Anzac

Anzac Day is the day we remember all those who served and died in the wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. Lest we forget. It originates at Gallipoli, modern day Turkey. There are over thirty graves and memorials to Commonwealth services in Gallipoli and the day is still marked there. This in the country Anzac forces invaded.

While Anzac Day remembers all the years and events, we don’t discuss the first World War in much detail. It doesn’t have the intense, almost good-vs-evil coverage of WW2, or the politics and media coverage of later wars. But it was much more disruptive and transformative in its own way. Everything changed, what was supposed to be over before Christmas dragged on for years and the world order was forever altered.
Right now we’re grappling with a lot of similar issues. Things changed and have changed very quickly. Jobs that were considered unimportant or lowly are now essential and high risk. What couldn’t be done before is now the only accepted some jobs can be done. There are a lot of parallels without overly lamp-shading it.

During the Great War women faced some of the biggest changes. They moved into industries that while not entirely denied to them were heavily restricted. Factories, policing, transport. The dynamic of having millions of men away overseas and just as many women moving into the workforce to maintain essential services changed things. There was a sudden massive demand for childcare and the governments of the day stepped in to provide nurseries and day care, but only for what was deemed essential services. Being mostly munitions and factories this wasn’t safe work, with high exposure to toxic gases and explosive materials. Things went wrong.

Essential, front-line workers, from supermarkets to hospitals. Who would have thought the country’s infrastructure would depend on the teenager who bags your groceries.
Sport was massively affected, with the unavailability of players and established competitions, which in turn lead to a rise of women’s sports, some of which proved exceedingly popular. Many were banned from competition a few years after the war ended.

With sport around the world shut down the governing bodies are desperate for an alternative, for something to fill the gap until they can get back to the way things were.
Dating was changed dramatically. Close to an entire generation of young and not so young men were said to have been lost in the war. A surplus of women remained single but often by their own choice, new career options were opening in medicine and teaching and even law, but only to unmarried women. Compare that to swiping on a tinder passport around the world, available but untouchable.

Chaos and crisis always bring opportunities. But when things settle most people want to forget and go back to the old, established way things were.

Even fashion was affected, clothes suited for working in a factor became the norm. Trousers and shorter skirts. Maybe not as ubiquitous as a trendy Covid-19 face-mask but the shift is there. And like social distancing new habits become ingrained quickly.

Individuals and far-reaching events are what shape history, they’re the only things that ever have. Necessity drives change and is countered by a push-back to reclaim the ‘good old days.’ The value placed on people who shouldered risk and responsibility can be quickly forgotten in the rush to return to ‘normality.’ It takes a lot to change a person, a nation, a world. Because we don’t like change, we resist it until long after the fact. Often only when we look back can we see what was necessary, what was a painful lesson, what it took.
Lest we forget.