Australia was known as a very young country when World War 1 started, considering that it had only federated 13 years earlier. Geographically, Australia was isolated from the “center” of the war, up North in the northern hemisphere. Although Australia was so far away from the front of the war, at the time Australia did not realize how big a part in the war they would play in the “war that would end all wars.”
In the image below, it shows the distance from Australia to Europe (Battle Front)
In the image below, it shows the distance from Australia to Europe (Battle Front)
Australia, although a Federation since 1901, was still a member of the British Empire. This meant that when Britain declared war on 4 August 1914 not only were the French and Russian empires compelled to join the British, but Australia also found herself at war. The nation's financial resources and manpower were promised by the then-Labor leader, Andrew Fisher, who assured that 'Australians will stand beside our own to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling.'
World War 1 went for 4 years and Australia sent over 313,814 troops and 60,000 men died which was dramatic as the population at the time was about 5 million and that would mean that in equivalent to todays population we would have lost about 240,000 troops.
Young men of Australia enlisted in the war for a variety of reasons such as:
· Holiday
· Experience
· Propaganda Posters
· Romanticism
· Honour
- Adventure
- Glory
However, what seemed like a ‘holiday’ became more like a nightmare.
Wilfred Owen, a famous English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the WW1, wrote many poems however I believe that ‘Dulce et Decorum est,’ best portrays the reality of WW1.
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
In the poem, Owen describes the horrible events that happen in the war, however in this poem it focuses on gas. Own decribes the men as “Drunk with fatigue,” relating to the sheer physicality. The gas is a monster, and as Owen describes a man who encounters the monster (gas) experiences the slow painful death described as, “gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.”
The desperateness of “Gas! Gas! Quick boys” gives us a sense urgency and franticness about the gas. “someone still was yelling out and stumbling, and flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…” Words such as ‘Lime’ really create a sense of imagery as ‘lime’ is a chalky substance which can burn live tissue. Imagine being on the western front and watching men being burnt alive. Words such as ‘lime’ help give us a sense of imagery as if you were there watching, listening, to the screaming men.
In WW1, propaganda posters influenced many people. They were posters designed to make many civilians feel like joining the war through many feelings such as guilt, pain and pride. Propaganda ensured that the people only got to know what their governments wanted them to know. In World War One, the lengths to which governments would go to in an effort to blacken the enemy’s name reached a new level.
Examples:
World War 1 went for 4 years and Australia sent over 313,814 troops and 60,000 men died which was dramatic as the population at the time was about 5 million and that would mean that in equivalent to todays population we would have lost about 240,000 troops.
Young men of Australia enlisted in the war for a variety of reasons such as:
· Holiday
· Experience
· Propaganda Posters
· Romanticism
· Honour
- Adventure
- Glory
However, what seemed like a ‘holiday’ became more like a nightmare.
Wilfred Owen, a famous English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the WW1, wrote many poems however I believe that ‘Dulce et Decorum est,’ best portrays the reality of WW1.
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.
GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
In the poem, Owen describes the horrible events that happen in the war, however in this poem it focuses on gas. Own decribes the men as “Drunk with fatigue,” relating to the sheer physicality. The gas is a monster, and as Owen describes a man who encounters the monster (gas) experiences the slow painful death described as, “gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.”
The desperateness of “Gas! Gas! Quick boys” gives us a sense urgency and franticness about the gas. “someone still was yelling out and stumbling, and flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…” Words such as ‘Lime’ really create a sense of imagery as ‘lime’ is a chalky substance which can burn live tissue. Imagine being on the western front and watching men being burnt alive. Words such as ‘lime’ help give us a sense of imagery as if you were there watching, listening, to the screaming men.
In WW1, propaganda posters influenced many people. They were posters designed to make many civilians feel like joining the war through many feelings such as guilt, pain and pride. Propaganda ensured that the people only got to know what their governments wanted them to know. In World War One, the lengths to which governments would go to in an effort to blacken the enemy’s name reached a new level.
Examples:
Propaganda posters inflicted many messages such as to join the army, however I believe that another important message is that it is an honour to die for your country. In Wilfred Owen’s poem, “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” the use of strong imagery used to capture the War with words such as, ‘gurgling, guttering, choking and drowning.’ The sense of the honour to die for your country is lost through the use of description and pain in the poem.