World War 1 Introduction History Essay

World War 1 started in Europe in the year 1914 and went though 4 years and ended in the year 1918. The war started out with an assassination of heir to the Austrian throne by a Serbian nationalist. Austria then told Serbia there will be bad consequences for what they have done and Serbia had Russia as its allies and Russia threatened Austria then Austria told Germany the problem and Germany declared war on Russia and its ally which was France. Germany went into Belgium and then Britain entered war on the Russian side. Australia went in too because it was allies with Britain.

Reasons for enlistment

Australians volunteered to go to war in 1914 because of various reasons.

Australia enlisted 324 thousand men to go and help Britain out at war there were 4 main reasons:

Loyal towards Brittan although it had been 14 years since Brittan had direct control of Australia but we still had close ties to the mother country and they thought that they should help the mother country.

Peer pressure played an enormous part of people enlisting in the army if they did not they would be ashamed of in their society.

The Australian government advertised the war as being fun and they will return home by Christmas and they will get paid lots of shillings.

Australia was really scared of Asians invading it and if that would happen Britain would have Australia’s back and protect it.

Some other reasons were:

Men with no jobs can go and come back heroes and to do something useful in their lives.

Australia’s relationship with Britain in 1914.

Australia joined in the war to help Brittan because Brittan was allies with Australia and they were very close Australia considered them their “mother country”.

On the forum of yahoo 7 a person by the name of livelyblueswimmer stats “Many of our residents had been born in Britain and/or still had close relatives there. Therefore if Britain was at war, many people thought we should be too.”

Australia was also founded by Britain in the year 1788.we have also been selling food and wool to England also England gave Australia food and other imported goods.

Australia was a small population who needed a stronger country to offer all kinds of support. Australia wanted to show it’s loyalty to Britain in order to guarantee that strong allegiance. An example of this is when Australia went to war with Britain in 1914 as to show off their loyalty.

Australia and Britain against a common enemy.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/australia-new-zealand.htm

Why did people not want Australia to join the war?

People didn’t want Australia to go to war because Australia was very young country and the Australian population in 1914 was less than five million.

Although this was a small majority, it was made up by minor groups such as,

Conscientious objectors from religious groups such as the Society of Friends (Quakers) and pacifists who were in opposition to the taking of human life. Another group that was involved in the opposition to war were the Trade unions because they assumed it was a load that would be carried by working class people in every country rather than by the middle and upper classes who had more influences in the choices to go to war.

Recruitment Campaigns

www.hsc.csu.edu.au/…/ww1/posters/page74.htm

This recruitment poster that was used to encourage young men and women to join the war is attracting an audience that is to all age groups both men and women.

The Techniques that have been used to influence the audience is by using;

Symbols: Kangaroo symbolises Australia. A kangaroo is also seen as a strong fighting animal

Personal appeal by using words such as “you” so people feel authority that someone was telling them what to do.

50000 is written in large font to emphasise the urgency of increasing the number of men to join.

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www.world-war-pictures.com/war-poster/wargb013

This Recruitment Poster was used to influence the audience to adopt a positive attitude towards the war.

Techniques that were used include the following:

Choosing words and phrases portraying positive concepts , such as “until the enemy is crush”

Appealing to feelings of nationalism and patriotism.

Written in big white bold font to stand out and appeal to the audience.

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www.search.com/reference/Propaganda

In this Recruitment poster propaganda expresses information that is very appealing to the young and old audience that will cause an emotional response.

Techniques that have been used to encourage enlistment are as follows;

Giving the audience a direct order, such as “Whos absent? Is it you?”

Also Underlining the bold word “you” to make it feel like someone is telling you what to do and there is authority.

Appealing to feelings of nationalism and patriotism by pointing his finger towards the audience.

In conclusion it is now over 90 years since World War 1 finished and almost 100 years since it began. People called it “The Great War” and ‘The War to end all wars’ because it had such a dramatic and tragic impact on soldiers and civilians alike. Today, people keep in mind Australia’s part in World War 1 as an important turning point in its growth towards freedom from Great Britain. We remember and tribute the sacrifices of those who served.

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