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Dr William Westerman

Adjunct Lecturer
UNSW Canberra
School of Humanities & Social Sciences

William Westerman is a lecturer in history at UNSW Canberra, co-author of the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping Operations in Timor-Leste, 2000-2012 and author of the Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq, 2003-2011. His research expertise includes Australian military history, First World War studies and contemporary warfare.

William earned a PhD from UNSW Canberra. He has held a number of academic and research positions, including as an ANU Teaching Fellow at the Australian Command and Staff College, Canberra, and as a researcher on the Official History of Australian Operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor at the Australian War Memorial. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

He is the author of several books on the First World War, including Soldiers and Gentlemen: Australian Battalion Commanders in the Great War, 1914-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 2017). He is also the author of several non-military history books, namely a short biography of former Victorian Premier Lindsay Thompson and a history of the 1996 merger of the Fitzroy Lions in the Australian Football League.
E-mail
w.westerman@adfa.edu.au
  • Books | 2018
    Westerman W, 2018, The Battle of Broodseinde Ridge 1917, Big Sky Publishing
    Books | 2017
    Westerman WF, 2017, Soldiers and Gentlemen : Australian Battalion Commanders in the Great War, 1914-1918, Cambridge University Press
  • Book Chapters | 2020
    Westerman W, 2020, 'Brigadier General Talbot Hobbs and the challenges of artillery evolution in 1916', in Westerman W; Floyd N (ed.), Clash of the Gods of War: Australian Artillery and the Firepower Lessons of the Great War, Big Sky Publishing, pp. 160 - 171
    Book Chapters | 2020
    Westerman W, 2020, 'Crisis and Response: Australian Artillery at Second Villers-Bretonneux, 24/25 April 1918', in Westerman W; Floyd N (ed.), Clash of the Gods of War: Australian Artillery and the Firepower Lessons of the Great War, Big Sky Publishing, pp. 299 - 307
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Westerman W, 2018, 'Military Education: Establishing the Diploma of Military Science, 1907-1915', in Richardson T; Moss T (ed.), Beyond Combat: Australian Military Activity Away From the Battlefield, UNSW Press
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Westerman W, 2018, 'Wallabies and Lions: Situating Australian Military History Within British Imperial Historiographical Debates', in Stanley P (ed.), Jeff Grey: A Life in History, School of Humanities &​ Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra
    Book Chapters | 2016
    Westerman WF, 2016, 'The Middle-Class At War: The intersection of military, cultural and social histories of the AIF in the First World War', in Moss T; Richardson TE (ed.), New Directions In War and History: Debating Military History, Big Sky Publishing, https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/australian-centre-for-the-study-of-armed-conflict-and-society/sites/acsacs/files/uploads/New%20directions%20in%20war%20and%20History%20Internals_0.pdf
  • Edited Books | 2020
    Westerman W; Floyd N, (ed.), 2020, Clash of the Gods of War: Australian Artillery and the Firepower Lessons of the Great War, Big Sky Publishing
  • Journal articles | 2023
    Westerman W, 2023, 'Entry by Air and Sea', Australian Army Journal, 19, http://dx.doi.org/10.61451/225855
    Journal articles | 2020
    Westerman W, 2020, 'More than a mere footnote: the department of military studies, University of Sydney, 1907-1915', History of Education, 49, pp. 57 - 76, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2019.1657507
    Journal articles | 2020
    Westerman W, 2020, 'No Band of Brothers: Officers and internal politics in the 19th Australian Infantry Battalion, 1915-1918', Journal of the Royal Australian History Society, 106, pp. 72 - 72
    Journal articles | 2018
    Westerman W, 2018, 'Change and continuity in combat: a statistical analysis of the officers of 5th Australian Infantry Battalion, 1914 to 1918', First World War Studies, 9, pp. 296 - 312, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19475020.2018.1520140
    Journal articles | 2017
    Westerman W, 2017, 'The Handy Man of the Division: Assessing the effectiveness of the pioneer battalion concept in the First Australian Imperial Force', British Journal of Military History, 3, pp. 43 - 61, http://www.bjmh.org.uk/index.php/bjmh/article/view/161/130
    Journal articles | 2017
    Westerman WF, 2017, 'Before the Main Game: Australia’s Citizen Infantry Battalion Commanders before the First World War', International Journal of Military History and Historiography, 37, pp. 9 - 34, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/24683302-03701003
    Journal articles | 2017
    Westerman WF, 2017, 'The Real Controller of the Battle: The Importance of Studying Tactical Battalion Command—A Case Study', Journal of Military History, http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=aca64b86-0554-4737-a0c7-6cc962bbf7ee@sessionmgr101
  • Conference Presentations | 2018
    Westerman W, 2018, 'Conduct Unbecoming: Charles Bean and reputational management among Australian infantry battalion commanders', presented at Recording, Narrating and Archiving the First World War, International Society for First World War Studies, 09 July 2018 - 11 July 2018
    Conference Presentations | 2017
    Westerman WF, 2017, 'The Diploma of Military Science: a progenitor of Australian professional military education', presented at Beyond Combat: History and the Military’s Other Tasks, UNSW Canberra, 13 July 2017 - 14 July 2017
    Conference Presentations | 2016
    Westerman WF, 2016, 'The Middle-Class At War: The intersection of military, cultural and social histories of the AIF in the First World War', presented at New Directions In War and History, ANU, 04 February 2016 - 05 February 2016
    Other | 2016
    Stanley P (ed.), 2016, Warfare 1914-1918 (Australia), , http://dx.doi.org/10.15463/ie1418.10849
    Conference Presentations | 2015
    Westerman WF, 2015, 'One small piece of the puzzle: Australian success at Mont St. Quentin in the context of the British Empire at War in 1918', presented at The First World War: Local, Global and Imperial Perspectives, University of Newcastle, 25 March 2015 - 27 March 2015
    Theses / Dissertations | 2014
    Westerman WF, 2014, Soldiers and Gentlemen: Australian Battalion Commanders in the Great War 1914-1918