Stress concentrations that develop in metal/ceramic bonded systems have been evaluated and shown to encourage crack propagation at, or near, the edge of bonded interfaces. Experimental indentation observations on Nb/Al2O3 confirm the existence of the predicted stress concentrations. In this system, failure was invariably observed to initiate in the ceramic, such that quasi-static cracks located at the interface exhibited crack blunting. However, substantial dynamic reductions in the crack growth resistance of the interface are inferred from fracture surface observations. Implications for the optimal strengths of ceramic/metal bonded systems are presented