The Palestine Campaign of World War One has been largely ignored in the popular press, and this book seeks to bring two major battles into focus. While there is considerable detail aimed at military enthusiasts, the personal aspect provided by never-before-published quotations and interviews with survivors and relatives of some of those killed will engage a wider audience. Extensive appendices cover the composition of the divisions which took part, comprehensive casualty charts and complete gallantry awards, as well as many photographs which have never been published before.

On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history. This brave battle and the extraordinary adventures that led to it are brought vividly to life by Australia's greatest storyteller, Peter FitzSimons. It is an epic tale of farm boys, drovers, bank clerks, dentists, poets and scoundrels transported to fight a war half a world away, and is full of incredible characters: from Major Banjo Paterson to Lawrence of Arabia; the brilliant writer Trooper Ion Idriess and the humble General Harry Chauvel; the tearaway Test fast bowler 'Tibby' Cotter and the infamous warhorse, Bill the Bastard. All have their part to play in the enthralling, sprawling drama of the Australian Light Horse. Theirs was a war fought in an ancient land with modern weapons; where the men of the Light Horse were trained in sight of the pyramids, drank in the brothels of Cairo and fought through lands known to them only as names from the Bible. The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse traces the hard path of the Light Horse from the bleakest of starts - being deprived of their horses and fighting at Gallipoli in the tragic Battle of the Nek - to triumph and glory in the desert. Revealing the feats of the Australians who built the legend, it is a brilliantly told tale of courage, resilience and derring-do from Australia's favourite storyteller.

I visited New Zealand twice, in December 2017, and in March 2020. Both instances were while I was on the cruise ship, the magnificent Amsterdam, Holland America Lines flagship. This book reflects on my time in New Zealand during the first visit. The second visit was a time of increasing awareness of the dangers of Covid-19, soon causing many countries to close their ports to visitors. My review and analysis of New Zealand begin with its geography, reviewing the micro-continent, now reflecting but the remnant of a larger and now non-existent landmass. I focus on New Zealand's three main islands, its geography, flora, and fauna. I then discuss the arrival of the Maori, a controversial topic, with most scholars agreeing to the 1280 CE year when they arrived on these islands. An alternate view claims the Maori arrived here many centuries earlier, though no evidence validates this claim. Regardless of when they arrived, the Maori retain their own culture, cuisine, dress and way of living. Modern New Zealand’s history begins with the arrival of the famed English explorer James Cook in 1769, followed by English settlers. The arrival of Europeans changed the country and the way the Maori related to each other as well as to the new European arrivals. The Musket Wars saw the first change. These were wars fought between the Maori, with added lethality of using European weaponry. That consequence of the wars prompted the signing of the Waitangi Treaty, which many Maori chieftains agreed to in exchange for receiving Crown protection and citizenship. This Treaty, however, was in two versions: an English and another in Maori, resulting in the debate of what the Maori actually agreed to, and if they surrendered sovereignty by signing the document. The Treaty and its provisions are today the subject of controversy, with the government agreeing to compensations for Maori losses. Some of those losses resulted from confiscations during the New Zealand Wars when rebellious Maori were suppressed and the land was taken from them. I also review the different wars fought by New Zealand, first as a British colony, and later as an independent Commonwealth. New Zealanders are proud of their connection to the ‘Mother Country.’ When Britain was involved in the conflict, New Zealand immediately stood at her side, committing soldiers in her defense. also review the French attack on the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship, an act sanctioned by the highest echelon of the French government. New Zealand was shocked by the reticence of Western world powers against this attack. The fact New Zealand stood alone in the face of this attack on its territory made it realize it had to adopt its own political agenda. Perhaps because New Zealand stood alone in the aftermath of this French attack on its soil bolstered its leadership to declare a national anti-nuclear policy. That policy resulted in harsh rhetoric and distance from the United States, though the ANZUS Treaty was not abrogated as a result. New Zealand today remains a member of the Five Eyes, consisting of a consortium of English-speaking countries that gathers and shares intelligence. New Zealand has a small but active Jewish community, primarily in Auckland and Wellington. I visited the Auckland Jewish community and was able to assess the country's relationship with the State of Israel. The section on My Visit reflects visiting Waitangi House in the Bay of Islands, Tauranga, Rotorua as well as Auckland. New Zealand is a beautiful country and I was enriched by visiting and becoming aware of its history, traditions, and people. I hope that the pandemic will be history to once again sail the waters and visit this distant land.

Alan Smith's Allenby's Gunners tells the story of artillery in the highly successful World War I Sinai and Palestine campaigns. Following Gallipoli and the reconstitution of the AIF, a shortage of Australian gunners saw British Territorial artillery allotted to the Australian Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifle brigades. It was a relationship that would prove highly successful and Allenby's Gunners provides a detailed and colorful description of the artillery war, cavalry and infantry operations from the first battles of Romani and Rafa, through the tough actions of Gaza, the Palestine desert, Jordan Valley and Amman to the capture of Jerusalem. The story concludes with the superb victory of Megiddo and the taking of Damascus until the theater armistice of 1918.Smith Covers the trials and triumphs of the gunners as they honed their art in one of the most difficult battlefield environments of the war. The desert proved hostile and unrelenting, testing the gunners, their weapons and their animals in the harsh conditions. The gunners' adversary, the wily and skillful Ottoman artillerymen, endured the same horrendous conditions and proved a tough and courageous foe.The light horsemen and gunners also owed much to the intrepid airmen of the AFC and RFC whose tactical and offensive bombing and counter-battery work from mid-1917 would prove instrumental in securing victory. This is an aspect of the campaign that is seamlessly woven throughout as the action unfolds.The Sinai and Palestine campaigns generally followed a pattern of heavy losses and setbacks for an initial period before allied forces eventually prevailed. This is a highly descriptive volume that tells and oft-neglected story and fills the gap in the record of a campaign in which Australians played a significant role. It is a welcome addition to the story of the Australians in the Middle Eastern campaigns of World War I.

This radically new perspective on T. E. Lawrence, the Arab Revolt, and WWI in the Middle East provides essential insight into today’s violent conflicts. Archaeologist and historian Neil Faulkner draws on ten years of field research in the Middle East to offer the first truly multidisciplinary history of the conflicts that raged in Sinai, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria during the First World War. Rarely is a book published that revises our understanding of an entire world region and the history that has defined it. This groundbreaking volume makes just such a contribution. In Lawrence of Arabia’s War, Faulkner sheds new light on British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence and his legendary military campaigns. He explores the intersections among the declining Ottoman Empire, the Bedouin tribes, rising Arab nationalism, and Western imperial ambition. Faulkner arrives at a provocative new analysis of Ottoman resilience in the face of modern industrialized warfare. This analysis leads him to reassesses the relative weight of conventional operations in Palestine and irregular warfare in Syria—and thus the historic roots of today’s divided, fractious, war-torn Middle East.

With more than 1,100 cross-referenced entries covering every aspect of conflict in the Middle East, this definitive scholarly reference provides readers with a substantial foundation for understanding contemporary history in the most volatile region in the world. This authoritative and comprehensive encyclopedia covers all the key wars, insurgencies, and battles that have occurred in the Middle East roughly between 3100 BCE and the early decades of the twenty-first century. It also discusses the evolution of military technology and the development and transformation of military tactics and strategy from the ancient world to the present. In addition to the hundreds of entries on major conflicts, military engagements, and diplomatic developments, the book also features entries on key military, political, and religious leaders. Essays on the major empires and nations of the region are included, as are overview essays on the major periods under consideration. The book additionally covers such non-military subjects as diplomacy, national and international politics, religion and sectarian conflict, cultural phenomena, genocide, international peacekeeping missions, social movements, and the rise to prominence of international terrorism. The reference entries are augmented by a carefully curated documents volume that offers primary sources on such diverse topics as the Greco-Persian Wars, the Crusades, and the Arab-Israeli Wars.

A listing of every British Army infantry battalion in the Great War with raising date, formation to which attached, campaigns, and service. 440 content pages.