Australians At The Great War 1914 1918

Australia's contribution to the Great War has become part of the core of its national identity, and this work from the Australian War Memorial's Peter Burness offers a compact, thoroughly-illustrated and authoritative survey of the founding of the ANZAC tradition. From the shores of Gallipoli, through the trenches of France and Belgium, to the Light Horse in the Middle East, Australians at the Great War: 1914-1918 showcases photographs, artworks, posters, maps and artefacts from the War Memorial's comprehensive archive, along with detailed historical and anecdotal passages. Both as a testament to the courage of Australians at war, and as a guide to Australia's cultural legacy, Australians at the Great War: 1914-1918 is the perfect introduction.

Uses the diaries and letters of a thousand Australian soldiers to reconstruct with great sensitivity the valour and the tragedy of their experience. Shows how and why the Great War was to have profound effects on the attitudes and ideals of Australia as a nation.

In 1915 the 1st Australian Division led the way ashore at Gallipoli. In 1916 it achieved the first Australian victory on the Western Front at Pozières. It was still serving with distinction in the battles that led to the defeat of the German army in 1918. To Win the Battle explains how the division rose from obscurity to forge a reputation as one of the great fighting formations of the British Empire during the First World War, forming a central part of the Anzac legend. Drawing on primary sources as well as recent scholarship, this fresh approach suggests that the early reputation of Australia's premier division was probably higher than its performance warranted. Robert Stevenson shows that the division's later success was founded on the capacity of its commanders to administer, train and adapt to the changing conditions on the battlefield, rather than on the innate qualities of its soldiers.

Soldiers and Gentlemen: Australian Battalion Commanders in the Great War, 1914?1918 is the first book to examine the background, role and conduct of Australian commanding officers during the First World War. Though they held positions of power, commanding officers inhabited a leadership no man's land - they exerted great influence over their units, but they were also largely excluded from the decision-making process and faced the same risks as junior officers on the battlefield. A soldier's well-being and success in battle was heavily dependent on a commanding officer's competence, but little is known about the men who filled these roles. In his groundbreaking book, William Westerman explores the stories of the vitally important, yet often forgotten, commanding officers. Theirs is a story of the timeless challenges of military leadership, and this book prevents them from slipping from the public memory to enhance our knowledge of the conflict.

The Great War was, for the majority of Australians, one that was fought at home. As casualties of this monstrous war mounted, they triggered a political crisis of unprecedented ferocity in Australian history. The fault-lines that emerged in 1916-18 around

The course of events of the Great War has been told many times, spurred by an endless desire to understand 'the war to end all wars'. However, this book moves beyond military narrative to offer a much fuller analysis of of the conflict's strategic, political, economic, social and cultural impact. Starting with the context and origins of the war, including assasination, misunderstanding and differing national war aims, it then covers the treacherous course of the conflict and its social consequences for both soldiers and civilians, for science and technology, for national politics and for pan-European revolution. The war left a long-term legacy for victors and vanquished alike. It created new frontiers, changed the balance of power and influenced the arts, national memory and political thought. The reach of this acount is global, showing how a conflict among European powers came to involve their colonial empires, and embraced Japan, China, the Ottoman Empire, Latin America and the United States.

The second volume in this series covers the period immediately following the ill-fated Gallipoli landing of 25 April 1915 until January of the following year. It tackles in detail the evacuation of Helles, the struggle for Krithia, the repulse of the Turks, the battles of Lone Pine and Sari Bair, and the landing at Suvla Bay. Kitchener's visit to Anzac and the subsequent British Government order to evacuate Anzac and Suvla are also given good coverage. The Struggle for Krithia. The Change to Trench-Warfare at Anzac. The Anzac Artillery and the Problem of the 400 Plateau. The Problem of Monash Valley. The Turkish Attack of May 19th. The Open Flank at Anzac. May 29th - The Turks Break into Quinn's. The Solution of the Problem in Monash Valley. The Growth of the Anzac Line. Operations in June and July. German Officers' Trench.˚The Beach. The Sickness of the Army. The self-government of the AIF. New Troops and a Mental Change. The Plan on the Second Offensive. The Preparatory Demonstrations - Leane's Trench. The Attack upon Lone Pine. The Counter-Attack at Lone Pine. The Night Advance on Sari Bair. The Feints of August 7th. The Checking of the Advance on August 7th. The Attempt upon Hill 971. Chunuk Bair - The Climax in Gallipoli. Chunuk Bair - The Climax in Gallipoli (continued). Hill 60. The Fate of the Expedition. The Autumn. The Onset of Winter. The Evacuation. The Final Stage. The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 is a 12-volume series covering Australian involvement in the First World War. The series was edited by C.E.W. Bean, who also wrote six of the volumes, and was published between 1920 and 1942. The first seven volumes deal with the Australian Imperial Force while other volumes cover the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force at Rabaul, the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Flying Corps and the home front; the final volume is a photographic record. Unlike other official histories that have been aimed at military staff, Bean intended the Australian history to be accessible to a non-military audience. The relatively small size of the Australian forces enabled the history to be presented in great detail, giving accounts of individual actions that would not have been possible when covering a larger force.