Coming of Age Essay

In order to mature into a greater version of themselves, countries have to go through times

of hardship and struggle. True maturity comes from taking these experiences and learning

from them to become an improved version of themselves. Some nations already had great

independence at the time of the war, but some smaller countries were still attached to their

more powerful parent countries who got them to where they were at the time. Australia

and New Zealand were an example of those countries and were still attached to and

serving Britain. Australia and New Zealand came of age as a result of the war and learnt

that they could be more independent and did not need to be Britain’s child anymore

because they knew what to do with themselves better than Britain did and had more value

on the lives of the people of the country.

Before WW1 began Australia had pledged allegiance to Britain. When the war began, all

Australians fighting had to be volunteer due to act in 1903 that stated conscripted forces

could not be used to fight overseas. These men served “wherever the British desired” and

their country got no say and where and who they fought. ANZAC forces who volunteered

expected to train in England but had to go to Egypt instead due to lack of training and

accommodation facilities. They had limited training only being in Egypt for about 4

months before being shipped off to the Dardanelles due to Cairo being a potential target

for the Ottoman Empire and Lord Kitchener declaring the Anzac would be adequate for a

“Cruise in the Marmara.” On April 25th, 1915 the Anzacs landed on the shores of Gallipoli.

However, they had missed their intended landing spot and had ended up north of where
they were supposed to be. Where they landed, they were greeted by rocky terrain and

gunfire from the many Turks waiting at the landing spot which would later be named

Anzac Cove. Commander Dix said, “tell the colonel that the damn fools have landed us

too for north.” Not only was the original landing at Gallipoli a disaster, the entire

campaign ended up being a total failure and resulted in 24 652 wounded Anzac soldiers

and 11 488 ended up dead.

This day at Gallipoli became known as one of the worst days in the history of the

country’s as it resulted in the death of so many people. However, it was a very important

part of coming of age as nations. This landing at Gallipoli was a demonstration of how

little Britain cared for the lives of the Anzacs by making a careless mistake and leading

many of them to their death. After the initial landing they were still left with terrible

conditions. Over the course of eight months many Anzac soldiers died, and they did not

gain much from it. J. W. McPherson said about the horrors he saw at Gallipoli, “Men had

lost arms and legs, brains oozed out of shattered skulls and lungs protruded for riven

chests; many had lost their faces and were, I should think, unrecognisable to their nearest

friends.”

As the war continued, more and more Anzac troops were contributed to the war to fight

for Britain on the western front and those who survived Gallipoli went to fight in France.

New Zealand were forced to add conscription of troops to keep in the war. Australia was

one of only 2 countries to have an all-volunteer force. In the end both countries suffered
monumental losses of many young men who would have later made a big difference to

the small population of those countries. According to the Victorian state library 421 809

Australians served in the war and there were over 60 000 deaths and 137 000 wounded. Of

the 32 000 that originally enlisted in the AIF only 7000 survived. In New Zealand 100 444

served with 16 697 deaths and 41 317 wounded.

Even though the war was a tragic event for the young nations, it was incredibly vital in

becoming what they are today. As countries, the war helped them come to the realisation

that they didn’t need to be treated like babies by Britain and could think for themselves.

They could look after the people of their nations better than Britain could as they placed

greater value on their lives and wellbeing. What happened at Gallipoli was a tragedy for 2

developing nations but the real question is, would Australia and New Zealand be what

they are today if it wasn’t for the tragedy that happened over 100 years ago?