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Essay / The Anzac people in the First World War
Australians remember the First World War very clearly for the public grief it caused; for the new sense of national consciousness which it created among the Australian population; and above all, for the Anzac legend it generated. The Gallipoli campaign is widely recognized as the trigger for the legend, but it has also been spread by many famous historians. Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett once enthused: “The Australians... rose to the occasion. Not waiting for orders or for the boats to reach the beach, they threw themselves into the sea and, forming a sort of rough line, rushed upon the enemy. trenches... The courage displayed by... the wounded Australians will never be forgotten... I have never seen anything like these Australians before... There was no greater feat in this war than this sudden landing in the darkness and storming the heights" Comments like this, and others from Ashmead-Bartlett's allied journalist CEW Bean, sowed the seeds of the legend of Anzac. The accuracy of their comments cannot be denied since they actually showed up with the troops! Say No to Plagiarism Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the essay. originalThe stereotype of the First World War soldier as a superb fighter, a larrikin, suspicious of authority, resourceful, humorous and above all, loyal to his friends, is deeply ingrained in popular culture. Bean on the Gallipoli campaign, he said: “To be the sort of man who would give in when his companions relied on his firmness; to be the sort of man who would fail when the line, the whole force, and the whole of the allied cause demanded his endurance; having made another unit do his own unit's job... - that was the prospect these men could not face... life was not worth living unless they cannot be faithful to their idea. of Australian manhood. Bean is known for having done "more than anyone else to create the dominant Anzac legend". However, it could easily be argued that there is more to the Anzac legend than the superior fighting quality of Australian troops. The other element is the incompetent leadership of the British, their allies in the First World War. Australians were said to have what is called a "special relationship" with Britain, in which they believed they were incredibly superior. Then again, few could dispute this fact. Mr. R. Foot, a British historian, said: “The Anzacs…were probably men's men, the most impressive fighters this century has ever seen! » How the Anzac legend was created, perpetuated and exploited has been one of the main questions posed to historians of the First World War. Most say the root was the Bean and Ashmead-Bartlett accounts. These specifically helped the audience understand the legend. The process by which the Anzac legend developed its particular form began with the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, where Australian involvement was noticed by almost everyone who saw them. Upon first arriving at Anzac Cove, the troops hoped to knock out Turkey. of the war, and therefore get rid of the Russians. They also hoped to open a new front across the Balkans to attack Austria-Hungary. Apart from this, the main objective of the campaign was to prevent Bulgaria from joining the Central Powers and to take Austria-Hungary out of the war, leaving Germany isolated..