Last week’s Anzac Day was a reminder of the perils that lurk within international affairs. We live in a rare time in history. A time when few people can remember global international conflict in their lifetimes.
I compare Anzac Day marches of today to those when I was a kid in the 70s. Back then, street processions would last for hours. Everyone knew of someone who’d experienced war. Today, other than the veterans of Vietnam and various peacekeeping conflicts, most participants have no memory of war. That isn’t a bad thing. It’s something to celebrate, but listening to the sabre-rattling of late, I wonder if it’s going to last.
A comparable period in history is the years preceding the outbreak of WWI. The many decades before 1914 were prosperous and peaceful. Few people in 1914 could remember the last international conflict. Yet, the refusal of the old powers to accept the new kid on the block created a tense atmosphere of arms races, dangerous bravado and sabre-rattling. In 1914, the rising economic superpower was Germany. Today it’s China. As we now know, events of 1914 spiralled out of control and led to the bloodiest century in history. First the imperialist stupidity of WWI and then the apocalypse of WWII.
Since 1945, memories of humanity’s darkest moment have prevented a repeat. Thankfully even the Cold War remained cold! That’s not to say we have eradicated war altogether, but the wars since have, almost without exception, been localised, civil conflicts. True that the big players have either been directly or indirectly involved, but all managed to keep modern day wars contained within national conflict zones.
However, the generations that experienced the horror of global conflict have passed on, and we have, for the first time since 1945, seen the spectre of a world power invading its large neighbour with brutal aggression. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has so far been contained to Ukraine but it has shattered the post-WWII consensus. The atmosphere today is similar to that of 1914… arms races, realigned alliances and dangerous talk of ‘inevitable conflict’ and ‘strategic nuclear strikes’.
While not condoning Russian aggression towards its neighbours, events such as Anzac Day can hopefully remind us of what’s at stake, not just for Australians but the whole world. Let’s keep cool heads and prevent the calamities of the 20th century. Lest we forget indeed!
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