The Wider War: Gallipoli and the War at Sea

The Western Front dominates memory of the First World War, but the fighting was global. With the trenches deadlocked by 1915, both sides looked for a way to break the stalemate elsewhere.

Fighting also raged on other fronts. On the Eastern Front, Russia battled Germany and Austria-Hungary across vast, mobile lines. Campaigns were fought in Italy, the Middle East and Africa, and the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in 1914.

The strategic question of the "wider war" was simple: if the Western Front could not be broken, could the war be won by attacking the enemy somewhere weaker, or by cutting off their supplies at sea?

This lesson focuses on the two areas AQA names: the failed land gamble at Gallipoli, and the war at sea — the Battle of Jutland, the U-boat campaign and the convoy system. Both must be understood through their reasons, events and significance.

The Gallipoli campaign (also called the Dardanelles campaign) ran from April 1915 to January 1916.

Reasons. With the Western Front stuck, Britain — pushed by Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty — planned to seize the Dardanelles strait, capture Constantinople, knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war, and open a warm-water supply route to Russia.

Events. A naval attack in early 1915 failed when ships hit mines. In April, troops — including many ANZACs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) — landed on the Gallipoli peninsula. They lost the element of surprise; the Ottomans, organised by German and Turkish commanders such as Mustafa Kemal, held the high ground. The campaign collapsed into its own stalemate, worsened by heat, flies, disease and shortages of water.

Significance.

Aspect	Detail
Dates	Apr 1915 – Jan 1916 (evacuation)
Aim	Open the Dardanelles; supply Russia; knock out the Ottomans
Casualties (approx., both sides)	Around 400,000 killed, wounded or sick
Outcome	Complete Allied failure; full evacuation by Jan 1916

The one thing done well was the evacuation — carried out with almost no losses. Gallipoli damaged Churchill's reputation and became a defining national moment for Australia and New Zealand.

The Battle of Jutland, fought in the North Sea on 31 May – 1 June 1916, was the only major clash between the British and German battle fleets in the whole war.

Reasons. Britain's Royal Navy (the Grand Fleet) was blockading Germany. Germany's High Seas Fleet hoped to lure out and destroy part of the British fleet to break that blockade.

Events. The two fleets met off the coast of Denmark. In terms of ships and men lost, Germany did better: it sank more British ships and killed more sailors before slipping away in the dark.

Losses at Jutland (approx.)	Britain	Germany
Ships sunk	14	11
Sailors killed	~6,000	~2,500

Significance — who really won? This is a classic exam question because both sides claimed victory.

• German claim: they sank more tonnage and more men — a tactical win.
• British reality: the German fleet retreated to port and rarely came out again. Britain kept command of the sea and its blockade stayed in place, slowly starving Germany.

Because the German surface fleet stayed in harbour, Germany turned instead to submarines — the U-boats — to attack Britain's supply lines. Jutland's strategic result pushed Germany towards the U-boat war.

Unable to beat the Royal Navy on the surface, Germany used U-boats (submarines) to attack the merchant ships carrying food and supplies to Britain — an island that imported much of its food.

Unrestricted submarine warfare. From early 1917 Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare: U-boats would sink any ship near Britain without warning, including neutral vessels.

Impact. The campaign was devastatingly effective at first.

Sinkings peaked in April 1917, when Germany sank huge amounts of Allied shipping and Britain's food supply fell to critically low levels — reportedly only a few weeks' worth remained.

The convoy system. The answer, introduced in 1917, was the convoy system: instead of sailing alone, merchant ships travelled in large groups escorted by warships (and later aircraft).

Sailing alone	Sailing in convoy
Easy for a lone U-boat to spot and sink	Ships hidden among many; hard to find
No protection	Escorted by destroyers and aircraft
Losses rose steeply	Losses fell sharply

Convoys, along with mines, depth charges and better detection, defeated the U-boat threat. Britain was not starved out, and unrestricted warfare had a fateful side effect: it helped bring the USA into the war in April 1917 (covered in the next lesson).

For the AQA "write an account of how the war at sea affected the First World War" style question, the naval war shaped the whole conflict in three linked ways.

Effect	How it worked
Blockade of Germany	The Royal Navy cut off food and raw materials, slowly weakening Germany's war effort and home front
Bringing in the USA	Unrestricted U-boat warfare (and the sinking of ships like the Lusitania in 1915) helped push the USA to declare war in April 1917
Keeping Britain supplied	The convoy system defeated the U-boats, so Britain kept fighting and could feed itself

Exam tip: the war at sea was not a sideshow. The blockade helped starve Germany into surrender, and the U-boat campaign helped bring in the USA. Both are strong second-order (cause and consequence) points for a top-level answer.

The sea war rarely produced dramatic battles, but by controlling supply it did more to decide the outcome of the war than any single land offensive.

1. Saying Britain simply "won" Jutland

Jutland was tactically inconclusive: Germany sank more ships. Britain's success was strategic — the German fleet retreated to port and the blockade continued. Explain both sides.

2. Confusing the blockade and the U-boat campaign

The British blockade cut off Germany's supplies; the German U-boat campaign tried to cut off Britain's. They are opposite operations — do not mix them up.

3. Getting the dates of Gallipoli wrong

Gallipoli ran from 1915 to the January 1916 evacuation. It is a 1915–16 campaign, not a 1914 or 1917 one.

4. Ignoring why the convoy system worked

Do not just say convoys "helped". Explain the mechanism: grouping ships with escorts made them far harder for U-boats to find and attack, so losses fell sharply.

5. Overstating Gallipoli's importance to the war's outcome

Gallipoli was a serious failure but did not decide the war. Keep it in proportion against the larger effects of the blockade and the U-boat campaign.