Military History Section Staff Biographies
Jean Bou
Jean Bou is an historian presently working on the Official history of Australian peacekeeping, humanitarian and post–Cold War operations at the Australian War Memorial. He holds an honours (1st class) degree in history from the University of Queensland and graduated with a PhD from the University of New South Wales (University College, Australian Defence Force Academy) in 2005. He is the author of numerous articles on military history, published in the Journal of military history, the Journal of the Australian War Memorial, and the Australian Defence Force journal, among others. He has written or edited several books on Australian military history, and is also a reservist officer in the Army History Unit, where he has worked as an historian and project officer on a range of army historical matters.
Books
Light Horse: a history of Australia’s mounted arm, Port Melbourne, Cambridge University Press (forthcoming, 2009)
A century of service: the Southport School Army cadet unit, 1906–2006, Southport, The Southport School, 2007
Edited books
David Horner, Peter Londey and Jean Bou (eds), Australian peacekeeping, 1947–2007, Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, 2008
Peter Dennis, Jeffrey Grey, Robin Prior, Ewan Morris with Jean Bou (eds), The Oxford companion to Australian military history, 2nd edition, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 2008
David Horner and Jean Bou (eds), Duty first: the Royal Australian Regiment, 1946–2006, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 2008
Articles, book entries and published conference papers
“An aspirational army: Australian planning for citizen forces divisional structure” before 1920, Sabretache, the Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, 49, 2008
“They shot the horses – didn’t they?”, Wartime, 44, 2008
“Cavalry, firepower and swords: the Australian Light Horse and the tactical lessons of mounted warfare in Palestine 1916-1918”, The Journal of Military History, 71, 2007
“To Amman with the 6th Regiment”, Wartime, 37, 2007
“The Palestine campaign 1916–1918: causes and consequences of a continuing historical neglect”, Journal of the Australian War Memorial, 40, 2007
“Light Horse”, in Joan Beaumont (ed), The Australian centenary history of defence, vol. 6: Australian defence: sources and statistics, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001
“Palestine”, in Joan Beaumont (ed), The Australian centenary history of defence, vol. 6: Australian defence: sources and statistics, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001
“Modern cavalry: Mounted Rifles, the Boer War and the doctrinal debates”, in Peter Dennis & Jeffrey Grey (eds), The Boer War, army, nation and empire: the 1999 Chief of Army – Australian War Memorial military history conference, Canberra, Army History Unit, 2000
“The Union and the changing nature of war in the American Civil War”, Australian Defence Force journal, 123, 1997
“The Western military model and the Chinese response, 1840 to 1949”, Proceedings of the University of Queensland history research group, 7, 1996
Conference and other papers
“British cavalry and the Sinai and Palestine campaigns: time for a reappraisal?” presented to Palestine and the First World War New Perspectives Conference, Tel-Hai Academic College, Israel, 2007
“In the shadow of the veldt” presented at the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College, London, 2006
“The Palestine Campaign 1916–1918: causes and consequences of a continuing historical neglect”, presented to ANZAC Day To VP Day: Arguments And Interpretations conference, Canberra, 2005 (published, details above)
“Modern cavalry: Mounted Rifles, the Boer War and the doctrinal debates”, presented to Chief of Army – Australian War Memorial Military History Conference, Canberra, 1999 (published, details above)
Selected reviews
George F. Hofmann, Through mobility we conquer: the mechanization of US Cavalry, University of Kentucky Press, 2006, reviewed in Australian Army journal, 5, 2008
Craig Stockings, The torch and the sword: a history of the army cadet movement in SAustralia, University of New South Wales Press, 2007, reviewed in Defender: the national journal of the Australia Defence Association, 24, 2007
