Anzac And Empire : George Foster Pearce And The Foundations Of Australian Defence

Description

Anzac and Empire is the remarkable story of George Foster Pearce - a carpenter who became one Australia's most influential politicians, and the man central to how Australia planned for, and fought in, World War I. The nation's longest-serving defence minister - holding the portfolio before, during and after the Great War - Pearce saw no contradiction in being both a fierce Australian nationalist, and also a loyal subject of the British Empire.Anzac and Empire is the first full-length biography of this extraordinary Australian. Written by one of Australia's leading military historians, this book shows that to understand Australia in the Great War, you must understand the man behind it.

Author description

John Connor is Senior Lecturer in History, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra

Table of contents

List of illustrations and tables; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. 'We, too, have hopes and ambitions', 1870-1909; 2. Building the Framework, 1910-1913; 3. War, 1914; 4. 'One of the great battle stories of the British Empire', 1915; 5. Conscription and the Labor Split, 1916; 6. The disastrous department, 1917; 7. 'Pearce is doomed!', 1918; 8. London and Washington, 1919-1922; 9. Rearmament, 1922-1952; Notes; Bibliography; Index.