Welcome to our highly anticipated ‘Chief of Army History Conference 2017’ series of videos.  The conference was held in Canberra on 19-20 October 2017, and was sponsored by the Army History Unit. Now in its 24th year, the conference saw some of the world’s most prestigious military historians presenting on the theme  ‘The Skill of Adaptability: The Learning Curve in Combat.’ Topics ranged from the Boer War through to modern conflicts such as the War in Afghanistan.

We hope you enjoy the presentations which the speakers have generously agreed to share with us.  The presentations represent the speakers personal views and are not the official view of the Australian Army or any other organisation. This presentation on ‘what lessons do wars of the 20th century offer armies in the 21st?’ is delivered by Dr Peter Mansoor.

About the presenter: Peter Mansoor, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), is the General Raymond E. Mason, Jr. Chair of Military History and a CNN military analyst. He served a 26 year career in the U.S. Army that culminated in his service in Iraq as the executive officer to General David Petraeus during the period of the surge in 2007-2008. He has authored a history of this experience, Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War, which was a finalist for the inaugural Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History in 2013.