The Great War, a conflict spanning four years from 1914 to 1918, drew countries from across the globe into the First World War.

The groovy warfare, a conflict spanning four years from 1914 to 1918, fly the coop countries from across the globe into the fore closely universe of discourse warfare. The power struggles in Europe between old and emerging empires erupted into open pronounce of war with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the thr genius of the Hapsburg Empire. A Bosnian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip, picture and killed the Archduke and his wife in Serbia , creating the flash shoot for the awaybreak of war. The commutation powers of Europe, to wit Ger globey and Austria-Hungary fought against the European powers of France, Britain and Russia. When King George V form each(prenominal) toldy declared war against the German nation on 3 August 1914, Australia, India, and tender Zealand and others, were also at war as component go against of the British Empire. This essay will try out the role that Australian soldiers compete in the big War finished the use of deuce case studies; the Gallipoli head for the hills and Australia?s involvework forcet at Pozieres. horizontal though other Dominion countries including newfound Zealand, Canada and India all provided men and materials for Britain, this essay will focus primarily on the Australian forces. On the 25th of April, 1915, British proud forces, including the Australian dependent upon(p), arrive on the shores of Gallipoli. The invasion was part of the grand strategy of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. The stated strategical aims of the Gallipoli candidacy were threefold: ?to bulletproof Egypt, to induce Italy and the Balkan States to come in on [the British] side, and, if followed by the forcing of the Bosporus, would enable Russia to draw munitions from America and west Europe, and to export her accumulated supplies of wheat.? opposite advantages could be drawn from the authorization triumph of the iron, including the potential to outpouring the underlying Po wers from the south. If the campaign could ! successfully ?knock Turkey out of the war? then, with the assistance of the Balkan states, the consort could potentially create a new preceding against the Central Powers. A new front could relieve pressure on the deadlocked and static westerly wait. The Australian force come at Anzac Cove in the earlier hours of the morning. The terrain that awaited the violateing Australians was onerous and varied, consisting of ? skinny knolls and ridges? , ?ravines and rocky gullies? and ?rugged cliffs loom[ing] everyplace a narrow strip of sand.? The very nature of the terrain, communicate together with the inexperience of the Australian forces, make coherency between move units difficult, if not impossible. given(p) the orders to ?push on at all costs? through such difficult terrain, it is no awe that the impetuous criminal prosecution of retreating Turks led Australian soldiers into untenable positions or enemy reinforcements. compensate though Australian forces enj oyed some legal community of success in their come, managing to storm the cliff tops with .303 Lee-Enfield rifles and bayonets, the ?campaign at Anzac had gone from an invasion to a siege in one day.? As the Gallipoli campaign developed into a static, impinge reign stalemate nearly identical to the style of warfare on the westbound Front, the weaknesses of the invading Imperial forces became apparent. The use of hitman in massive numbers was demonstrated daily on the western sandwich Front, but at Gallipoli the Australian forces were avowed by ? totally(prenominal) 118 hit man pieces instead of their ?establishment? of 306.? This lack of spike pieces, coupled with the shortage of ammunition, meant that any shelling in limit going of Australian assaults or defences was weak at best. tactical manoeuvreally Australian forces were wasted in the Gallipoli campaign. British orders constituted study assault on en oceanic abyssed and fortified Turkish positions, which re ceived support from form catalyst and artillery fir! e. At times Australian troops were used as pocketable more than cannon fodder. At the Nek, the terrain was such that there was only enough way of life for 150 men abreast(predicate) , violateing a Turkish position held by ?hundreds of rifles and five elevator car guns.? The 8th washy Horse suffered 234 casualties, 154 fatalities, out of the 300 soldiers in the regiment. The 10th imperfect Horse suffered 80 killed and 58 wounded. The casualties suffered by the Australian forces during the Gallipoli campaign totalled 26,111 of which ?362 officers and 7,779 other ranks were killed in action, died of wounds or succumbed to disease.? The near successful part of the operation was the retreat, in which not a single man was lost to enemy fire. In the eight month campaign nine Victoria Crosses, the highest military trophy in the Australian Army, were awarded to Australians. Seven of those nine VCs were won during the encounter for Lone Pine. over eight thousand Austral ians were lost during the fated Gallipoli campaign. As difficult as Gallipoli was for Australian soldiers, their deployment to the Hesperian Front would show them the authentic horror and futility of the First World War. The trenches of the horse opera Front introduced the Australians to a new facet of warfare. Having experienced rifle, machine gun and artillery fire at Gallipoli, the Australians could be purpose of having seen war. However, on the Western Front the soldiers on both sides of the bank line suffered attacks from gas weapons, continuous artillery, flamethrowers and, in the latter stages of the war, assault from tanks. The prosecution of warfare on the Western Front followed the ? restrain? burn down of the continental direct of warfare, a school of strategy ? come to with ground warfare between armies.? The basic premise of the direct strategy was to bring ?superior force to bear on a point where the enemy is both weaker and vulnerable to weaken damage. ? Clearly demonstrated, by both the Central Powers ! and the Allied forces, was the spontaneousness to throw millions of munitions and men at the enemy, with little or no regard for the cost. The Australian attack at Pozieres was another model of the direct strategy. ?The artillery barrage began at precisely at 12:28 a.m. For devil minutes every gun in the division laid-off as fast as their crews could load,? after which the Australian troops, dissimulation in wait in No Man?s Land, rose to assault the bombarded German trenches.

It took two hours for the Australians to capture the trench at Pozieres, and almost septenary weeks to deny the German counter-attacks that st arted forthwith upon the Australians capturing the trenches. The Germans ?made not slight than 67 counter-attacks. ?Probably they had made a great more more . . . possibly in two ways as many.? These counter-attacks were characteristic of German policy which was ?to counter-attack vigorously, both topical anaesthetic(a) counter-attacks [and] massive planned assaults.? Initial counter-attacks consisted of ?about 200 Germans? ; helper assaults were made in force with proceeding artillery place of the Australian trenches. Five Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians who had participated in the battle most Pozieres. Tactically, the Australians performed in a superior manner on the Western Front than they did in Gallipoli. Part of the reason for this is the Australian contingent on(p) was placed under the command of a variety of Australian officers. Generally speaking, the Australian commanders, specifically General John Monash, were voluntary to preserve the l ives of the men under their command. One tactical m! aneuveral judge of the Australian trench war was their excellent use of lesser unit tactics. Known as minor aggression or peaceful penetration, small units would cross No Man?s Land, kill or capture the enemy and then withdraw. This tactic ?Monash described . . . as ?a brilliant success.??300,000 Australians were deployed in heterogeneous theatres during the Great War and 60,000 were killed. Faced with a mishandled gamble in the Gallipoli campaign, Australian forces acquitted themselves with respect and continued that trend on the Western Front. With sixty five Victoria Crosses awarded to Australian soldiers during the Great War , the untried and untested Australians forces proved that they could fight with courage, note and sacrifice. This was proved not only to themselves, but to their commanders both British and Australian, to the Australian and British nations, and to the world at large. BibliographyBlair, D., ?25-29 April 1915: A get and a legend established? in Dinkum Diggers: An Australian batch at War, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2001, pp. 7 - 86. Carlyon, L., Gallipoli, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2001. Charlton, P., ?Pozieres? in AIH338 Australia and the World Wars, Reader, Deakin University, Geelong, 2007, pp. 1 ? 7. Cochrane, P., Australians at War, ABC Books, Sydney, 2001. Grey, J., A Military History of Australia, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 1990 . hypertext exile protocol://www.anzacday.org.au/education/medals/vc/austlist.html Accessed 8/8/07. Malik, J. M., ?The Evolution of strategical mentation? in Craig Snyder (ed.), Contemporary Security and Strategy, Macmillan Press, London, 1999, pp. 13 ? 52. Shermer, D., World War I, Octopus Books Limited, London, 1973. Terraine, J., ?The Gallipoli Campaign? in AIH338 Australia and the World Wars, Reader, Deakin University, Geelong, 2007, pp 1 ? 11. If you unavoidableness to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com
If you want to get a full essay, visit our page: write my paper