The Good Neighbour explores the Australian government's efforts to support peace in the Pacific Islands from 1980 to 2006. It tells the story of the deployment of Australian diplomatic, military and policing resources at a time when neighbouring governments were under pressure from political violence and civil unrest. The main focus of this volume is Australian peacemaking and peacekeeping in response to the Bougainville Crisis, a secessionist rebellion that began in late 1988 with the sab...

In January 1993, the Australian government sent just under one thousand young men and women to serve under American command in a violent, impoverished, starving society. Most males over the age of twelve either carried or had access to a gun, and most Somali men had been fighting a vicious civil war for years.Australian soldiers and their teams had to gain control of the streets of Baidoa and surrounding towns. This contest was not ‘find, fight and kill’ warfare. There was no decisi...

The Limits of Peacekeeping highlights the Australian government's peacekeeping efforts in Africa and the Americas from 1992 to 2005. Changing world power structures and increased international cooperation saw a boom in Australia's peacekeeping operations between 1991 and 1995. The initial optimism of this period proved to be misplaced, as the limits of the United Nations and the international community to resolve deep-seated problems became clear. There were also limits on how many mission...

The best-selling autobiography of Australia's favourite military leader and Australia's newest Governor-General.the best-selling autobiography of Australia's favourite military leader and Australia's newest Governor-General. 'this book is my personal story, from boyhood to battlefield and beyond, written in my own words, reflecting on my life.' In 1999, General Peter Cosgrove was thrust into the full glare of the nation's spotlight following his appointment as Commander of the Inter...

US military veteran and historian Dan Tharp's Africa Lost tells the inside story of some of the greatest special operators you've never heard of.Some of the most explosive combat in Special Operations history is almost completely unknown to the Western World. Everyone knows about Navy SEALs and Green Berets but nobody knows about the deep recce, sabotage, and direct action missions conducted by the Rhodesian SAS. The Rhodesian Light Infantry was a killing ...

The definitive inside account of the Falklands War, written by Margaret Thatcher herself.On 21 May 1982, the British people watched with a mixture of pride and fear as their troops landed under heavy aerial bombardment at San Carlos Bay in the Falkland Islands. Since 1833 the islands had been under British sovereignty, and when Argentina launched a full-scale invasion on 2 April 1982 Margaret Thatcher decided to retaliate swiftly and aggressively. Over the following days a task for...

Singapore is located in the heart of the Muslim Malay world, yet 78 per cent of its population is ethnically Chinese. The prosperous city-state relies on outside sources for virtually all its water and food; it has no access to the high seas, on which it depends for 85 per cent of its trade, except through its neighbours' waters. Physically linked to Malaysia by a causeway and a bridge, only twenty kilometres of sea separate Singapore from the nearest Indonesian territory.Surrounde...

Australian military history is a landscape of legends. Yet across the length and breadth of our military heritage, accuracy and objectivity are often shunted aside so that tales and myths bent on commemoration, veneration, and the idealisation of 'Australian' virtues can thrive. In Anzac's Dirty Dozen a team of renowned historians resume the battle to expose a host of stubborn fantasies and fabrications that obscure the real story. Did our military history start at Gallipoli? Do w...

Defence expert Kim Richard Nossal presents a damning indictment of defence procurement in Canada, and shows how to fix it.Defence procurement in Canada is a mess. New equipment is desperately needed for the Canadian Armed Forces, but most projects are behind schedule, over budget, or both. Not only has mismanagement cost Canadian taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, it has also deprived Canada and the CAF of much-needed military capacity.Successive go...

A gripping account of one of the Royal Navy's most significant modern warships.The HMS Invincible is a ship whose eventful life story, it is argued, embodies that of the Royal Navy itself during the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st. From her conception and design, through her various deployments (including the Falklands) and her evolving role and technical adaptation to meet changing strategic requirements, her fluctuating fortunes have bee...

A compelling account of Australia's intelligence organisations and special forces - from the early days of the commandos during World War II through to the SAS of today and the cyber wars of the future. From the co-author of SAS Sniper.Warrior Elite is a unique and compelling account of Australia's special forces and intelligence operations - ranging from the early special forces of World War II to the establishment and development of the SAS and ...

The Vietnam War was Australia's longest and most controversial military commitment of the twentieth century, ending in humiliation for the United States and its allies with the downfall of South Vietnam. The war provoked deep divisions in Australian society and politics, particularly since for the first time young men were conscripted for overseas service in a highly contentious ballot system. The Vietnam era is still identified with diplomatic, military and political failure.Was V...