Who really won the First World War?

[John McGillivray]

I have come across a book by Shane Schreiber called “Shock Army of the British Empire” It deals with the actions of the Canadian Corps in the last 100 days of the First World War.

By mid 1918 the Germans had deployed about 200 divisions on the western front. During the period from Aug. 8 to Nov. 11, 1918, the nine divisions which made up the Canadian and Australian Corps had engaged and defeated 86 German divisions, or more than 40% of the German forces. In the process they captured more than 60,000 PW and almost 1000 guns.

Of course most histories of the First World War all but ignore the role played by these Dominion troops.

[Tony Smith]

There is a story concerning the Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes, a feisty Labor politician and ex union leader. At a post war conference with the allied leaders US president Woodrow Wilson was demanding a larger slice of reparations for America's part in the war, and the demands were coming thick and fast. Billy Hughes is reputed to have said (Quote): "Just sit yourself down, you f***ing windbag, we'll tell you what you're going to get". Woodrow was taken aback and said "Settle down man, what gives you the right to talk to the US President like that?" Billy "The Little Digger" Hughes replied "The blood of 60,000 aussies and the fact that Australia won the war!". The British and French delegates were keen to see America to receive as little as possible, but were not so sure about seeing Australia doing all the fighting for it and especially so right there in the conference room. Future conferences were handled by the diplomats and beureaucrats and the explosive mix of politicians kept out of the delicate negotiations. No doubt they thought Billy was ready to launch an attack on America, however many of the US claims were eventually disallowed.