The Wire

A century ago Australia was caught up in a war that changed our country for ever. It’s a war that created the ANZAC spirit and helped define us as a nation. But were we following Britain blindly into war or did we have our own reasons for wanting the empire to remain strong in the face of the rise of new economic powers like Germany, and, closer to home, Japan? Professor Hugh White argues that the changing global power structures leading up to World War One echo the set of circumstance we now find ourselves in with the rise of China. And how we handle that will determine if we once again find ourselves at war.