Jeffrey Grey
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Jeffrey Guy Grey (19 March 1959 – 26 July 2016) was an Australian
military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians ...
. He wrote two volumes of '' The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975'', and several other high-profile works on Australia's military history. He was the first non-American to become the president of the
Society for Military History The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...
, but is perhaps best known as the author of ''A Military History of Australia'' (first edition 1990).


Early life and education

Jeffrey Guy Grey was born on 19 March 1959, the son of Ron Grey, an Australian Army officer and his wife Patricia. He had two sisters, Penny and Gina. His family was a military one; his father eventually reached the rank of major general, and two of his uncles became
brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...
s. Raised as an Army brat, he moved about frequently; but lived most of his early life in
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
, where he settled. He entered the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
, from which he graduated in 1983, and joined the Faculty of Military Studies at the
Royal Military College, Duntroon The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon, is the Australian Army's Officer (armed forces), officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory, Duntroon in Canberra, Australian Capi ...
, as a teaching fellow. He completed his doctorate there under the supervision of Peter Dennis, writing his 1985 thesis on "''British Commonwealth forces in the Korean War: a study of a military alliance relationship''".


Career

Grey joined the Historical Section of the Department of Foreign Affairs, but returned to the
University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...
at the new
Australian Defence Force Academy The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military academy that provides military and Tertiary education in Australia, academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ...
(ADFA) campus in 1988, and became a
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
there in 2003. Over the years he taught thousands of cadets and midshipmen, and supervised numerous postgraduate students. He wrote prolifically about the
Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...
and the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. With Peter Dennis he wrote about the Indonesian Confrontation in ''Emergency and Confrontation'' (1996), a volume of '' The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975'', and was the sole author of another volume in the series, ''Up Top'' (1998), which detailed the role of the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...
in the
Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...
, the Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War. He was perhaps best known as the author of ''A Military History of Australia'' (first edition 1990), a widely used single-volume textbook. With his colleagues at ADFA, he produced the ''Oxford Companion to Australian Military History''. He wrote the volume on the Australian Army for the ''Oxford Australian Centenary History of Defence'', and the volume on ''The War with the Ottoman Empire'' (2015) for ''The Centenary History of Australia and the Great War'', a project for which he was a driving force. In cooperation with Peter Dennis and Roger Lee from the Army History Unit, he ran the annual Army History Conference, for which he managed to secure distinguished historians from around the world as speakers. For an Australian military historian, he was unusually well known outside Australia. He held the Major General Matthew C. Horner Chair of Military Theory at the United States Marine Corps University in
Quantico, Virginia Quantico (; formerly Potomac) is a town in southeastern Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 578 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., bound ...
, from 2000 to 2002, and in 2015 he became the first non-American to become the President of the
Society for Military History The Society for Military History is a United States–based international organization of scholars who research, write, and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes naval history, air power history, and studies of technol ...
. Grey died suddenly of a heart attack on 26 July 2016. A memorial service was held at the Anzac Memorial Chapel at Duntroon, conducted by Tom Frame, the former Anglican Bishop of the
Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...
. He was survived by his father Ron; sisters Penny and Gina; his first wife, Gina, and their daughter Victoria and son Duncan; his second wife, Emma and their son Sebastian; and his step-daughters Hannah and Sophie. The October 2017 edition of ''The Journal of Military History'' was dedicated to Grey's memory, and featured several articles by or about him.


Published works

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References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Jeffrey 1959 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Australian historians Australian National University alumni Australian naval historians Historians of World War I Historians of World War II People educated at Canberra Grammar School University of New South Wales alumni Academic staff of the University of New South Wales