 In the background , though , moves were being made to commit the Australians and New Zealanders elsewhere . Later in November , Winston Churchill , in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty , put forward his first plans for a naval attack on the Dardanelles . A plan for an attack and invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula was eventually approved by the British cabinet in January 1915 . It was decided that the Australian and New Zealand troops would take part in the operation , although they were outnumbered by the British , Indian and French contingents , a fact which is often overlooked today by many Australians and New Zealanders . The objective of the invasion was to open up another front against the Central Powers and to open the Black Sea 's only entrance to the Mediterranean , via the Dardanelles and Bosphorus , to allow shipping to Russia all year round . 
