*Ø* Blogmanac August 8, 1914 | Aussie kids rush to glory
1914 In the midst of a huge government propaganda campaign, a flood of enlistment began for recruits to fight for Britain’s Empire with the Australian Imperial Force in World War I. From Australia’s adult male population of only 2.7 million, a staggering figure of 416,809 Australians joined the the AIF, with major theatres of war being France and the Middle East. Back home, women regularly gave white feathers, signifying cowardice, to boys and men to shame them into travelling 18,000 kilometres to kill strangers, and to be killed.
The country became deeply divided as the senseless war dragged on and the Commonwealth Government tried to introduce conscription for overseas service. By 1918 the AIF had suffered a casualty rate of more than 64 per cent (one in five of all who served, died), leaving few Australian families untouched by the loss or injury of a loved one. Australia’s young male population was decimated by World War One, a huge setback economically and socially, with a huge demographic lack of fit young males for years. Men as young as 15 sailed across the world to die in the trenches of Europe for a Britain they had only heard about but never seen. For many years after the war, amputees were a common sight; thousands of veterans suffered from ‘shellshock’ – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, filling ‘mental asylums’.
Depicting the war
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1914 In the midst of a huge government propaganda campaign, a flood of enlistment began for recruits to fight for Britain’s Empire with the Australian Imperial Force in World War I. From Australia’s adult male population of only 2.7 million, a staggering figure of 416,809 Australians joined the the AIF, with major theatres of war being France and the Middle East. Back home, women regularly gave white feathers, signifying cowardice, to boys and men to shame them into travelling 18,000 kilometres to kill strangers, and to be killed.
The country became deeply divided as the senseless war dragged on and the Commonwealth Government tried to introduce conscription for overseas service. By 1918 the AIF had suffered a casualty rate of more than 64 per cent (one in five of all who served, died), leaving few Australian families untouched by the loss or injury of a loved one. Australia’s young male population was decimated by World War One, a huge setback economically and socially, with a huge demographic lack of fit young males for years. Men as young as 15 sailed across the world to die in the trenches of Europe for a Britain they had only heard about but never seen. For many years after the war, amputees were a common sight; thousands of veterans suffered from ‘shellshock’ – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, filling ‘mental asylums’.
Depicting the war
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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