Essay On Anzac Legend

Good morning, Ms Dowdeswell and 9b, today let us have a look at how much have contemporary historians challenged the ANZAC legend, my hypothesis is some contemporary historians do challenge the ANZAC legend to a great extent. Wait, what is ANZAC? ANZAC is the acronym formed from the initial letters of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This was the formation in which Australian and New Zealand soldiers in Egypt were grouped before the landing on Gallipoli in April 1915. Everything started with WWI. But, how WWI began? Well, the direct cause of WWI was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. However, historians feel Militarism (Main),Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism are the main factors which contributed to the rivalry between the Great powers that allowed war on such a wide-scale to break out. As we know during WWI, Europe was divided into two alliances — Triple Entente (Britain, Russia and France) and

Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy). The question is why did Australians become involved? Australia even not in Europe as we see (point the map—they are too far away) Well, a great amount of Australians came from Britain or of Britain descent. They thought this was a fun adventure and it was their duty to support “ mother England” also they been told this would over by Christmas. You can image how many people got involved at that time.

Go back to ANZAC legend.

Here is a question — how did the ANZAC legend develop? The legend of Anzac was born on 25 April 1915, and was reaffirmed in eight months' fighting on Gallipoli. Although there was no military victory, the Australians displayed great courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mate-ship. Such qualities came to be seen as the Anzac spirit. The ANZAC book written and illustrated in Gallipoli by the men of Anzac —- The Anzac book became the finest “trench publication” produced during the Great War, and was an instant bestseller when first released in 1916. Created by soldiers under enemy fire and in extreme hardship, the illustrations, stories, cartoons, and poems were intended as a Christmas and New Year diversion for soldiers facing a harsh winter in the trenches on Gallipoli.

Let’s have a look at the main question. What aspects of the ANZAC legend have been challenged? Here are some famous legends. (Gallipoli landing in the wrong place) Hand up if you think
the ANZAC lend in the wrong

place.
According to military historians including Professor Peter Stanley of the University of NSW, one of the most persistent myths about the Anzac landing at Gallipoli is that the troops came ashore at the wrong spot. Professor Stanley says the journalist and historian Charles Bean helped generate this myth by quoting a naval officer, Commander Dix, as saying, “the damn fools have landed us in the wrong place!” Professor Stanley says this is “not correct”. “For decades people have tried to explain the failure at Gallipoli by blaming it on the Royal Navy, but the Royal Navy did land the troops in approximately the right spot. It was what happened after the landing where things went wrong,” he says. The head of military history at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Ashley Ekins, agrees. “It's a common misconception,” he says. “In fact, the Anzacs landed pretty well right in the centre of the originally selected landing zone.” Professor Stanley says there wasn't ever a precise landing spot, just a range of about a kilometre or two, and as it happened, putting the troops ashore around Anzac Cove was probably beneficial, because it was not heavily defended.

Simpson and his donkey is another famous hero of ANZAC. “Simpson And His Donkey” have become the epitome of the Anzac spirit. Nine Australians won the Victoria Cross during the Gallipoli campaign. Yet Simpson Kirkpatrick – who was never nominated for any kind of military award – is more famous than all of them put together. According to legend, Simpson Kirkpatrick and his donkey saved the lives of 300 men at Gallipoli. According to legend, Simpson Kirkpatrick and his donkey saved the lives of 300 men at Gallipoli. Yet he was only there for 24 days, an average of 12 rescues a day. Is that likely? From the research, as for being an Australian war hero, he never saw himself as anything other than an Englishman. He came involved was just because he wanted to go to Britain. Some historians think the donkey was stolen from a farmer and the reason why he used donkey is avoiding front line stretcher duties.