New Light on the Korean War

It is the natural order of states and their governments to periodically upset the constructed balance of power and to subsequently seek out a ‘reset button.’ Such was the case following the First World War when the European map was redrawn and East Central Europe took on the appearance of a fractured and contested zone. What emerged from the confluence of four defunct empires was a collection of newly fabricated or reconstituted states vying for existence in a traditionally contested zone of influence. In October 1921, the Successor States of the Austro-Hungarian Empire convened a conference in the Adriatic town of Porto Rose to negotiate the details of commercial relations amongst themselves and to determine the broader economic character of the region. For Czechoslovakia – the most industrialized and arguably the most Westernized of these states – the conference presented an opportunity to promote its foreign economic agenda. This study represents a unique examination of the first international conference held among independent East European states and the importance it held for Czechoslovakia's foreign economic-policy objectives in the years following the First World War. At the same time, the study suggests connections with more recent overtures toward economic integration.     

Indigenous Exceptionalism under Fire: Assessing Indigenous Soldiers in Combat with the Australian,Canadian, New Zealand and American Armies during the Second World War

The literature on Indigenous participation in the Second World War from Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand has tended to portray Indigenous soldiers as exceptionally able and courageous in battle. While heart-warmingly laudatory and an understandable product of genuine evidentiary challenges in researching this subject, the image constructed is partial and unrealistic. At best it is misleading; at worst it conflates indigeneity and combat proficiency in ways that reinforce racial stereotypes of Indigenous people as ‘natural’ warriors prevalent during the war. This article argues that we discard the exceptionalism enshrouding Indigenous combat performance in favour of a more culturally nuanced approach.     

Review Article: Hot War,Cold War,New War

STANLEY KARNOW. Vietnam, A History. New York: Penguin, 1984. Pp. xi, 752. $10.95 (US); GABRIEL KOLKO. Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, The United States, and the Modern Historical Experience. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985. Pp. xvi, 628. $25.00 (US); TIMOTHY J. LOMPERIS. The War Everyone Lost-and Won: America's Intervention in Vietnam's Twin Struggles. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1985. Pp. x, 192. $22.50 (US); R.B. SMITH. An International History of the Vietnam War: The Kennedy Strategy. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985. Pp. xii, 429. $25.00 (US); HARRY O. SUMMERS, Jr. On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War. New York: Dell, 1984. Pp. 288. $3.95 (US).     

Big Data and the Military: First World War Personnel Records in Australia,Britain, Canada,New Zealand and British Africa

The digitisation of a large number of First World War personnel files in different countries permits novel big data analyses that contribute in important ways to the histories of the British Empire and of individual countries including Australia. Mass digitisation is very recent; we are only beginning to realise the power of the new resources. In this article we highlight recent use of First World War datasets for non-First World War research questions as an example of the potential uses of big data for historians. Much of the new research considers aspects of living standards and health that are not accessible from other sources.     

Race and Identity: The Culture of Combat in the Pacific War

This article addresses how the Royal Navy intended to defend the British Isles from invasion before the First World War. Revisionist historians have recently suggested that during his first tenure as First Sea Lord, 1904–10, Sir John Fisher conceived and implemented a radical new home-defence strategy. Fisher's ‘flotilla defence’ system assigned a hitherto unprecedented importance to flotilla craft. This was apparently a marked departure from previous practice, which had been to rely upon armoured warships to deter invasion. These claims are not supported by the evidence and have failed to appreciate that flotilla craft had historically formed the foundation of the naval defence of the British Isles. War Plans drafted in early 1909 confirm that before leaving office Fisher remained committed to the blockade of enemy naval forces and that he identified blockade as key to the security of the British Isles.     

Domestic Impact of the Korean War

Book reviewed in this article:
Paul G. Pierpaoli, Truman and Korea: The Political Culture of the Early Cold War     

New Xenaland: Lesbian place making,the Xenaverse,and Aotearoa New Zealand

This article explores the relationship between unmappable lesbian space, the Xenaverse, which is a complex discursive space generated out of the syndicated television show Xena: Warrior Princess, and the national space of Aotearoa New Zealand. The article argues that the Xenaverse is an imaginary space which is also a lesbian space and that it is partially pulled into material national space by its links to Aotearoa New Zealand. It is therefore an excellent example of the complex and recursive process of lesbian place making. The role of distance as a significant factor for dominant national discourses, the Xenaverse, and lesbian possibility is discussed to partially account for the materialisation of the Xenaverse in Aotearoa New Zealand. The article suggests that unmappable lesbian spaces such as the Xenaverse can be examined using three analytic filters: ephemeral space; queered lesbian space; and neo-colonial processes.     

Jesus and the Ideal of the Manly Man in New Zealand after World War One

This article investigates attempts to portray Jesus as a “manly Man” for “manly men” in the wake of World War One. The Jesus that emerged as a result of this enterprise was a heroic personality formed through interplay between ideals about soldiers and Christ. Whilst only some military virtues were valued — and only in particular forms — even these proved problematic in certain respects. In particular, attempts to integrate soldierly and moral manliness, especially through resurgent use of notions like chivalry and crusade, failed to connect with soldiers’ actual experiences. Nonetheless, the manly Jesus represented an important religious response to World War One. It illuminated much about New Zealand religion and religious interaction with visions of ideal manhood. In particular, visions of a manly Jesus highlighted that ideals of moral and domestic manhood and more assertive ones coexisted in a state of tension.