day was commemorated has changed over the years. The idea of the 'dawn parade' was first introduced from Australia in 1939.
  • During the time of the Vietnam War, many protests against New Zealand's involvement in the war were made during ANZAC Day ceremonies.
  • Later other lobby groups used ANZAC Day to protest and to make their ideas known to the New Zealand public.
  • The 75th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings in 1990 was commemorated by an ANZAC Day service at Gallipoli itself.

For more information

About ANZAC Day and the Gallipoli campaign:

For children's books to read about the Gallipoli campaign try: