To Win the Battle: The 1st Australian Division in the Great War 1914-1918

by Robert Stevenson

Overview

To Win the Battle tells the story of how the 1st Australian Division forged a reputation as one of the great fighting formations of the British Empire during World War One. In 1915 it led the way ashore on Gallipoli and in 1916 it achieved the first Australian victory on the Western Front at Pozières. Later it was still serving with distinction in the final battles that defeated the German army in 1918. It was central to the birth of the Anzac legend. This ground-breaking study describes and explains how the 1st Australian Division rose from obscurity and over three and a half years of hard and bloody campaigning earned a combat record second to none. Drawing extensively on primary sources as well as recent scholarship, this important book provides a fresh approach and a balanced assessment of the factors that led to the division's success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107028685
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/05/2012
Series:	Australian Army History Series
Pages:	306
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Dr Robert Stevenson served in the Australian Regular Army before joining the University of New South Wales. He has published several research papers on military fratricide for the Australian Army, journal articles for the Australian Army Journal and Wartime, and provided a paper for the Proceedings of the 2007 Chief of Army Military History Conference. His PhD thesis on the 1st Australian Division in the Great War (published as this book) was awarded the Army History Unit's CEW Bean Prize. He holds a Masters of Art (Defence Studies) and a Doctorate of Philosophy (History) from the University of New South Wales. He is currently working on a study of the operational performance of the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front during World War One.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. In the beginning; 2. Organising for battle; 3. Sinews of war; 4. Already half a soldier; 5. Into battle; 6. Learning the hard war; 7. Hitting the peak; 8. The year of victory; Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"… an impressive piece of scholarship and, in the Australian context, a brave book that attacks some of the pillars of the Anzac myth. It is among the finest modern studies of a British Empire division in the Great War, and deserves the widest possible readership."
Gary Sheffield, War in History

From the Publisher