Peace on Earth

The Covenant of the League did not outlaw war, but rather placed limits on the instigation of war and promoted co-operative mediation with regard international disputes under Articles 11 and 12 as well as disarmament under Article 8. For this reason, a peace movement was pursued globally, drawing Australia into international relations. Not surprisingly for such a young country, Australia kept in line with the international, and British, agenda for disarmament. While theoretically approved by the Australian government, disarmament was considered to represent a reduction in armaments and an ideal that should be applied on an international level to other nations for world security but not necessarily on a national level.[1] At the 1932 Geneva Conference (Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Arms), Australia pushed for the abolition of chemical and bacteriological warfare and for disarmament to be taken in stages.[2] Moreover, it is interesting to note that the term ‘disarmament’ became a loaded word, used by politicians to connote peace and security, all the while armament policies continued to be pursued, merely at a reduced rate.[3]