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 ‘Rise of the phoenix: the XIV Army in Burma' is delivered by Professor Daniel Marston.

About the presenter: Daniel Marston is a Professor at the Australian National University and the Principal of the Military and Defence Studies Program at the Australian Command & Staff College in Canberra. His research focuses
on the topic of transnational military culture and
how armies learn and adapt to new environments.
His first book Phoenix from the Ashes, an in-depth assessment of how the British/Indian Army turned defeat into victory in the Burma campaign of the Second World War, won the Field Marshal Templer Medal Book Prize in 2003. The second volume, The Indian Army and the End of the Raj, was Runner Up for the Templer Medal in 2014.