Monash As Military Commander - Softcover

P. A. Pedersen (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0522845045 ISBN 13: 9780522845044

Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing, 1988

Synopsis

Forty-nine years old when the war began, Monash was given command of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the AIF. He brought to that appointment not just thirty years' service as a militia officer, but the hardening experience of a long struggle against great adversity to become a leading engineer and businessman.
Monash's civil triumph was based on personal characteristics which are also essential for successful command on the battlefield. His creative imagination, his attention to minute detail, his unhesitating adoption of the ideas of others, whether British or German, and his willingness to use new technology, made him one of the most effective commanders in a war which is often regarded as the nadir of the art of command.
Yet Monash was no infallible hero. For what he held were sound and practical reasons, he rarely visited his own front line. While taking every care to conserve his men, he could be ruthless when life had to be sacrificed for the larger objective. But he learned from experience and applied the lessons to his own situation. Thus the dreadful conditions at Gallipoli became an important yardstick against which to judge the exhaustion of the Australian corps, the instrument he wielded so effectively on the Western Front in 1918.

About this title

About the Author

Dr P.A. Pedersen is one of Australia's leading historians of World War I. After graduating as Queen's Medallist from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1974 he served in The Royal Australian Regiment as platoon and company commander. Dr Pedersen's writings on World War I include the introduction to C.E.W. Bean's Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18, Volume 3, the chapter on Monash in The Commanders, articles in several historic journals, and a chapter on the AIF on the Western Front for the Australian War Memorial's Bicentennial volume, Australia: two centuries of war and peace.
Dr Pedersen's main interests are military history, perfecting his fluency in the German language, and travel, which included visiting the battlefields described in Monash as Military Commander.

Edition details

• Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0522845045
• ISBN 13: 9780522845044
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 277