World War I Essay

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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War and the War To End All Wars, was a global military conflict, which took place predominantly in Europe from 1914 to 1918. The war had a devastating death toll of 16 million, which includes both military and citizens. The primary cause of the war was the June 28, 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip. It goes down as one of the deadliest conflicts in history, causing major political changes, including revolutions, which involved many countries including Australia. Australia initially got involved in the war when Great Britain called upon them for support in the battle against the Germans. At the beginning of the war in 1914, there was a huge rust to enlist due to the patriotism towards the ‘Mother Country’, propaganda and many other factors. However after some time had passed the public had finally realized that the war was not what the propaganda had portrayed it to be. This therefore meant that the extent to which Australians enlisted dramatically decreased.

There were several factors that led to the initial rush to enlist among young Australian men at the beginnings of the war during 1914. Young men saw military service as more than just a great adventure, but a matter of eagerness and thrill, a way to earn respect, become mature in the eyes of their friends and families and is almost treated as a right of passage when boys became men. Another huge element was the troops salary. They earned a minimum wage of 6 shillings a day, which at the time, was very tempting even although it was marginally below the average wage. This was due to the harsh financial conditions and the fact that the English m...

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...f it was a great adventure and a necessary rite of passage between adolescence and manhood. The offer was also very tempting because of the money earned, the hope to gain respect and that everyone thought that the war would be finished by Christmas. But not long after the landings in Gallipoli, people’s opinions on the war completely altered. The public ultimately realized the dangers of a war and noticed the deception of the propaganda, as the war wasn’t as they portrayed it to actually be. The propaganda missed several key factors of a war, which made people think that there were no negatives to the war and persuaded them to join the AIF. After people grasped the full concept of the war and the toll it puts on people the numbers for enlistment fell remarkably. This ultimately led to the decrease in enlistment during World War I to defend the ‘Mother Country’.

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