WORLD WAR ONE

World War One

by Jaime Edelman

Brief overview of WW1

Did you know that World War One went for four years?! starting on the 28th of July 1914 and ended on November 11th, 1918. The reason for the war involves the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. This is because on June 28th, 1914, a 19-year-old Serbian nationalist (Gavrilo Princip) shot and killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife. After this Austria-Hungary was furious and with support from Germany declared war on Serbia.

M.A.I.N. means militarism. This was involved in the war because military and army forces are given a high profile by the government and then Britain and Germany were competing for mastery of the seas. Alliances: alliances were an agreement or truce between two or more countries, once an alliance is signed the countries are known as allies Imperialism: when a country takes over new lands and make it in their ruling. The number of countries owned or ruled by Britain and France increased the amount of rivalry with Germany. Nationalism: nationalism basically means pride for your nation. So, a group of people very proud and loyal of their nation. These were the long-term causes for the war.

There were multiple reasons why Australian soldiers may have wanted to enlist to go to war, some if them are going overseas – during that time not many people had the opportunity to go overseas, the men didn’t want to look ‘weak’ not going to fight for their country, there was a group of women who carried white feathers and gave them out to any man who looked the right age and was not at war (this was pressuring the men to go to war, also calling them weak) getting this feather was not a good sign. Men wanted to fight for their country. 416,800 men enlisted which was 13.4% of the male Australian population, 331,000 soldiers served overseas, and 61,720 men died, and 15,000 men wounded.

Australian soldiers fought on the western front (the Somme, Bullecourt, Messines, Fromelles, Passchendaele, Hamel, Amiens and Mont St Quentin, Villers-Bretonneux), the Gallipoli peninsular, the middle east and on the seas. During this time Australia (who was an ally to Britain) decided to follow along in the war and headed out to Gallipoli. Australia was an ally to the triple entente and followed along what they did, Britain was the mother country. The Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand army corps) landed in Gallipoli on the 25th of April 1915 at approximately 4:15am. On December 20th, 1915, the Anzacs escaped without being seen by the ottoman empire.

Richard Martin

Richard martin (Quandamooka/Noonuccal man) was an indigenous soldier who enlisted in the Australian imperial force on the 17th of December 1914. As aboriginal or indigenous peoples were not allowed to enlist, Richard lied and said that he was from New Zealand and that he served in a light horse for five years. He was actually from Stradbroke Island Queensland and had no previous service. According to Anzac portal, over the years a lot more indigenous soldiers got accepted.

Richard spent 7 months in the peninsular which was from May to December not including being hospitalized. After the Gallipoli evacuation Richard was transferred to the 47th battalion to fight on the western front. The 47th battalion had some costly battles over the next 18 months fighting on the western front at Passchendaele, Bullecourt, and Messines. Richard suffered shell shock (PTSD) after serving on the front line for only two days whist serving on the 47th battalion. He was also wounded and evacuated but re-joined the 47th battalion only four days later when it left the front line.