German Assessments of British‐Australian Relations, 1901–1914

Abstract

“The Federal Government does not have the most basic grasp of military matters”.Consul‐General Dr Georg Irmer, November 1909 An examination of how Australia's closest colonial neighbour in 1901 viewed the event of Federation and its implications for British Imperial unity and regional defence contributes much to the continuing debate over the development of an Australian national identity. Germany in its Pacific colonies had a direct strategic and financial interest in how the new entity would present and project itself in the region. While the more superficial assessment of Australia's defence capability made by Germans was largely correct, the underlying assumptions of the fragility of Imperial unity and that in wartime Dominion concerns would be placed before Imperial ones were incorrect. While the enthusiastic reception Australian Federation received in German eyes was based on a tangible reality in the new Commonwealth, the political and military implications drawn from it clearly were not, and the consequences of this had catastrophic results for Germany in the Pacific in August 1914.