Crises and Commitments: The Politics and Diplomacy of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1965

The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1975 #1

by Peter G. Edwards, Gregory Pemberton

Crisis and Commitments is the first volume of the Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts from 1948-1975. This book covers the domestic and international politics of Australia's involvement in Southeast Asia through the period of the Malayan emergency (1948-60) and the critical period of the Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation (1963-66), up to the crucial commitment of the first battalion of Australian combat troops to the Vietnam War.

515 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

Dr. Peter Geoffrey Edwards, AM-

The Official Historian for Australia's involvement in the South East Asian Conflicts 1948-1975, see:
http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/seasi...

Reviews

[Andrew Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a lot of myths about Australia's involvement in Vietnam. Most distorting of all is the idea that Vietnam was an exception, rather than one of a series of crises and near and low-level conflicts. Thanks to its shocking outcome and the domestic and cultural significance it took in the years after, the memory of Vietnam has become a misleading stand in for the entire history of the Cold War in Asia.

As this magisterial Australian official history (published back in 1992) shows, most of the myths are wrong. It was not an exception, it was not based on lies and deliberate distortions, and Australia was not coerced by a larger ally to participate. Indeed, we were 'looking for a way in' as Prime Minister Menzies declared at the key cabinet meeting in April 1965.

Drawing on the formal records (then classified, today available for the public) Edwards shows Australia was far more concerned about Indonesia-Malaysia, Thailand, and even Laos as conflicts than Vietnam in the 1950s and early 1960s. Indonesia and Konfrontasi in particular is the great 'what if' security crisis for Australia, one that seemed all too real in 1963-64.

This is not an easy or quick read, though Edwards tries to make it readable. But if you want to understand this controversial period, and the context for how Australia came to know and engage Asia after the Second World War, it is an important read.