It is a very important day to Australians and New Zealanders for a variety of reasons that have changed and transmuted over the years. The 25th April is the New Zealand equivalent of Armistice Day and is marked as the ANZAC day in both countries with Dawn Parades and other services in every city and town. Many Australians and New Zealanders fought on the Peninsula from the day of the landings (April 25th, 1915) until the evacuation of 20 December 1915. The Gallipoli Campaign was Australia's and New Zealand's introduction to the Great War. In numerical terms Gallipoli was a minor campaign but it took on considerable national and personal importance to the Australians and New Zealanders who fought there. Some 26,000 Australians and 7,571 New Zealanders were wounded and 7,594 Australians and 2,431 NZs were killed. Some 60,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders were part of a larger British force. The Gallipoli campaign took place between April and December 1915 in an effort to take the Dardanelles from the Turkish Ottoman Empire (an ally of Germany and Austria) and thus force it out of the war.
