Historical Context of War

Who were the two main alliances in World War I?

One of the two main alliances in World War I was the Triple Entente, who were an international military alliance led by France, Britain, and Russia after they signed the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907 Through a treaty formed in May 1882 between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, where the three powers pledged to assist one another if attacked by other nations

Australians were involved in World War I as they had pledged an alliance to the British Empire and joined the war on the 6th of August 1914 416809 Australians served in World War I, and they served in several locations such as Gallipoli and on The Western Front Most of the recruited men in the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) in 1914 were sent to Egypt, and after four months of training were sent to the Gallipoli peninsula, the goal of the deployment was to assist a navy operation by Britain, who were aiming for the Dardanelles Strait to conquer Constantinople, a Turkish capital.

Battles on The Western Front started on the 4th of August after the German’s failed a plan of attack called the Schlieffen Plan The Western Front stretched over 700 kilometres from the Belgian coast to France through the Swiss Border, exposing soldiers to industrialized war, with new levels of technology such as powerful artillery.

Australia’s first large involvement on The Western Front was at Fromelles on the 19th of July 1916, where they suffered heavy losses. Significant battles took place at Bullecourt, Messines, 3rd Ypres, Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux and Mont St Quentin, where Australian’s also fought and developed a tenacious reputation as fighters.

When the war ended in 1918, over 46000 Australian Soldiers had lost their lives, and over 132000 had been injured. About 50000 men joined the AIF in the first four months as they were loyal and willing to support the British Empire, or needed the War Pay Army Order 1 (1918). The War Pay Army Order 1 paid soldiers the sum of one penny per day in respect of each completed year of the soldier’s service