World War I began when Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. Australia's ties to Britain at this time were very strong and so when Britain declared war the Australian Government also considered itself to be at war with Germany. Australia raised an armed force called the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) from volunteers, and put the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) at the disposal of the British Government to serve alongside the Royal Navy. The AIF comprised two divisions, one of which, the Light Horse Brigade, went to fight in German New Guinea. The majority of AIF soldiers formed a combined force with New Zealand soldiers called the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, widely known as the ANZACs.
The ANZACs were first sent to train in Egypt in preparation for a campaign against Turkey, a German ally. The combined force landed at Gallipoli on the north coast of Turkey on 25 April 1915. The terrain was difficult and mountainous, however, and the Australians suffered enormous losses. The ANZACs retreated after 27 000 soldiers were killed or wounded.
Following the Gallipoli campaign, the Australian Government divided the AIF into five divisions. The Light Horse, which had successfully captured German New Guinea, was sent to Sinai on a campaign against Turkey that was to lead to the eventual capture of Palestine. The rest of the AIF joined British and French forces in Europe campaigning on the Western Front.
Australian soldiers fought in many significant battles during the war including the Battle of Somme at Fromelles in France, and the Battle of Passchendaele around Ypres, in Belgium. European campaigns against Germany were often fought in and from trenches, long, zig-zagging corridors of dug-out earth that cut across the countryside. Detailed maps were regularly drawn up to negotiate the trenches and to aid communication. The Australian soldiers referred to themselves as 'diggers', a reference to their trench life that echoed that of the early Australian settlers who dug for gold in the 1850s.
Just as the infantry made a significant contribution to the war effort, so did the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), particularly at the outset of the war when in November 1914 the HMAS Sydney sunk the German cruiser the Emden.
World War I ended on 11 November 1918 after a significant Allied offensive in August encouraged Germany to sign an armistice agreement that halted the conflict. The four years of war had been very costly for Australia - nearly 62 000 Australians lost their lives and approximately 156 000 were wounded at a time when the population of the country was just under 5 million. In acknowledgement of the contribution of AIF and RAN forces during the conflict, Australia was accepted into the League of Nations, an international organisation formed in 1920 that was the forerunner of the United Nations. |
