Séminaire "Empire and After" - "Shock Troops of Empire or Aspirational Imperialists?", Stephen Pascoe

The ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Armoured Corps) myth -that the Australian nation was "born" in the bloodshed and sacrifice of the Gallipoli campaign during WWI -has long been a contested terrain of Australian national identity, with a rich historiography. By comparison, very little has been written about the Australian army's involvement in the Battle of Syria (1941), in which Commonwealth and Free French troops defeated the (Vichy-sympathising) French Mandate forces. Based on archival research in the National Archives of Australia and the Australian War Memorial, the presentation will explore the contribution of Australian militarism to the British Empire and its consequences, both on the societies of the Middle East and on the construction of Australian nationalism.