German Assessments of British‐Australian Relations, 1901–1914

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20596339
AutoresPeter Overlack (0009-0001-2305-2597, autor de correspondencia)
Año2004
Volumen50
Número2
Páginas194-210
Fecha de publicación2004-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAustralian Journal of Politics & History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0004-9522 • E-ISSN: 1467-8497
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-8497.2004.00332.x
OpenAlexW2037761220
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas14

“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

Archaeology · Colonialism · Commonwealth · Dominion · Economic history · German · Government (linguistics) · Political science · Politics · Australian History and Society · European Political History Analysis · History · Law · Public Administration · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact