Monash: As Military Commander

by Peter Pedersen

Dr Peter Pedersen’s scholarly study of Sir John Monash remains the finest
analysis of Australia’s best known military leader. In 1918 the Australian
Corps under Monash’s command played a leading role in the Allied
advance to victory on the Western Front. Its successes in the battles of
Hamel and Amiens, the taking of Mont St Quentin and Péronne and
the breaching of the Hindenburg Line are among the most prominent
landmarks in Australia’s military history. Monash was central to these
pivotal achievements.
This book traces Monash’s development as a commander from his prewar
militia service to his wartime experience at Gallipoli and on the
Western Front. It examines in detail how each stage of his military
career influenced his approach to command and the tactical problems
he faced as the wartime commander of an infantry brigade and division
and, ultimately, the Australian Corps. The influence of his education and
civilian training are also examined in this meticulous study.
What emerges from this nuanced and sophisticated assessment of Monash
as a soldier is a superb portrayal of how a commander works and what he
could achieve under conditions so inimical to the exercise of command
as those that prevailed on the Western Front. Along the way, Dr Pedersen
establishes Monash’s place among his contemporaries, British and
Australian, and provides the definitive answer to the question ‘Just how good was Monash?’
Published for the centenary of the great victories of 1918, this new and updated edition of Dr Pedersen’s classic work is a timely
study of Australia’s finest general.

701 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 28, 2019

About the author

Dr Peter Pedersen is a Senior Historian in the Military History Section at the Australian War Memorial.

He has written six books on the First World War, plus numerous articles about the Second World War and the Vietnam War.

Pedersen has also frequently appeared on Australian television and radio.