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Mind Of War Project

Modern Insights from Ancient Warfare

Modern Insights from Ancient Warfare

Presenter Dr Charles Vandepeer:

Charles Vandepeer speaks, writes, and teaches on critical thinking, analytic skills and decision-making. Charles served in the Australian Army Reserve and then as a Permanent Officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, completing two operational tours in the Middle East. Charles holds lecturing and research positions at a number of universities in Australia and the United States.

With a family history of four generations with war service, across the three arms, Charles has a passion for avoiding mistakes in war; arguing it is better to learn the lessons from history rather than learning during the conflict itself.

His approach is based on plain speaking, jargon-free language, focusing on useful insights with practical application.

Completing his undergraduate degree in History and Politics at the University of the South Pacific (Fiji), Charles gained insights into the power and influence that cultures, mindsets and perspectives have on human behaviours. Charles completed Honours and, later a Defence sponsored PhD at the University of Adelaide.

Charles vandepeer

Background to Mind of War Project:

The Mind of War Project focusses primarily on the human aspect in warfare, drawing from the writings of ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine authors’ descriptions of battles, commanders and soldiers. By starting ‘at the start’ in terms of written histories of conflict, the aim is to identify and consider enduring insights for the modern battlefield. This is how the project started, in my interest in reading these texts – to go back to the source documents to read directly what these authors had to say about the human in war.

Polybius argues that there are two ways to learn – either from histories and learning from others or from direct experience – acknowledging that direct experience is the more costly approach. In the same way, these ancient texts offer the opportunity to reflect on what was a time where the human aspect of warfighting was more clearly distinguishable from the technological elements. This clarity helps to better appreciate the mind of war.

I have a passion for military history as an avenue towards better understanding current conflicts and preparing for future warfare. The argument is simply that the best way to understand warfare is the study of warfare itself. My hope is that, if you have not already, you will pick up copies of these texts and read them. Don’t just take my perspective on these writings but read them and see what insights you gain.