Pozieres

This documentary contains no footage of the time; actors play real characters (most of them died in the war) and a narrator provides additional information. If you have read official historians you may have been led to believe that WWI was solidly supported by the Australian public, and that Australian identity as a nation was forged by participation in the war. However, this film is not John Keegan history; it is real history.

The documentary begins with Australians (some of them survivors of the Gallipoli disaster) ordered to take and hold the village of Pozières as part of the Somme offensive. They did that courageously and suffered horrendous casualties for no gain at all; the whole offensive failed to attain any of its objectives. General Haig was displeased with Australian soldiers, repeatedly calling them "colonials," and accusing them of not understanding "modern war." Haig considered them "subversives," even objecting to mixing Australian and British wounded in hospitals. Haig requested from Australian Prime Minister Hughes the right to shoot Australians for insubordination (there was no death penalty in the Australian Army). To his credit, Hughes flatly refused.

Then there was the home front. All Australians in WWI were volunteers. As the stream dried up, Hughes called a plebiscite on implementing a conscription law. It was close, but the proposal was strongly opposed by many women and most trade unions and Catholic clergy and was defeated. On the negative side, there were ugly incidents concerning Germans (and ethnic Germans) in Australia, but these were hardly unique among the countries participating in the war.

If you (like most of us) have been exposed to flag waving accounts of WWI this film is an antidote.