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Abstract This article is based on an address by the Chief of the Australian Army, Lieutenant General Peter Leahy AO, to the Royal United Services Institute of the United Kingdom at the Royal Palace of Whitehall on 8 June 2006. Lieutenant General Leahy outlines why the Australian Army is seeking a significant increase in combat weight when most Western armies are lightening their forces. He argues that Australian military history is the backdrop against which this apparent anomaly can be resolved. This …

Abstract New information technologies are challenging the way we organise and operate, and our soldiers are facing greater ambiguity and scrutiny. This article examines the way we intend to help prepare ourselves for these two major challenges. The extraordinary improvements in information technologies are affecting almost every part of our lives. In particular, connections between individuals, groups and societies are intensifying. The ability of new machines to collect, store and move information around …

On 25 May 2006, the Australian Defence Force commenced a highly complex stabilisation operation in the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste in response to an urgent request from that nation’s government. An outbreak of violence had culminated in a breakdown in the security forces of Timor Leste. In the ensuing security vacuum, sectarian and criminal violence created a humanitarian emergency. At very short notice an Australian Defence Force Joint Task Force (JTF 631) was deployed to Timor Leste. The task …

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 …