Australia’s Foreign Wars: Origins, Costs, Future?!Essays in Preventive Medicine, dedicated to Australia’s and all the World’s ChildrenIan Kenneth Buckley*
Winston S. Churchill, in The Gathering Storm, his account of the origins of World War II, published in 1948.(WC4i, - see Preface, p.xiv) Brief Outline(Full Contents)
(Full Contents)Broad ApproachHistorically-based essays to inform and warn Australians and others of the means through which people here and across the world have been led into wars not of their making, wars entirely contrary to their interests and well-being. Indeed, wars which were in every sense counterproductive to all participants and thus, in Churchill’s clearly understated terms, "unnecessary". To many this Churchillian view of WWII may seem strange since in contrast to WWI (which we might view as not in the least morally based - simply the result of Imperial rivalry) most Australians continue to see WWII, the Western democracies’ultimate response to the rise, unprincipled greed and aggression of the militaristic Dictators of Germany, Italy and Japan as entirely due to their evil machinations, - the democracies being but the innocent victims, and thus an altogether justified moral response. But bear in mind, first, that as both Winston Churchill and Lord Robert Cecil so thoroughly document in their accounts of the origins of WWII, British governments of the 1930s consistently either ignored or, worse, encouraged what these militarists were doing.(c.f. 8A&B) And secondly (though not mentioned by Churchill) that these pre-WWII militaristic dictators, being well aware of the long-standing colonising practices of the Western democracies, were quite determined to like-wise compete, - to get their 'share' of the action’. Hence, since the Western democracies had thus not only set quite the wrong example, but also (especially Britain) provided much direct encouragement besides, (see Churchill - WC4i, Book I) they must share joint responsibility with the Axis powers for bringing on that Second even more calamitous war. What follows is historical background to each of the foreign wars Australia has been involved in (or involved itself in) over the past century, - as seen through the eyes, minds, and (where possible) words of their co-originators, those who saw war as a solution to the problems of their country or, more usually, of its more influential ‘sectional interests’. Next, I’ve outlined something of the human, material, and opportunity costs, - i.e., the burden of those wars on Australians and others across the world. Further stressed is the by-now striking fact of the utter counter-productivity of these wars - even to the ‘special interests'; they were supposed to serve, - not to mention the nations which backed them, so many of which have seen their children needlessly sacrificed, their wealth (and 'glory') seriously undermined. Finally, based on the potential
of human genetic and cultural evolution to provide us with solutions,
these essays will consider the nature of economic and other reforms which
might get us, our children and grandchildren out of the very real predicament
all are facing. ContentsIllustrated versions of these Essays available on The British Empire (http://www.britishempire.co.uk)1. Australia’s Foreign Wars: - Origins, Costs, Future?!A. Introduction:- aims, scope, means, hopesB. Australian Security: - Are We Aussies Secure?
C. Alliance Implications of the ‘Threat' of a Rapidly-growing China
D. Sources2. Imperial Roots; the Boer War; WWI Early BackgroundA. Setting the Stage for WWI: Imperialism at Work(a) Roots B. The Boer War: Origins and Outcomes
C. So What was it Really all About? Britain's Slide into World War ID. Sources3. World War One: - OriginsA. Origins of Australia's Involvement in WWI
B. WWI’s European Origins: ’National Interests’& ’Manifest Destiny’
C. Sources4. World War One - and the Gallipoli CampaignA. WWI: IntroductionB. The Gallipoli Campaign: Origins, Course and Outcomes
C. Sources5. World War One: Economic OriginsA. Economic Motives behind Australia’s support in WWI
B. General Reflections on Wars’ Economic OriginsC. Sources6. World War One : Human CostsA. Overall Human Costs of WWIB. Some Bottom LinesC. Sequelae of Russia’s Revolution - A Relevant ‘Aside’D. Sources7. Outcomes of World War I - the Tragic Path to World War IIIntroductionA. Germany’s Alleged ’Total War Guilt’and Punishment
B. More Spoils of War: Disposing of Others’Lands
C. Betraying the Versailles Commitment to Universal Arms Limitation
D. Sources8. Supporting Germany’s Rearmament; & the Steady Slide to WWIIA. Supporting Germany’s Rearmament
B. And the Steady Slide to WWII
C. Sources9. World War II and AustraliaA. September 3, 1939, War
B. Early Defeats
C. Germany invades Russia(a) Germany Invades Russia, June 22, 1941 D. Japan Enters WWII
E. Back to ‘Germany First'- and further delaying the Second Front!
F. The Dominions and the RAF’s Air War on Germany
G. Defeating Japan
H. WWII’s Human Costs
I. WWII and the Origins of the Cold War
J. Sources10. The Cold War, 'French' Indochina, & the Vietnam WarsA. The Vietnam Wars' Cold War Origins - Supporting France
B. Replacing the French
C. Australia’s Self-imposed Involvement in the Vietnam War: 1964-1971
D. Sources11. The Korean War - another Civil War in the Cold WarA. Origins(a) Early Background
B. War in Earnest
C. Armistice in 1953 - yet Still no Peace Today!
D. Sources12. General ReferencesDownload Reference List in PDF format Download Reference List in RTF (Word) formatAppendices
* Ian Buckley, born 1925 son of Harry and Doris Buckley, one of five, four of whom served in World War II. Miraculously my oldest brother, Noel, survived Iceland-Murmansk convoys as an officer in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). As RAAF navigator assigned (under the Empire Air Training Scheme) to RAF Coastal Command's 53 Squadron, my brother Allan Edward did not survive the war defending Britain's trans-Atlantic life-lines against the submarines it had authorised through the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935. My sister Joan, an Army officer, served in New Guinea as physiotherapist. A 'late starter', I served as RAAF pilot, 1944-45. Too young, my young sister Dora remained at school. Early education at Ivanhoe Grammar School under Head, the Rev. Sydney Buckley. Post-war, studied Medicine at Melbourne University, graduating 1951. 1955, took up medical research in Department of Pathology under Prof. E.S.J.King, gaining PhD in 1961. 1963-4, UICC Eleanor Roosevelt Fellow in Charles Pomerat's laboratory, Pasadena Foundation for Medical Research. 1965, Research Fellow in Keith Porter's Cell Biology laboratory, Harvard University. 1966-7, NH&MRC Research Fellow, M.U. Dept. of Pathology. 1968- Senior Fellow, Department of Experimental Pathology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, under Prof. Colin Courtice where studies focussed on the phenomena and control of cellular (and intra-cellular) movements, including the movements involved in tumour cell invasion and metastasis. Co-founder in 1955 of Victorian section of the Medical Association for Prevention of War, an organisation earlier formed in Britain by noted epidemiologist Richard Doll, and others, in response to the threat of mutual nuclear annihilation brought on by the ever-so-unnecessary Cold War. |