Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies: Guerrillas and their Opponents since 1750 (Warfare and History)

Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies explores how unconventional warfare tactics have opposed past and present governments all over the world, from eighteenth-century guerrilla warfare to the urban terrorism of today. Insurgency remains one of the most prevalent forms of conflict and presents a crucial challenge to the international community, governments and the military. In addition to examining the tactics of guerrilla leaders such as Lawrence, Mao, Guevara and Marighela, Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies also analyses the counter-insurgency theories of Gallieni, Callwell, Thompson and Kitson. It explores such conflicts as: * the American War of Independence * Napoleon's campaign in Spain * the wars of decolonisation * the superpowers in Vietnam and Afghanistan * conflicts in Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone and Colombia. The word 'guerrilla' itself, meaning literally 'little war', derives from the activities of Spanish irregulars or partidas against occupying French forces between 1808 and 1814, but the first documented reference to guerrilla warfare appears to have been in the Anastas, a Hittite parchment dating from the fifteenth century BC. Ian F. Beckett here explores how unconventional warfare tactics have opposed past and present governments all over the world, from eighteenth-century guerrilla warfare to the urban terrorism of today. Ian F.w. Beckett. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.