Gallipoli Uncovered

Overview

What it is: a five-lesson Anzac Day unit, 20 to 30 minutes each, for secondary students, Years 11 to 13 (ages about 15 to 18). The backbone is cause and effect: why the war started, why New Zealand joined, why Gallipoli was tried and why it failed, why so many died, and what it changed. The family search makes it personal.

Before you start: send the letter home a week ahead. Build the class roll before Lesson 4. Each pair needs a device for Lessons 1 and 4.

Total time: about 2 hours of lessons, plus 15 minutes to build the roll, plus an optional cemetery visit.

Timetable, April 2027

Term dates: Ministry of Education: School terms and holidays. Term 1 2027 ends Friday 9 April; the holidays run 10 to 26 April; Term 2 starts Tuesday 27 April. Poppy Day is the Friday before Anzac Day (NZHistory: The red poppy). Check your own school calendar: Term 1 start dates vary by school.

Curriculum links

• Secondary History: the unit asks students to weigh evidence, compare sources and explain cause and effect. It suits NCEA History research.
• Primary sources: students work from Online Cenotaph records, Archives New Zealand service files and troopship lists.
• Interpretation: the Gallipoli figures have changed over time (about 8,500, then 16,000 to 18,000, then 22,479 in The Anzacs Roll Call). Students can test why.

Gallipoli Uncovered is pitched at secondary students, Years 11 to 13 (ages about 15 to 18). Check your own course outlines for the standards that fit. Kura using Te Marautanga o Aotearoa can link the same work to Te Takanga o te Wā.

Age guide

Lesson 1 · 25 min · Light

Why New Zealand went to war

Steps

Discussion prompts, with model answers

• Did New Zealand choose to go to war?
  Not on its own. As part of the British Empire it was at war when Britain declared war. But people did choose to volunteer, and the government chose to send a force.
• Why might a young man in 1914 want to go?
  Loyalty to Britain and the Empire, anger at the attack on Belgium, adventure and travel, mates going, wanting to do his duty. For some Māori, to show Māori belonged and to uphold the mana of their iwi.
• Why might some people not want to go?
  Fear, family and farm needs, beliefs against war. Some iwi, such as many in Waikato and Taranaki, had lost land to the Crown and did not feel they owed it a debt.

Sheet answers

• Chain: Franz Ferdinand shot (June 1914) → alliances pull in Russia, Germany and France → Germany invades Belgium → Britain declares war (4 August) → New Zealand, part of the Empire, is at war (5 August NZ time) → volunteers sail (16 October).
• Reasons to go: help Britain, protect Belgium, adventure, mates, duty, show Māori belonged. Reasons not to go: family, fear, beliefs, land loss.
• Site task: any man with embarkation date 16 October 1914. The directory lists 8,338 of them.

Misconceptions to watch for

• “New Zealand was attacked.” It was not. (A New Zealand force did occupy German Samoa in August 1914.)
• “Everyone wanted to go.” Many did, but not all. Conscription came later, in 1916.
• “The war was against Türkiye from the start.” The Ottoman Empire only joined in November 1914.

Younger or less confident readers

Use only the chain and the picture of the ships. Do the site search together on the projector.

Extension

Read the NZ Parliament page on the 1914 announcement. Write a short paragraph from the point of view of someone in the crowd, and one from someone who stayed away. What pressures shaped each choice?

Sources: NZHistory: New Zealand enters the First World War; NZHistory: First World War timeline; NZ Parliament: War announced on the steps of Parliament; NZHistory: Main Body of NZEF sails to war; NZHistory: Māori Contingent at Gallipoli; NZHistory: Māori resistance to conscription; NZHistory: First World War by the numbers

Lesson 2 · 25 to 30 min · Light

The Gallipoli landing and why it failed

Steps

Discussion prompts, with model answers

• Why did the ships fail first?
  Mines in the strait, protected by guns on shore. On 18 March 1915 three battleships were sunk by mines.
• Why didn’t the soldiers get further inland?
  They landed in the wrong place below steep cliffs, units were mixed up, and Ottoman soldiers defended strongly and held the high ground.
• Was it the soldiers’ fault?
  No. The plan and the landing went wrong at the top. Historians blame the planning, the terrain and the strength of the defence.

Sheet answers

• Plan: get ships through the Dardanelles, capture Constantinople, knock the Ottoman Empire out, reach Russia.
• Reasons it failed: mines stopped the ships; landed about 2 km off target; steep cliffs; strong Ottoman defence; ended in stalemate.
• Scale: Old Anzac was about 2 km by under 1 km, about 200 hectares or less. Hagley Park is 165 ha, so about the same size. Auckland Domain is 75 ha, so about 2 to 3 Domains.

Misconceptions to watch for

• “The Anzacs were the only ones there.” British, Irish, French, Indian and Newfoundland troops fought there too.
• “The Turks were the bad guys.” The Ottoman soldiers were defending their homeland. In Türkiye the campaign is remembered as the start of a national revival.
• “Anzac means New Zealand.” It stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

Younger or less confident readers

Skip the hectares. Walk 900 metres as a class (or as far as the school field allows) and talk about doing it uphill under fire.

Extension

Use the working on the facts page to compare the Anzac area with your own local park. Find its area on the council website.

Sources: NZHistory: Gallipoli in brief; NZHistory: Invasion; DVA Anzac Portal: Dardanelles naval operations; DVA Anzac Portal: The Anzac Walk; NZHistory: Soldiers’ experience; Christchurch City Council: Hagley Park; Auckland Council: Pukekawa / Auckland Domain

Lesson 3 · 25 to 30 min · Heavier: see age guide

Life at Gallipoli and who served

Steps

Discussion prompts, with model answers

• Why did disease spread so fast?
  Too many men in a small space, not enough water to wash, flies on food and waste, poor food, and exhaustion.
• Why was the Native Contingent sent to Malta first?
  British leaders did not at first want “native” troops fighting in a war between Europeans. Māori leaders argued hard, and as losses grew the policy changed.
• Why does Cyril Bassett’s joke matter?
  He was modest. He also said: “All my mates ever got were wooden crosses.” It shows how he felt about the friends who died.

Sheet answers

• Hardships: flies, little water, bully beef and hard biscuits, heat, then snow and cold, lice, disease.
• Disease: crowded + no clean water + flies + poor food = dysentery and typhoid.
• Who: Pākehā soldiers; the Native Contingent (landed 3 July 1915); nurses (550 served in the war, ten died on the Marquette); Niuean and Cook Island men joined in 1915 and served in Egypt, France, and Sinai and Palestine.

Misconceptions to watch for

• “The only danger was bullets and shells.” Disease, such as dysentery and typhoid, put huge numbers of men out of action.
• “Māori fought in their own war later only.” Māori served at Gallipoli, both in the Native Contingent and in other units from the start.
• “Pacific soldiers fought at Gallipoli.” The Niuean and Cook Island contingents arrived in Egypt in 1916, after Gallipoli.

Younger or less confident readers

Focus on food, water and flies only. Leave out Chunuk Bair.

Extension

Read Ormond Burton’s description of a “bivvy” on NZHistory’s Soldiers’ experience page. Compare it with one other first-hand account. What does each leave out?

Sources: NZHistory: Soldiers’ experience; Massey University research: Bully beef, biscuits and scurvy; NZHistory: Māori Contingent at Gallipoli; NZHistory: Niueans and Cook Islanders; NZHistory: NZ nurses lost in the Marquette sinking; Te Ara: Cyril Bassett, Dictionary of NZ Biography; NZHistory: Gallipoli armistice

Lesson 4 · 30 min · Heavier: see age guide

Coming home, what it changed, and finding your soldier

Steps

Discussion prompts, with model answers

• Why did the evacuation work?
  It was planned carefully and kept secret. Men left at night in stages. Drip rifles kept firing so the trenches looked occupied.
• What did the war change?
  Grief in almost every town and the building of war memorials; Anzac Day; a stronger sense of being New Zealanders, not just British; for Māori, a hope that service would be recognised.
• His record says nothing in the fate column. Did he come home?
  Probably, but a blank only means no death in service was recorded. Check his full record.

Sheet answers

• Evacuation: careful planning, secrecy, night, drip rifles.
• Cost: 2,779 NZ dead at Gallipoli; about 18,000 in the whole war.
• Medals: most men who sailed before the end of 1915 and reached a theatre of war in 1915 earned the 1914-15 Star. Almost everyone who served overseas earned the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The family of a man who died got a Memorial Plaque.

Misconceptions to watch for

• “Gallipoli was where most New Zealanders died.” More than 12,000 died on the Western Front.
• “Everyone came home a hero and was fine.” Many came home wounded, sick or troubled, and some struggled for the rest of their lives.
• “The medals on the sheet are definitely his.” They are what he was likely entitled to by his dates. His service record is the proof.

Younger or less confident readers

Do the search as a whole class on the projector with one soldier from the class roll.

Extension

Open his full service file at Archives New Zealand (linked from the Online Cenotaph) and find one detail the site does not show, for example his height or his next of kin.

Sources: NZHistory: Evacuation; NZHistory: Evacuation of Gallipoli begins; NZHistory: Drip rifle at Gallipoli; NZHistory: The Gallipoli campaign; NZHistory: New Zealand and the First World War; NZHistory: First World War by the numbers; NZHistory: A sacred holiday

Lesson 5 · 25 min · Light

Anzac Day, the poppy and the Dawn Service

Steps

Discussion prompts, with model answers

• Why a dawn service?
  The landing began before dawn, and dawn “stand-to” was a daily routine in the trenches.
• Is Anzac Day a celebration?
  No. It is a day to remember and reflect. It honours people who served without glorifying war.
• What does “Lest we forget” mean?
  It means “so that we do not forget”. We say it to promise we will keep remembering.

Sheet answers

• 25 April is the date of the 1915 landing. The first Anzac Day was 1916. It became a full public holiday in 1921.
• The poppy grew on the battlefields of France and Belgium. The first NZ Poppy Day was 24 April 1922.
• Card: name, number, unit and one fact, written respectfully.

Misconceptions to watch for

• “Anzac Day is only about Gallipoli.” It now remembers everyone who has served New Zealand in war and peacekeeping.
• “Anzac Day is about winning.” Gallipoli was a defeat. The day is about remembrance.

Younger or less confident readers

Make the poppy and read the four lines of the Ode together.

Extension

Write a short piece to read at the school assembly about one soldier from the class roll.

Sources: NZHistory: First Anzac Day; NZHistory: A sacred holiday; NZHistory: Anzac Day; NZHistory: The red poppy; NZHistory: New Zealand’s first poppy day; Ministry of Education: School terms and holidays

Using the site’s records

• The search on the home page covers 105,872 people of the NZEF from Auckland Museum’s Online Cenotaph (CC BY). Type a surname, add a first name to narrow it.
• Each result shows rank, number, unit, troopship and embarkation date. Pick him and the rest of his record fills in, with a link to his full Online Cenotaph record.
• Medals on the class roll are worked out from his dates the way the site does it: the 1914-15 Star if he sailed by the end of 1915, the British War Medal and Victory Medal, and a Memorial Plaque for his family if he died. They are his likely entitlement, not proof.
• Where he rests and the Cemetery Directory come from his Cenotaph record, council open data and LINZ map locations.
• A blank fate means no death in service is recorded. It usually means he came home, but check.