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World War Australia Essay

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The Great War, or what we now call World War I, was devastating for all participating countries, but for Australia, with its relatively small population, the suffering was keenly felt. By 1917, the honour of going to war “for king and country” had faded, and everyone knew someone whose life was lost on a conflict which had little relevance to their lives. Letters from the battlefields of Europe and North Africa conveyed the horror of the first mechanized war.

“I hope the war will soon stop now for it is sapping out the best of men all and all that Is beautiful in civilised life” (1)
-Lieutenant Wilfred Barlow, 58th Battalion, 2nd March 1917

The war began with aspirations of a triumphal empire, and with a short, efficacious and …show more content…

The 19th century British Army’s primary tactic, “line infantry”, where two to four ranks of rigidly places infantrymen would line up and advance towards the enemy still dominated strategic thinking. This was especially effective in asymmetrical conflicts where the British were significantly better trained and more technologically equipped, the typical situation which faced colonial deployments in the 19th century. The line infantry deployment also had the effect of concentrating their firepower and reducing the effect of slow reloading. This was supplemented by the cavalry, which formed a highly mobile strike force which could cut through enemy defences.

But this was a far more symmetrical conflict, where their opponents were deploying the most lethal weapons and capabilities available. In reviewing the technological deployments of both sides, the argument can easily be made that the Germans in both World Wars brought significant technologies than the British, and the strategies to use them effectively. Indeed, the win in World War I was more about economics than it was about strategy or capabilities.
By World War I the line infantry strategy, which evolved into the “over the top” charge into no-man’s land, was completely redundant and saw massive casualties. The development of the Gatling Gun (1862) (9) and the Maxim Gun (1886) (12) (13) - both heavy rapid-fire weapons

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