The Long Search for Peace: Observer Missions and Beyond, 1947-2006

Abstract

Volume I of the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations recounts the Australian peacekeeping missions that began between 1947 and 1982 and follows them through to 2006, which is the end point of this series. International relations in the period following the Second World War was dominated not only by the Cold War but also by the great movement of decolonisation. In 1945, almost one third of the world's population lived in non-self-governing regions. In many places the transition to independence led to conflict. Peacekeeping as we know it developed out of the need to help those involved reach peaceful settlements or at least to minimise the level of violence. The operations described in The Long Search for Peace - some long, some short; some successful, some not - represent a long period of learning and experimentation, and were a necessary apprenticeship for all that was to follow. Australia contributed peacekeepers to all major decolonisation efforts: for 35 years in Kashmir, 53 years in Cyprus, and (as of writing) 61 years in the Middle East, as well as shorter deployments in Indonesia, Korea and Rhodesia. This volume also describes some smaller-scale Australian missions in the Congo, West New Guinea, Yemen, Uganda and Lebanon. It brings to life Australia's long-term contribution not only to these operations but also to the very idea of peacekeeping. In The Long Search for Peace, Peter Londey, Rhys Crawley and David Horner weave a rich and compelling tapestry of official government files and personal narratives of peacekeeping veterans to present this authoritative account of the origins of Australian peacekeeping. Show more