Craig Stockings – författare

Britannia's Shield: Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Hutton and the Late-Victorian Imperial Defence presents an in-depth, international study of imperial land defence prior to 1914. The book makes sense of the failures, false starts and successes that eventually led to more than 850,000 men being despatched from the Dominions to buttress Britain's Great War effort - an enormous achievement for intra-empire military cooperation. Craig Stockings presents a vivid portrayal of this complex process as it unfolded throughout the late-Victorian Empire through a biographical study of Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Hutton. As a true soldier of the Empire, the difficulties and dramas that followed Hutton's career at every step - from Cairo to Sydney, Aldershot to Ottawa, and Pretoria to Melbourne - provide key insights into imperial defence and security planning between 1880 and 1914. Richly illustrated, Britannia's Shield is an engaging and entertaining work of rigorous scholarship that will appeal to both general readers and academic researchers.

The importance of regional cooperation is becoming more apparent as the world moves into the third decade of the 21st century. An Army of Influence is a thought-provoking analysis of the Australian Army's capacity to change, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Written by highly regarded historians, strategists and practitioners, this book examines the Australian Army's influence abroad and the lessons it has learnt from its engagement across the Asia-Pacific region. It also explores the challenges facing the Australian Army in the future and provides principles to guide operational, administrative and modernisation planning. Containing full-colour maps and images, An Army of Influence will be of interest to both the wider defence community and general readers. It underscores the importance of maintaining an ongoing presence in the region and engages with history to address the issues facing the Army both now and into the future.

In this fascinating account, leading Australian military historians tackle 10 of the most enduring historical zombies, or national myths, that have staggered their way through the halls of military history for more than 200 years. From Aboriginal resistance and invasion to Australia’s recent involvement in East Timor, this record disproves the incorrectly memorialized and so-called gallant deeds of past Australian servicemen. Provocative and opinionated, this record attempts to correct the historical record.

Australian military history is a landscape of legends. Yet across the length and breadth of Australian 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 Australian military history start at Gallipoli? Do Australia really punch above their weight in military might? Are Australian soldiers more ethical than others in combat? Is the US-Australia Alliance worth the trouble? And what if the role of Australian women in the war effort has been exaggerated, so that half the population can feel included in the Anzac story? Confronting and clear-eyed, Anzac’s Dirty Dozen goes beyond the indulgent, politicised and emotionally-charged rhetoric of Anzac – that sacrosanct idea in the national psyche – to find out exactly what it means to be Australian at war, and proud of it.

There is no question that these famous figures of the Australian Army are important, but their story is not the story. There are also the individuals who shaped the history of the Australian Army in the 20th century, as intellectuals,strategists and administrators, but are largely invisible in popular memory. The Shadow Men brings together some of Australia’s best military historians to shed light on ten of these men and to bring their achievements and influence into the foreground.