australias war essays

australias war essays Australias economic and military contribution to the World War 1 allied victory. England entered the First World War on August the 4th 1914, after Germany refused their demands to respect Belgiums neutrality in the war. Australia also entered the war in 1914 for the simple reason it was a British colony, not a sovereign state and it had no choice but to be1 involved in the war. According to Beaumont (1995), Australians felt a deep attachment to England and the outbreak of the war was greeted and embraced in Australia, with great public enthusiasm2. This enthusiasm was due among other reasons to the fact that many of the Australian immigrants and culture had originated from Britain. This deep attachment to the mother country motivated Australia to contribute to and become involved in the allied war effort on many different levels. One of the main contributions Australia made to the allied war effort was its military involvement. Australias first military contribution was its rapid recruitment, formation and dispatch of a military contingent, shortly after the outbreak of the war. Within weeks a force of 20,000 troops, which had previously been promised to the British, was formed, by a flood of volunteers (many thousands of who were rejected because they did not fit the standards of fitness).3 Three months later on the 1st November, 20,000 members of the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) and two NZ brigades where sailed to Egypt for training. The troops spent four and a half months training in Egypt, until they were sent to the Gallipoli peninsula on the 25th of April 1915, to fight the Turkish. Due to a navigational error the Australian troops landed one mile off course of their intended landing zone, and where faced with unexpectedly perilous and steep terrain. The Australian troops dug in to the steep beach slopes, establishing a tenuous foothold and despite attempts by both sides to overrun...