"For their Nation, a Possession Forever": A Comparative Analysis of the Memorialization of the Gallipoli Campaign and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive

This presentation will focus on two different battles from World War I analyzing what they meant for each country as revealed in the memorialization of the war effort on the battlefield versus at home. The first battle was when the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed at Gallipoli on April 25th, 1915 when ANZAC forces primarily fought alongside the Mediterranean Expeditionary Forces against primarily the Ottoman Empire. The second battle was the Meuse-Argonne Offensive when the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) fought their climax during the end of the war. Both the ANZAC and the AEF incurred heavy losses in their separate battles, although their commemorations differed in interesting ways. While a memorial cemetery can be found at Meuse-Argonne, there is little memorialization found at the site of Gallipoli. However, the ANZAC efforts at Gallipoli have been memorialized at home with the celebration of ANZAC Day every year on April 25th, in noticeable contrast to the AEF efforts at Meuse-Argonne that are hardly remembered and celebrated in the US. This presentation will compare the memorialization efforts of Australia and the United States in the aftermath of Gallipoli and Meuse-Argonne. Based upon primary sources such as newspaper articles, war correspondence, and memorials, this presentation will explain why the United States memorialization efforts for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive were more focused on battlefield commemorations unlike the Australians who focused more on memorialization efforts at home such as the emergence of ANZAC Day. By comparing these two efforts, I will demonstrate the level of impact each battle had on their home countries, contributing to the History of Death by analyzing how sacrifices impacted a country.