Why Did Australia Enter Ww1 Essay

In World War 1, all Australian soldier enlisted voluntarily. When the war first began, this was more than enough to support the war effort overseas. But, when the news of the casualties and conditions at war became known on the home front, the number of enlistments fell rapidly. Australia was under a lot of pressure from Britain to ensure that the promised number of men would be enlisted. Under a lot of stress, Prime Minister William Hughes came to the decision the hold a referendum to see if the people of Australia agreed or disagreed with conscription and compulsory service overseas.

Australia entered the war in 1939 and it became at their doorstep on the 19th February 1942, Nazi Germany and Japan were major enemies to Australia during the war. Australia’s foreign policy and changing alliance during 1942 impacted our national identity because Australia developed a new relationship with America, while it weakened the strong connection with Britain, which demonstrates that Australia was starting to become its own independent country. At the beginning of war, Australia had a strong relationship and alliance with Britain, making Britain their leaders when entering the war. Secondly, as the war progressed Australia began to look to America as an opportunity for protection from the Japanese, while Britain was fighting their own

Source 4 mentions two common sayings to do with Australian realisations entering the war, "here Australia became a nation" and Blightly [Britain] is a failure, take me to Australia" (Stanley, 2011). The service of 320 thousand Australians stimulated the first growth of a self-conscious Australian nationalism. At the landing at Gallipoli Australian troops expected to learn from the British but instead looked down on them as amateurs and were disappointed with their performance, efficiency and supplies. "Real sense of inequality of sacrifice" (Carrodus, Delany, Easton, Howitt and Smith, 2014). Source 5 makes notice of the fact that by the middle of 1915 the reality of war began to dawn. Australians became disillusioned with the news of deaths upon deaths and war waged on with no visible end. Endless, helplessness, unfairly treated feelings. Australia was divided due to the working class feeling exploited and the middle and upper classes being affected less by the war. "It was a hollow mockery for citizens to celebrate the glories of ANZAC Day unless they were prepared to fulfil their promises and do their duty to the men who had fought and suffered through the war." (Brand, 1925). Source 6 is a quote from a recent time after WW1, it shows the pride Australians had in their soldiers, that they thought they were brave and to

Australia’s involvement in WW2 was significant because of their alliances with Great Britain and the USA. Australia was very close to Britain mainly because they founded Australia and Australia considered them their ‘mother country’. Young men also thought that war was a very brave and noble thing to do, it also gave them the opportunities to meet new people and protect those that they loved back at home. Threats from overseas were a huge reason

It is well recognised that World War 1 was a traumatic experience for the Australian nation. It claimed 60,000 young lives and another 156,000 men were wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. But when the trauma abated, it became apparent that Australian society had been changed permanently and positively. Some of the gains realised by Australia as a result of her involvement in WWI included a newfound maturity as a nation, the respect and recognition of other nations, new opportunities for trade and industry, a greater recognition of women’s rights and a massive economic and population boost due to post war immigration programs. This web-site has been created to show you some of the benefits of World War One on Australia.

The Australian home front during WWI was drastically altered politically through the conscription vote that Billy Hughes, Prime Minister of Australia, believed necessary. 50,000 Australian men had signed up for the war before the year of 1914 had come to an end – which was a rate of over 10,000 per month – but the enlistment numbers dropped way down to 6,000 for the month of the Gallipoli landing in 1915. Once again, however, the numbers rose sharply on the home front after the news of the landing came back home, as many wished to avenge their fallen countrymen, and nobody could question the solemnity of the conflict. With five whole divisions overseas, Australia had to stay committed to their recruitment for the

Unlike other countries fighting in the war, Australia did not enforce conscription. Its armed forces relied completely on volunteers and at first there had been more volunteers than the army could accept. However by mid-1916, when news of casualties of the front began to reach home, support for the war declined sharply. In 1916, William Morris Hughes returned from inspecting the Western Front and was convinced that Australia should introduce conscription for the war effort. This led society to become divided into two major groups, the pro conscriptionists and anti conscriptionists.

The enthusiasm of many Australians led to the numerous volunteers participating in world war one in the defence of their British mother country against the Germans during world war one in Gallipoli, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.

During World War l, around the time July 28, 1914 throughout the years, coming to an end on November 11, 1918, issues were involved. Many alliances fostered militarism. Around the time 1914, adhesion was building upon the European nations. While the Americans were at war, the German kingdom of Prussia was launched to unite the German states all into one nation. By that time, imperialism ran through something called annexation. Something else called military conquest and dealings with economic dominations. All of that being said was how European powers built upon empires. Therefore nationalism was strong to what was going on around the time of war.

In order to understand why the Anzac legend became so prominent, an understanding of Australia’s reasons for entering the First World War must be understood. Firstly, it was the first major war Australia would participate in as a state in its own right, less than two decades after Australian became a federation in 1901. According to Stanley,

It has been argued that after World War 1, Australia gained more than it lost. Even though there were many lives lost during the war, these losses didn’t hold Australia back as a country. Australia was fortunate enough to come out of the war with more than they put into the war. Some of these gains are - There economy boomed, the relationship between Australia and Britain was stronger, the women replaced the men's jobs, many immigrants were encouraged to migrate to Australia. Although Australia gained many things they still lost a lot. These were things such as Australia spent a lot of money, they lost many troops and lost trade with Germany. Although Australia lost some things, they were outweighed by the things they

The end of World War One saw the dawning of a new age of Australia. It had a great effect on the Australian economy and social structure of the world. The Great War resulted in the death of empires, birth of nations and national boundaries being redrawn around the world. It ushered in prosperity for some countries while it brought economic depression to others. It influenced literature and it changed culture.

Australia was not one of the main countries involved in WW1, however one cannot say they did not contribute largely. From The Western front to The Middle East, Australian troops fought bravely on what appeared to be “The war to end all wars”. Of course one would say that Gallipoli was the most known campaign but it was in The Western Front where the Australian troops fought it what was regarded to be the most important theatre of war.

World War I (1914-1918) was considered the 'Great War' and Australia’s Gallipoli campaign has always been considered as the pinnacle of the Australian military feats. This is due to the constant glorification of the event despite the fact it was an unmitigated failure. However, the work of the Australian army force in the most important battleground of WW1 the 'Western Front' is often cast under the shadow of Gallipoli. The battles on the Western Front took place in France, Belgium and parts of Germany and this is where some of the most pivotal battles were fought. The contribution and success of the Australians will be assessed through the analysis of several sources related to four major contributions related to the Western Front. These include the amount of Australians involved, the external opinions of Australia in the Western front, The Battle of

Almost a million Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War. The Australian military composed of both air, land and sea defence forces. There were two land forces: the Citizen Military Forces, also called the Militia, which was built up to provide services to defend Australia, and a Second Australian Imperial Force for overseas service. The air defence was named as the Royal Australian Air Force and the sea defence was known as the Royal Australian Navy.