Section I: AUS At War: WWI Flashcards
What are the MAIN causes of WWI?
Militarism
Alliances
Imperialism
Nationalism
What is Militarism?
Militarism is the policy of building a stronger military.
Era of military competition between the major European powers.
It was fed by the cultural belief that war is good for nations.
The development of technologies contributed to investments in weaponry and militaries.
What are Alliances?
An alliance is an agreement between countries to support each other in times of war.
The Triple Alliance = Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy
The Triple Entente = Great Britain, France and Russia.
What is Imperialism?
One country controlling another country (colony).
Colonies were important as sources of raw materials and as markets.
Imperial competition pushed the countries towards adopting alliances.
What is Nationalism?
Nationalism means a love of one’s country, a feeling of belonging to a people, a place, and a common culture.
It is often used also to describe the desire of peoples under the control of another country to break away and set up their own independent nation, such as in the Balkans.
Austria-Hungary felt threatened by the rise of nationalism in the Balkans and this created tension with Russia who supported the Balkan states.
The prominence of nationalism also meant that many people felt a strong desire or sense of duty to fight for their country in the war.
What was the “July Crisis”?
The July Crisis = the domino effect of war declarations which were initiated following Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination at Sarajevo in Bosnia.
Identify major events which occurred during the July Crisis.
1) 28 June – Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated at Sarajevo in Bosnia
2) Austria-Hungary asks Germany to help it weaken/control Serbia & Germany agrees.
3) Austria-Hungary threatens war against Serbia.
4) Russia decides to support Serbia in the hope of weakening Austro-Hungarian influence in the Balkans.
5) Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
6) Russia mobilises and Germany threatens war if Russia does not withdraw its mobilisation order.
7) Germany declares war on Russia.
8) Germany, hurrying to implement its Schlieffen plan and avoid fighting a war on two fronts, declares war on France.
9) Germany invades neutral Belgium as part of its Schlieffen plan (to invade France).
10) Britain, supporting its allies and its promise to defend Belgium neutrality, declares war on Germany.
Identify reasons why AUS men decided to enlist.
Support for the “mother” country (patriotism).
Opportunity for “adventure” (to “see the world”).
Social pressure from peers (particularly women).
Higher wages (six shillings a day compared to one shilling a day for British soldiers).
Sense of “duty” to enlist.
Hatred of the “Hun” (derogatory term to describe Germans at the time).
Sense of righteousness (religious motives).
Misconceptions about war.
Identify reasons for a decreasing rate of enlistment.
People had become aware of the rate of deaths and the brutality of the war.
No longer viewed as an “adventure”.
Nobody was making any territory (“war of inches”).
Identify some recruitment methods used by the government to increase enlistment rates.
Snowball marches, where small groups of men in country towns would march hundreds of miles to large cities to enlist, aiming to collect more recruits along the way (social pressure).
Patriotic recruitment films (e.g. Australia’s Peril, Sons of the Empire)
Recruitment posters which were used to persuade or pressure men into volunteering to fight in the war.
Identify major reasons for the Gallipoli Campaign.
Take over Constantinople – Capital of Ottoman Empire (powerful member of Triple Alliance).
Establish a third war front along the southern border of Austria-Hungary – increase pressure on Triple Alliance + break stalemate (make some territory).
Control the Dardanelles – support/supply Russia with resources (member of Triple Entente).
Describe the Gallipoli Campaign:
When?
Where?
Who?
What?
Australian forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25th April, 1915 – ANZAC day.
After 8 months the Australian forces withdrew from Gallipoli in December 1915.
Fighting had settled into a stalemate as both sides (British forces + allies (AUS), and vs Turkish forces) dug in (trench warfare).
The withdrawal occurred after almost none of the Gallipoli Campaign’s goals were achieved – it was a profound waste of resources, lives, and time.
More than 8,000 Australians died in the Gallipoli campaign and more than 18,000 were wounded.
Almost all Australian Soldiers were serving in the Gallipoli campaign.
After the Australian forces withdrew from Gallipoli, they were redistributed on the Western Front.
Describe the Western Front:
Where?
When?
Who?
What?
Australian troops were sent via ship to France and fought in the trenches of the Western Front at battles such as Fromelles, the Somme, Messines, etc.
Over 295,000 Australians served on the Western Front between March 1916 and November 1918.
46,000 lost their lives and over 130,000 were wounded.
Battle conditions were so dire that more than 18,000 of the fallen had no known grave.
What resulted in the development of trench warfare?
The Industrial Revolution came with the development of many new weapons and military technologies.
This forced soldiers to seek cover and protection on the battlefield in the form of trenches.
Describe common medical problems found in the trenches.
Trenches were often completely waterlogged and muddy, and crawling with lice and rats.
Diseases became common medical problems, such as trench fever, trench nephritis, and trench foot (the infection and swelling of feet exposed to long periods of dampness and cold, leading to amputation and sometimes death) were common diseases.
Medical problems caused significant losses of manpower and decreased morale.
Describe the Three-Line Trench System.
Mutually supported the others.
Provided sufficient protection to allow defenders to use rifles and machine-guns effectively.
Ensured that the position was unlikely to be taken even if one line of trenches fell.
Allowed for an effective counter-attack.
What made it difficult for a soldier to take an enemy trench?
Trenches were designed to foster a sense of unfamiliarity for those who had not been in that trench before:
Complex enough to cause the enemy to become disorientated.
Enemies were also unable to see more than a few metres in front of them, and therefore could not attack effectively.
Provided protection from shell damage, as the damage caused by the explosions was limited to smaller areas/sections.
Describe the use and effectiveness of artillery weapons.
Both armies used artillery bombardments for both attack and defence.
Artillery bombardments caused 60% of all Western Front casualties.
Bombardments preceded and warned of a major attack.
Initially, bombardiers wounded/killed some of their own soldiers and severely damaged the no-man’s land area.
By 1918, artillery fire was more accurate.
Describe the use and effectiveness of bayonets.
These were available to both sides throughout the war.
In close combat, the bayonet was safer to use than a bullet which might move through the enemy’s body to hit one of the shooter’s fellow soldiers. However, they were quite ineffective during WWI as trench warfare meant that there were limited opportunities to use them properly.
Describe the use and effectiveness of flamethrowers.
The Germans used flamethrowers from 1914 against soldiers in front-line trenches. The British and French later used similar weapons.
Soldiers feared becoming the victims of the flamethrowers’ burning fuel. It was effective as a short-range weapon, but the possibility of its cylinder exploding accidentally meant that it could also endanger the user.
Describe the use and effectiveness of grenades.
All armies had grenadiers that let off grenades along enemy trenches in advance of occupying them.
Initially unsafe and unreliable, but by 1917 some grenades had become a popular and effective means of destroying enemy pillboxes.
Describe the use and effectiveness of machine guns.
The Belgians and Germans used these in 1914. From 1915, the British produced Lewis guns capable of firing 500-600 rounds per minute and became very skilful in their use.
Machine guns could take casualties very quickly and so were a good defensive weapon against advancing enemy infantry. However, their heavy weight (30 - 60 kg) made them difficult to transport, and early versions needed water to keep them cool and they often jammed.
Describe the use and effectiveness of poison gas.
All the Allied armies adopted poison gas weaponry.
This was one of the most feared ways to die.
Although they failed to have a significant impact on battle outcomes, gas attacks lowered troop morale.
They also initially had the problem that if the wind changed the gas might blow back to and injure those who had fired.
The development of gas shells to be used with artillery helped to overcome this problem.
However, gas attacks became less effective with the development of improved protective devices.
Describe the use and effectiveness of rifles.
The main weapon used by infantrymen and snipers of all armies throughout the war.
British rifle fire at the 1915 Battle of Mons was very fast and effective.
However, this level of skill and accuracy could not be maintained because armies became more reliant on non-professional (untrained) soldiers.
The experiences of soldiers at war:
Life in the trenches.
Lived in crowded, narrow, unsheltered, unshaded, trenches
Trenches are littered with the dead:
In the heat, the bodies would begin to decay, rot, and stink and attract disease in the form of vermin and pests.
Highly traumatising.
Rough seasonal conditions – extremely hot conditions (day) and extremely cold conditions (night) – the rain would make the trenches (living conditions) wet and muddy.
Trench Foot and other diseases were responsible for many deaths.
The experiences of soldiers at war:
Artillery fire.
The constant explosions and threat of being killed/shelled was extremely psychologically draining.
Fearful, anxious, stressed, and sleep-deprived soldiers would not fight well. Highly traumatising - PTSD (shell-shocked).
The experiences of soldiers at war:
Food, drink, and clothes.
Rationed meals:
Meals were horrible, dry, and lacked variety and nutrition.
Lack of nutrients meant that soldiers were quite malnourished and therefore more vulnerable to disease.
Water scarcity:
The dryness of meals combined with water scarcity and the heat meant that soldiers would constantly feel hungry and thirsty which is extremely demoralising.
Soldiers were given 2 standard uniforms which would be dirty, unsanitary, in poor condition, and would smell.
The experiences of women on the home front.
Contributed to the war effort mainly by joining organisations that made and gathered resources for soldiers, e.g.
The Australian Red Cross.
The main things that these organisations gathered and sent to war were clothes, food
and leisure items.
The purpose of these items was to boost the moral of the soldiers by reinforcing their sense of duty and the thought that they were being cared for and respected by those at home in Australia.
Much of women’s involvement in these organisations was voluntary (they were not paid). Even if they were paid for the contribution, it was often at a significantly reduced rate (the Harvester Judgement only applied to white males).
This was because the Australian government feared that women would steal men’s jobs.
Australian women were often actively involved in convincing men to enlist (propaganda, campaigns such as “The Order of the White Feather”).
However, women were also used in stances against Australian involvement in the war, e.g. anti-conscription posters.
Experiences of women on the war front.
Many women travelled to Europe with Australian troops in order to serve various support roles, e.g. nurses (most common).
Roughly 3 000 Australian women served as nurses during WW1
Most nurses were stationed on or near the front lines so that their skills could be provided for wounded soldiers as immediately as possible.
Most nurses who served were fairly young, (under 30 years old).
War nurses who worked on the frontlines lived under the constant threat of being bombed by enemy artillery, leading many war nurses to develop shellshock, while others were heavily traumatised by their constant exposure to death and bodies maimed by war.
Australian nurses who suffered the most dangerous and intense working environment during WW1 were those who served in the Casualty Clearing Stations, which involved removing bodies from the battlefield, potentially while under fire from the enemy.
25 nurses lost their lives during service.
Contributions of Indigenous Australians during WW1.
Indigenous women did not participate to any significant degree in the war effort, due to the social prejudices against women and Aboriginal peoples during this time.
Aboriginal men did contribute significantly to the war effort, most prominently by fighting on the frontlines.
Discrimination against Indigenous Australians during the war.
In the initial years of the war, Indigenous Australians were banned from enlisting in the military.
However, due to declining enlistment rates and the failure of both the 1916 and 1917 referendums for conscription, the government allowed Indigenous Australians of mixed heritage to enlist.
Indigenous Australians most likely experienced a far less amount of discrimination on the warfront than they did at home since all Australian soldiers were fighting for the same nation and highly focused on just staying alive.
However, it is unlikely that they experienced no discrimination while at war.
Indigenous Australian reasons for enlisting.
Indigenous reasons for enlisting were overlapped nonindigenous reasons:
Helping end the war.
Protecting their friends and families.
A sense of duty to one’s country.
Earning money.
Travelling overseas.
Indigenous Australians also saw enlisting as an opportunity to prove themselves equal to their non-Indigenous counterparts.
It can be said that these Indigenous men received lots of respect and honours for their service in the war, and that their goal of “earning” acceptance and equality was achieved to a small degree.
It is estimated that around 1,000 Indigenous Australians served in WW1.
Indigenous Australians experiences of war.
Indigenous Australians served on both the Western Front and in the Middle East during WW1. In doing so they suffered the same brutal existence that soldiers suffered:
Fear
Hunger
Cold
Filthy living conditions
Disease
Shellshock
Experiences of Prisoners of War (POWs)
4,082 Australian soldiers became POWs during WW1. This is around 1% of all Australian men who served in the war.
3,850 were captured by German forces, of which 9% died in captivity.
232 men were captured by Turkish forces, of which 25% died in captivity.
Given these death rates, the experiences of POWs were brutal (particularly Turkish camps).
Camp conditions for POWs.
Once captured, Australian troops were taken to a POW camp where they would likely have stayed until the end of the war, barring a successful escape.
Escaping was an almost impossibility, and most escape attempts ended in execution.
Camps were crowded, filthy, lacked comfort or sufficient infrastructure, and were incredibly boring.
Labour conditions for POWs.
Many Australian POWs recall being forced to do strenuous manual labour while they were captive:
Construction projects
Assembly work
General manual labour
Agricultural work
Many POWs would have been extremely malnourished, vulnerable to disease, and hard manual labour in these conditions would have resulted in some deaths.
Diseases in POW camps.
POW camps were very unsanitary.
Disease led to the deaths of many POWs.
Furthermore, at camps with particularly poor, or incomplete, infrastructure, POWs were forced to sleep outside in the cold, which would have caused the further development of illness amongst the prisoners.
Food in POW camps.
Prisoners were often underfed and received bland food with insufficient nutrition.
Most prisoners were severely malnourished, and many died as a result.
This poor food also would have had a psychological impact on the prisoners, with much of their morale being dampened by the inability to eat a decent meal.
Mistreatment in POW camps.
Many POWs were severely mistreated by the men guarding the camp.
Punishments for even the smallest offences were severe, and meant that you could:
Be beaten.
Miss a meal.
Forced to sleep outside.
Prisoners were often also denied the medical attention that they needed. This issue was intensified by the poor food and hygiene of these camps.
POWs could be forced to dress in the enemy’s uniform and then perform a duty out in no-man’s-land, such as fixing barbed wiring or clearing dead bodies, meaning that they could be shot and killed by their own side.
Community in POW camps.
POWs sometimes would entertain each other through singing and performances.
Some would use their spare time to develop libraries, social spaces, theatres, and sporting matches.
This would have been highly dependent on the infrastructure of the camp, their captors, and the availability of resources from camp to camp.
There was no perceived need to consider the comfort, health, etc of POWs
Describe the Enemy Aliens in Australia.
At the outbreak of war there were about 34,000 German-born and 40 000 - 50 000 people of German descent living in Australia.
At the beginning of the war there was a widespread support for Australians of German descent.
Many Australians of German descent enlisted in the AIF and fought and died in the war.
Germans of Australian descent were forced to assert their loyalty and commitment to the Empire.
However, once the war started to escalate, a mass degree of hysteria developed regarding these “Enemy Aliens” and many were afraid of them. People believed that they were spies, working for the enemy, and that their loyalty could not be trusted.
Enemy Aliens and Government actions.
Under the War Precautions Act all enemy aliens had to report to the military authorities or the local police.
There they had to swear an oath not to take up arms against the Empire.
The enemy alien was often then paroled and allowed to lead a life much like a convicted criminal.
But if they gave any cause for suspicion they could be immediately arrested and interned.
In 1915 the Australian Government decided that enemy aliens included Germans who were naturalised Australian citizens.
By 1916 this was extended to anyone born in Australia whose father or grandfather was German.
Describe Enemy Alien Internment Camps.
Over the course of the war more than 6,500 enemy aliens were placed in internment camps in Australia. Most internees were men.
An internment camp is a detention centre. Internment camps were not prisons, however internees were treated like convicted prisoners.
In wartime internment camps are often used to detain enemy aliens.
Internees were housed in camps and they were guarded by soldiers. They were not given any details of why they were interned and had no chance to defend themselves.
The largest of the Australian detention centres was the Holsworthy Camp near Sydney.
Some camps grew to include theatres, restaurants and cafes, other small businesses, an orchestra and sporting and educational activities, which were developed by the internees.
To a large degree, it was a much more comfortable life than that experienced by POWs, however they were still treated as prisoners.
Living conditions were overcrowded and sanitary facilities were basic. Work was on a part-time basis with men being allowed to work only about two weeks out of eight.
Some internees tried to escape, and faced harsh consequences.
Following the war, enemy aliens were often deployed back to Germany (their “home” country).
Describe conscription:
What is conscription?
How did people try to avoid conscription?
What were the consequences of avoiding conscription?
Conscription = forced enlistment in the military.
Draft dodging, faking medical conditions, financial bribes, etc were some methods of attempting to avoid conscription.
Refusal, attempted escape, etc was seen as a very serious crime as it was seen as breaking the law in a very unpatriotic manner.
People could go to jail for refusing or attempting to avoid being conscripted.
Why did the Australian government want to introduce conscription?
The government might choose to conscript its citizens due to decreasing enlistment rates and a decline in the appeal of enlisting.
Australians’ enthusiastic responses to recruitment had decreased as they learned more about battlefront conditions and the high rates of Australian casualties in France.
By June 1916, voluntary enlistment in the AIF was less than half of the 16 500 men per month who were needed to maintain Australia’s fighting capacity.
Describe the 1916 and 1917 conscription referendums.
The Australian government held 2 referendums during WW1 (1916 & 1917) to decide whether or not Australia should be allowed to conscript its young men to go and serve in the war.
On both occasions, Australians voted “No,” (however these votes were tightly split). Thus, every Australian troop that served in WW1 did so voluntarily.
During both of the conscription referendums, propaganda was used heavily to try and influence Australians to vote for both yes and no.
The months leading up to the referendum saw Australians become more and more divided as supporters and opponents of conscription tried to persuade others to vote either for or against compelling men to go to war.
Australia was one of the only countries that fought in WW1 not to introduce conscription.
Who was in favour of conscription?
Many politicians.
Most middle class people of English background (access to opportunities to get out of conscription that lower class members did not have - the impact of conscription and the war was less of a reality) (stronger ties to Britain).
Some women’s groups.
All State governments (except Queensland) (politicians would have most likely not been eligible for conscription – fundamental disconnect).
Most Protestant churches and some Catholics (religious and nationalistic motivations for conscriptions).
All the major newspapers (newspapers were owned by quite wealthy people - would not have represented the opinions of average people who would have been affected by the war).
Identify some arguments in favour of conscription.
Australia had a duty to support Britain.
The voluntary system of recruitment had failed (declining enlistment rates).
It was necessary to support the soldiers already fighting in the trenches.
Other Allied countries had introduced conscription (Britain in February 1916, New Zealand in August 1916, Canada in September 1916).
Who was opposed to conscription?
The Australian Labour Party (representing the rights of labourers/workers/those who would have been conscripted)
The working class.
Trade unionists.
Working class and union newspapers.
Some women’s groups.
Irish Catholics (who made up 21% of the population) (the relationship between Ireland and Britain was tense - Irish people were highly against the idea of conscription in order to support Britain).
Identify some arguments against conscription.
Lower paid women and foreign workers would take the jobs of conscripted men (this would threaten the misogynistic and patriotic attitude of the government).
Men should be free to decide for themselves if they wanted to enlist; no-one had the right to send another man to kill or be killed.
Australia had already done more than her share (there was less of a desire to support the mother country in a war which wasn’t impactful on Australia) (Australia had already sent over 10s of 1000s on a monthly basis, and this impact was felt strongly by the Australian economy and society, especially since at this time Australia still had a small population).
