This month John reviewed the records of mutinies in the Russian, French, Italian, British and Australian armies in the Great War.  Although more frequent, Australian mutinies tended to arise because soldiers believed that they were working men, albeit with rifles, and so entitled to working men's conditions.

The so-called Colonial mutiny at the vast transit and training camp at Etaples was an exception.  There an Australian soldier led a riot and mutiny in which New Zealand and British troops joined enthusiastically. When the dust cleared and the mutiny was suppressed, the Australian ended with a term of imprisonment. The New Zealanders and British were shot.

John showed the next episode of a French-Canadian documentary about the Great War.

In the next class, John will deal with end of the War, the Treaty of Versailles and the consequences of the Treaty.  The Treaty has affected the world's geopolitics for almost a century and continues to affects geopolitics.

​John Barry 

The recent session of ‘Over There’ saw John speak on the issues with logistics in the Great War.  He dealt not only with getting supplies to the troops at the front line but also varying efforts adopted by different countries to keep their factories working in the absence of so many men.  Germany and Russia used forced labour from the countries they had invaded.  Britain and France used women in the factories and Chinese coolies and Indians, paid a pittance, to load and unload supplies on the docks and behind the lines.  Women’s wages were forty percent of men’s.

Germany never went to a total war-footing so John also described some of the ersatzstoffen (replacement products) that were used to feed and clothe Germans during that period.  500,000 died of starvation.

In the next session, John will speak about the Generals, the so-called 'Donkeys', the class system in the British and Australian army, and Australians behaving badly.  He will also show the next part of the French-Canadian documentary.
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John Barry