Anzac Legend Essay

First and foremost, the Anzac Spirit is about the remembrance of the sacrifices made by men and women who have and are still serving in the military.

Australia's participation in the First World War began when Britain declared war with Germany war on August 4, 1914. The outburst of war was received in Australia with huge keenness. So, acting upon the tremendous quantity of volunteers, the authorities implemented rigorous physical standards for them. However, most recruiters were accepted into the military. Bushmen, farmers, agricultural and rural workers, basically people with no experience in war. The Australian Imperial Force was created on August 15, 1914. The Australian government had promised to supply twenty thousand men, organized as one military unit. The first Australian Imperial Force military troop continued to grow with the arrival of the second Division, which was trained in Egypt. After the retreat from Gallipoli, the military unit experienced a great development and created the fourth and fifth Division. The third Division was created in Australia and navigated straight to England for additional preparation before moving to the Western

Significantly, the ANZAC legend is the result of a devastating loss, rather than a great victory. The soldiers are remembered for maintaining courage and determination under hopeless conditions. The ANZAC legend owes much to wartime correspondents who used the

In 1993, the reasons for which Australians chose to go to war and serve their country were completely different from those

“The driving need to celebrate the deeds of past serviceman and promote conceptions of national identity wrapped in the imagery of war have come to dominate our national discourse” (Stockings, n.d.) Professor Craig Stockings of ACSACS (Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society) states on the topic of the ANZAC myth. This quote is simply stating that WWI changed Australia’s views on war - in the way that we celebrate it as if it was the countries biggest victory. In truth, Australia’s outlook on war didn’t change in this perspective; our idea of the bronzed, larrikin soldier still stands strong. However, when World War II (WWII) rolled around, men didn’t want to enlis; they’d seen the detrimental health effects on soldiers and the many lives lost. War, in short, was no longer a celebratory thing then (Rush to enlist, n.d.). However, this year, the government spent millions of dollars on ANZAC celebration to fuel the, essentially, trivialisation of war - the ANZAC legend. (AWM, n.d.) Australia’s view on war changed in that we thought of it as a celebratory act in modern times - this proves, it was not justified because of the trivialisation that goes on in

On 4th August, 1914 our “Mother Country”, Great Britain declared war on Germany after the country invaded neutral Belgium. Australia, a country which is over 9000 miles away, almost instantaneously got in support of Britain. Within 6 months, over 52,000 Australians had enlisted to join the war; which is a mere 6% of Australia’s eligible fighting men in that time. Each of our Australian soldiers had their own motives. Whether it be: men looking to make money; brave, young men pursuing adventure; or the fear of being accused as a coward.

The ANZAC legend is many things to many people, to me the legend is as relevant today as it was 95 years ago, it is who we are as a people. The Anzac Legend is the Australian Spirit. This Anzac spirit has changed little over the past 95 years, the fundamental appeal and Spirit of the ANZAC legend is as relevant and strong today as it was on the day it was born, 25th April 1915, they were united under a common flag, a common emblem and a common outlook. Over the ensuing 8 months of fighting at Gallipoli the Anzac legend, took hold and became a symbol of honour, a rite of passage and an unwritten guide of Digger qualities and expectations. Simply put the Anzac Spirit is, helping out a friend, regardless of the consequences and knowing that

Going back 100 years the soldiers were in Gallipoli, when they were withdrawn from there they were moved to the Western Front. Fromelles was the first major battle the Australians were engaged in. It was meant to be a diversionary attack on 19th July 1916. One of the Generals, Pompey Elliott, begged them not to do it. The Germans were well entrenched, they knew what was going on. They had tried a similar thing earlier and it didn’t work. The Australians didn’t even have hard hats; some of them went into battle wearing their slouch hats. One of the generals insisted on going into battle as they wanted to make sure the Germans wouldn’t move any of their troops further south as they were about to engage in the Battle of the Somme. In the tradition of WW1 they went ahead, there were 5,533 causalities, of which 1,917 were dead. The whole of the Gallipoli campaign took months, this was in one night. Some of the stories of this battlefield are horrendous. David heard one story about a soldier who offered himself as a stretcher so they could lay another soldier on top of him to drag him back to No Man ‘Land. The whole time his body was being ripped apart by the shrapnel, he didn’t say a word. The Germans offered a cease fire to recover the dead and wounded, when that started one of our own general said, ’No, that’s not approved.’ Approximately 60 Australians died trying to recover the wounded from No Man’s Land. The battle of Frolmelles is certainly one of our darkest periods of time. There is a place called the VC Corner cemetery as they thought that so many VC’s would be awarded, in fact David thinks there was one. One of the battles that had the most VC’s awarded was the Battle of Mont St Quentin, another battle that many have never heard of, it was one of our greatest victories under General

When the announcement came that Australia would be involved in the First World War the public and the government didn’t know what to expect and they were not prepared as much as WWII. As for enlistment, there was no rush to enlist in WWII much like WWI, thus having to create two AIF’s to fight. In WWI there was that stimulus of having to prove themselves to the mother country. Although, in WWII they still had to prove themselves to Britain but it was not as important as it was in the First World War. Therefore, the differences between WWI and WWII were not much different, and the Australian public and government had learned from WWI to better their preparations for

‘Australians at War’ a documentary made by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra designed to teach individuals on the involvement of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) in World War 1. It follows why the notion of sending Australian troops to help the allied effort in war was widely supported and follows the ordeals of ANZAC troops through training in Egypt, being sent to Gallipoli as part of a horrendous tactical failure, the evacuation of ANZAC troops and the relocation of them to the Western Front. The episode used many primary sources such as first hand accounts of the soldiers who were present in Gallipoli, as well memories from those who were in Australia that faced the reality of the ‘home’ front.

The ANZAC legacy still remains because “Anzac stood, and still stands, for reckless valor in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship, and endurance that will never own defeat.”[ 1] The ANZAC’s sacrifice and service by men and women in Australia’s armed forces is still not forgotten,

Due to this the federal government was prepared to create its status that is surrounded by the countries of the world. The allied navies were remove from the headland, as both sides had endured severe losses and had also suffered countless adversities, by the end of 1915. Even though the Gallipoli movement were unsuccessful in meeting their objectives, the Anzacs were seen as courageous and left a powerful legacy. The “Anzac legend” became a crucial part of both the Australian and New Zealand identity.

The Anzac Legend was born on 25 April 1915, and is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers possess shared characteristics, specifically the qualities those soldiers supposedly showed on the battlefields of World War I in Gallipoli. In the eight months of fighting in Gallipoli, the Australians and New Zealanders displayed great courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mate ship. The qualities came to be

The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is an idea which proposes that Australian and New Zealand troopers have shared attributes, particularly the qualities those officers supposedly exemplified on the war zones of World War I. These apparent qualities incorporate perseverance, mettle, creativity, agreeability, larrikinism, and mateship. As per this idea, the warriors are seen to have been pure and fit, stoical and succinct, disrespectful despite expert, actually libertarian and derisive of British class

Last year, on the 26th of April, your sports presenter Scott McIntyre was sacked from his job due to his controversial comments on Twitter concerning the Anzac Day. The Anzac Day, celebrated on the 25th of April of every year, is one of the most important national occasions in Australia and New Zealand. It is a commemoration of all Australians and New Zealanders killed in WWI. Its social and political value makes any comment or discussion related to that day subject to dispute. Scott McIntyre’s tweets about the Anzac Day stimulated conflicting views from the public.