Why Did Australia Join Ww1

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

The First World War was the first war that Australian’s ever fought as a Federated nation. World War one was a time of great change for Australia. World War one had an enormous impact on Australian society and I will be support this argument by looking at how the loss of troops meant that more men had to be enlisted to fight and how the role of women changed during the war. I will also be examining the use of propaganda used to influence the civilian population. World War I had a significant and lasting impact on Australian society.

Prior to World War 1, Australians on the whole suffered due to their geographical isolation, which technology had yet to defeat. Transport was solely by arduous sea journey, which restricted travel and communication with the rest of the world. The mass transfer of Australian youth to fight in Europe enabled the world to see for the first time the unique culture which was developing in this far away land. Recognition and respect was quickly given for the courage, good humour and strength in adversity displayed by Australian soldiers. The easy going egalitarian troops challenged the military norms of their British counterparts. While this

This was also the first campaign the Australia basically manned by them self, proving the Australia need to be taken serious in the world war. At the start of the war Australia was not taken as a threat more as a giant island that has good post position in Asia. As Japan was concurring Asia the last piece of the puzzle was Australia which they japan was going to concur by using papa new Guinea as a vantage point which would have gave them easy access to Australia. This lead Australia to deploy its troops in Port Mosby. As most of the better trained had already been deployed this lead Australia to deploy the “backups”. This ultimately lead Australia becoming a major power in Asia, also providing to Australia overall strength as a

Australian nationalism and pride was very importunate at the time causing a huge amount of men rushed to enlist in World War 1. Australian men viewed themselves as ‘tough pioneers’ and the Australian sense of self was bloated by events such as the occupation of indigenous land, the gold rush and the exploration of Australian land. Amongst the pride of national identity, peer

The Australian national identity was affected by the foreign policy and changing of alliances in World War Two, which is seen by, Australia’s alliance with America and their detachment from the mother country, their increase in victories on the battlefield as well as their economic progress post-war, which made Australia more independent and therefore shaped how it was viewed as a country. Throughout the war Australia was left vulnerable by Britain so America was called upon to help in defense. Australia fought many crucial battles with America and their victories paved the way for national success. After the war Australia had many great achievements economically which created their national identity.

Firstly, many country were involved in world war one including Australia. This was a paramount part of Australia’s culture and national identity and there are many reasons why Australia decided to fight in the world war. The first reason is that the prime minister, Andrew Fisher, claimed that Australia will stand by to defend great britain until we are left with our last man and our last shilling. Australia also had no other option but to protect England from invasion. Another reason we went to world war two was because many men were keen to join the national army because it was seen by many as an opportunity to travel and a opportunity that could not be missed as a young man.

World War One [WW1] was a phenomenon that greatly affected Australian’s changing society. This event in history is often referred to as the “Great War” and lasted from the years of 1914 to 1918. Australia’s involvement in the First World War began when Britain and Germany went to war on the 4th of August 1914. Australia had pledged full support for Britain and the outbreak of war was greeted in Australia, as in many other places, with great enthusiasm. However, it left a lasting impact on Australian’s Society for the many years to come in the young country’s future. The causes and effects of the war changed the lives of many Australians and the effects of the war are still evident today. It is clearly demonstrated that the war largely impacted

Having said this, Australia’s involvement in this conflict was not purely for this reason. Political ambition was a major contributing factor in Australia’s involvement. After all, it was a chance to help one of the most powerful countries in the world out, and this would strengthen Australia’s political alliances with America.

Although Australian response to the declaration of WW2 in Britain was immediate in terms of support for Britain after factors meant that there was markedly less enthusiasm then there had been in 1914. First I’m going to talk about Australia’s reaction to WWI then, Australia’s reaction to WWI and finally how these reactions differed from one another.

There were many negative and positive effects while John Curtin the prime minister of Australia had to go through the struggles of the war. In 1942 he tried to convince the Australian Labour Party to let men overseas that were conscripted. Curtin soon realised that his men would have to fight across the Pacific to protect Australia's mainland. Although Curtin had many difficulties with the Allied forces he never had the same right of bringing a larger armed force in the was, just like England and America. When the prime minister brought the Australian troops back he found that he had to do something to protect Australia's mainland.The prime minister of Britain wanted the Australian troops to fight outside in Burma. Curtin had to get the outside community’s help to support him during the war. Curtin also face the powerful Communist Party of Australia because of the trading issues. During the time of war it was expected that Australia's mainland was under serious threat. There were many practices that the government decided to overcome this issue. After the Japanese attack in 1942, the Australian shores were not protected. Many days later their was another attack in Darwin, also in Sydney in May 1942.

In 1914 Europe, the circumstances in Europe were precisely what they needed to be to allow for Germany’s violation of neutral Belgium to act as the perfect trigger and primary reason for Britain’s entry into World War I. These circumstances included the tension throughout Europe, especially between Germany and France, and Britain’s alliance with France. Belgium had remained neutral since The Treaty of London in 1839, where European powers recognized and guaranteed the independence of Belgium. However, Germany attacked Belgium on August 4, 1914, which immediately brought England out of their “splendid isolation.” Although it is possible that Britain’s entry into the war was only a matter or time, that does not discredit the fact that the violation of Belgian neutrality was the primary cause for British entry into the war. There are many reasons that Britain had to dislike Germany, but none strong enough to motivate British entry into the war except the German violation of Belgian neutrality, which is why the violation of Belgian neutrality was, indeed, the primary reason for British

Nearly half of the able bodied men who were eligible to fight in WWI did so. This represented a significant loss for New Zealand, a loss that, evidently resonates with the country as a whole. ANZAC Day commemorations reflect mourning as a site of trauma; the individual is irredeemable, which Fierke argues results in political solipsism – those who mourn are only concerned with their individual suffering (Fierke: 2004). While the cenotaph is dedicated to ‘nobody’, it is actually commemorative to every soldier who perished in war. This may be due to the fact that when the identity of the actor is enclosed, the act loses a sense of goodness’ (Arendt: 1958). Yet in this case it allows the sure of memorial to come a site of mourning for the dead, which reifies the imperatives of the state. For it is seldom remembered that the conscientious objectors to war were, and often still are presented as cowards for denouncing war. Rather than understanding the collective suffering and purpose, by finding the sources of trauma and calling those narratives into question. Under the continued sentiments of glory and heroism in the ANZAC commemorations, it becomes easy to forget the slogan ‘Lest we forget’ is not only a slogan to commemorate fallen soldiers – but that that ‘Lest we forget’ is to commemorate the gruesome

This article indicates Britain couldn’t provide assistance for Australia which was under threat by the Japanese despite Australia supplying its available resources to Britain which was in a desperate struggle to win against Nazi Germany (Mason, 2014 pg. 200). This was a significant issue for Australia as they saw Britain as their protector within Asia and counted on their strong military force which was weak in the Pacific due to the fall of Singapore as they were no longer able to use Singapore as a place for communication and supplies. This cartoon from the Daily Telegraph created towards the end of the fall of Singapore, corroborates with the newspaper quote above:

It’s 1916 in Australia. The beckoning shores of Gallipoli await the thousands of soldiers that are yet to die amongst the bloodshed. These same shores, are yet to provide the battle of the century, that will go down in history as “The Great War.” Meanwhile, Australian’s take to the polls, with the Labour government asking the people whether or not they support the proposal to conscript young Australian men overseas for service. This national debate marked Australia’s first non-binding plebiscite, however 51% of the population voted against the proposal, conveying majority views, values and an underlying conservative nature.