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Ypres
To the left is a picture taken in 1918 of the Cloth Hall Tower, in rubble after the first, seccond, thrid and forth battles that took place in and around the tower. The town of Ypres, which was in belgium was at the time often described as a saucer: town being in the middle of the land. The town was important to the Belgiums' because it was the last part of Belgium still under soverignty, however we recognise these times as being sagnificant because soldiers from the AIF fought here until 1918. -
Australian Women in WW1
As you can see, the left does not only show Australian Soldiers in WW1 but Women too! 3000 Australian women went to war with the AANS. They worked under extreme conditions. Australian women were not allowed to serve any direct roles in the armed forces, however they made a significant contribution to the health of the AIF. Back home thousands of wemon were supporting their loved ones and volunteering: donating clothes and tobacco. They also took up the roles Australian men left behind. -
German New Guinea
German New Guinea was the first part of the german colonial empire. It was a protecting assosciating country ffrom 1884 until 1914 when it fell to Australian forces, following the outbreak of world war 1. -
Assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand aged 51 was the heir to the Austro Hungarian empire. He was not favoured by the public because he made it clear that as emperor he would make changes. On the 26th of June 1914 he landed in Sarajevo. It was only a short trip from the station until arived at to his destination. However, Black Hand (a serbian terrorist group) had other plans. On Ferdinands way a terrorist named Gavrillo Princp shot and killed both Ferdinand and his Wife. To the left they lay in their death beds. -
WW1 begins - Australians Enter War
To the left is a picture of Australians Troops in World War 1. Australians entered the war because their 'mother country' was Brittan. What Brittan does: Australia is requied to do too. After the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdianad, (4/8/1914) Brittan declared war on Germany. Australians (like many others) greeted enlistment with great enthusiasam, but soon found out the war (which was originaly thought to last 6 weeks) was to be much more extreme than first thought. -
First Battle of Marne
The first battle of Marne only lasted a short 4 days and ended on the 10th of September 1914. By September 3rd Paris had been evacuated and the government and civilians had moved. The battle was to remove the germans from the french cities they had invaded. by September 9th General Helmuth von Moltke ordered the German Armies to retreat. -
The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers to form the Triple Alliance in August 1914. Germany didnt want Turkey in allies with the enemy so they decided to invite Turkey into the Central powers. the allies were unable to protect Turkey from germany in the case of attack which is more the reason for them to have fought in central powers, The allies declared war on the Ottoman Empire on November 4. -
Suez Canal
To your left is a picture of teh Suez Canal today, as peacefull as it looks this was once the location of a feirce, yet short battle.Since 1882 Egypt had been rulled by the Brittish Empire. The Suez Canal was important to the Brittish as it allowed for easy acsess to some of the most valuable parts upon the east of Suez.
On January the 3rd at 3am the Turkish attacked Suez and the Brittish Empire, however the Turkish troops only gained many casualties as they came under heavy fire. -
Gallipoli
Members of the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) along with troops from New Zeland, Brittan and France landed at Galliopli. Unfotunatley the Central Powers saw them comming. The battle lasted until the 20th of December 1915 and was brutal. Today, on April the 25th we celebrate the endurance and courage of our Australian Troops in World War 1 with poppies-which grew in the feilds of Galliopoli after ANZAC (Australian and New Zeland Army Corps were burried there. To the left is the Gallipoli feilds. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The set destination for the Lusitania was liverpool (from New York city) but on the 7th of May near thye coast of Ireland at 2:10pm a torpedo was fired by a german submarine. A mysterious 2nd explosion is what ripped the liner of the ship apart. within 18 minutes the ship had sunk and 1119 of the 1924 had died. Within 2 years of the sinking, President Wilson declared war. -
Western Front
To the left is the Allies fighting in trenches upon the Western Front. From 1916 right through until the end of the war in 1918 the AIF fought in the Western Front.
The Western Front was well known for its tretuous conditions in trench Warefare, for a large amount of sagnificant battles (including the battle of Somme and Verdun) and also for the many Australians killed, insured or taken prisoner of war. -
Battle of Verdun
the battle of Verdun was the longest single battle of WWI and was also the primary reason the battle of Somme began.The french saw it as an oppertunity to make General Phillipe Petain a hero in war after German chief, Von Falkenhayn had plotted the battle, 140,000 German troops started the attack with 1,200 artillery guns targetting 2,500,000 shells, The germans had at that time, the largest concentration of planes in history. The battle ended in December 1916 after Somme, Germans had victory. -
The Constription Issue
The AIF was the only army contructed entirely out of volunteers. But by mid 1916 australains had seen the horrific conditions and truth about war and enlisting seemed less and less exciting. William Morris Hughes (prime minister) decided that Australia should do what its mother country has done and introduce constription. This raised a lot of controversy within social classes, Hughes believed that those who has not stepped up to their duty should be forced to. -
Trench Warfare
Between 1916 and 1917 trench warfare was a strong issue in both east and west Europe. Soldiers fought from inside trenches, striking at each other with machine guns, heavy artillery, and extremely sensative chemical weapons. Though soldiers died by the millions in the brutal conditions, neither side had any success or gained any advantage from battles within trenches. -
Battle of Somme
The battle of Somme sybolised the main horrors of warfare.
the amount of British soldiers lost was; 420,000, French;200,000, German;500,000. The battle began as a result of the french losing the battle of Verdun (attach on the Germans). 1,738,000 shells were fired towards the germans in the beginning. The battle ended in November later that year. -
Fromelles
On july 19 1916 in a feint (dummy attack meant to deceive the enemy into moving troops from where the main attack will take place) at Fromelles. On this day the Australian 5th devision suffered over 5000 casualties. To the left is our troops fighting in a trench at Fromelles. -
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The battle of Vimy ridge is considered a huge victory for Canada although more then 10,000 canadian men were wounded or dead during the battle. this is also the first time all four Canadian regions fought together. Brigadier-General A.E. Ross declared after the war, "in those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation." -
Battle of Passchendaele
To the left is a picture of Australian troops carrying a body out of the mud at Passchendaele. The battle of Passchendaele too place from July to Novemeber 1917 and was commonly known as the Thrid Battle Of Ypres. It was signifgant not only for the huge amount of casualties, but for the horrific trench warefare conditions. The Allies (including members of the AIF) suffered 325,000 casualties in a matter of a few months. -
The treaty of Versailles
The treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement signed by germany, russia and the allies officially ending world war 1. The ceremony was held at the Versailles Palace because of the amount of people attending (hundreds). Throughout all the nations involved, 8.5 million soldiers died and 21 million were wounded thus a strong awakening for the leading countries of WW1. -
League of nations formed
The league of nations was formed in 1920 and proposed by President Wilson although he strongly felt that he was not involved. The idea was to maintain world peace specifically for the fighting countries. The organsiation was ingovernmental and developped over a long period of time. But was made offical at the Paris peace conference,
