Australian-American War

The Australian-American War was a fiction war, mentioned in GTA III and GTA: Vice City, and fought between the United States of America and Australia. It is mentioned on Lazlow's radio show 'Chatterbox FM' in GTA III when a veteran of the war calls in to talk about how no one cares about the Australian-American War. Lazlow then goes on to mention that he's never heard of it. The vet talks about how the Australians equipped boomerangs and kangaroos with explosives.

It is unknown who won the war, the Australians or Americans, or even if the war was actually fought, because of the possibility that it was made up in the caller's head.

It is also unknown when the war took place, if it took place. If it did indeed take place, it's improbable that the war happened before the late 1950s, because the man calling called himself 'Colonel in the United States Marine Corps.', without adding 'Retired' to the end, and it's unlikely that an active member of the military in 2001 would've fought in the early 1950s or before. Also, the caller makes a reference to the fact that when he got home, everyone was watching TV instead of giving him a 'hero's welcome'. Television began gaining popularity as a norm in the middle-class American household in the late 1950s, and early 1960s.

If the war happened, it must've happened before 1986, as it was mentioned in a commercial for Ammu-Nation in GTA: Vice City. The commercials talks about an anti-aircraft gun 'used when we whooped the Australian's ass!'. Past the commercial, the war is never mentioned in any game again. This also implies that the United States won the war, but this is not definite.

Probability of the War in Real Life

In real life, the war never happened, and it seems like it will never happen. Australia and the United States have been allied since World War II, and both are part of ANZUS, a treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States to police the Pacific Ocean. Both nations were formerly under British colonial rule, with the United State declaring independence in 1776 and winning it in 1783, with Australia slowly gaining independence, starting in 1901 with a constitution, and finally attaining it 1983 with the Australia Act. Australia assisted the United States in the Iraq War in 2003, and the Afghanistan War in 2001. Australia was, and is, one of the United States' strongest allies, and there has never been a threat of war between them.

Although Australia has never even begun leaning Communist, the war may be a joke on how the United States and other Western Nations invading and declaring war on nations where Communism was gaining popularity (i.e., Korean War, Vietnam War).

It could also be a joke on how Grand Theft Auto games are received in Australia, as some (although none before GTA III) have been banned in the nation by the Office of Film and Literature Classification, the Australian game raring board, because of 'unwholesome' content.

Flag of Australia

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