‘Measuring Victory: Assessing the Outcomes of Konfrontasi, 1963-66’

Christopher Howard Tuck

‘Measuring Victory: Assessing the Outcomes of Konfrontasi, 1963-66’

Christopher Howard Tuck

Defence Studies

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Abstract

From 1963-66 Britain and Indonesia clashed in a low-intensity conflict known as the Confrontation. Orthodox perspectives have coded this conflict a tremendous British victory. Revisionist authors have demonstrated the contingent and questionable nature of this conclusion. This article re-assesses the outcomes of Confrontation by using an alternative methodological framework: five key themes drawn from the wider literature on military victory. Using such a lens supports many aspects of the revisionist case, but shows also that the outcomes of Confrontation are even more complex. Confrontation in fact provides an object lesson in the difficulties in assessing categorically the outcomes of war. As such, its importance to our understanding of the problems in defining victory in war has been greatly under-valued.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	873-898
Journal	JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY
Volume	82
Issue number	3
Early online date	1 Jul 2018
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2018

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‘Measuring Victory Assessing the_TUCK_Accepted 16 January 2018_GREEN AAMAccepted author manuscript, 319 KB

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?site=ehost&scope=site&jrnl=08993718&AN=130321456&h=yCXvd239SfJV5YaWunVNS5w0retXKh%2fuuf7ac8Yutkq%2f5Zj2xKkSO1sDN4WfVfEgOBJVePJds24zzW%2bm25G56w%3d%3d&crl=c&resultLocal=ErrCrlNoResults&resultNs=Ehost&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d08993718%26AN%3d130321456

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Tuck, C. H. (2018). ‘Measuring Victory: Assessing the Outcomes of Konfrontasi, 1963-66’. JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY, 82(3), 873-898. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?site=ehost&scope=site&jrnl=08993718&AN=130321456&h=yCXvd239SfJV5YaWunVNS5w0retXKh%2fuuf7ac8Yutkq%2f5Zj2xKkSO1sDN4WfVfEgOBJVePJds24zzW%2bm25G56w%3d%3d&crl=c&resultLocal=ErrCrlNoResults&resultNs=Ehost&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d08993718%26AN%3d130321456

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title = "{\textquoteleft}Measuring Victory: Assessing the Outcomes of Konfrontasi, 1963-66{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "From 1963-66 Britain and Indonesia clashed in a low-intensity conflict known as the Confrontation. Orthodox perspectives have coded this conflict a tremendous British victory. Revisionist authors have demonstrated the contingent and questionable nature of this conclusion. This article re-assesses the outcomes of Confrontation by using an alternative methodological framework: five key themes drawn from the wider literature on military victory. Using such a lens supports many aspects of the revisionist case, but shows also that the outcomes of Confrontation are even more complex. Confrontation in fact provides an object lesson in the difficulties in assessing categorically the outcomes of war. As such, its importance to our understanding of the problems in defining victory in war has been greatly under-valued.",

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Tuck, CH 2018, '‘Measuring Victory: Assessing the Outcomes of Konfrontasi, 1963-66’', JOURNAL OF MILITARY HISTORY, vol. 82, no. 3, pp. 873-898. <http://web.a.ebscohost.com/abstract?site=ehost&scope=site&jrnl=08993718&AN=130321456&h=yCXvd239SfJV5YaWunVNS5w0retXKh%2fuuf7ac8Yutkq%2f5Zj2xKkSO1sDN4WfVfEgOBJVePJds24zzW%2bm25G56w%3d%3d&crl=c&resultLocal=ErrCrlNoResults&resultNs=Ehost&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d08993718%26AN%3d130321456>

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‘Measuring Victory: Assessing the Outcomes of Konfrontasi, 1963-66’

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