The Cambridge History of Warfare       Edited by: Geoffrey Parker, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2005, ISBN: 9780521618953, 432pp.   Reviewed by: Anthony Robinson, FDI Associate, Canberra With every major conflict, there is a temporary period when titles that focus on war and conflict move from the back of the bookstore to the front. Many of these works, while valuable by themselves, often look at one conflict and sometimes one battle without considering the evolution of warfare. Placing individual …

Strategy and History: Essays on Theory and Practice   Written by: Colin S. Gray, Routledge, London, 2006, ISBN: 9780415386357, 234pp.   Reviewed By: Lieutenant Colonel Gav Reynolds, Senior Military Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre With twenty books and three hundred articles to his credit, Colin Gray’s name has become synonymous with the analysis of strategy. It must surely have been a daunting task to select eleven essays from his existing collection and use an unpublished twelfth to summarise his …

General Peter Cosgrove: My Story   Written by: General Peter Cosgrove, Harper Collins Publishers, NSW, 2006,  ISBN: 9780732283841, 468pp.     Reviewed by: Dr Albert Palazzo, Research Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre The writing of autobiography is a problematic endeavour. The author’s closeness to his subject makes attaining objectivity almost impossible and can thus call into question the work’s value and viewpoint. This is especially true when public records will remain closed for many years, …

The Partnership: The Inside Story of the US–Australian Alliance Under Bush and Howard   Written by: Greg Sheridan, University of New South Wales Press, 2006,  ISBN: 9780868409221, 260pp.   Reviewed by : Bree Larkham, Researcher, Land Warfare Studies Centre From its inception in 1951, the debate in Australia about ANZUS has been conducted broadly between two forces. There are those who oppose the alliance on the grounds that it is a manifestation of an ingrained Australian cringe to a distant imperial …

Failed States: The abuse of power and the assault on democracy   Written by: Noam Chomsky, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2006,  ISBN: 9780805082845, 328pp.   Reviewed by: Hugh Smith, Visiting Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy The main title of Chomsky’s latest book is somewhat misleading. It is not an examination of the misery experienced by the many Third World states riven by civil strife, criminality, corruption and …

Losing Iraq: Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco   Written by: David L. Phillips, Basic Books, New York, 2005, ISBN: 9780813343044, ix + 292pp.   Reviewed by: Major Lynda Liddy, Research Fellow, Land Warfare Studies Centre. In the aftermath of civil wars, international actors often worry about sectarianism, tribalism and ethnic division in war torn states. In Iraq, however, it is evident that forced regime change is also fraught with similar challenges. Religious and ethnic divisions, political …

The ability to concentrate superior forces at the critical time and place has been a hallmark of successful commanders throughout history. Since warfare emerged from the inter-tribal squabbles when a few dozen men endeavoured to cut each other’s throats, to the stage when state and national armies were formed, man has been constantly striving to develop more powerful weapons and improved means of mobility. During the 15th Century B.C., Ethiopia fell to the empire-building Egyptians, not because of any lack …

Introduction No doubt this title will provoke some violent objections. The passing of the horse-drawn and horse-borne era did not occur in quiescent silence either. The demise of the tank does not imply any degradation in strength or status of armoured units; but rather a need to adapt to the products of technology. Just as the introduction of the tank to modern warfare had great impact on tactical philosophy, so will its passing. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that changes in tactics have led to the …

In this edition of Retrospect, we feature two articles published in the Army Journal of March 1970, which take opposing views of the relevance of the Main Battle Tank (MBT). The first article, by Major W Lennon of the Royal Australian Engineers, provocatively asserted ‘The Tank is Dead’. While conceding that, even at that time of writing, the Centurion Tank was still performing effectively on operations in South Vietnam, the author argued that the increased lethality of individual shoulder-fired weapons, …

Abstract The author argues that the hype surrounding the supposedly unique characteristics and workplace demands of ‘Generation Y’ deserves closer critical analysis. He questions those within the Army and the Australian Defence Force who use the simplifications of ‘generationalism’ as the basis for making long-term strategic workforce management decisions. He concludes by outlining five common workforce needs that might be expressed differently in each generation but which remain at the foundation of …