1918 Year of Victory

The Australian War Memorial hosted an international history conference marking the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War. Outstanding First World War scholars from various nations presented their latest research findings and discussed issues surrounding the end of the Great War, its memory and enduring impact.

1918: Year of Victory , a volume of collected papers from the conference, is now available for purchase

Australian War Memorial, Canberra
Thursday 27–Friday 28 November 2008

Some major themes covered:

• Diplomacy and politics in 1918: war aims of the principal belligerents
• Command and strategy: tactics and arms
• The fortunes of war: from the German Spring Offensive to defeat on the Hindenburg Line
• Military operations on the Western Front: the main theatre
• Other fronts: a ground, air and sea war
• Nations in arms: the state of national armies in 1918, with particular focus on the experience of British and Dominion formations
• Fighting to exhaustion: morale, discipline and combat effectiveness
• Home fronts, politics and society
• Panel discussion: who won the war and how? International panel
• The coming of the Armistice: winners and losers
• The aftermath: cost and consequences; memory and myth

Speakers Biographies

Program

The conference complemented the opening of two significant exhibitions at the Memorial: Advancing to victory, 1918 and Over the front: the Great War in the air.

It also coincided with 1918 exhibitions at both the National Archives of Australia and Old Parliament House in Canberra.

This conference was convened by the Australian War Memorial.  The support of the Australian Government through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs is gratefully acknowledged.