The War with the Ottoman Empire: Volume 2: The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War

• Published in: International Journal of Turkish Studies Vol. 23; no. 1/2; pp. 126 - 128
• Main Author: Fahrenthold, Stacy D
• Format: Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Madison International Journal of Turkish Studies 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Archives & records; Australian history; Historians; Historiography; Military history; Theater
• ISSN: 0272-7919

Grey's discussion of AIF and NZEF troops in Cairo, for instance, briefly tackles prostitution, the importing of liquor, and Australian "antipathy towards the people and the country" which produced riots (31-4), but Grey limits this discussion to the command's campaign against such transgressions. The author is critical of both the sensationalism and the apologetics that often appear in official military histories, but this book self-consciously limits its scope to the Australian perspective, even where eliding the Ottoman (or Egyptian, or Arab) voice might be warranted. The book is sweeping in its narrative and challenging in its presentation of the Australian military not as a unit, but as an entire social universe. Because it sits entirely within the tradition of Australian military history, it will simultaneously challenge and frustrate the Ottoman historian.