Why Did Australia Enter Ww1 Research Paper

Introduction Australia's involvement in World War I (WW1) is heralded as one of the most significant periods in its history and a significant turning point for a fledging country. It is indeed accurate to say that Australia's relationship with Great Britain explains why both the Australian people and nation supported Great Britain during the war. Australia's entry into WW1 was significantly influenced by its long-standing alliance with Great Britain, its former colonial overlord. The positive relationship formed during Australia’s colonial period played a significant role in shaping Australia’s national identity, inspiring a sense of duty and allegiance among the Australian people to protect the motherland of the British Empire. Australia joined

This essay posits the deeper motivations behind Australia and its people’s decision to enter WWI, acknowledging the primary role of Great Britain whilst also examining other influences such as domestic politics and societal pressures.

Obligations Despite the widespread belief that Australia chose to enter the war on its own accord, the British Imperial Government at the time was still in charge of the Empire's foreign policy, which included war declarations. Therefore, the Australian government’s role was only to determine the extent of its military contribution. In this regard, on August 3rd 1914, the Federal Cabinet presented the British government with two proposals: first, to transfer control of the Australian navy to the British Admiralty, and second, to send an expeditionary force consisting of 20,000 troops overseas. Overall, Australia sent 324,000 troops to

This is because there was no mandatory conscription and all members of the ANZACs were volunteers. Organizations like the Win the War League were instrumental in promoting patriotism towards not only Australia but Britain too whilst encouraging enlistment. Peer pressure and a sense of duty to country gained from these propaganda efforts motivated many young Australians to enlist. This contributed to 416,809 enlistments of males aged 18-44, which was 38.7% of the male population, by the end of the war. Source 1, is an Australian recruitment poster for the First World War, produced by the Win the War League. It depicts a young man surfing the waves and having fun juxtaposed with the text over the image (“It is nice in the surf, but what about the men in the trenches?”). The poster serves as a reminder to the audience that although young able-bodied men can enjoy their leisure time, in doing so they are being selfish and forgetting about those who are fighting in the trenches, all of whom volunteered for duty. In turn, this aims to evoke a sense of responsibility among young Australians to enlist to protect Australia, their mother country and freedom as a whole. Through source 1 we can infer that Britain was not the only reason contributing to Australia’s decision to join the war and that the Australian individuals were also