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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
In August 1914 war broke out in Europe between Britain, France and Russia on one side and the German and Austro-Hungarian empires on the other. Australia immediately rallied to King and Empire, pledging to fight if need be to ‘our last man and our last shilling’. Having offered to raise and equip a full infantry division the Australian authorities faced an immediate challenge since the young Commonwealth possessed no military organisation larger than a brigade and its compulsory-service, part-time soldiers were prohibited from serving outside Australia. Yet within a month this force was raised, organised and equipped, and in six weeks it was on its way to Europe.
Mobilisation is important not just because it is the start of the division's journey to fame but also because it is one of its defining periods. Fashioning the division and the thousands of decisions the task entailed had consequences for its performance when it arrived in Egypt and later during its first trial on Gallipoli. In the longer term, seemingly inconsequential decisions made in 1914 by its founders had far-reaching implications over the next four and a half years, playing an important part in shaping the division's evolution and reputation.
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