Peter Monteath was born in Brisbane and educated in Queensland and in Germany. He has taught previously at The University of Queensland, Griffith University, Deakin University, The University of Western Australia and The University of Adelaide. He has also been Adjunct Professor at The University of Missouri, St Louis and the Technical University of Berlin, where he was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. Currently at Flinders University, he teaches modern European history and is Director of Research in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.