Soldiers in Politics: The Impact of the Military on Australian Political Life and Institutions (Army Military History Series. Issues)

Rating:
Summary: a waste of time
Review: Australian politicians and soldiers have intermixed careers ever since the fomation of colonial volunteer forces. The interplay of such roles forms a fascinating part of Australia's military history - indeed the South Australian Minister responsible for Defence was a Sergeant in the Militia. Several interesting occurances happened in his fulfillment of these roles!

This book, unfortanately, is a confused overview of the subject. It begins merely as a description of some of these colonial soldier politicians and ends up merely listing ex-servicemen who went on to become politicians, with a sidebar look at some of our vice-regal servicemen.

There is no analysis of the role & influence these ex-servicement brought to their positions and no attempt to place them into the overall context of government decision making. The role of the RSL in Australia has been influential, but there is no indication how this was assisted by the ex-servicemen politicians.

It was such a disappointing book that I gave it away to the 2nd hand shop.