World War 1 was not only a devastatingly costly war overseas, but also had major impacts back home in Australia. The statement that 1917 was “the worst year in the Great War” for Australia and Australians is very accurate. This is due to Australia enduring higher death tolls than any year in the Great War; achieving less success than any other year; suffering decreasing major societal morale and society experienced extreme political tensions in 1917.
1917 was met with record counts of Australian deaths at war in a single year, with over 21736 soldier deaths in the Australian Imperial Force alone. Also, over 55 thousand Australian troops were either wounded or prisoner during the year. Across the entirety of the four years the Australia Imperial Force was directly involved with the Great War, 1917 alone saw almost 37% of all A.I.F. deaths and roughly a third of all wounded or imprisoned soldiers. Fully organised medical operating tables were also introduced in the year, particularly in highly contested regions, such as the Third Battle of the Ypres. These professional teams possessed a range of specialists, and were particularly capable of managing severe head wounds, likely saving thousands of lives. Despite major medical improvements made during the year, the A.I.F. still suffered nearly 8000 more deaths in 1917 than 1916 and 1918, and almost triple those from 1915, which emphasises the horror of the year for the soldiers. The heavy casualties suffered by Australia in 1917 contributed to making it the worst year in the Great War for Australia.
1917 saw minimal success for the Australian Imperial Force, especially compared to the other three years that they fought in during the Great War. The Australian troops were immediately met with failure in 1917 after the first and second battles of Bullecourt, from 10 to 12 April and 3 to 15 May respectively. The battles were simply hellish for the Australians, whom lost nearly 80% of their 3000 troops in the first battle and over 7000 thousand in the second. The Battle of Messines was a notable ally success to follow Bullecourt, however this battle led to the Third Battle of the Ypres, which lasted from 31 July until 10 November, and it was to be one of the costliest battles for Australian soldiers in history. Despite an eventual ally “victory” in the battle, the costs heavily outweighed any successes. Australia alone lost 38093 troops, which was a large portion of their entire force at the Western Front. The exhausting 3-month battle failed to create any momentum along the Western Front for the allies and was devastatingly costly, heavily damaging any future battle opportunities for the A.I.F. due to their weakened numbers. The minimal successes for Australia in 1917 attributed towards it being the worst year in the Great War for Australia.
In comparison to other years, 1917 saw the least success for Australia for our losses. 1915 held the renowned Gallipoli battle, which was a failure for Australia. However, the A.I.F. suffered only 7819 casualties in the year, which is merely a third of the casualties from 1917. 1916 saw vital successes in the Battle of the Pozieres and, despite the horrors of the Australian troops’ distraction-based, exposed charge towards the German trenches in Fromelles, the Australian force managed to have a damaging impact on the German forces, whilst suffering just 60% of the casualties of 1917. Lastly, 1918 was our most successful year in the war, with Australian troops successfully capturing Hamel Spur on July 4th, and majorly contributing to the ally successes at Mont St. Quentin, the Hindenburg Line and Peronne, ultimately assisting in an ally victory in the war. They achieved all listed prior successes, whilst again suffering roughly 60% of the casualties suffered in 1917. Therefore, even with the Messines success, the horrors of the Third Battle of the Ypres and the failures of the two battles at Bullecourt managed to make 1917 the worst year for Australia in the Great War in terms of success for casualties.
Australian society suffered major morale decreases throughout this period of death and failures. The broader Australian society suffered a decline in morale, with hundreds of thousands grieving at least one soldier killed in 1917 or worrying endlessly about others still involved with overseas combat. This decrease in morale is seen through the decrease in enlistment rates, with 1917 seeing them at a new low compared to both 1916 and 1915, before slowly declining further. Many soldiers also found themselves struggling with shell shock due to combat in 1917. Post-traumatic stress disorder, known throughout World War 1 as “shell shock”, was far more prevalent among the Australian soldiers after 1917, with more soldiers enduring severely traumatic or terrifying events than would in other years, due to the horrific nature of experiencing as much death as the soldiers did. Due to the shell shock’s negative behavioural symptoms, including agitation and hostility, relationships ultimately suffered. This is supported by the fact that the 1916-1925 period saw up to a 5% increment in divorces compared to the 1914-1915 period, which is a prior, slow 1-2% growth per 5-10 years. The high rates of shell shock from 1917 undoubtedly had a major contribution to these increased divorces rates. These ruined relationships would damage entire families’ morale. Also, people suffering from P.T.S.D. experience periods of overwhelming anxiety, common insomnia, social isolation and they often lack any motivation, further decreasing morale and often eliminating them from the workforce, further proving that 1917 was the worst year for Australia in the Great War.
1917 was also met with several political stresses and tensions, especially due to the second conscription referendum. Although the proposal was denied, the margin was as measly as 46.2% for and 53.8% against, after almost 2.2 million votes were recorded. Though this is a reasonable gap, it proves that very dedicated viewpoints on the conscriptions existed. Various leaflets were also publicly released, including “The Blood Vote” and “A Mother’s Lament”, symbolically expressing strong blame on those voting oppositely to the author’s opinion, even describing the vote as a “dagger” in The Blood Vote. The powerful language used in the released leaflets and the variation of the votes among the Australian population prove the political tensions of the time. Not only this, but in late 1916, the Labor party split and William Hughes, along with 23 other politicians, formed the United Labor Party, before forming the Nationalist Party in 1917, merging National Labor and Liberals. This caused great political turmoil at the time, placing further political stress on the Australian population, playing a role in making 1917 the worst year in the Great War for Australia.
In conclusion, due to Australia enduring over a third of all casualties in their 4 years of direct involvement with the war in a single year, experiencing hellish losses at Bullecourt and devastating death tolls at Ypres and suffering major drops in societal morale, which was particularly caused by high rates of shell shock, high death tolls and political tensions, 1917 was the worst year for Australia in the Great War.