Australian declaration of war on Germany

The Australian Declaration of War on Germany was given on 3 September 1939 by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. The brief declaration was announced over the radio.

The Declaration
Below is Robert Menzies's speech, given over the Australian radio on 3 September 1939:

Historical context
After losing World War I, Germany signed the First Armistice at Compiègne on 11 November 1918 as a formal cessation of hostilities. Over six months later, on 28 June 1919, Germany agreed to the Treaty of Versailles, as an official peace treaty. After surrendering, the Weimar Republic was set up in Germany. The Republic was doomed from the start. The transition from monarchy to republic was not very smooth, and many people in the government were not sure what to do, after years of having one person decide most everything. On top of that, the army did not support the Republic, and hyperinflation rapidly set in, making German Marks next to worthless. On top of all of that, Germany had to pay make reparations, and took out a loan from the United States. The inflation was so severe that in November of 1922, one US Dollar equaled 4,200,000,000 marks, over one million times higher than it had been in 1914, and almost two million times higher than it had been just over two years before (in January 1922, 1 dollar equaled 191 marks). In 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Reichskanzler (German for Chancellor of the Reich) of Germany. After being elected, Hitler quickly turned the government from a republic back into a dictatorship. After five years of power, Hitler annexed Austria into Germany, despite such an act being banned by both the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Treaty of Versailles. In early November 1938, the First Vienna Award was signed, allowing Germany to control part of Czechoslovakia. Soon after, the German territory of Memelland was granted to Germany, through the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania.

Despite all of the land Germany had recaptured, Hitler still wanted more: he wanted to create Lebensraum, or "living space". Many of the Western powers threatened to declare war if Germany had any further hostilities. Many of the countries followed through on that promise soon after Germany's Invasion of Poland, on 1 September 1939.