Past too potent to ignore

AFTER years of sometimes fruitless bloodshed, World War I ended with a bang rather than a whimper.

The Allies had drained their treasuries and saddled future generations with debt.

The Spanish flu claimed additional millions of lives from populations which had already lost the best potential of their future years.

Of those who survived, many were so disabled by their physical and mental wounds they would never again contribute positively to their national economies.

Germany was dead broke.

The Allies’ determination to exact reparations to help cover their own debts simply pushed Germany into a deeper malaise, sowing the seeds of yet another destructive war.

Millions without incomes simply starved.

Tyrannical regimes, the Bolsheviks in Russia and the Nazis in Germany, created more economic pain in climates of political terror, consuming their own potential in the process.

The supposed victors naively destroyed their strategic assets in a mistaken belief no more weapons meant no more war.

The perfectly serviceable warship HMAS Australia was scuttled off Sydney Heads.

While Germany quietly rearmed, the Allies, including Australia, sleepwalked to the next war.

Australia had no significant defence industry.

In 2020, Australia’s relatively small ADF has been on operations for two decades.

Professional excellence is unsurpassed in comparison with earlier generations, though the ADF is top heavy with individuals more interested in professional advancement than the best interests of those they command.

Valour in the field means nothing when the hounds begin to bay.

Australia is still overly reliant on external sources for major capital equipment.

Some purchases defy any logical or value for money test, such as French conventional submarines which will not be online for years, if ever.

Add helicopters, fighters – the list is endless – and future generations have been saddled with what may prove to be crippling debt for no useful return.

Elsewhere, nations which harbour aspirations for Australia’s limitless resources are rearming – not quietly – with the potential Australia may never be able to defend its national interests.

Numbers rather than strategy may seize the day.

The parallels with 1920 are too potent to ignore.