Keynote of International conference on “The War with Japan and Social, Economic, and Political Transformations of Asia-Pacific”

Associate Professor Martin Crotty will discuss Australia’s obsession with World War I and how it has been widely argued that this detracts attention from non-military aspects of Australian history. He will make the case that military history remains important in the Australian story, but that World War I has overshadowed the importance of World War II to Australia, and in particular the importance of the war in the Asia-Pacific. Crotty argues that this war had much more profound affects upon Australia than did World War I, and that it has much more to teach us about making a peaceful and prosperous future in a potentially troubled part of the world.