Gallipoli (miniseries not film)

[Setanta]

I'm not even sure it's on Netflix outside of Australia, but this is an outstanding take of the ANZACS at Gallipoli. Nods to the ineptitude of WW1 generals (and the UK comes in for a pasting as it always does on this topic), but a lot of the series had me reaching for the history books.

It's part of our heritage as Aussies and New Zealanders, but I became jaded with the mythos created by the politicians over the years. This series is a excellent take on the horrors of WW1. And yes, there are parts where you know just why it has a MA  rating. Great representation of the Turkish soldiers as well. It left the Peter Weir/Mel Gibson film for dead.

[Velorath]

It's available on Amazon and IMDB TV in the U.S. although you have to watch it with ads. Haven't watched it myself but my dad watched it few months back and enjoyed it.

[slog]

If this is the one from 2015, I also recommend it.  There might be some local bias as film producers really go after the British Generals but they deserved it.

[Khaldun]

I should watch this. There was an interesting debate a few years back among historians that pointed out that while Australian and NZ soldiers began staging informal memorials for the dead from the campaign, the idea that they had been sacrificed needlessly by British military leaders who saw them as expendable was on a slower burn; it wasn't until the late 1920s that there were government-organized memorials on what became ANZACS Day and some sense that the battle represented a divergence in Austrialian and NZ identity from the UK, and it really wasn't until the 1970s that the idea that the ANZACS had been treated as expendable became widespread (and the Weir/Gibson flick, along with the film Breaker Morant, really cemented that).

[slog]

I should watch this. There was an interesting debate a few years back among historians that pointed out that while Australian and NZ soldiers began staging informal memorials for the dead from the campaign, the idea that they had been sacrificed needlessly by British military leaders who saw them as expendable was on a slower burn; it wasn't until the late 1920s that there were government-organized memorials on what became ANZACS Day and some sense that the battle represented a divergence in Austrialian and NZ identity from the UK, and it really wasn't until the 1970s that the idea that the ANZACS had been treated as expendable became widespread (and the Weir/Gibson flick, along with the film Breaker Morant, really cemented that).

It wasn't just the ANAZACS, everyone was considered expendable.  There were some indications from the American Civil War that trench warfare was what the future held, no country in Europe was training their leadership to understand the implications and change tactics.  The Battle of the Somme (the first one) was a meat grinder with 57,000 British casualties on day 1.  The Generals didn't have a clue about how to overcome defenders advantage in the age of the machine gun and after five months of offensives the British has over 400,000 causalities. 

If you like World War 1 history,  Amazon Prime has a lot of good documentaries to watch.

[Shannow]

Off to a good start where it does away with the myth that April 25th was some sort of Omaha Beach prequel.