Australia's War, 1914-18 explores Australia's involvement in the First World War and the effect this had on the nation' s society. In this very accessible book, Joan Beaumont, Pam Maclean, Marnie Haig-Muir and David Lowe focus on: where Australians fought and why; the tensions and realignments within Australian politics in the period of 1914-18; the stresses of the war on Australian society, especially on women and those whom wartime hysteria cast in the role of the 'enemy' at home; the impact of the war on the country's economy; the role played by Australia in international diplomacy; and finally, the creation and influence of the Anzac legend.
Once dominated by the battlefield and official accounts of the war correspondent and official historian, C.E.W. Bean, Australian writing on the war has acquired a new depth and sophistication. Studies of the home front reveal a society riven by divisions without precedent in the nation's history.
This single volume will be invaluable to tertiary students and of enormous interest to the reader concerned with the social, political and military history of Australia.
Maps
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Contributors
Chronology of the war
Introduction Joan Beaumont
1 Australia's war
Joan Beaumont
2 The politics of a divided society
Joan Beaumont
3 War and Australian society
Pam Maclean
4 The economy at war
Marnie Haig-Muir
5 Australia in the world
David Lowe
6 The Anzac legend
Joan Beaumont
Select bibliography
Index
Biography
Joan Beaumont teaches in the School of Australian and International Studies at Deakin University. She is the author of Gull Force: Survival and Leadership in Captivity, 1941-45 and is a respected Australian historian of war and international history.