Fullbore Friday

searing

This Friday falls on the 110th Anniversary of ANZAC Day. In honor of our Australian and New Zealand friends and allies, I wanted to take a moment to recognize just one part of their origin story.

Why today?

Well, April 25th, 1915, was the day Commonwealth forces came ashore at Gallipoli.

From their live stream at dawn in Australia:

It is a much more sober holiday than many American holidays. Here’s a sample of how it is reported locally.

Think Memorial Day…but extra…and with a lot more controversy from their left than you find in the USA toward our Memorial Day.

Interest and support for ANZAC Day has waxed and waned with the rise of the Anglospheric self-loathing left, but from what I have been able to tell, that has changed and support is moving back to where it should be.

Australians and New Zealanders have fought and died in other people’s wars out of obligation and friendship over the last century + from the Boer Wars through Afghanistan.

They are not large nations. At ~27 million souls, Australia is a few million people smaller than Texas 30 million. At a bit over 5 million souls, New Zealand is close in population to Alabama.

Why was the Battle of Gallipoli such a moment in time for the people of Australia and New Zealand? That would take a stack of books to discuss, and is best discussed in detail by Australians.

I’ll give you a bit of a perspective, or try. The picture of the top of the post? That is from the Turkish trenches looking towards the Australian trenches in the Battle of the Nek of the Gallipoli campaign.

Below is from Episode 5 of the 2015 miniseries on Gallipoli, from the perspective of the Australian trenches.