Travel back in time to September 3, 1939, when Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies addressed the nation, setting the stage for Australia’s inevitable involvement in World War II. While the call to arms echoed a generation earlier during World War I, the landscape of this global conflict was vastly different. Unlike WWI, where the battlegrounds were primarily in Europe and Asia Minor, WWII saw Australians fighting closer to home in the Pacific and East Asia.
As the Japanese forces invaded territories like Burma and Indochina, which were under the rule of Britain and France, Australia found itself facing a new threat on its doorstep. Although the Japanese were eventually defeated, the era of empires was waning. Two and a half decades later, Prime Minister Menzies once again led Australia into conflict, this time in defense of Vietnam, a sovereign nation that had formerly been part of French Indochina. The geopolitical map had shifted, and the enemy had transformed from fascist powers to the spread of communism.
In this insightful episode, we engage in a conversation with award-winning author and historian, Dr. Ian Hodges from the Australian Department of Affairs. Together, we unravel the complexities of the Australian experience in Vietnam, exploring the historical context, the changing dynamics of global politics, and the enduring Legacy of this pivotal period in history.
Guest: Dr. Ian Hodges
Ian’s book “He Belonged to Wagga: The Great War, the AIF and Returned Soldiers in an Australian County Town,” won the 2023 NSW Community and Regional History prize.
Ian has previously been a guest on this show in the episodes listed below:
The King and I? First Came Narai
Wagga Wagga: First World War Stories
Gallipoli: For King and Empire
Gallipoli: The Forging of the Anzacs
Topic Related Episodes:
Robin Bartlett: Vietnam Combat
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