These were the scenes for some of World War I’s most ferocious fightings. In an attempt to seize the Dardanelles, the Allies hoped to capture Istanbul thereby creating a maritime supply route to Russia and opening up a second front against the Germans. But the Gallipoli assault, involving New Zealand, French and Australian forces, begun in 1915 and followed by nine months of trench warfares, was a disastrous failure. There were around 250,000 casualties on both the Allied and Ottoman Turkish sides.