Book Review: The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian andPost-Cold War Operations Volume 1: The Long Search for Peace,Observer Missions and Beyond, 1947–2006

The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations Volume 1: The Long Search for Peace, Observer Missions and Beyond, 1947–2006

Written by: Peter Londey, Rhys Crawley and David Horner,

Cambridge University Press, 2019,

ISBN 9781108482981, 899pp

Reviewed by Jason Thomas

Despite being entitled ‘Volume 1’, this is one of the final volumes of the Australian War Memorial’s peacekeeping series to be released. With a title that matches its length (900 pages), it is a meticulous, exceedingly well-written, important and informative official history. It presents to the reader Australian perspectives that range from the strategic level of initial mission engagement to the personal observations of deployed observers.

The timing of the release is fortuitous. With the current strategic emphasis of regional engagement, we read of the difficulties, costs, small victories and defeats of ‘small’ contingent peacekeeping contributions. It provides those  ¹⁹¹

still serving with essential insights into the difficulties and isolation of these types of operations—operations which, for some periods, were all that the Australian military had available to them.

The history is in three parts: early Cold War, late Cold War and post Cold War. This structure helps the reader navigate long missions such as the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO). It provides anyone daunted by the size of the book the ability to read a chapter at random and then put it down again. The chapters stand up well when read alone but also spur the reader to maybe read just one more.

Importantly, the volume covers missions that are no longer active but still provide valuable insight—in particular, the early and ultimately successful mission in Indonesia in the late 1940s and the tragedy of the division of Kashmir. Key Australian commanders and staff and the efforts of observers receive proportional and respectful treatment. The level of research is as expected from such a group of well-established authors and this further strengthens the solidity of the work.

The volume cannot escape what it is—an official history—but it should never be the sole source of insight. For example, required reading for any personnel deploying on UNTSO is Robert Fisk’s Pity the Nation among others. In this context, it is, however, a brilliant accompaniment.

The Long Search for Peace is written from a profoundly Australian perspective, with an extensive amount of interview material. There is, rather disappointingly, the reinforcement of some ANZAC mythology, such as the ‘honest’ Australian who is not playing the political game. While appearing commendable to the primary audience, in reality this often resulted in pyrrhic victories in the behemoth that is the United Nations, besides causing disengagement by the already strangely detached being that is the United Nations public servant.

The history credits Australia with the invention of modern peacekeeping with the first operations in Indonesia in the late 1940s. I am sure those of the Allied occupation forces and members of the United States Marine Corps before the Second World War would debate this. I doubt French army captains charged with the administration of portions in Algeria in the 1950s sought advice from United Nations Global Observer Coalition (UNGOC) members (and, before you ask, they did just fine without it). It is an ¹⁹²

unnecessary and self-ingratiating thesis framed only in this portion of military history using primarily Australian sources. To assume other contributing nations do not bring unique and sometimes superior skill sets to a mission is erroneous. It would not have been beyond the authors’ considerable abilities to have struck a nobler balance.

If one of the purposes of the Australian War Memorial is to frame the tragedy of war as well as the heroism, there is some careless wording equating the commencement or involvement of observers in war (for example, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, in which over 20,000 died) with ‘excitement’. In a personal account or as a quote in an unofficial history this may be acceptable; however, it does nothing to portray the terror that a Golan Heights observer must have felt as the Syrian artillery fire walked its way to his observation post. As such, it sits uncomfortably in an official history.

The reader gains a fascinating but inconsistent insight into the impact that these missions had on individuals and the Australian military. Some chapters provide it, others do not, and it is a noticeable omission from the conclusion. I wish there has been more of this in the history. I returned from my service in UNTSO with a far broader and nuanced view (I think) of the world, that region and military operations. Given the list of observers named in the text who moved on to star rank, how this affected them and the military is not readily apparent.

The sweep, structure and style of this volume are striking, and do not be daunted by its size. It is a highly accessible and important part of Australia’s military history that makes a timely arrival. It provides valuable insight into the nature of UN missions and the importance of enduring individual qualities— initiative, fair play, ingenuity and common sense—when, on these types of missions, that is literally all there is to rely on anyway. It acknowledges the contributions of an at times ignored body of police, servicemen and women. The history concludes by being ‘the story of heroic efforts amid an overall landscape of failure’. In times of government criticism of the UN, this is a call not to turn away but to understand the risks and benefits of involvement. This official history is well worth the time it takes to read it, in addition to being an essential study of some corners of Australian military history that have been in the dark for too long.