"Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always. These proceedings are closed!" These were the words of General Douglas MacArthur in September of 1945 on board the USS Missouri as Japan formally surrendered, signifying the end of World War II and the onset of peace across the globe at last. However, this peace was not to last, as the world would soon be plunged into the terror and uncertainty of the Cold War. For people around the world, there was no way to tell how the Cold War would end, if it would end, or how long it would be until the tensions were eased. This unpredictable outcome fostered many different ideas on the future of the world. Two of these perspectives are outlined in books that became
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It did, however, sign the ANZUS treaty in 1951, a military treaty between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States that was written in order to guarantee their desires to – in the words set down in the treaty itself – “settle any international disputes in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered.” The ANZUS treaty was heavily influenced by the nuclear arms race and both Australia and New Zealand’s Pacific seaports, which were valuable to both the US and the USSR. The government in Australia aligned itself with the US, refusing to let foreign warships port in Australian facilities, though the USSR wanted the US to be prevented from using these ports as well. It was essential for Australia to keep good relations with the US, however. As the United States was the greatest power in the Pacific, the Australian government was well aware of the necessity of their cooperation. Thus they accepted the ANZUS treaty without complaint, though they saw it as being of little significance to them, if not of negative significance. “No country is in a position to attack Australia in the first instance without…inevitably [causing] a world war,” wrote one government official in response to the treaty, voicing a popular opinion among Australians. “The chances that the United States of America will be called upon to honour this Pact… are at most only one-tenth of the chances that Australia will be called upon to honour this pact in the event of the United States becoming involved in a world war.” Regardless of their feelings about the pact, however, Australians had little choice but to accept the
It did, however, sign the ANZUS treaty in 1951, a military treaty between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States that was written in order to guarantee their desires to – in the words set down in the treaty itself – “settle any international disputes in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered.” The ANZUS treaty was heavily influenced by the nuclear arms race and both Australia and New Zealand’s Pacific seaports, which were valuable to both the US and the USSR. The government in Australia aligned itself with the US, refusing to let foreign warships port in Australian facilities, though the USSR wanted the US to be prevented from using these ports as well. It was essential for Australia to keep good relations with the US, however. As the United States was the greatest power in the Pacific, the Australian government was well aware of the necessity of their cooperation. Thus they accepted the ANZUS treaty without complaint, though they saw it as being of little significance to them, if not of negative significance. “No country is in a position to attack Australia in the first instance without…inevitably [causing] a world war,” wrote one government official in response to the treaty, voicing a popular opinion among Australians. “The chances that the United States of America will be called upon to honour this Pact… are at most only one-tenth of the chances that Australia will be called upon to honour this pact in the event of the United States becoming involved in a world war.” Regardless of their feelings about the pact, however, Australians had little choice but to accept the