The first shots of World War One are fired in Africa ... On 27 January the government introduces conscription. All single men aged 18 to 41 can now be sent to war, although thousands are exempted ...

Australians, including many thousands of Diggers fighting in Europe, voted against conscription during the Great War. It was a blow to then-prime minister Billy Hughes.

Forced conscription has failed to change the course of Myanmar’s grinding civil war, and many are refusing to serve.