Significant events & the experiences of Australians at war
Significant events & the experiences of Australians at war
War began with Austro-Hungarian troops fighting Russian and Serbian troops in eastern Europe, and German troops fighting France, Belgium, Britain and their allies in western Europe. By late 1914, all armies had begun to build trenches to protect their soldiers from the enemy and from the winter cold. Eventually, a line of trenches, known as the Western Front, stretched almost continuously from south-west Belgium across north-eastern France to the Swiss border.
No side could make progress without breaking through its enemy’s trench system. Attempts to do so resulted in a huge number of casualties as men went ‘over the top’ to face their enemies’ machine guns, rifles and artillery. Trench warfare, using these weapons so well suited to defence, meant that what had begun as a war of movement developed into a stalemate. The Gallipoli campaign, in which Australian soldiers first saw active duty, was part of an attempt to break the stalemate and resume a war of movement. It failed. Australian troops were evacuated from Gallipoli to reinforce British and allied forced on the Western Front.
*Western= The western part of Europe
*Front= Refer to the "the line of contact of two opposing forces."
Australia’s losses on the Western Front were staggering, with more casualties in the first six weeks of our involvement than the entire eight-month Gallipoli campaign.
By the end of 1918, 46,000 Australians had lost their lives and 132,000 were wounded.
-Choose ONE Primary Source from the battle and explain how it helps you understand the expereince of Australian soldiers in this battle
Extension: Research images of the Western Front. Use these are stimulus to write a letter back home to your parents, describing the nature of warfare from the perspective of an Australian soldier. (250 words)
c) How is it different from the fighting conditions at Gallpoli?
Task 5: Copy Notes =: Each trench was dug in a type of zigzag so that no enemy, standing at one end, could fire for more than a few yards down its length. Each of the main lines of trenches was connected to each other and to the rear by a series of communications trenches that were dug roughly perpendicular to them.
Task 6: Sketch and label the trench into your books.
Research 3 weapons used in WW1 that show the destruction and record them in your table.
Evaluate which weapon do you think was the most barbaric or most deadly?
View the poem: Dolce et Decorum Est . How would this poem add to our understanding of what soldier's experienced on the battlefield?