World War 1

Shell holes, Polygon Wood
Unidentified Australians manning improved shell holes, 21 September 1917.
Image courtesy of Australian War Memorial, No. E00971.

Imagine the impact, both positive and negative, of World War 1 on our newly formed Australian nation and on individual families.

When Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, Australia was still a very young nation with strong allegiances to Great Britain. It would have been unthinkable for Australia to not automatically go to war in support of the British Empire.

The path to war:

• On 28 July 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
• A system of alliances saw other nations drawn into the conflict.
• Serbia sought help and protection from Russia.
• France declared support for Russia.
• Germany declared support for Austria-Hungary and hence declared war against Russia on 1 August 1914 and against France on 3 August 1914.
• To invade France, Germany needed to sweep through Belgium so on 4 August 1914, Germany invaded Belgium.
• Britain had guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium, so on 4 August 1914, Britain declared war against Germany.

Thus began what we now call World War 1, which ran from 1914 until 11 November 1918.

416 000 Australian men joined the AIF, representing about 38.7% of the total Australian adult male population. At the time, Australia had a population of approximately 4.5 million. Of the 331 000 Australians (men aged between 18 and 44 yrs) who were mobilised for war, 221 000 became casualties (killed, died, wounded, prisoners & missing), representing 66.7% of our mobilised force.