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World War 2 Quotes:

“In a life and death struggle, we cannot afford to leave our destinies in the hands of failure” Clement Atlee

“In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Good Will.” Winston Churchill

“Before Alamein, we had no victories. After Alamein, we had no defeats.” Winston Churchill

“Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” Winston Churchill

“Germany must either be a world power or there will be no Germany at all.” Adolf Hitler

“To every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance and we were not going to finish it for good.” General Erwin Rommel

“The enemy is at the gate. It is a question of life and death.” Andrei Zhdanov

“Australia and New Zealand are now threatened by the might of the Japanese Imperial forces, and both of them should know that any resistance is futile.” Hideki Tojo

How did World War One contribute to Australia’s sense of Nationhood

World War One definitely did contribute to Australia’s sense of nationhood.The word nationhood can be defined as ‘the state of being a nation, or a large group of people united by a common language, culture or economic lifestyle’. Some of the things that assisted Australia’s sense of nationhood was the bravery shown at the Gallipoli landings, the sense of loyalty shown at Fromelles and the determination of the soldier in the First and Third Battles of Passchendaele.

At dawn on the 25th April 19115, the ANZAC’s landed just north of ANZAC Cove. Their mission was to take control of the Gallipoli Peninsula and clear the way so that the Royal Navy could capture the Turkish capital of Constinaple (now Istanbul). The ANZAC’s were met with a strong Turkish force and any hope of advance was shut down. During the first 5 days of the offensive, 643 men had been killed in action and another 213 more died from wounds or disease.

The Battle of Fromelles was the worst 24 hours in Australia’s history. 5,533 Australian soldier were either killed or wounded in action. Many of the soldiers that were higher in command knew that the campaign would be costly. Even Major H.C.L Howard predicted that the attack would prove to be ‘a bloody holocaust’. Some of the soldiers could have refused to fight but proved to be stay loyal to their commanders and army.

The determination of Australian forces during the two battles of Ypres is to be commended. In the eight weeks of fighting, 38,000 Australian soldiers were either killed or wounded. It is even harder to believe that hardly any progress was made. In fact, only a couple fo kilometers were gained. The intention of this attack was to drain German manpower. This instance is the perfect description of determination because the soldiers could have given up at any time but didn’t.

When we think of Australian’s in World War One, we think of bravery, determination, and loyalty. This was the first time that Australia could show that they were united and they made a great impression. This helped Australia’s sense of nationhood because they would be remembered for their strength, loyalty, bravery, and determination.

The 5 Main Causes of World War 1

Alliances:

There were many allianced that were in place before World War 1. This meant that if one country got attacked, their allies would come and defend them. Because there were so amny alliances, if one country got attacked, it was likely that a large scale war would be declared. Some of the alliances that were in place before World War 1 were:

• Russia and Serbia
• Germany and Austria-Hungary
• France and Russia
• Britain and France and Belgium
• Japan and France

Imperialism:

The definition of imperialism is ‘a policy of extending a countries power by means of colonialisation, military force or other means’.The desire for greater empires by European countries in the leadup to World War One was one of the reasons that so many countries ended up fighing in the Great War.

Militarism:

Before WW1, European countries had started to increase their army capacity. The term militarism can be defined as ‘a belief that a coutnry should maintain a strong militaey capability and be prepared to use it aggressivly to defend or promote the nation.’ By 1914, Germany had the worlds strongest army. This led to an influence on the public and therefore, society. This was one of the bigger impacts that led to the start of World War One.

Nationalism:

The term nationalsim can be interpreted as ‘an extreme form of support for ones country marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries.’ Much of the start of the war was caused by people in Bosnia not wanting to be apart of Austria Hungrary, but a part of Serbia. In a wider sense, it did not only help cause the war but help expand it.

Assasination:

The immediate cause of World War One was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He was the heir to the Austria-Hungary throne. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and alliances started to help other countries out and this therefore led to the expansion of the war.

Drip Rifle:

A delayed action device that was used during the Evacuation of Gallipoli.

12 Facts about D-Day

1. D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history, with over 156,000 men landing in Normandy.
2. D-Day was originally set for June 5but had to be postponed for 24 hours due to bad weather.
3. In military terms, D-Day means a date and H-Hour a time for combat operations.
4. When the D-Day forces landed, Hitler was asleep. None of his generals dared send re-enforcements without his permission, andno-one dared wake him.
5. German casualties on D-Day were around 1,000 men, while Allied casualties were at least 10,000.
6. 4% of the sand on Normandy beaches are still made up of metal particlesfrom D-Day landings.
7. Civilian casualties on D-Day and D+1 are estimated at 3,000 people.
8. In 1944, by a huge coincidence, acrossword puzzle was printed with answers all containing D-Day operation “code names”, which sent MI-5 into a panic thinking their invasion plans had been discovered.
9. In 1942, the Canadians and the British Navy launched a practice invasion of France, the”Dieppe Raid.” 20% were killed, 10% wounded, 30% captured. The lessons learned in that disaster lead to D-Day’s success.
10. J.D. Salinger arrived inNormandy on D-Day carrying with him a work in progress:”Catcher in the Rye”.
11. Theodore Roosevelt Jr was the only General involved in the initial assault onD-Day, after insisting to his superiors to be one of the first ones off the boats. He survived, then died of a heart attack one month later.
12. The actor who played”Scotty” on Star Trek wasshot 6 times on D-Day: 4 times in the leg, one in the chest and one through his finger.

All facts found on http://www.factslides.com/s-D-Day

Battle of Verdun

French Cavalry on their way to Verdun

Sadako Sasaki

Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl who is remembered through the story ‘Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes’.

Sadako Sasaki was only 2 years old when the atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima on the 6th of August 1945. The bomb exploded on 2 kilometres away from her home. Most of her neighbours died that day but Sadako was seemingly unhurt.

Up until the time she was in 7th grade (which was in 1955), Sadako seemed to be a normal, happy girl. However, after helping her team win an important relay race, she began to feel very faint and fatigued. She put that feeling down to exhaustion of just running a relay race. This was until she experienced these symptoms more frequently.

One day during school, she was so dizzy, she was unable to stand. Her classmates alerted her teacher and Sadako went to the hospital later that day. Tests were done and it was discovered that Sadako had leukemia.

Sadako was a good student so naturally she wanted to be at school learning and hanging out with her friends. Instead, she had to spend her time in hospital where she cried.

Shortly after she was diagnosed with leukemia, her best friend Chizuko visited her in the hospital. She brought a gift of origami paper. Chizuko told Sadako of a legend that is she folded 1,000 paper cranes, she would be granted 1 wish. Instinctivly, Sadako started making paper cranes and wished for good health.

Sadako’s family worried about her a lot. They spent many hours at her bedside helping her make paper cranes. After she had folded 500 cranes, the doctors said Sadako was well enough to go home for a short period of time. However, by the end of the first week, Sadako’s symptoms had gotten worse and she was returned to hospital.

At the hospital, Sadako continued to fold paper cranes even though she was in immense pain. On October 25, 1955, Sadako passed away peacefully in her hospital bed with her family by her side. She had folded a total of 644 paper cranes.

Everyone at her school was saddened by Sadako’s death. 39 children even formed a paper plane club to honour her. Word spread quickly. Students from 3,100 schools and from 9 foreign countries gave money to the cause. On May 5, 1958, almost 3 years after Sadako had died, enough money was collected to build a monument in her honour. It is now known as the Children’s Peace Monument, and is located in the center of Hiroshima Peace Park, close to the spot where the atomic bomb was dropped.

Children and adults from all over the world still send folded paper cranes to be placed beneath Sadako’s statue. In so doing, they make the same wish which is engraved on the base of the statue:

This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world“.

Holocaust Facts

1. About a third of all Jewish people alive at that time were murdered in the Holocaust.
2. At least 1.1 million Jewish children were murdered during the Holocaust.
3. In October 1941, more than 50,000 Jews were killed by Romanian troops in what is now known as the “Odessa massacre.”
4. In 1945, Eisenhower predicted that people would try to deny the holocaust, so he urged the press to come.
5. Anne Frank’s concentration camp was liberated by British troops just weeks after her death.
6. During WW2, Japan received Jewish refugees and rejected the resulting Nazi German protests.
7. Hitler planned to collect thousands of Jewish artifacts to build a “Museum of An Extinct Race” after the war.
8. Witold Pilecki, a Polish soldier,volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz in order to gather information, escape and let the world know about the Holocaust.
9. The Leica Camera company helped hundreds of Jews before the Holocaust by hiring, and sending them abroad.
10. The Mosque of Paris helped Jews escape the Nazis by giving them Muslim IDs during WW2.
11. Holocaust denial is either implicitly or explicitly a crime in 17 countries, including Germany and Austria.
12. More than 870,000 Jews were killed at Treblinka with a staff of just 150 people.
13. The only Jewish descendants spared by the Nazis where those with grandparents who converted to Christianity before the founding of the German Empire (1871).
14. During the Holocaust, Jewish boxer Salamo Arouch was imprisoned at Auschwitz. He was forced to fight fellow prisoners; the losers were sent to the gas chambers or shot. He survived over 2 years and 200 fights until the camp was liberated.
15. A Muslim family that saved Jews during the Holocaust, was later saved by Israel during the genocide in Bosnia, and converted to Judaism.
16. Four of Freud’s sisters died during the Holocaust in Nazi concentration camps.
17. During WW2, two polish doctors saved 8,000 Jews from the Holocaust by faking a typhus epidemic that stopped the Nazis entering their town.
18. Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany, opened six years before WWII.
19. The Mormon Church baptized 380,000 Holocaust victims posthumously, offending and sparking controversy among many Jewish groups.
20. Alfred Hitchcock filmed a documentary about the Holocaust in 1945. It was hidden until 1984.
21. 99% of Denmark’s Jews survived the Holocaust because the Danish organized a massive evacuation to neutral Sweden.
22. The company that created Zyklon B, the gas that was used to kill millions of Jews in the Holocaust, still exists as a pest control company.
23. During the Holocaust, a Jewish woman exposed up to 3,000 hiding Jews to the Gestapo to save her family. Even after the Nazis sent her parents and husband to Auschwitz anyway in 1943, she continued to work for the Gestapo until 1945.
24. After WW2, a group of Jewish “Avengers”formulated a Holocaust revenge plan to kill 6 million Germans by poisoning the water supply of many German cities. However, it was foiled by British police while the poison was in transit.
25. In Auschwitz, an SS guard fell in love with a Jewish prisoner. He saved her life multiple times and she testified on his behalf during his post-war trial.
26. During WW2, a Japanese Consul saved 6,000 Jews from the Holocaust by writing them all Visas to Japan even after the government told him not to.
27. During WW2, Allied forces sunk 3 ships carrying concentration camp survivors by accident, killing almost10,000 survivors.

These facts were found at www.factslides.com 

Spirit of ANZAC Centenary Experience

A couple of weeks ago, I went to an exhibition at the Convention Center in Melbourne, Australia. This exhibition was a very interactive space where you walked through areas that were about different aspects of World War 1.

At the start of the experience, we were given an iPod Touch and headphones. As we walked through each of the spaces, a recording played through the iPod that explained more about the space that you are in.

As you walked through each of the areas, there were stations where you could touch the iPod and you could find out more information on the space that you were in. My favourite part of the experience was the Galipoli space.

To find out more about this experience, visit their website (http://www.spiritofanzac.gov.au/).

Here are some more links that will give you more information on the role that the ANZACS played in World War 1:

Australian War Memorial: https://www.awm.gov.au/

Shrine of Remembrance: http://www.shrine.org.au/Education/Research