Pros And Cons Of Conscription In Australia

Many historians would say that Australia was a very united country in the effort to win World War I. But this has been debated many times, due to the fact that many Australian people were against war in itself and didn’t believe they should fight in a war that wasn’t even theirs. The onset of war had many negative effects on Australia and therefore it wasn’t as united as it should have been. The conscription debate also didn’t help unite the country. Both sides were substantially serious in establishing their point of why they should/shouldn’t conscript troops in other countries.

Australia in World War I is known to be a divided society, with its people and its government constantly fighting. Many Australians believed that the war wasn’t theirs to fight in; others believed that they should all support its mother country Britain. Half of the government believed conscription was the way, the other half not so much. The onset of war brought in
Main reasons for conscripting troops were: supporting the mother country Great Britain, equality of sacrifice, and Australian troops had a good reputation that needed defending. Voluntary recruitment had failed to bring in enough troops after the news from the war fronts spread to Australia. Many men were too scared or just couldn’t be bothered saying “What have I got to join for. I have no wife, no children & no parents depending on me so why should I fight. Let those fight that have something to fight for.” Main reasons against conscription were: there wouldn’t be enough people to work, the working class would burden the fight, too many Australians had died already and it would divide Australia even more. Many believed that no one had the right to send someone else to be wounded or killed or to kill or wound someone else. Both sides fought strongly but after two referendums and a whole year of debating the Australian public chose to not go forth with the