It is often assumed that Australia’s armed forces are mainly involved in ‘humanitarian peacekeeping’, and that they only head off for war because they are dragged into it kicking and screaming by the US.

This detailed history of Australia’s armed forces shows that quite the opposite is true. From the very start, Australia has been enthusiastic about invading and colonising neighbouring islands; Australia has begged and pleaded with first Britain and now the US to both allow Australian troops to join in their imperialist adventures, and to start wars on our behalf—Vietnam was mainly Australia’s idea in the first place that the US was reluctant to get involved with; and far from being motivated by humanitarianism, Australia’s ‘peacekeeping’ has been to ensure stability for Australian imperialism and profit-making at the expense of the local populations , and has usually activated situations rather than resolving them.