1) Destruction of a generation of men - 331 781 troops into action. - 59 342 killed or died from wounds. - 152 171 wounded or affected by gas. - 4084 became Prisoners of War - the nation had lost some of its finest men who could have contributed a lot to the growth of the nation. 2) Establishment of Military tradition - the Australians had proved themselves to be first-rate soldiers - they had been brave tough and resourceful - a whole new national image had been born 3) Symbols of Remembrance - The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League was formed in 1916 - Anzac Day, 25th of April has become a national day of remembrance - across Australia, a surprising number of stone obelisks, statues and memorial halls were raised to commemorate the fallen. It also served to bring to power one of Australia's greatest ever politicians and statesmen - William Morris 'Billy' Hughes. This turbulent, fiery-tempered little Welshman was elected to power in 1915 following the collapse of the Fisher Government - although seen by many as a noisy, belligerent Empire loyalist, Hughes was nonetheless a passionate Australian nationalist, who fought like a hellcat for what he believed to be in the nation's best interests. Up until his advent, Australia had been governed by a series of vague, stately, top-hatted grandees, whose political philisophies and practices remained rooted in the Victorian era and who were ill-suited to steer a fast-developing nation through a rapidly changing world. Hughes changed all that - he was the first Aussie PM to truly connect with his electorate, to make them feel proud of being Australians, and to begin the process of turning the country from being an obscure Colonial outpost on the other side of the world, into an advanced, industrialised regional power with a strong voice in international affairs. Although he lost the Premiership in 1923, he remained a powerful political influence throughout the rest of his life and held several Cabinet positions in subsequent administrations, up until his death in late 1952. He changed the very concept of what it meant to be Australian- his influence on the country can be compared to that of F.D.Roosevelt on the USA, and ushered in a fundamental and irreversible leap forward from colony to nationhood.
Billy Hughes, when the Allies were carving up the post WW1 world Presedent Wilson and others wanted the islands of papua, new ireland, New Britian and Bourganville etc to be handed to the Japanese for their sterling work in escorting allied convoys. Now the little digger did not like this idea, sure it loked a safe bet that Australia would have governing control of New Guinea (Southern half of island), but he didnot like the idea of the rest just being given to the Japanese, especially after it was Australians who had *liberated* them from german Govt control. When arguing the subject President wilson who amongst other did not want this to happen and said some thing like you a leader of just 5 million people are telling the leaders of the most powerful nations what to do, Hughes fired back the response well i speak for 60,000 dead, this must of given the President some thing to think about for one reason or another, ashe not long later changed his mind and Australia was eventually given a mandate over these islands. Imagine if the Japanese had been given these islands and the infulence this would have had 23 years later with the IJA Something I am glad did not happen.
While the deeds of the men from the war of 1914 - 1918 have gone into our psyche, Tall Bronzed lean muscle ripping man who makes the job of being a soldiers look as if he was born for it and the stories all but say so. How much does the average Joe know about WW1, Gallipoli well great, the Somme well that's great as well, but what about the other bluddy battles, so we use 25th April and 11/11 etc as days to cover all. This allows the people to hear about the great battles mentioned, fought by tall hero's who loved the bayonet. By early 1918 the Australian Corps had been in the line since mid 1916, just prior to the German offensive the Aussies were to due to finally go into deep reserve for R&R ( Retraining and reequipping), however this was cancelled before the Aussies had even moved from the front trenches, so by 1918 they had two+years of fighting. The fighting later in 1918 became some what fluid. The Australian Corps (5 Divs 57/60 Btns) were in March/April 1918 were amongst the most experienced Corps in the entire allied Army, and I say that is one of the most contributing factors of Australian Success in 1918 No we are not living in Ancient Sparta, Australians are like everyone else it takes months and hard training and discipline to create a force who can be sent in for a fight, some individuals will move forward quicker with their training others wont. However at no time did Aussie have a population who were "born soldiers' people all over the world run around with .22's etc killing rabbits, or larger game others also ride horses all day as well. The type of men who make soldiers quickly are those who will listen and very importantly create a mate ship with his cobbers in what ever unit he is in no matter if it's for 1 hour or 40 years. Like all Armies the need for esprit de corps or in my words "bluddy good moral" a moral that gets even stronger when the times get rougher So even though many Aussies decide to believe certain things about the diggers, due to many differing story's over the years and being patriotic they all want them to be true. It is good now as the amount of digitized military papers are becoming immense so people can start to work out what actually happened. The effect of war was so much firstly the immense loss of a generation of men out of about five (5) Million people we had, 60,000 dead, hundreds of thousands wounded/Gassed, how many people have a old auntie whose been a widow for 95 years, they are still about and when i was young every family had a widow whose man copped it in WW1 or WW2. (My Great Grandad Died of Gun Shot wounds to Head aged 45 in 1916). The old spinsters the older members will remember some,. just not enough men left to go around so many wonderful & nice woman never got married. The men who came back were rightly proud of their achievements and the people of Australia have shown how much we thank them and will continue to show. THe story's whether printed by Historians like Bean or the story's comming from the returned men showed how they went about their work, showed what the did, walking behind your own creeping barrage, like all soldiers it showed remarkable fortitude for a man or men to do this over and over In 1939 another generation went to war almost happily, as soon as Brtiian was in the war so was Australia. After The last time this happens, Australians changed the way they deploy troops esp when under forgien command. Aussie sent thousands of more troops to fight. .These men went to war for Australia fighting the good fight again, singing the battle hymns of their fathers, training in similar places and finally fighting in a similar place's, the Fighting all over the world in WW2 finally convinced the Australian Govt to have a Regular Army Infantry Bgd Group, unthinkable allmost criminal to think of Regular Infantry Btns just 7 years earlier. The effect of WW1 appears to have moulded a image in most Australians, due to the efforts of the fighters of WW1, Australia and Australians knew they were just as good as anyone else on the battle field, and this also made it's way into Aussie life, that we can have a go because we knew Aussie's could compete with others in all sorts of pursuits. We also from WW1 came out more of a one country with six states prior the states which just 14 years earlier had been a seperate colony's with naught to do with each other except for necessary trade. The Aussie States, now they looked apon each other as Australians, who came from a State, which was one of six. So WW1 started a change in Australia helped Austtralians with their national character Regards Cobber
