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What is Anzac legend?
Who was Anzac & what did he do?
What is the key premise of the Anzac legend?
Why did Australia promote the Anzac legend?
The Anzac legend began at Gallipoli in 1915. It continues to spark debate about Australia's national identity. How did the legend develop? How has it changed?
The Anzac Legend originated in the Gallipoli campaign, which was the first major military operation of the Australian and New Zealand forces during World War I. The campaign had aimed to secure a passage through the Dardanelles Strait to Constantinople but was a catastrophic failure.
Historians examining the importance of Anzac to Australia coined the phrase “Anzac legend” (or, more critically, “Anzac myth”), referring to the representation of Australians in war: how they think, speak, and write of their war experience (which is not always the same as how they experienced it).
The legend of Anzac was born on 25 April 1915, and was reaffirmed in eight months' fighting on Gallipoli. Although there was no military victory, the Australians displayed great courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mateship. Such qualities came to be seen as the Anzac spirit.
The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers possess shared characteristics, specifically the qualities those soldiers allegedly exemplified on the battlefields of World War I.
This article briefly outlines the origins, development and significance of the Anzac legend for Australians since 1915. The initial reception of Anzac as symbolizing “the birth of a nation” is followed by an outline of the development of the concept during the First World War and over the decades since.
