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Australias goes to Iraq like we went to war in 1914
There's a fascinating book just published by John Mordike called Australia and the Great Deception in Australia Defence Policy 1911-1914.
In this book, Mordike shows that the Australian Government secretly agreed to send an expeditionary force to Europe in the event of war with Germany, which the Imperial war office expected to break out before 1915.
There was strong voter opposition to sending Australian troops overseas so the Government never publicly revealed the undertaking but secretly made plans to raise such a force.
The military planners hit upon the idea of beating up the threat of Japan, playing on longstanding xenophobic and racist fears in Australia of the "yellow peril", to make public opinion more receptive to the idea of Australian troops going overseas to fight when the time came. A scare mongering campaign was initiated.
Mordike points out that the 1911 undertaking was never revealed to the Australian public after the war and the war histories written in the 20's, at time of huge national grief and war weariness, made out that the large expeditionary force that was raised and equipped in 6 weeks in 1914 was a result not of planning but spontaneous public enthusiasm for defending the empire. Ironically Japan was Australia's ally during World War I.
After World War I, Australia continued to send forces to assist the Great Powers to various wars all over the world - we were almost continuously at war from 1914 to 1975 and from then on our armed forces have almost continuously been engaged in UN peacekeeping. At various times the threat of Japan, China, Indonesia or another Asian power, even Vietnam, were used to justify this close involvement in the wars of the Great powers, strong defence spending and an almost a mercenary military tradition, which has bred a fighting force which is small but widely respected and feared.
The folly of the expeditionary mentality however was shown in 1941 when Japan attacked and Australia was threatened for the first time - our forces were in Europe fighting Hitler for Britain.
So now we come to Iraq and in the wake of the Bali bombings and the refugee crisis, it is once again difficult for the Australian public to see why we are sending troops. But it is all about trying to protect us from the yellow peril by keeping our major protectors happy.
In this book, Mordike shows that the Australian Government secretly agreed to send an expeditionary force to Europe in the event of war with Germany, which the Imperial war office expected to break out before 1915.
There was strong voter opposition to sending Australian troops overseas so the Government never publicly revealed the undertaking but secretly made plans to raise such a force.
The military planners hit upon the idea of beating up the threat of Japan, playing on longstanding xenophobic and racist fears in Australia of the "yellow peril", to make public opinion more receptive to the idea of Australian troops going overseas to fight when the time came. A scare mongering campaign was initiated.
Mordike points out that the 1911 undertaking was never revealed to the Australian public after the war and the war histories written in the 20's, at time of huge national grief and war weariness, made out that the large expeditionary force that was raised and equipped in 6 weeks in 1914 was a result not of planning but spontaneous public enthusiasm for defending the empire. Ironically Japan was Australia's ally during World War I.
After World War I, Australia continued to send forces to assist the Great Powers to various wars all over the world - we were almost continuously at war from 1914 to 1975 and from then on our armed forces have almost continuously been engaged in UN peacekeeping. At various times the threat of Japan, China, Indonesia or another Asian power, even Vietnam, were used to justify this close involvement in the wars of the Great powers, strong defence spending and an almost a mercenary military tradition, which has bred a fighting force which is small but widely respected and feared.
The folly of the expeditionary mentality however was shown in 1941 when Japan attacked and Australia was threatened for the first time - our forces were in Europe fighting Hitler for Britain.
So now we come to Iraq and in the wake of the Bali bombings and the refugee crisis, it is once again difficult for the Australian public to see why we are sending troops. But it is all about trying to protect us from the yellow peril by keeping our major protectors happy.
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