Comments on: Australia & World War Two: Saved by the USA? http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/07/01/australia-world-war-two-saved-by-the-usa/ Just another blog about achieving global peace, prosperity and sustainability Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:42:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Robin Harwood http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/07/01/australia-world-war-two-saved-by-the-usa/comment-page-1/#comment-2489 Robin Harwood Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:28:30 +0000 http://sydwalker.info/blog/?p=7616#comment-2489 Oh come on! Have you ever tried learning Japanese? It's a bugger of a language to master. Fortunately, my wife is Japanese, so my son speaks it fluently, but it is a perpetual struggle for me. The war? Well, the Japanese government of the time was very nasty, and had nasty ideas about what to do with Asia. Intervention to help the rest of Asia resist would have been justified. But the Japanese forces were pretty tied up with China, and from all I've heard they thought that Australia was too far and not worth the effort. Oh come on! Have you ever tried learning Japanese? It’s a bugger of a language to master. Fortunately, my wife is Japanese, so my son speaks it fluently, but it is a perpetual struggle for me.

The war? Well, the Japanese government of the time was very nasty, and had nasty ideas about what to do with Asia. Intervention to help the rest of Asia resist would have been justified. But the Japanese forces were pretty tied up with China, and from all I’ve heard they thought that Australia was too far and not worth the effort.

]]> By: Notsilvia Night http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/07/01/australia-world-war-two-saved-by-the-usa/comment-page-1/#comment-2484 Notsilvia Night Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:06:16 +0000 http://sydwalker.info/blog/?p=7616#comment-2484 Great article Syd, thank you. And I disagree with Nick van Voorst, the Japanese were over-extended already with Korea and China. There were enough resources in those countries. The Japanese motto was Asia for the Asians. They would not have been interested in Australia a non-Asian country with a non-Asian population. Great article Syd, thank you.
And I disagree with Nick van Voorst, the Japanese were over-extended already with Korea and China. There were enough resources in those countries. The Japanese motto was Asia for the Asians. They would not have been interested in Australia a non-Asian country with a non-Asian population.

]]> By: Nick van Voorst http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/07/01/australia-world-war-two-saved-by-the-usa/comment-page-1/#comment-2471 Nick van Voorst Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:04:42 +0000 http://sydwalker.info/blog/?p=7616#comment-2471 Syd, You can trace the roots of WW II back to the end of WW I and the treaty of Versailles' The Japanese were with "the allies" in WW I and did not receive "the spills of war" that they were promised. There was also the small matter of Manchuria and an oil embargo. Japan felt justified to do the same as the Western colonial powers had been doing in Asia for years. The Western powers did not agree. At Versailles the Germans got punished way beyond what was reasonable and sustainable ( especially by a vengeful George Clemenceau) and that in turn laid the groundwork for the next conflict. The Netherlands were neutral and opposed war, but were invaded and occupied anyway,mainly for strategic reasons (port and ocean access). Dutch people definitely are grateful to the British, Americans,Canadians and Australians that liberated the country from the Nazis. Maybe if Australia had remained neutral, nothing would have happened, but with a small population and massive resources, it would have been a tempting target for the Japanese, so who can tell what would have eventuated. The theory that the Americans were aware of the imminent attack on Pearl Harbour and let it happen to change public opinion and isolationist policy has been around for a long time and is certainly not implausible. Having visited many war graves in various part of Europe, in Japan, Malaysia and Thailand I am always shocked by the massive waste of life of so many young people. Likewise, there is not a single one horse town in Australia,without a war memorial commemorating where some of the local men/boys who have been killed in one of the many foreign conflicts Australia has been involved in. It never ceases to amaze me. Syd,

You can trace the roots of WW II back to the end of WW I and the treaty of Versailles’
The Japanese were with “the allies” in WW I and did not receive “the spills of war” that they were promised. There was also the small matter of Manchuria and an oil embargo. Japan felt justified to do the same as the Western colonial powers had been doing in Asia for years. The Western powers did not agree.

At Versailles the Germans got punished way beyond what was reasonable and sustainable ( especially by a vengeful George Clemenceau) and that in turn laid the groundwork for the next conflict.

The Netherlands were neutral and opposed war, but were invaded and occupied anyway,mainly for strategic reasons (port and ocean access). Dutch people definitely are grateful to the British, Americans,Canadians and Australians that liberated the country from the Nazis.

Maybe if Australia had remained neutral, nothing would have happened, but with a small population and massive resources, it would have been a tempting target for the Japanese, so who can tell what would have eventuated.

The theory that the Americans were aware of the imminent attack on Pearl Harbour and let it happen to change public opinion and isolationist policy has been around for a long time and is certainly not implausible.

Having visited many war graves in various part of Europe, in Japan, Malaysia and Thailand I am always shocked by the massive waste of life of so many young people. Likewise, there is not a single one horse town in Australia,without a war memorial commemorating where some of the local men/boys who have been killed in one of the many foreign conflicts Australia has been involved in. It never ceases to amaze me.

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