ANZAC Day 2026

Today is ANZAC Day. ANZAC is the abbreviation of the WWI Australian and New Zealand Army Corps of the British Empire. Originally, it marked the ANZAC contributions to the first major campaign they fought in: Gallipoli.

Today marks the 111th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings, when British Empire troops—including the ANZAC forces—began their ill-fated campaign against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The landings on the rugged Turkish peninsula resulted in a prolonged and bloody stalemate, with heavy casualties on both sides, before the eventual Allied evacuation in December 1915.

What had been planned as a bold strike to knock the Ottomans out of the war quickly became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. The Allied deaths totalled over 56,000, including 8,709 from Australia and 2,721 from New Zealand. This year marks the 110th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli.

The day has become a profound symbol of courage, sacrifice, mateship, and national identity for Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia, there is a dawn remembrance service held every 25 April. A dawn service was held on the Western Front by an Australian battalion on the first anniversary of the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1916, and historians agree that in Australia dawn services spontaneously popped up around the country to commemorate the fallen at Gallipoli in the years after this. The timing of the dawn service is based on the time that the ANZAC forces started the landing on the Gallipoli peninsula.