The war to end all wars
Australian men rallied to the call in their hundreds of thousands to enlist to serve in World War 1 sparked by the assassination of an Archduke in a country few knew little, if anything, about.
Between 1914 and 1918 almost 417,000 Australians enlisted with some 332,000 of them serving overseas. More than 60,000 died. Another 156,000 were wounded, gassed or taken prisoner.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the sovereign prince and heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire, by Serbian terrorists set off a chain of events that mushroomed into what became known as “the war to end all wars”.
Reports at the time pointed to tensions that had been growing throughout Europe for a number of years.
Nationalism, an arms race, disputes over territories and spheres of influence, greed, distrust and the division of Europe into two hostile alliances were all cited as contributing factors to the outbreak of war.
The Austro-Hungarian empire reacted to the assassination by invading Serbia on July 29, 1914.
Russia mobilised troops to prevent Serbia being crushed; Germany declared war on Russia and its French ally and, only a week after the Archduke was killed, Britain declared war against Germany when it invaded neutral Belgium.
In Australia where there were still strong links politically, militarily and socially with Britain men rushed to enlist.
There was a sense of excitement among the Australians to be involved in a conflict that most expected would be over before the end of the year.
Japan, seeing the chance to seize German territory in China, also declared war on Germany, Bulgaria and Turkey sided with the central powers in Europe and soon most European countries were involved.