Dr Martyn Brown presents: History Research Seminar on "Too Narrow a View?" Adding New Zealand’s Experience with the European Resistance to the Discourse on Dominion Independence and Internal Unity
Event Details
- Date:
- Friday, 04 September 2015
- Time:
- 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
- Room:
- Room 201 Michie Building (9)
- UQ Location:
- Michie Building (St Lucia)
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Serena Bagley
- Phone:
- 52795
- Email:
- s.bagley@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Historical and Philosophical Inquiry
Event Description
- Full Description:
- Extant literature on the New Zealand Government’s assertiveness and the use of its military in the Second World War focuses on meta-level issues. Fidelity within the Dominion’s leadership is assumed. Arguably this lens is too narrow and that the solidity of the Pacific nation’s politico-military leadership is questionable. This reassessment is based upon the encounters of the New Zealand military forces with European wartime Resistance politics. Although throughout Western Europe, the Resistance was predominantly Left-Wing; there was internecine conflict, accusations and counter-accusations of collaboration with the enemy. The reaction of émigré governments (sometimes multiple in number) and relations between the major powers added further complexity. In Greece, during the enemy Occupation and after liberation, individual New Zealanders killed, or were killed by, their Greek allies. Across the Adriatic in Italy, the largest unit in the New Zealand army was fighting the Nazi and Fascist enemy. It was also a land where one senior New Zealand diplomat wrote the “Italian Aristocracy” and “bourgeoisie” “are going for a skate” [i.e. on their way out]. The Allies were initially welcomed by Italians as Liberators and as a force for change. But that euphoria often gave way to frustration and anger. What does the New Zealand experience in these currents tell us about the Dominion’s willingness to act independently of Britain and about the solidness of the Dominion’s leadership?
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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