Insurgencies are at the center of most of the conflicts that confront
the modern world, and they have been since the Second World War. Leading
armies across the globe have well-developed strategies for fighting
counter-insurgency campaigns which are continually adjusted and refined
as a result of direct experience gained in the field. Understanding this
experience and learning the right lessons from it are essential as new
insurgencies break out. Perhaps this is especially important today in
the wake of the attacks on America and the fighting in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and that is why this new edition of a pioneering survey of
the subject, first published 25 years ago, is of such immediate
relevance today.
Editors Ian Beckett and John Pimlott brought together a team of expert
contributors who provided an international overview of
counter-insurgency strategies and techniques as they were perceived and
put into practice a generation ago. Each chapter considers a different
army and describes its reaction to insurgency, its operations in the
field and the thinking behind its counter-insurgency strategy. Changes
made in strategy and tactics in response to shifting circumstances and
new threats are given particular attention.
This historical survey, which covers irregular warfare in countries as
widely separated as Chad, Vietnam, Uruguay and Mozambique, will be
fascinating reading for anyone studying insurgencies and the armed
response to them.
