History may have been different

ANZAC DAY

LOCAL historian Reg Watson’s history of the Anzacs in Talking Point ( Mercury, April 25) provided a useful historical background on why Australians were sent to fight Turks instead of Germans in Europe in 1915. The big if he might also have thrown in, was the secret Allied deal with Tsarist Russia to give them Istanbul (Constantinople) if the Allies won the war. The plan only fell through when the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) resulted in Russia pulling out of the war and Lenin’s decision to publicise the secret deal. The Russians had always wanted control of the Bosphorus to give their Black Sea Fleet access to the Mediterranean and an Allied victory in the Great War would have given them this.

Because the Russians pulled out of the Great War, the Germans were able to focus more on the Western Front, which is why the focus this year has been on Tony Abbott’s memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

How 20th Century history might have been so very different without the Russian Revolution.

Anzac honour

HOW about the AFL reward the two grand final teams with the honour of playing the Anzac game.

New vision

AFTER reading and watching varied comments and events related to Anzac Day, it occurs that we the Australian people have an opportunity to start a new future. And I’d guess I’m not the first to propose it.