Other people's wars? Some thoughts on Australia's military involvements in the twentieth century

Abstract

The idea that Australia's wars of the twentieth century were ‘other people's wars’ has been fashionable for a generation and appears to have become popular during the Vietnam War years. This paper examines Australia's various military involvements to show that at the time of each there was majority support for them as most of the electorate judged them to be in Australia's interests and usually in those of the international community as well. To argue otherwise is to deny earlier generations of Australians their agency.