Significance Of 1917 As The Worst Year Of The Great War In Australia

Historians have described 1917 as the worst year of the Great War “for Australia and Australians”. 1917 was a turning point in the war for Australia, because it was a time where the Australian government experienced many issues with enlistments, casualties of Australian soldiers, and the raising public awareness of war and its effects. The raising awareness of what the war was, the Australian government was having issues with the public as enlistments went down as a result of awareness of war. 1917 was the worst year for the Australian army as the number of casualties was raising rapidly and reached it’s peak of 76,836 and the loss of major battles that we could’ve won.

Public awareness of the war grew. As the Australian government had a

Soldiers fighting sent letters to their family just like Neaves and told them the truth on how horrific war was. Returning soldiers also expressed their emotions and thoughts about the war by creating propaganda to try and put down the war, but due to the censorship the information that the men were trying to express was blocked from reaching the public. Daryl Lindsay was an Australian artist who knew the truth of war and by using his skill of art he created a painting called “Optimism” which shows an Australian soldier carrying wood in the rain and mud. The image shows an Australian solider, carrying loads of wood while walking in the rain and mud. The solider looks very miserable and looks very tired as he may have just fought in a battle with the Allies. This cartoon shows that he is on the Western front as the conditions were harsh, with diseases, cold and rainy weather. This Cartoon was created to show what the conditions of the Western Front was like. It was probably used to show others at home what war was actually like, how it wasn’t fun and an adventure. The public’s awareness of what war is grew dramatically and because of this 1917 was the worst year for the Australian government as the number of enlistments went down resulting in the lack of troops, which wasn’t good for the Australian

The battle of Beersheba took place on 31 October 1917 as part of the wider British offensive collectively known as the third Battle of Gaza. The final phase of this all day battle was the famous mounted charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade. Commencing at dusk, members of the brigade stormed through the Turkish defenses and seized the strategic town of Beersheba. The capture of Beersheba enabled British Empire forces to break the Ottoman line near Gaza on 7 November and advance into