Kiwis in Conflict

Kiwis in Conflict is the story of New Zealand and New Zealanders at war from the mid-19th century to the present day. Originally published as Scars of the Heart, this new revised and updated edition examines the impact of war through the eyes of those involved, using photographs, paintings, letters, and diaries to give a glimpse of what these wars were like for the New Zealanders who fought in them. Five leading historians have contributed to this major work.

Buddy Mikaere tells the Māori story of the New Zealand Wars, and the impact this had and is still having on Māori communities. It is a tale of bravery against overwhelming odds, betrayal, and loss.

Nigel Prickett contrasts this with the European perceptions. It was a war for land and the rule of law on European terms, and the histories were written to justify these acts.

Laurie Barber examines New Zealand's first experience of fighting for the Empire in the Anglo-Boer War.

Chris Pugsley continues this story into the First World War. It is a tale of learning about war the hard way, by bitter and costly experience. One hundred thousand New Zealanders sailed to war and at the end of four years of conflict, we had suffered 60,000 casualties, including 18,000 dead.

Twenty-one years later, New Zealand was at war again in the Second World War of 1939 to 1945. Chris Pugsley looks at the land, sea, and air war that New Zealand fought in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific, and Rose Young examines the defence of New Zealand and the total mobilisation of our society to meet the Japanese threat.

Chris Pugsley takes the story of conflict into the postwar years, involvement in Asia, first in Malaya, then in the Confrontation with Indonesia over Borneo and, finally, in Vietnam, also peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan and the Pacific in the 2000s. The updated material also includes the military response and assistance to the Christchurch earthquakes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine.