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Women at home

Wartime offered some opportunities for women to expand their roles, but only in a limited way. For example, not until did many women take on military service jobs that men usually did.

Volunteering in Australia

In World War I, many Australian women on the home front took on voluntary comfort and fundraising roles to support the troops overseas.

Women's organisations that were active during the war included:

Australian Women's National League

Australian Red Cross

Country Women's Association

Voluntary Aid Detachment

Australian Women's Service Corps

Women's Christian Temperance Union.

Melbourne woman, Vera Deakin, set up the Red Cross Missing and Wounded Enquiry Bureau. The organisation tried to get information to the families of servicemen who either:

had been killed

were listed as missing

were wounded

had been taken prisoner.

Creating change

Disharmony often developed when women on the home front took on roles that involved:

These types of activism could divide a local community or groups within the community.

Pro-war activism and patriotism

Some women believed patriotism required them to urge men to enlist. Other women who had no desire to force men into service reacted badly to these campaigns.

Anti-war activism and pacifism

Some women's organisations campaigned against the war and military conscription. For example, the Women's Peace Army was formed in 1915 by 2 Melbourne women:

Women overseas

Women have always played a significant role as nurses in wartime. In the South African (Second Boer) War and World War I, the main service roles open to women were:

nurse

medical support worker, such as blood transfusionists and masseuses (medical therapists)

voluntary aid detachment (VAD).

Civilian nurses and teachers often paid their own way to volunteer overseas in the South African War and World War I.

Red Cross nurses, known as 'Bluebirds' due to their uniforms, served in military hospitals in France during the war.

Canteens were set up for Australian troops in Egypt by Australian women. Among those who volunteered were:

Military service and nursing

World War I records show that:

2,139 women served in the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)

130 women worked with the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service in the British Army

423 women served in hospitals in Australia.

Nurses in the AANS were expected to be single or widowed. Although, some married women got through the recruiting check. If a nurse married during her period of service, she was no longer able to serve in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF).

Of those AANS nurses who served overseas for whom we have details:

seven were aged under 21

1,184 were 21 to 30

947 were 31 to 40

91 were older than 40.

Some Australian nurses paid their own way to be involved in medical service during the war. Some served in non-profit organisations, such as the British Red Cross Society.

While working in the casualty clearing stations in France, seven nurses from the AANS were awarded the Military Medal for bravery and service under fire:

Sister Dorothy Cawood

Sister Clara Deacon

Staff Nurse Mary Jane Derrer

Staff Nurse Alice Ross-King

Sister in Charge Alicia Kelly

Staff Nurse Rachael Pratt

Sister Pearl Corkhill.

Of all the women who served in the AANS during the war, 23 died from illness or wounds.

We have records of one Australian woman who spent time as a prisoner of war.

Ethel Gillingham was a trained nurse from western Victoria. In England at the outbreak of war, Gillingham joined the British Red Cross Society. In April 1915, Gillingham went with her unit to a hospital in Vrnjatchka Banja, Serbia. When the town fell to Austrian troops on 10 November 1915, she was captured. Along with the rest of her unit, Gillingham was released unharmed. She safely reached Belgrade in February 1916.

Impact of wartime employment

Non-Indigenous women had been able to vote at federal elections and to stand for federal Parliament since 1902, and vote in state elections since 1911. But when war broke out in 1914, most Australian women were unpaid homemakers, whether they married or not. Fewer than one in five females worked. Generally, they were employed in traditionally female roles, as factory workers and domestic servants.

Australian Census data for 1911 and 1921 shows the broad impact of the war on the female workforce, although both surveys excluded First Nations Australians. At the time, a breadwinner was usually the sole income earner for a family or household. A dependant was either a spouse, sibling or child supported by a breadwinner.

The data shows the:

proportion of females in the population grew slightly (48% in 1911 compared to 49% in 1921)

proportion of female breadwinners dropped slightly (18% in 1911 compared to 17% in 1921)

proportion of female dependants grew slightly (81% in 1911 compared to 83% in 1921).

After the war, most Australians who identified as female remained dependent on a breadwinner, either as a child, an adult who could not work, or an adult in the unpaid role of married or unmarried 'homemaker'.

However, a deeper look at the Census data reveals that the proportion of women working in some types of jobs grew significantly. The recognition of women's wartime roles likely helped expand the types of work available to Australian women after the war.

There were large increases in the number of women working in:

commercial roles (mainly merchants and dealers; textiles and clothing; and food, drinks, tobacco and pharmaceuticals)

professional roles (mainly teaching, health care, charities and religious orders)

transport and communication roles (mainly telephone service and railways).

Technological advances after the war, such as the widespread adoption of telegraph stations, wireless radio broadcasting and telephone services, continued to open more occupations for women.

Commemoration of women

During the war, the Australian Government Department of Defence issued a commemorative Female Relative Badge. It was awarded to the nearest female relative (mother, wife) of sailors, soldiers, airmen, nurses and masseuses.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Australia developed the that had begun in 1915 (and that we still observe today). The Anzac legend became an important element in Australia's remembrance of the war and its national identity. However, the war was fought by men, so the legend was based on the behaviour of Australian men. At that time, the role of women was commemorated in a much smaller way, with a focus on nursing.

You can visit 2 national memorials to female service personnel at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

In the Hall of Memory, you can see 15 stained glass windows. Each window captures a personal, social or service quality displayed by Australians during wartime. One window featuring a nurse was dedicated to the service women of World War I. She represents all those who have shown dedication to their patients and a commitment to caring for the sick and wounded during the war.

Also in the Hall of Memory is a mosaic of the Women's Services, which was dedicated to the Australian service women of World War II.

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Roles of Australian women in World War I

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Many Australian women took on different roles during World War I but the impact on their employment status was short lived

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Goldstein's career as an activist began about 1890, when she helped her mother collect signatures for the Woman Suffrage Petition. The petition asked the government to allow women in Victoria to vote. Goldstein soon joined other social welfare activities and attended sessions at Victoria's parliament. In 1899 Goldstein became the leader of the women's movement in Victoria and made her first public-speaking appearance. She eventually became an impressive public speaker.

In 1902 Australia gave women the right to vote in national elections. (However, they could not vote in state elections.) In 1903 Goldstein and three other women were the first women in the British Empire to be nominated and to stand for election to a national parliament. She lost the election but continued to fight for women's voting rights. Australian women were finally given the right to vote in state elections in 1908.

Goldstein ran for election to the federal parliament four more times: in 1910, 1913, 1914, and 1917. She lost every election, but she continued to work to gain equality for women. Goldstein wanted men and women to have equal property rights and equal pay. She worked with legislators to pass laws on wages and other issues important to her. She was also a founding member of the National Council of Women.

Goldstein was active internationally as well. She attended the International Woman Suffrage Conference in the United States in 1902. She gave speeches to huge crowds in England in 1911. In 1919 she was asked to represent Australian women at a Women's Peace Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. She was gone three years. When she returned to Australia, Goldstein ended her political work.

Goldstein died on August 15, 1949, in South Yarra, Victoria. She received numerous honors after her death. In 1984 a Melbourne electoral division was named the Division of Goldstein in her honor. In 2001 she was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.

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Goldstein's career as an activist began about 1890, when she helped her mother collect signatures for the Woman Suffrage Petition. The petition asked the government to allow women in Victoria to vote. Goldstein soon joined other social welfare activities and attended sessions at Victoria's parliament.

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Ranks Held

Major, Nursing Sister, Sister

Birth Date

05 August 1887

Birth Place

Australia: Victoria, Ballarat

Death Date

17 August 1968

Death Place

Australia: New South Wales, Sydney, Cronulla

Also known as

Alice Appleford, Alys Ross King

Service

Australian Imperial Force

Units

Australian Army Nursing Service

Australian Army Nursing Service

Australian Army Nursing Service

Conflict/Operation

First World War, 1914-1918

Gazettes

Published in Commonwealth Gazette in 1918-11-07
Published in London Gazette in 1917-09-28
Published in London Gazette in 1918-06-03
Published in London Gazette in 1917-12-28
Published in Commonwealth Gazette in 1918-04-18
Published in Commonwealth Gazette in 1918-01-24

Alice Ross-King was born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 5 August 1887 to Archibald and his wife, Henrietta. When Alice was still young the family moved to Perth, where as the result of an accident Alice's father and two brothers were drowned in the Swan River. Soon after this Alice and her mother returned to Victoria. Before the war Alice Ross-King trained as a nurse, and she became a theatre sister in charge of a private hospital in Collins Street, Melbourne. She enlisted in the Australian Army Nursing Service in November 1914. During 1915 she served in hospitals and on hospital transport ships in Egypt and the Suez. In early 1916 she moved to France where she served with No. 1 Australian General Hospital and a stationary hospital before joining No. 2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station (2CCS), located close to the trenches at Trois Arbres near Armentières.

On the night of 22 July 1917 2CCS was attacked by German aircraft. Witness accounts describe nurses running to tents shattered by bombs to rescue patients, either carrying them to safety or placing tables over patient's beds in an effort to protect them. Alice and three other nurses, Dorothy Cawood, Mary Jane Derrer, and Clare Deacon, were awarded the Military Medal for their actions during the attack.

Alice Ross-King served as a nurse until the end of the war, upon which she returned to Australia. She married a doctor, Sydney Theodore Appleford, whom she met on the return journey in 1919, and they settled in South Gippsland and had four children. In the 1930s Alice was involved in training Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) and during the Second World War she enlisted for full-time duty with the VADs. By 1942 the VADs had developed into the Australian Army Women's Medical Services and Alice Appleford was commissioned as a major and appointed senior assistant controller for Victoria. She was awarded the Florence Nightingale medal in 1949 by the International Red Cross.

Alice Appleford died on 17 August 1968 at Cronulla, Sydney. An annual award is presented to a serving member of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps by the Ex-AAWMS Association to perpetuate her memory.

Unit

No. 1 Australian General Hospital

Conflict

First World War, 1914-1918

Rank

Sister

London Gazette

03 June 1918 on page 6475 at position 4

Commonwealth Gazette

07 November 1918 on page 2111 at position 125

Unit

Australian Army Nursing Service

Conflict

First World War, 1914-1918

Rank

Sister

London Gazette

28 December 1917 on page 13568 at position 127

Commonwealth Gazette

18 April 1918 on page 845 at position 105

Unit

Australian Army Nursing Service

Conflict

First World War, 1914-1918

Rank

Sister

Unit

No. 2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station

Conflict

First World War, 1914-1918

Rank

Nursing Sister

London Gazette

28 September 1917 on page 10038 at position 71

Commonwealth Gazette

24 January 1918 on page 83 at position 73

Unit

Australian Army Nursing Service

Conflict

First World War, 1914-1918

Rank

Sister

Unit

Australian Army Nursing Service

Conflict

First World War, 1914-1918

Rank

Sister

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Ranks Held Major, Nursing Sister, Sister Birth Date 05 August 1887 Birth Place Australia: Victoria, Ballarat Death Date 17 August 1968 Death Place Australia: New South Wales, Sydney, Cronulla Also known as Alice Appleford, Alys Ross King Service Australian Imperial Force Units Australian Army Nursing Service Australian Army Nursing Service

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Discovering Annie Wheeler: digital story

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Mrs Annie Wheeler c 1920. Image courtesy of Capricornia Coast Historical SocietyThis new digital story examines the important and unique part Mrs. Annie Wheeler played in connecting Central Queensland soldiers...

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How to write a formal letter: A Complete Guide for students and teachers

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In this age of digital communication, writing letters is becoming something of a lost art. Emails and text messages can be sent instantly and for a fraction of the cost, that good old fashioned snail mail can offer. So, why bother teaching letter-writing at all?

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The Gallipoli Campaign was an Allied military operation against Turkey during World War I. The initial goal was to capture the Dardanelles, a strait that connects the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, and the Gallipoli Peninsula, on the strait's western shore. Then the Allies planned to occupy Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of Turkey's Ottoman Empire. The operation, which was also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, took place between February 1915 and January 1916.

In the winter of 1914-15 Russian troops were fighting Turkish forces in the Caucasus region, on the border between Turkey and what was then the Russian Empire. In January 1915 the British government agreed to help their Russians allies by attacking the Turks elsewhere, thereby relieving pressure on the Caucasus front. The British chose the Dardanelles as the place for the attack. An attack on the strait had already been proposed by Winston Churchill, who was then the first lord of the Admiralty, before Russia appealed for help.

After much disagreement among themselves, the British decided on an attempt to attack the Dardanelles with the navy alone. In mid-February, however, they agreed that army troops would be needed to hold the shores of the strait if the navy broke through. For that purpose the Allies assembled a large military force in Egypt under General Sir Ian Hamilton. Called the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, it included British, ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), French, and Indian troops.

British warships began bombarding Turkish ports on the Gallipoli Peninsula on February 19. The bombardment faltered, however, partly because of bad weather. The navy ended the attack in March after three battleships had been sunk and three others damaged. Hamilton's troops began to land on the peninsula at two places early on April 25, 1915. The 29th British and Royal Naval divisions landed at Cape Helles, and the ANZACs landed at what is now called Anzac Cove. By that time, however, the Turkish forces were six times larger than when the campaign began. The Allies took the beaches with great difficulty, the ANZACs being held up by Turkish troops under Mustafa Kemal, who later became famous as Atatürk. Even after sending in large reinforcements, the Allies made little progress. On August 6 the British landed more troops, this time at Suvla Bay. After some initial progress, the new assault was halted.

By September 1915 it was clear to the Allies that without further large reinforcements there was no hope of decisive results. The British authorities at home decided to replace Hamilton with Lieutenant General Sir Charles Monro. Monro recommended the withdrawal of the military forces and abandonment of the campaign. The British secretary of state for war, Herbert Kitchener, affirmed this advice when he visited the peninsula in November. The Allied withdrawal was carried out in stages and was successfully completed early on January 9, 1916.

The Gallipoli Campaign ended with about 214,000 Allied casualties. The campaign did manage to attract large Turkish forces away from the Russians, but overall it was a disaster. The plan failed because of poor military leadership in some cases, faulty tactics including complete lack of surprise, the inexperience of the troops, inadequate equipment, and a shortage of shells. Gallipoli gave the impression throughout the world that the Allies were militarily inept.

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The Gallipoli Campaign was an Allied military operation against Turkey during World War I. The initial goal was to capture the Dardanelles, a strait that connects the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara, and the Gallipoli Peninsula, on the strait's western shore.

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Causes of World War I

The relationship had been tense between many European countries in the years before. Most had not forgiven each other for past rivalries, as they looked to become more powerful than their neighbors. In fact, the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand may have been the tipping point towards a war that had been brewing for years.

Due to the complicated relationship between so many countries due to:

* shifting power in the region

It is necessary to look further into European history to understand the reasons behind World War

Alliances

Before 1914, there were a few strong and powerful countries within Europe. They had divided into two groups, who agreed they would help defend one another if one of them did go to war with a country from the other group. None of the countries planned to be the one to declare war.

The Triple Alliance - this was an alliance formed in 1882 between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy

The Triple Entente - this was an alliance formed in 1907 between Britain, Russia and France

Italy also made a secret agreement with France that it would remain a neutral country if Germany attacked France. When the war started, Italy remained neutral rather than supporting the Central Powers.

There were many reasons why the countries chose to form these alliances, although much of it came down to power. Powerful countries had empires, which made them wealthy. To control other countries for their empires, they needed strong armies.

As their enemies also became stronger, they were more of a danger, so countries joined alliances against common enemies. For example, Britain and Germany were competing to have the most powerful navy in the region. France had recently lost a war to Germany, who took a region of French land called Alsace, which angered France. It made sense for Britain and France to form an alliance against Germany.

Military Power

The European countries considered powerful were:

All these powerful countries started spending a lot of money on their Defense Forces, including increasing their:

military technology

number of weapons

trained soldiers

As each country increased their spending on their armies, their enemies would too. This resulted in a cycle of major growth of power as well as continuing to worsen the relationship between the countries.

The Anglo-German Naval Arms Race was a race to build ships in Britain and Germany, and added to the tensions within Europe. In the late 1800s, the United Kingdom had the largest navy in the world. After the British threatened to stop shipping along the German coastline in 1897, Germany increased its navy. Britain saw Germany's expansion as a threat, and in turn started to build more ships and make them more powerful. The public supported their country, and both countries continued to spend more and build faster. In 1912, Germany decided to spend more on their army instead, because it saw the size of Russia's army as more of a threat than the British navy.

Nationalism and Imperialism

Nationalism is more than pride in a country, it is a belief by the public that their country is more important than any other country in the world. People often consider their country is more powerful than any other

Imperialism means that a country aims become more powerful, often by increasing the area they rule. Often, this can mean that the country uses military force to rule other lands or countries

Before the war, many of the powerful nations were full of nationalism. The governments and the media celebrated how great their nations were, and making fun of enemy countries they saw as weak. The growth of their militaries made the countries feel stronger and more important than countries around them. It also meant that they supported going to war, because they did not believe they could lose. Most countries even had war plans for their militaries if war did break out.

Countries such as Britain and France were successful and building empires and were powerful and rich. European powers such as Germany and Russia were jealous of these empires, and hoped to reduce them. Germany had already won the Franco-Prussian War against France in the late 1800s to reduce France's empire. Three arguments over land between the great powers significantly worsened the relationships between the great powers:

First and Second Moroccan Crisis - Germany challenged France's growing power in Morocco, in 1905 and again in 1911. Both times, Germany hoped to break the bond between France and Britain. Germany also hoped to secure Morocco for its own empire (at the time, there were few independent countries available in Africa). In both instances, Britain supported France. Germany received little support from other powers. Both crises increased tension in the region, given how close the parties came to war

First Balkan Crisis - in the 1870s, Austria-Hungary took control of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Serbia wanted control over Bosnia- Herzegovina due to its relationship with the people in that area. Austria-Hungary did not want Serbia becoming powerful in the region, and so disagreed. Russia offered to support Austria-Hungary's decision to declare Bosnia-Herzegovina an independent nation instead. This was unusual because Serbia and Russia were allies. But Russia wanted Austria-Hungary to support one of Russia's plans in the region, in return. Austria-Hungary announced Bosnia-Herzegovina as independent, without honoring its agreement with Russia. Russia was furious, and prepared to declare war against Austria-Hungary. Russia decided against war because Germany said it would support Austria-Hungary. Russia was embarrassed it failed to assert its power. The mistrust and anger added to the already simmering tension in the region

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Slavic nations are a group of people sharing similar cultures and histories. They also speak similar Slavic languages. Austria-Hungary included land in which Slavs close to the Serbian border lived. A nationalistic secret society in Serbia wanted to "free" those Slavs. They felt Austria-Hungary's declaration of Bosnia-Herzegovina's independence justified their action.

Serbia had become aware of the assassination plan and tried to warn Austria-Hungary. Their warning was too vague and so was not taken seriously. It is only after the war that the warning was publicly discussed.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot during a visit to Bosnia on 28 June 1914. Austria-Hungary was angry that Serbia did not think it was a Serbian responsibility to investigate the shooting. Although Serbia agreed to some of the demands for action sent to them by Austria-Hungary, it was not enough.

Serbia replied to the escalating tensions by sending a part of their army close to the Austria-Hungary border. The Austro-Hungarian army warned them away by firing shots into the air. The Austro-Hungarian government received reports of greater Serbian aggression, and declared war on Serbia. This set off a domino effect, where the great powers of Europe activated their war plans. First, Russia prepared its army for war based on its friendship with Serbia. Russia's act resulted in full preparation of Austro-Hungarian and German armies for battle. Soon, more and more countries had joined the war based on their alliances, agreements and reactions to the war.

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Causes of World War one - World War 1 - History for Kids

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The relationship had been tense between many European countries in the years before. Most had not forgiven each other for past rivalries, as they looked to become more powerful than their neighbors. In fact, the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand may have been the tipping point towards a war that had been brewing for years.

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FIRST WORLD WAR | Educational Video for Kids

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Gallipoli 2015 Ep 01 - The First Battle - Australian Army WW1

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Interactive WWI Timeline | National WWI Museum and Memorial

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Journey through the story of the Great War with our Interactive WWI Timeline, covering the world events of 1914 - 1920.

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[Richard Slocombe, Senior Curator of Art, IWM] Propaganda was very much in its formative stages of development; it was the concept of government's appealing to a mass audience. It was a completely new phenomenon. Certainly, at the beginning of the war, there was a - it was a bit amateurish, a bit piecemeal. And it was particularly say, in the early recruitment campaigns and things like that it, it wasn't entirely successful - it did rely on the inherent patriotism of the British public.

What they did in the end was get people who knew what they were talking about, and these were people like newspaper proprietors like Lord Northcliffe and Lord Beaverbrook. Who their papers like the Daily Mail, such like The Daily Express, were used to communicating with a mass audience basically. So, whereas the British propaganda effort, it's begun the war whereby employing civil servants, politicians. They eventually, the penny dropped, and they began to employ the people, the professionals shall we say - people who knew what they were talking about.

Amongst countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand and other countries in Empire. There was a real sort of belief in the empire, in Britain as a nation, as a society, a kind of figurehead. And they were, you know, they were motivated out of a sense of loyalty. The war was also being presented as a conflict to fight for basic freedoms and the threat of militarism and despotism that was, that was Germany basically. So, there was a sense, that there was a certain belief, ideals, hard-won freedoms that were at stake. Not just in Europe but across the world, this has felt that there was a real threat to internationally -to freedom and democracy and things like that. So, they joined up because of that - so there was, you know, there was a sense of loyalty to the crown and to the Empire. But also, there was this feeling that there were certain, you know, freedoms that were at stake.

Conscription was introduced at the end of 1915, the beginning of 1916. Basically, because the war had continued for much longer than anyone had anticipated. A lot of people had thought that this was going to be quite a short war. What was predicted by some of the leaders in Britain; chiefly Lord Kitchener who was it was charge of raising that a mass army; was that we needed to have a big army, a big standing army like France and like Germany. In order to contribute and to prevail in this war basically.

Britain was always considered as itself as essentially a naval power and for that reason it always kept a small, highly professional regular Army which was used - mainly to settle colonial disputes and things like that. So, it wasn't anything like the size it needed to be, in order to engage a major power like Germany. So, they initially - there was a call for voluntary enlistment, which was enthusiastically taken up by the British male population. But as the war wore on and horrendous sort of losses, that were being endured by Britain and the other countries, that flow of volunteers began to tail off basically. And conscription was introduced basically to maintain Britain's mass army. Basically, so it could effectively wage war against Germany and the central powers.

This poster just announces the military service act in 1916 which introduced conscription. I mean there's no visual appeal about this poster; there's no exciting images, there's no appeals to masculinity, there's no appeal to avenge sinking liners. There's no appeals to avenge atrocities as committed by the Germans in Belgium. It's telling you about a new bit of legislation, a new law which says - everyone within a certain age bracket, will now be compelled to join the British war effort i.e., the Army. And it just basically sets out the facts of this legislation and when it comes into force: so, I've got Thursday March the 2nd 1916.

In Australia and places like Canada and things - they were very reluctant to introduce conscription. They didn't like the idea that they were compelled to fight. So, the countries that did introduce, that like Canada, that did introduce it very late on in the war - and some never did at all - but it seemed to go against, you know, a notion of freedom of choice. And so you know it was a very unpopular, and remained unpopular, right throughout the war. And particularly during elections and at the end of the war and things - the ending of conscription was considered a vote winner. Basically, that it was so unpopular it was considered as something that would win votes and would be popular amongst the population.

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Use these sources to discover more about First World War Recruitment Posters. For ideas to help you use these sources, take a look at our Suggested Activities.

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a. Translate the text on these posters using Google Translate. You can also find out more about the posters by searching with the image number (such as ARTV10346) at www.awm.gov.au

b. Compare and contrast these three German posters, to the three Australian posters that also focus on the enemy. Identify similarities and differences relating to message, tone, and the representation of the opposing side. Which posters do you think have the greatest impact? Why?

4. Design your own First World War propaganda poster. You might like to consider:

a. Will you use an Australian, British, German, French or other perspective?

b. What are you trying to get the viewer to think or feel?

c. Will your message be positive or negative?

d. What colours, font, size, and style will you use to get your message across?

For more images and activities relating to propaganda posters from the First and Second World Wars, view the Hearts and Minds education kit.

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a. Translate the text on these posters using Google Translate. You can also find out more about the posters by searching with the image number (such as ARTV10346) at www.awm.gov.au b. Compare and contrast these three German posters, to the three Australian posters that also focus on the enemy.

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The combination of 20th-century weapons and 19th-century tactics made World War I especially deadly. Learn more about the weapons used in World War I.

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The planning and conduct of war in 1914 were crucially influenced by the invention of new weapons and the improvement of existing types since the Franco-German War of 1870-71. The chief developments of the intervening period had been the machine gun and the rapid-fire field artillery gun. The modern machine gun, which had been developed in the 1880s and '90s, was a reliable belt-fed gun capable of sustained rates of extremely rapid fire; it could fire 600 bullets per minute with a range of more than 1,000 yards (900 metres). In the realm of field artillery, the period leading up to the war saw the introduction of improved breech-loading mechanisms and brakes. Without a brake or recoil mechanism, a gun lurched out of position during firing and had to be re-aimed after each round. The new improvements were epitomized in the French 75-millimetre field gun; it remained motionless during firing, and it was not necessary to readjust the aim in order to bring sustained fire on a target.

See how No Man's Land between World War I trenches led to the use of chemical weapons, tanks, and warplanes

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. See all videos for this article

Machine guns and rapid-firing artillery, when used in combination with trenches and barbed-wire emplacements, gave a decided advantage to the defense, since these weapons' rapid and sustained firepower could decimate a frontal assault by either infantry or cavalry.

There was a considerable disparity in 1914 between the deadly effectiveness of modern armaments and the doctrinal teachings of some armies. The South African War and the Russo-Japanese War had revealed the futility of frontal infantry or cavalry attacks on prepared positions when unaccompanied by surprise, but few military leaders foresaw that the machine gun and the rapid-firing field gun would force armies into trenches in order to survive. Instead, war was looked upon by many leaders in 1914 as a contest of national wills, spirit, and courage. A prime example of this attitude was the French army, which was dominated by the doctrine of the offensive. French military doctrine called for headlong bayonet charges of French infantrymen against the German rifles, machine guns, and artillery. German military thinking, under the influence of Alfred, Graf von Schlieffen, sought, unlike the French, to avoid frontal assaults but rather to achieve an early decision by deep flanking attacks; and at the same time to make use of reserve divisions alongside regular formations from the outset of war. The Germans paid greater attention to training their officers in defensive tactics using machine guns, barbed wire, and fortifications.

The initial stages of the war

Initial strategies

Years before 1914, successive chiefs of the German general staff had been foreseeing Germany's having to fight a war on two fronts at the same time, against Russia in the east and France in the west, whose combined strength was numerically superior to the Central Powers'. The elder Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the German general staff from 1858 to 1888, decided that Germany should stay at first on the defensive in the west and deal a crippling blow to Russia's advanced forces before turning to counterattack the French advance. His immediate successor, Alfred von Waldersee, also believed in staying on the defensive in the west. Alfred, Graf von Schlieffen, who served as chief of the German general staff from 1891 to 1905, took a contrary view, and it was the plan he developed that was to guide Germany's initial wartime strategy. Schlieffen realized that on the outbreak of war Russia would need six full weeks to mobilize and assemble its vast armies, given the immense Russian countryside and population, the sparsity of the rail network, and the inefficiency of the government bureaucracy. Taking advantage of this fact, Schlieffen planned to initially adopt a purely defensive posture on the Eastern Front with a minimal number of troops facing Russia's slowly gathering armies. Germany would instead concentrate almost all of its troops in the west against France and would seek to bypass France's frontier fortifications by an offensive through neutral Belgium to the north. This offensive would sweep westward and then southward through the heart of northern France, capturing the capital and knocking that country out of the war within a few weeks. Having gained security in the west, Germany would then shift its troops to the east and destroy the Russian menace with a similar concentration of forces.

By the time of his retirement in 1905, Schlieffen had elaborated a plan for a great wheeling movement of the right (northern) wing of the German armies not only through central Belgium but also, in order to bypass the Belgian fortresses of Liège and Namur in the Meuse valley, through the southernmost part of the Netherlands. With their right wing entering France near Lille, the Germans would continue to wheel westward until they were near the English Channel; they would then turn southward so as to sever the French armies' line of retreat from France's eastern frontier to the south; and the outermost arc of the wheel would sweep southward west of Paris, in order to avoid exposing the German right flank to a counterstroke launched from the city's outskirts. If the Schlieffen Plan succeeded, Germany's armies would simultaneously encircle the French army from the north, overrun all of northeastern France, and capture Paris, thus forcing France into a humiliating surrender. The large wheeling movement that the plan envisaged required correspondingly large forces for its execution, in view of the need to keep up the numerical strength of the long-stretched marching line and the need to leave adequate detachments on guard over the Belgian fortresses that had been bypassed. Accordingly, Schlieffen allocated nearly seven-eighths of Germany's available troop strength to the execution of the wheeling movement by the right and centre wings, leaving only one-eighth to face a possible French offensive on Germany's western frontier. Thus, the maximum of strength was allocated to the wheel's edge-that is, to the right. Schlieffen's plan was observed by the younger Helmuth von Moltke, who became chief of the general staff in 1906. Moltke was still in office when war broke out in 1914.

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World War I - Military technology and initial strategies

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The modern machine gun and the rapid-fire field artillery gun changed how warfare was conducted, and existing military plans did not always reflect this fact. Initially Germany followed the Schlieffen Plan, which called for a defensive posture on the Eastern Front and launching a massive offensive attack on France.

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The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty between the six nations, France, Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Japan and the United States after World War I. The treaty was made in 1919, but the German government did not participate in it. In fact, Germany had the choice between signing it or facing the occupation of Germany by Allied troops. This was known as a diktat Frieden. This angered the German people as they believed that they did not start the war.

The French made the Treaty unfavorable for the Germans so that Germany would not be able to start a new war. Thus, Germany had to reduce its armed forces from 6 million to 100,000 men, and get rid of its submarines, military aircraft and most of their artillery, such as cannons. Their Navy battleships were limited to only six small ones. Germany also had to give back French territories it had occupied, as well as large territories of its own to Poland, for instance, and all of its colonies. A heavy economical burden for Germany was to pay back the very big World War I reparations for the damage done to the Allied countries, mostly France, during World War I by German troops. This sum was not fixed. 132 billion gold marks had to be paid only as a first part of the German debt. They only finished paying off this debt in 2010.

This Treaty can be seen as a one-sided peace diktat for Germany, a treaty which later was used as a reason for Germany's nationalists and Adolf Hitler to try to get the support of the Germans to get rid of the "chains of Versailles," which finally led to World War II.

The treaty made a League of Nations, which decided things after the treaty was signed. It solved some international disputes without war, but could not stop World War II.

Outcome for the Central Powers

Germany had to give back French areas ( Alsace-Lorraine) taken by Germany in the Franco-Prussian War, which Germany had won and which was still an embarrassment for France. The French made Germany take its troops out of the Rhineland (the long stretch of land on Germany's border with France where the Rhine river flows), which was an important part of land for Germany where many factories and businesses existed. If Germany put troops back into the Rhineland the punishment would be France invading Germany.

Germany also had to give many parts to Poland, a new country made out of old Russian and Austrian parts and the Polish and Lithuanian people who lived in them. Poland was a very strong kingdom a few hundred years before but Austria, Prussia and Russia had split it between them.

Belgium was given Moresnet and Eupen and Malmedy. This is the main reason that Belgium now has a German-speaking community.

Versailles also split up many large empires on the losing side. The U.S. President, Woodrow Wilson, thought this was a very good idea because many people in Europe wanted to be free from the big empires. But it also created problems.

Austria-Hungary was split into many countries. One was Austria. Austria was meant to be the homeland of the Austrians, who spoke German and mainly ruled Austria-Hungary. Its capital was Vienna. One of the problems of Versailles was that many Austrians, like Adolf Hitler, thought that Austria was meant to be part of Germany. This led to the later German occupation of Austria.

The new country of Hungary was also created. Like Poland, it was a country that was strong on its own centuries before. Its capital was Budapest. Another new country, Czechoslovakia was created to be the homeland of the Czechs and Slovaks. The Czech part was made up of the country once called Bohemia and Moravia. Its capital was Prague. Many Germans lived on its borders called the Sudetenland, which was why Adolf Hitler insisted that it should belong to Germany.

Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia (which were parts of Austria-Hungary), northern Macedonia (which was part of Bulgaria), Serbia and Montenegro made one country, called Yugoslavia. It was made to be a Slav homeland, but there were many religious, language and national differences.

New countries by the Baltic Sea called Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania were created. The Russian Revolution started during the war, and later resulted in the death of Tzar Nicholas II of Russia and the formation of a Communist state. A civil war raged in Russia between the anti-Communist White Russians and pro-Soviet Red Russians. Russia had lost control of its western territory which made up Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and parts of Poland. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union reclaimed Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and half of Poland.

Italy gained parts of Austria.

It was agreed in another treaty called the Treaty of Sèvres that Greece would take parts of Western Turkey (called Ionia) and its past most important city, Constantinople from Turkey. Greece took them at first but a new Turkish army drove the Greeks out, killing many Greek people. Greece did gain most of the islands in the Aegean Sea from Turkey and parts of Bulgaria.

The League of Nations decided that parts of old Turkey were given to France and Great Britain to protect and keep peace in the area. Britain ruled Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan, which would become Israel, Iraq, and Jordan. France ruled Syria and Lebanon.

Long-term problems

The German Empire became the Weimar Republic. A big problem for Germany was to pay back a giant amount of money for the all of the damage done to the Allied countries, mostly France, during World War I. This made Germany one of the poorest countries in Europe for almost 20 years, and caused political fighting in Germany. Germany officially finished paying off its debt on Sunday, October 3, 2010. The two most important parties, the Communists (who wanted a Communist revolution as had happened in Russia) and the Nazis (who thought Germany should become the most powerful country in Europe) fought for many years.

The debt to the Allies was made easier for the Germans during the Great Depression, and all debt was cancelled in 1932. Many Germans hated the treaty and some even wanted to fight more after Versailles.

The League of Nations created after Versailles was usually not powerful enough to stop wars, either. Japan took a part of China called Manchuria and the League was not able to stop it. Italy invaded Ethiopia and although the Ethiopian Emperor begged the League to help him, it did not. Germany, Japan and Italy became the Axis powers, and by invading many peaceful countries caused World War II. The United States and the USSR did not even join the League, even though it was the idea of US President Woodrow Wilson in the first place. The League was never taken seriously, even though it was created to make sure Versailles was respected. The treaty failed to keep peace in the end, and was a reason for Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler to win the support of the poorer Germans to get rid of the "chains of Versailles", leading to World War II.

Related pages

Images for kids

German Johannes Bell signs the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors, with various Allied delegations sitting and standing in front of him.

German delegates in Versailles: Professor Walther Schücking, Reichspostminister Johannes Giesberts, Justice Minister Otto Landsberg, Foreign Minister Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Prussian State President Robert Leinert, and financial advisor Carl Melchior.

Demonstration against the treaty in front of the Reichstag.

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The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty between the six nations, France, Germany, Britain, Austria-Hungary, Japan and the United States after World War I. The treaty was made in 1919, but the German government did not participate in it. In fact, Germany had the choice between signing it or facing the occupation of Germany by Allied troops.

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Aboriginal Service during the First World War 

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Aboriginal Service during the First World War 

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When it was colonised by Europeans, Australia was declared terra nullius; there were no formally binding treaties made with Indigenous Australians, so there was no recognition of the rights of the Indigenous inhabitants.

The Defence Act of 1903 stated that all males aged from 12 to 25 would receive military training; as Aboriginal Australians were not of European descent, they were exempt from military service. (It was not until 1949 that all restrictions were lifted, enabling Indigenous Australians to join the Australian military forces.)

At the outbreak of the war large numbers of Australians came forward to enlist, and Aboriginal Australians also answered the call. Best current estimates are that about 1,000 Indigenous Australians - out of an estimated population of 93,000 in 1901 - fought in the First World War (though the real number is probably higher). It is not known what motivated Indigenous Australians to join the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), but loyalty and patriotism doubtless played a part. There was also the incentive of a receiving a wage. Indigenous soldiers were paid the same rate as non-Indigenous soldiers. In general, indigenous soldiers served under the same conditions of service as other members of the AIF, with many experiencing in the army equal treatment for the first time in their lives. There may have also been the hope that having served would deliver greater equality after the war. In reality, however, upon their return to civilian life they were treated with the same prejudice and discrimination as before.

Only rarely did the Australian army note on a soldier's attestation papers whether he was 'Aboriginal'; often just a description, specifying dark complexion, dark hair, or brown eyes, was entered. However, note was made of a soldier's Aboriginality, in the event of his being discharged as unfit for service because of it.

By the end of 1915 it became harder for Aboriginal Australians to enlist, and some were rejected because of their race. But this did not deter others, and some travelled hundreds of kilometres to enlist after being turned down at centres closer to their communities. Some who had been passed by the recruiter were then rejected while under training in the camps.

Instructions for the "guidance of enlisting officers at approved military recruiting depots" issued in 1916 state that "Aboriginals, half-casts, or men with Asiatic blood are not to be enlisted - This applies to all coloured men." However, some Indigenous Australians who were of lighter skin colour with mixed European parentage enlisted by claiming foreign nationality. It was usually left up to the recruiting officer to decide whether to allow the person to enlist, so people with darker-skin did sometimes slip through.

By October 1917, when recruits were harder to find and one conscription referendum had already been lost, restrictions were cautiously eased. A new military order stated: "Half-castes may be enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force provided that the examining Medical Officers are satisfied that one of the parents is of European origin."

Private Richard Martin

Richard Martin joined the AIF on 17 December 1914 and declared on his attestation papers that he was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, claiming that he had five years' prior service in the Australian Light Horse. Richard in fact was born on Stradbroke Island in Queensland. He was taken on the strength of the 15th Battalion on 9 May 1915 on Gallipoli.

Martin was transferred to the 47th Battalion in Egypt in March 1916 and went on to serve in France, where he was wounded in action on 9 August 1916. He again was wounded in action on 7 June 1917 in Belgium and a third time on 13 October 1917 with a gunshot wound to the right hand. He rejoined his battalion on 27 February 1918 and was killed in action a month later. Some records suggest he was buried in the cemetery at Dernancourt, but a later document states his grave could not be found.

Private Edmund Bilney

Edmund Bilney joined the AIF in June 1917 (before the easing of restrictions in late 1917); a note on his attestation papers describes him as a half-cast. Bilney was attached to B Company, Mitcham AIF Camp, South Australia, for training but was discharged after serving just 16 days, the medical board having described him thus: "deficient physique, half cast Aboriginal, too full blood for the AIF".

Corporal Harry Thorpe MM

Harry Thorpe was born at the Lake Tyers Mission Station, near Lakes Entrance, Victoria. He enlisted at Sale on 12 February 1916, and embarked from Melbourne on 4 April 1916 aboard HMAT Euripides. He joined the 7th Battalion in France in July 1916. He was wounded in action at Pozières in 1916 and Bullecourt in 1917.

Lance Corporal Thorpe was awarded the Military Medal and promoted to corporal for his conspicuous courage and leadership he showed during operations at Broodseinde, near Ypres, in Belgium, on the night of 4-5 October 1917. During the advance on 9 August 1918 at Lihons Wood, south-west of Vauvillers, France, a stretcher-bearer found Thorpe shot in the stomach. He died shortly afterwards and is buried in the Heath Cemetery, Harbonnières, France, with his friend William Rawlings, another Aboriginal Military Medal winner who was killed on the same day.

Douglas Grant

Douglas Grant was born into a traditional Aboriginal community in the Bullenden Kerr Ranges of Northern Queensland in the early 1880s. His early family life was torn apart in 1887 when his parents and much of his Aboriginal community were killed in what was believed to be a tribal fight. He was rescued just moments from death by scientist Robert Grant, a Scottish immigrant surveying in the area at the time. Naming him Douglas, he raised him as his son.

The Grant family settled in Lithgow, New South Wales. Douglas, along with Robert's other son, Henry, attended Scots College in Sydney. There, he developed a love for Shakespeare and poetry, and his talent for drawing was encouraged. After finishing school, Douglas pursued his interest in drawing, training as a mechanical draughtsman.

When the First World War broke out Grant managed to enlist with the 34th Battalion in January 1916. However, as he was about to leave Australia the Aborigines Protection Board intervened, noting that regulations prevented Aboriginals from leaving the country without government approval. Undeterred, Grant enlisted again, and this time successfully embarked with the 13th Battalion in August.

However, his service was to be short-lived. On 11 April 1917, just two months after arriving in France, Grant was captured during the first battle of Bullecourt. In this battle at least 3,300 men were killed or wounded and a further 1,170 were taken prisoner.

Grant was a well-educated, articulate man with a thick Scottish accent. As such, he was a person of curiosity to German doctors, scientists, and anthropologists. To his comrades, however, he was cherished as a remarkable figure who proved to be both honest and quick-witted.

After his capture, Grant spent two months in France. However, owing to his dark complexion, he ended up at Wünsdorf (Zossen) prisoner-of-war camp in the German state of Brandenburg. Wünsdorf was a Halbmondlager ("half-moon camp"), a special type of "show camp" where the Germans kept French and British colonial troops, many of whom were Muslims, hoping to exploit their supposed indignation towards their colonial masters. While there, Grant supervised the distribution of comforts to Indian prisoners as a member of the British Help Committee.

After 22 months, Grant was repatriated to Australia, where he resumed his job as a draughtsman before moving on to work as a labourer in a paper factory and then a small-arms factory. He lobbied for Aboriginal rights and became active in returned servicemen's affairs. Grant died in 1951, aged 65, and was buried in Botany Cemetery in Sydney.

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Aboriginal service during the First World War

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When it was colonised by Europeans, Australia was declared terra nullius; there were no formally binding treaties made with Indigenous Australians, so there was no recognition of the rights of the Indigenous inhabitants. The Defence Act of 1903 stated that all males aged from 12 to 25 would receive military training; as Aboriginal Australians were not of European descent, they were exempt from military service.

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Despite discrimination and exclusion, thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have served in the Australian Defence Forces since the 1860s and possibly earlier.

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Step 1 - Setup

When you first open Audacity you'll see a set of toolbars at the top, including Transport (Play, Stop, etc.), Tools, and Volume/Meters for microphone input and playback.

If you're missing a toolbar or would like to customize which toolbars are visible, select View > Toolbars and check/uncheck from the menu as you like. You can also rearrange the toolbar order using the "Grabber" column at the left end of each, or resize a given toolbar using the "Drag Bar" column at the right end.

Pro Tip: Using the Drag Bar to lengthen Microphone or Playback Volume controls can create more space to make granular slider adjustments.

The Device Toolbar

Next, you'll see the Audacity Device Toolbar, where you can make routing selections from a handful of dropdown menus. From left to right, you can choose your audio host, recording device, recording channels, and playback device.

If you're using Audacity with MacOS, Core Audio will be your only choice for Audio Host. On Windows, there are a handful of options, but the default MME is most compatible with all audio devices.

From the Recording Device menu, choose your connected audio interface, such as the Scarlett 2i2, or if you're using a USB mic like the Audio-Technica ATR2100 select it here.

If your interface or mic is not available from the dropdown, a few troubleshooting steps include making sure your mic/interface is plugged in and turned on and checking your computer system preferences to verify that your interface/mic is connected and selected. If those steps check out, closing and restarting Audacity can sometimes jog its memory. You can also consult Audacity's extensive manual for further help.

If you're recording one microphone, choose 1 (Mono) Recording Channel from the Recording Channels dropdown. In the case of a two-person interview, you'll select 2 (Stereo) Recording Channels. Note: even though Audacity offers up to 14 recording channels from the dropdown, you can only record as many channels as you have available on your interface/mixer/etc. More on this below.

Lastly, select your Playback Device, which tells Audacity where to play the audio from your session. This selection may vary depending on whether you're recording or editing. When recording, you should monitor through headphones rather than speakers to avoid creating a feedback loop or causing bleed - and to give you immediate awareness of how you may need to adjust your mic technique. When editing, you may prefer to listen on monitors, in which case you may need to alter your playback device.

Test Your Input

The final step before you begin recording is to test your microphone. With your Recording Device selected, reference the microphone meter and, if necessary, select the 'Click to Start Monitoring' button.

With the meter engaged, begin speaking at a comfortable level and increase or decrease the Microphone Volume slider so that it registers peaks around -12dB. This should leave adequate headroom to help you avoid clipping your input signal.

Once you set your input level, you're ready to record.

Recording

Unlike some audio editors or DAWs, Audacity will automatically create tracks for each selected Recording Channel once you begin recording. Press the red Record button in the Transport toolbar (or keyboard shortcut R) to begin your audio recording.

When you're ready to end the recording, press the spacebar.

Multi-track Recording

Two Tracks

If you're recording two microphones at once, like we're doing here with the Scarlett 2i2, you'll select 2 (Stereo) Recording Channels from the recording channels toolbar. This will record both channels into a single stereo file, with input 1 on the left channel and input 2 on the right channel.

Once you're finished recording, you'll need to split the stereo file into a pair of mono files for editing and mixdown. Click the down arrow next to the track name and select "Split Stereo to Mono." Each resulting file will now be on its own track.

Alternatively, you can leave the two channels linked as a stereo file through the editing process and split to mono once finished. If you need to maintain the timing relationship between the two channels, this can make the job simpler by eliminating the need to make cuts & timing adjustments to multiple tracks at once.

Multiple Tracks

When using an interface/mixer with more than two inputs, such as the Rodecaster Pro, you'll need to change your Recording Device and Recording Channels selections. By default, Audacity will assign a stereo mix from the Rodecaster Pro to channels 1/2, so you'll need to add additional channels for each input. Channel 3 will correspond to Mic 1, Channel 4 to Mic 2, and so on.

Pro Tip: Whenever possible, try to record each person onto a separate track. This gives you more flexibility when you start editing your audio files.

Editing

With your recording complete, it's time to edit your podcast. In addition to any audio you recorded into Audacity, you can also drag and drop additional audio files into the workspace for use in the edit (intro/outro music, sound effects, etc.). Each will automatically be assigned its own track.

It's worth noting that Audacity is an audio editing software rather than a DAW, and one of the key differences between the two is destructive vs. non-destructive editing. In Audacity, any change you make to your audio - splitting clips, time-shifting, etc. - will be written over the original file once saved. Keep this in mind as you edit.

Remember the Tools toolbar up top? Let's check it out now.

Selection Tool

The Selection Tool works much like the cursor in a word processor. You can use it to set the playback start point or select segments of audio for processing.

For example, if you want to cut and paste or delete a portion of an audio clip, you can highlight it and use your keyboard "cut" command or press the delete key. Notice that when you do, Audacity automatically closes the resulting gap by moving the new clip boundaries together.

Alternatively, to leave timing intact you can use the Split Cut or Split Delete functions - see Edit > Remove Special > Split Cut / Split Delete.

While not technically a function of the Selection Tool, a vital feature to use in conjunction with it is the Split command, located under Edit > Clip Boundaries > Split. If you want to create two individual clips from a single clip, set the playback start point with the Selection Tool and then use Split to separate them. You can also select a segment of audio and use Split to separate your selection from the content before and after it.

Time Shift

The Time Shift tool is used to move an audio clip forward or backward in time. When you'd like to change the position of an audio clip in time, select the Time Shift tool and drag it forward or backward on the track or between tracks. Note that Audacity will not let you overlap two clips on a single track.

Envelope Tool

The Envelope Tool in Audacity allows you to fade in and fade out music tracks and make micro-adjustments to your audio files. When you select the tool, you'll notice gray bars appear at the top and bottom of each clip, bordered at the edges by a purple line. Click and drag up or down to adjust the gain of the entire audio clip.

Note: this is distinct from the gain slider on the track. Think of it as a "pre-gain" adjustment for getting your clip to a good working level before you make balance adjustments among tracks with their gain sliders.

A single click of the Envelope Tool on an audio clip will create a control point. To remove a control point, click and drag it off of the audio clip.

Using multiple control points, you can create gain changes across your clip, ranging from simple fades to complex dips and rises. A use case might be letting your intro music come in at full volume, then dipping it below some intro narration, making it come back up for a few seconds, and finally fading out entirely.

Podcast Episode Structure

Once you've edited your recorded and imported content to your liking, you'll need to arrange and mix your audio tracks together into a cohesive episode. There is no uniform way to do this, but it's generally a best practice not to put multiple types of audio on the same track. Music, sound effects, and each voice, for example, should be kept on their own tracks.

One structure option to get you started is to arrange your tracks chronologically, beginning at the top. In this example, we have an intro clip taken from the interview that opens the episode, followed by theme music on a track just below, then the interview itself, and so on. This affords a level of visual organization, with audio cascading from top left to bottom right.

Another option is to use one track per audio source, which will minimize the number of tracks required and save vertical real estate in your workspace. In this setup, the intro clip would be on the same track as the interview, since they're from the same source. Intro and outro narration would be on one track, assuming they were taken from the same recording. Intro and outro music could potentially be on the same track if you're not using different processing on them.

Export

Once you're pleased with your edit, the last step is to export it as a single file for upload to your podcast host for distribution. We recommend exporting in a WAV file format to maintain a high level of audio quality throughout your process, then letting your podcast host transcode it to MP3 for you. In Audacity this is as simple as reaching for File > Export > Export as WAV.

A dialog will open where you can name your file, choose a destination for it, and select your WAV bit depth or choose an alternative format (AIFF, MP3, etc.) if you desire. Click 'Save.'

Audacity will alert you that your tracks will be mixed down and exported to two stereo channels (if your session includes any stereo tracks) or one mono channel (if your session includes only mono tracks). The subsequent dialog will allow you to embed metadata into the file if you choose, but this is not necessary if your podcast host handles metadata for you like Buzzsprout does. If you prefer to ignore either warning in the future, click the box that reads "Don't show this when exporting audio." Click 'Okay,' and Audacity will export your file.

Voila! You now know how to use audacity to edit podcast episodes.

Auphonic

A final recommendation that we make is to take advantage of Auphonic's podcast mastering features. Using Auphonic as the final step in your workflow lets you optimize your audio for podcast directories like Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes) and Spotify.

To learn how to use Auphonic, be sure to check out our complete guide and video tutorial. Once you have your mastered file in hand, upload to your podcast host - and get to work on your next episode!

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Audacity Tutorial for Podcasters: How to Setup, Record, and Edit a Podcast

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When you first open Audacity you'll see a set of toolbars at the top, including Transport (Play, Stop, etc.), Tools, and Volume/Meters for microphone input and playback. If you're missing a toolbar or would like to customize which toolbars are visible, select View > Toolbars and check/uncheck from the menu as you like.

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Letters from Aboriginal men who served Australia during the First World War are extremely rare.

But as the history of Aboriginal military service during the Great War is given greater attention, their firsthand accounts illustrate better than anything the sacrifice and the emotional cost of war.

The letters and postcards, some held privately, tell a moving, if laconic, story tinged with longing, gallows humour, bravado and sadness.

As much as homesickness, the correspondence records the inglorious and mundane aspects of a soldier's life on the Western Front.

The letters and postcards are also characterised by stoicism and understatement.

For decades, historian and blogger Philippa Scarlett has been researching Aboriginal men who served during the Great War.

She says it's not surprising that few records exist, given the negligible education provided to Aboriginal people during the so-called Protection Era.

"Probably they didn't have the tools to write," she says.

In May 1917 a military order revoked the nominal ban on Aboriginal men serving in the Australian Imperial Force, although in fact many had already enlisted.

One of the Aboriginal men who joined up after the military order was Samuel Browning, a fisherman from Fingal (then known as The Caves or Caves Point) on the North Coast of New South Wales.

One of Browning's mates enlisted with him but was rejected on the grounds that he had no European heritage. Browning left Australia in late 1917 aboard the troop ship Euripides, and disembarked at Devonport in the south of England on Boxing Day.

In Browning 's letters to his mother Mary, his heartbroken bride-to-be, and 10-year-old sister, there is no mention of the horrors of the Western Front nor of his gassing in the trenches near Rouen in northern France in August 1918, just a few months before the guns fell silent.

In an undated letter from Bath, where he was convalescing, Sam wrote urgently to Fingal, anxious that his younger brother stay away.

"Dear Mother, tell George to stop where he is instead of enlisting - one is enough from home, so don't forget."

Elsewhere, Browning longed for the beach.

"I am longing for a good feed of oysters and pippies. I'd give ten bob for a feed," he wrote to his mother from the ANZAC training camp at Codford in February 1918.

But Lance Corporal Charles Blackman of the 9th Battalion was much less restrained in his letters to a friend, the manager of a pastoral station at Biggenden north-west of Brisbane.

"Charley" was one of three brothers who served in the AIF during WWI; one, Alfred Blackman, was killed in action during the Battle of Passchendaele in late 1917.

Blackman's letters - which may have been dictated- are preserved in the archives of the Australian War Memorial, and are often signed "the lonely soldier". They are also available online.

Of the few letters and postcards which survive from Aboriginal diggers, Blackman's are the most graphic.

"I expect you know it. The last time up the line, I killed five Germans," he wrote.

In another letter, "the lonely soldier" complains about the bleak weather.

"France is beautiful but it rains too much," he wrote.

"One thing is, the clouds here never need to thunder - the guns do all the thundering - and the flashes they make, it's just like lightning."

Francis Walter Bertie Firth served in the Middle East and lost a brother in Egypt, but his letters from "somewhere in France" are consumed by anxiety about missing letters apparently sent by his mother Kate from Pilliga in northern New South Wales but never received.

Bertie wrote to his mother on Easter Sunday in 1917: "Just a few lines to let you know that I am still in the land of the living," he wrote.

"It is about time the winter was over, I would not like to be here for another, the coldest place on earth."

Characteristically, and presumably without irony, Bertie signs his letters that he hopes everyone at home is well as it leaves him, "in the pink of condition".

Another letter suggests that he may he have been jilted.

"I got a letter from Peggy the other day. She is engaged to someone else. Good luck to her."

Perhaps the most extraordinary letter from an Aboriginal serviceman was published in a Sydney newspaper in 1918.

After enlisting in 1916 and being captured by the enemy at Reincourt the following year, Douglas Grant was detained at a prisoner of war camp at Wunsdorf, south of Berlin, and at Wittenberg in Prussia.

Diverse and vibrant Aboriginal arts and culture every week.

Grant writes from Wittenberg that he is doing well, in spite of everything.

"I am well and comfortable as circumstances will permit. I am working every day, which helps to pass the time away. I am weary for home, and hope to be back soon. Do not worry."

In suspiciously formal language, Doug wrote to his father: "I get letters, and they do cheer me up. You really cannot understand what happiness the receipt of letters does afford me."

The letter would never have been sent if it had not passed the German censors, who monitored all correspondence from prisoners of war.

An enclosed photograph was also published in the Sydney Mail, in which Grant appears to be in good health.

Although today he is perhaps the best known Indigenous soldier of the Great War, Grant was atypical in almost every sense.

Born in North Queensland's Bellenden Ker Ranges, Grant is supposed to have been taken from a massacre in which his mother was killed.

Although he was unmistakably Aboriginal, Grant was brought up completely isolated from his heritage, even acquiring a thick Scottish accent.

Grant's wartime experiences were extraordinary - at one point he was responsible for the distribution of Red Cross parcels to Indian military personnel also detained at Wunsdorf, and was studied by curious anthropologists who were given access to prisoners of war.

As firsthand accounts, the letters are an important part of the unfolding story of Aboriginal war service - a story that's emerging 100 years after the fact.

But Philippa Scarlett says more could be done to honour Aboriginal diggers.

"Digging out more stories is one way of doing it. There are so many different avenues. We've made an extremely good start. Let's keep on doing it."

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Letters home from Aboriginal diggers reveal humour, sadness

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Letters from Aboriginal men who served Australia during the First World War are extremely rare. But as the history of Aboriginal military service during the Great War is given greater attention, their firsthand accounts illustrate better than anything the sacrifice and the emotional cost of war.

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Engaging podcast content takes time and work, but it's worth the investment. The biggest reason to focus on producing compelling podcast episodes are their ability to help you build a loyal fan base. These listeners tune in to your show every week, help it succeed by leaving positive reviews, and sharing your content with friends. Ahead we share 13 tips to help improve your content's quality and in turn build a loyal following.

How To Create Interesting Podcast Episodes

If you want engaged listeners you have to create engaging podcast content - the type of content they can't wait to get more of. Check out our 13 tips to refine your episodes and start building the right kind of audience.

Need help growing your audience?

1. Talk about things you're interested in

This may sound obvious but choosing a topic you like talking about is the cornerstone of podcasting. It not only helps you produce engaging content but it also is a key factor in consistently creating new episodes for your audience to enjoy.

If you're struggling to engage an audience, take a step back and review your podcast's theme. It's better to start a new podcast based on a topic you like than commit to something that bores you.

2. Focus on your target audience

You can't make a podcast that pleases everyone. It's best to narrow your focus to a specific listener avatar who will get the most value from your content.

For inspiration, research topic options in a variety of places like relevant forums or online groups that are related to your target audience. Or read the comments on your podcast's social posts or add more color to popular topics from past episodes. Better yet, ask your fans directly-use your email list and social pages asking for listener input about what they want to hear.

Once you have some ideas on paper, go through each one and ask yourself if the content focuses on your listeners' needs. Will it add value to their life? Will it make them a better person in some way? Will they sit and listen to the entire episode? Is this the content they're craving?

3. Tell lots of stories

Stories are powerful ways to connect with your audience. They create neurological responses in our brains that help us focus and empathize with the storyteller. Researchers at Stanford learned that people are also able to remember stories better than other kinds of information.

Start with a standard three act story arc, beginning with a setup, building to a confrontation, and ultimately ending with a resolution. To fill each segment, try answering these questions: What struggles were faced? What challenges were overcome? What lessons were learned?
Listen to "Crafting The Narrative" from Audience for more storytelling tips from the experts.
4. Help your audience take the next step

You have give toyour listeners a reason to follow your show and this means creating podcast content that's actionable.

Actionable content explains how your listeners can do something, not just whatthey should do or why. It gives them practical directions that can be applied in real life to satisfy a need.

For instance, if your music podcast discusses how difficult it is for young artists to get noticed, create more actionable podcast content by providing instructions on how to get noticed. The how can come from describing your personal experiences or inviting on a guest to share their industry expertise.

5. Ask your listeners questions and report their responses

Podcasting may be a one-way medium, but that doesn't mean you can't get a little audience participation. Ask open ended questions and explain how your audience's answers will be featured in future episodes. Direct them to a central place to collect their responses like in the comment section of your podcast's website or across your social media channels.

The benefits of this approach are two fold-you receive entertaining podcast content and your audience gets the excitement of having their answers read live on your show.

6. Stay on topic and don't wander too much

As you get better at podcasting you'll start to have fun, becoming more and more comfortable behind the mic. But make sure you don't to become so relaxed that the conversation consistently strays off topic.

To keep yourself on track, follow your script or notes, at least loosely. If you catch yourself going down the wrong path, reign the conversation back to your plan. That isn't to say all tangents are bad but make sure you're not eroding the value of the episode by regularly including irrelevant anecdotes. Luckily, you can always edit out the segments that strayed a little too far in post-production.

7. Invite unique experts onto your show

Every niche has a bunch of experts who like to hit the "podcast circuit." They're on a different show every week. These experts make great guests because they know how to perform on a podcast, but your listeners have heard them before. Instead, go after guests who have great stories to tell, but are less well known.

Learn as much as you can about them before you record so you can prepare intelligent questions, rather than trying to come up with interesting things to say on the spot. Your questions should challenge your guest to come up with unique answers so your interview doesn't sound like every other one they've given.

8. Listen carefully to your guests

Even though you'll have interesting talking points prepared, avoid being the interviewer who reads a question, waits for the guest to answer, and then immediately moves onto the next without building off the response. Create more engaging podcast interviews by listening carefully to the guest's comments then ask follow-up questions or chime in with your interesting tidbits.

Alongside your list of set questions, don't be afraid to stray from the script to flesh out a guest's interesting response. This is when you'll access the off-the-cuff conversations that make your podcast content sticky, leaving you with a unique interview not found anywhere else.

9. Choose guests with the right qualities

When focusing on guests that don't pop around the "podcast circuit", make sure they still have these key qualities to ensure they'll provide engaging content.

Relevant - The guest should relate closely to your topic and the listener's need. Don't invite someone on the show just to have another voice.

Knowledgeable - Your guest needs to have something useful to say that's applicable today. For instance, an investment podcast might bring on a mortgage broker to talk about the housing market. But if that mortgage broker retired 25 years ago, he probably doesn't have the right kind of knowledge.

Entertaining - Your guests don't need to sing and tell jokes, but they should be able to speak in a way that doesn't grate or bore your listeners.

10. Make your audio perfect

This should go without saying, but people don't engage with poor sounding audio. It's distracting, unsettling, and gives a new listener a very easy reason to stop tuning in. Perfect your recordings with the proper equipment and try out our techniques to capture clearer audio the first time you sit behind the mic.

11. Tell your fans where to learn more

You can't cover everything in a 30 or 45 minute segment, but your listeners may still have questions about the topic or issue you covered. The most engaging podcast content helps readers explore further and gives them ways to learn more.

For each episode, think about relevant resources you can direct listeners to later. Examples include relevant articles, YouTube videos, or books that dive deeper into the topic. Wherever possible, offer specific resources and make it easy for your listeners to find what you're talking about. Rather than saying "visit the EPA's website", say "visit the EPA's website and under 'laws and regulation' you'll find the study with all of these data points." In addition, add these resources to your show notes for another way for your audience to easily access the information.

12. Be yourself

This may sound like a cliché piece of advice, but it's important!

You might be tempted to exaggerate one facet of your personality, or embellish a behavior you think people like. But if you want to create truly engaging podcast content, it's best to be yourself. If you try to be anyone else, you'll inevitably come off as inauthentic and listeners can always tell when you aren't being truthful.

13. Post transcriptions of your episodes

This is a bonus tip to help you squeeze more value out of all the work you've put into creating an engaging episode. Not only does it allow those who are hearing impaired enjoy the show, including episode transcriptions on your website provides SEO value. New listeners can now discover your engaging podcast content as they search for information about the topics you're covering. By providing search engines additional content to "crawl", your podcast is more likely to show up in search results and in turn scale your audience.

Need help marketing your podcast?

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Engaging Podcast Content: 13 Tips to Create Better Content | Castos

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Engaging podcast content takes time and work, but it's worth the investment. The biggest reason to focus on producing compelling podcast episodes are their ability to help you build a loyal fan base. These listeners tune in to your show every week, help it succeed by leaving positive reviews, and sharing your content with friends.