Case study: Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium
The First World War ‘had a seismic impact on New Zealand, reshaping the country's perception of itself and its place in the world.’ This 'faraway event' would ultimately claim the lives of 18,500 New Zealanders and wound as many as 50,000. Places thousands of miles from home with exotic-sounding names such as Gallipoli, Passchendaele and the Somme were forever etched in the national memory during what became known as the Great War. While Gallipoli has long held centre stage in terms of national commemoration, especially Anzac Day , it was on the Western Front that most Kiwis fought and died. The fighting at Passchendaele was some of the most brutal experienced by the New Zealanders in all of the First World War.
