Australias Response to World War I - Essay Example

Name Student Affiliation Date Australia Response to World War I Introduction The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 was greeted with great enthusiasm in Australia. Australia had pledged its support for the war already before Britain had announced war on Germany in 4th August 1914. Australia’s entry into the war was supported by all main political parties, community leaders, newspapers and churches. Australia’ engagement into the war was perceived as a moral as well as necessary commitment. The country started to prepare to send its forces abroad to take part in the conflict with immediate effect. Only the very healthiest and very fittest men were considered for recruitment and training. The whole country was enthusiastic as regard the war and was united in supporting it1. Although, there is some evidence that shows this is a partial and even misleading impression. There are clues of disagreements in the society which later led to great resentment and fragmentations in Australian society. This was particularly evident in recruitment whereby most men were not able to enlist. There are stories of discriminations and women mistreating and rejecting men who were not successful in enlisting during the first recruitment rush. Moreover, they were those who actively opposed the entry of Australia into the war, although they were not given the chance to express their views2. By the time the First World War broke out, Australia had only been a united country for 13 years. Despite that Australia was self-governing it was compelled to follow the instructions of Britain in several areas of government because the country was still a colony of the British Empire. And hence, Australia was drawn into war immediately the Britain announced war on Germany. During this time, Australian perceived war as heroic, exciting and glorious possibly because very few of them had participated in wars3. As a result, many men enthusiastically rushed to be recruited in the armies. Before the end of 1914, approximately 50,000 men had been recruited. According to popular views expressed in newspapers during that time, most of the men recruited for war were anxious that it may be over even before they reached Europe4. These men had varies and complex reasons for enlisting in the armies. A number of them claimed that they were motivated by an aspiration to demonstrate what their young country might contribute to a worldwide war. Some asserted that they got into war as a result of their loyalty to their mother country5 while others got into war barely for adventure as well as for the opportunity to get out of home and explore the world. For others, their drive was to get a good pay and the assurance of regular income motivated most unemployed men to enlist. As the war advanced, many people were driven to enlist by a spirit of hatred of the enemy. Often, exaggerated propaganda stories of German massacres were used in enlistment campaigns. Landing at Gallipoli was considered a main event in the conflict. The Gallipoli campaign gave Australian a new sense of identity as well as place in the universe despite that fact it was considered a military defeat. Landing at Gallipoli was considered a separate achievement in the conflict6. The armies landed at Gallipoli 25th April 1915, leading to declaration of this day as a national holiday in Australia. The response of Australia to the outbreak of World War I can be said to have a significant impact on Australians as well as on the government and economy of the country. The country lost more than 60,000 young men due to the war. This can be considered a great lose bearing in mind that Australia was a young nation at that time with a population of not more than five million people. The fact that only the healthiest and fittest were enlisted for the armies means that the nation lost the most able men in the society. Australia lost the highest percentage of the total armed forces sent to war among all the Commonwealth countries. It’s no doubt that Australia experienced a major loss in the war effort when we take a look at the number of men enlisted for war and those who died and suffered injuries. Out of the 331, 000 men recruited for the war, 215, 000 of got injured while 60,000 died7. As a result, the initial zeal for the war was replaced by the ill realisation that war was intended for death and suffering. And despite the fact that there was an increase in enlistments following the landing at Gallipoli, there was a steady decline from late 1915. This decline had a significant impact such that the government considered holding a national referendum that would have seen men being forced into armies if it had been passed. This referendum failed to pass because Australians were not convinced that their nation was a t risk since the war was very far from them8. Moreover, they believed that the nation had contributed more than enough to support Britain taking into consideration its small population size. These opposing views led to divisions in the country, particularly along region and social classes lines. Those who supported Australian men to be enlisted in armies were more likely to belong to the upper-class and had a protestant background. Those who opposed these views were more likely to belong to the working class, Irish and Catholic background. The reaction of Australia in the outbreak of First World War in 1914 can also be said to have contributed to the expansion of the commonwealth government power. The newly appointed Australian labor government passed two legislation’s item to elongate Commonwealth power in 1914. These were referred to as the War Precaution Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act. These two legislation’s items served to significantly increase the central power of Australian federal government. This move was still observed in several fields of law after the end of war in 1918. These two legislation’s items provided the government with the power to collect income tax meant to meet the expenses of ammunitions, weapons and other military supplies, increase censorship to newspapers with the aim of preventing information as regards military operations from getting to the enemy, or that could cause prejudice in enlistment of Australian men into the armies or cause chaos in the city9 and to control movements of opponent aliens and even imprisoned them. The response of Australia to the First World War also had a great impact on the economy of the country. The Australian redirection of army supplies to the war lead to inflation, causing a significant increase in the cost of living during the war period. However, the engagement of Australia in the World War I had a positive effect on the nation’s economy as it led to development of new industries to make products which could not be imported due to naval blockades and utilization of cargo vessels for military purposes instead of transporting consumer goods. Moreover, there were changes in the Australian economy’s structure. These manufacturing industry experienced considerable growth with the development of the Sulphide Corporation and BHP Steel Works that were engaged in manufacturing and processing metal which were important to the war. The Commonwealth Bank as well as the Australian National Shipping Line also expanded their responsibilities in the country’s economic life. The response of Australia to the outbreak of World War I also had substantial impact on Australian women. Many women stayed at home taking care of their families before the war, with only a few of them taking up traditional women roles like nursing10, dressmaking, teaching and domestic work. But with more than 300,000 men into the war, these women also wanted to support them at war. Women in Australia did not turn to work in factories in large numbers like their counterparts in Germany and Britain. But they did turn to taking up traditional roles in offices and banks, which had earlier been male occupation. The percentage of females working outside home had increased by 13% by the time the war ended. Women were expected to move from the traditional male occupation and return to their homes when the war ended and most of them did so. But they were roles that were still regarded as females’ occupations, including typists, telephonists and secretaries. In conclusion, the Australian response to the outbreak of war in 1914 had both significant positive and negative impacts. The cost of Australia involvement in World War I is still with us more than 100 years later. The country’s involvement led to the death of over 60,000 people and left many others incapable of working to provide for their families due to injuries sustained in the war. There are many other areas of country that were impacted by this response. Economically, this response was very costly, whereas the impact on the political and social landscape was substantial and threatened to lead to serious divisions in the social fabric of the nation. Recruitment was perhaps the most antagonistic issue and ultimately, regardless of having recruitment for home service, the nation was one of the two participants not to use enlists in the war. However, for most Australians the country’s participation in the First World War and the landing at Gallipoli was perceived as a sign of its rise as a global actor whereas most of the perceptions of the Australian identity and nationhood present today originated from the war. References Carl Bridge, 'The reason why: Australia and the Great War', Quadrant, April 1994, pp. 11-12. Eric Andrews, The Anzac Illusion: Anglo-Australian relations during World War I, Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 40-6. Frank Bongiorno and Grant Mansfield, ‘Whose war was it anyway? Some Australian historians and the Great War’, History Compass, volume 6, issue 1, 2008, pp. 62-90. Sydney Morning Herald, ‘’A fine response’ ’Thursday 27 August 1914,p. 8. The Red Cross Society. Women to women. Women's Work in War', Argus (Melbourne), Wednesday 19 August 1914, p. 13. Read More