Tag Archives: Dardanelles

commemoration, competitions, exhibitions, film and TV, military, museums and archives, schools

Gallipoli and Scotland

Leave a comment

On the 4th June 1915 Scottish troops of the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division were landed on beaches on the Gallipoli peninsula to join the land campaign against the Turkish defenders. Further landings brought thousands of Scots into action over the coming months, alongside soldiers from France, Australia, New Zealand, and the other parts of Britain, with high levels of loss through injury and disease. In 2015 the contribution by Scottish units to actions in Gallipoli and the impacts back at home are commemorated through a series of events in Stirling, the Scottish Borders, and elsewhere.

Stirling University was the focus of commemorative events around the 4th-6th June 2015. A public lecture by historian Professor Sir Hew Strachan was hosted by Stirling University, and a video recording of his presentation is available online. Local school pupils created an outdoor installation of poppies made from recycled materials. A screening of the cinema drama ‘Tell England’, and a workshop with university academics from Scotland and Turkey, completed events over the weekend.

The University also launched ‘Creating Gallipoli’, a creative writing competition for secondary schools. “The aim of the project is for school students to engage imaginatively with the experience of Gallipoli from a variety of perspectives by writing a poem of up to 40 lines or a short story, in the form of a letter, of up to 750 words. The letter may be addressed to a family member, a friend, a lover, a newspaper etc”. Poems and stories should evoke the human side of the conflict, giving a sense of what it felt like to be a participant at Gallipoli in 1915. Workshop sessions for pupils and teachers will be run in Autumn 2015, to help students engage with the topic and enhance their writing skills. Full details of the competition are available on the web.

Over the next few months there will also be local commemorative events and exhibitions in parts of Scotland where there is a strong community connection to the Gallipoli fighting. For example, at Hawick in the Scottish Borders the local Museums service will stage an exhibition titled ‘Hawick to Gallipoli’, about the stories of young men from the area who served with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers regiment.

 

commemoration, museums and archives, schools

Gallipoli and education

Leave a comment

The military and naval campaign around the Gallipoli peninsula from April 1915 to January 1916 is the subject of many resources and projects for teachers, often produced to tie in with the centenary commemoration period. Here is a selection from recent material made available by museums, cultural and media organisations, from British, Australian, German and Turkish perspectives.

The Gallipoli Centenary Education Project has been working with schools in Scotland, Education and Turkey, and has already staged one school group visit to the Dardanelles.

Imperial War Museum has many assets on offer to educators, from which I picked their “Podcast 14: Gallipoli” and a feature on an artist / seaman in the naval forces who produced wonderful sketches during the campaign.

A Commonwealth War Graves Commission newsletter for April 2015 gives details of the initial troop landings and the use of Scottish ship SS River Clyde.

An Australian government website provides an overview of ANZAC resources for teaching about Gallipoli.

Europeana’s piece entitled “Gallipoli from a different perspective” tells the story of a German pilot fighting on the Turkish side in the campaign.

“Gallipoli through Turkish eyes” is an Australian historian’s view of the Canakkale campaign as seen from the Turkish defenders’ perspective.

 

 

 

commemoration, military, schools

Gallipoli commemorations

Leave a comment

ANZAC day screen smCommemorative events are now underway to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign of World War One. The 1915 campaign on Turkish soil around the Dardanelles was an attempt by the Allied nations to force the Ottoman Empire out of the war, but failed at great cost in lives to both attackers and defenders.

On the 25th April services of remembrance took place in key locations in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Turkey, to mark the start of the land campaign and the landing of British and Empire troops on the beaches around Gallipoli. BBC news covered the multinational ceremonies in Turkey, and the ANZAC involvement. The BBC website also published other stories about the Turkish approach to commemorations, and commemorations back in Australia.

In the UK, Gallipoli related events will be taking place on different dates and locations over the coming months. The Queen led a ceremony at the Cenotaph memorial in London.

In Scotland the usual ANZAC commemorative event on 25th April was given extra emphasis to mark the centenary, with a service at the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle. Wreaths were laid on behalf of Scotland, Turkey, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Newfoundland. The service was also broadcast to a big screen on the Castle Esplanade for the benefit of a large gathering. The BBC news story “ceremony to mark Scots role” covers the event.

Scottish involvement in the Gallipoli campaign was extensive, through the involvement of the battalions of the 52nd (Lowland) infantry division and other forces. Heavy losses of dead and injured had a great impact in large parts of Scotland. National commemorative events will be held in Scotland on the 4th June, to mark the centenary of the landings of Scottish troops, with activity in Stirling, the Borders and other locations led by local authorities and regimental associations.