New Zealand is just one of the many countries who participated in WWI, and at the time of WWI (from 1914 to 1918) New Zealand only consisted of a population just over the one million mark, so to have an estimate of 103,000 New Zealanders to be sent overseas for war, most likely caused many consequences for New Zealand. From this website 'NEW ZEALAND IN WWI', it will enable you to expand your knowledge on New Zealands involvement in WWI, the consequence of being involved, and its significance on New Zealand as a nation.
This is an image of the New Zealand flag that contains a small union jack on the top right corner, which symbolises New Zealand's association with Britain and the queen as its head of state. This therefore supports the main reason why New Zealand got involved in WWI, because of its close ties with Britain. So when Belgium was invaded, it prompted Britain to declare war on Germany and by this the First World War was said to have begun, and without hesitation New Zealand supported the Mother Country in its moment of crisis. (1) For more information visit the ‘Why New Zealand got involved in WWI’ page.
This is an image of a kiwi which is a flightless endemic bird to New Zealand. By being involved in WWI, New Zealanders was able to compare themselves with other ethnic groups from other nations. A consequence of this was the formation of a sense of a separate identity, and a outcome of this is that many New Zealand soldiers then began to refer to themselves as ‘Kiwis’ (1). For more information visit the 'Consequences' page, where Statistics, pictures and more are used to explain the consequences of New Zealand being involved in WWI.
On the article above^ it states that " WWI forced New Zealand to work closely as a nation, because the effective resistance to foreign aggression required a strong sense of unity" by this it shows how many New Zealanders were able to relate to the horrific war together, which forced a strong sense of unity among them. Therefore this likely resulted in them to discover their own identity. For most New Zealanders in WWI, it was most likely that going to war was their first time to be off the shores of New Zealand, and by this it likely caused them to understand that they do not share the same language, history or culture with other ethnic groups in the war, this also relates to British individuals because New Zealanders use to regard themselves as British and Britain as home. This shows how WWI as a event paved the pathway for NATIONALISM to be shone among many New Zealanders, as it states on the article that " in order to fight together at the great war, there already existed at least some degree of nationalism among New Zealanders". For a nation to exist the article states that a 'desired characteristic in a nation was the presence of one race that shared a common history, language and culture", and an outcome of this, is that a nation was born, and this nation was no longer known as one of the countries under the British empire, or the country that was isolated from the rest of the world, because as a result of the historical idea of NATIONALISM, it enabled New Zealand to be the great country its known to be today . (1)(2)
This picture on the left portrays how significant WWI was for many New Zealanders by the amount of people present at the dawn service 1930 on ANZAC day, to commemorate those who took part in the war. The significance of WWI can also be shown by comparing the two pictures (picture on the right is the dawn service on ANZAC day 2012) because 82 years later since the dawn service in 1930, New Zealanders still form crowds outside the Auckland Museum every ANZAC day to commemorate those who took part in the war. By this it shows the amount of respect New Zealanders have for those who risk their lives for their country and it also shows the pride that many New Zealanders have towards belonging to New Zealand by the way that they commemorate or acknowledge this historical event called WWI once every year as a public holiday called ANZAC day. For more information on the significance of WWI on New Zealand, go to the 'Significance' page.