Australia's Reasons for Joining World War II
There are numerous reasons for Australia participating in World War II. Australia had suffered greatly from the Great Depression and had witnessed its armed forces decrease in size and effectiveness. Australia was still a British colony (they would only gain full independence after the Australia Act in 1986). Although Australia did have the right to determine their own foreign policy, they would usually follow in the path of Great Britain.
During the 1930's, Nazi Germany was expanding their territory and threatened to invade Poland. Australia was also following Britain's cautious approach towards the appeasement with Nazi Germany. Britain and France had given Germany an ultimatum to not attack Poland which had expired which meant they were at war with each other. On 3 September, 1939, Australia's Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies announced the beginning of Australia's participation in World War II by declaring war on Germany along with many other Commonwealth nations (countries which were colonies of the British Empire). He announced this in a somber tone with the following statement,
" Fellow Australians,
It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially, that in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war. No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader to make such an announcement."
* To listen to the entire radio broadcast of this announcement, watch the video below *
Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZedhB6Olvk
Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZedhB6Olvk
Unlike Canada and South Africa which were the other British colonies that were starting to gain autonomy from Great Britain, there was not a legislative debate if they should enter the war. Australia strongly believed in supporting Britain and notified Germany that they would be an associate of Germany. This announcement was received with a fairly ubiquitous response from civilians even though there was little to no enthusiasm to fight.
With war coming up in the near future, Australia had some decisions to make. This was due to a potential invasion from Japan as they were looking to expand their territory which could prevent them from committing to an European war and sending troops to England. However, this was no longer an issue at this point as Japan pledged their neutrality and England assured them the British Naval Base located in Singapore would stop any Japanese advance in the direction to Australia. The British assurance was one of the main reasons Australia participated in the war and they wanted to protect them so it would strengthen their forces protecting Australia.
Australia was very unprepared for a war (in fact less prepared than at the kickoff of World War I) and Australians were very distressed about this. Due to this, The Royal Australian Navy was put under the control of the experienced British, while the Army would concentrate on recruiting soldiers through propaganda and training them. In 1939, the army consisted of about 3000 professional soldiers and there was a voluntary militia called the Citizen Military Force (CMF), which could only serve in defense of Australia. These units were equipped with weaponry brought home from World War I.
Australia promised 20,000 soldiers for the British war effort which was extremely difficult. This was due to low wages offered by the Army compared to the CMF and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It would take them 3 months to fill the 6th division of the Australia Imperial Force (the Australian military for the World Wars), whereas it only took 3 weeks to gather 20,000 men for the First World War. This shows the difference in enthusiasm.