A fascinating account of Russia's Five-Day War against Georgia in
2008, notable for its strategic mistakes which prompted President Putin
to undertake major military reforms.
After Georgia's independence from Russia in 1991, President Saakashvili
invited NATO advisers to assist in military reforms. Separatist groups
in Georgia's border provinces rebelled which led to fighting in South
Ossetia during August 2008. The Russian Army invaded Georgia alongside
these forces, stripped it of these rebellious provinces, and garrisoned
them to maintain a threat over Georgia. But despite the inevitable
outcome of this hugely unbalanced conflict, it revealed serious Russian
military weaknesses and incompetence, and the NATO-trained and partly
Western-equipped Georgian Army put up a much more successful local
resistance than Russia had expected. The conflict also demonstrated the
first use of Russian cyber-warfare, and its so-called 'hybrid warfare'
doctrine.
Author Mark Galeotti is an expert in the field of international
relations and a former Foreign Office adviser on Russian security
affairs. In this book, he provides a vivid snapshot of the Russian,
Georgian, Abkhazian and South Ossetian forces and gives an in-depth
analysis of the conflict. Using meticulous color artwork for uniforms,
insignia and equipment, rare photographs and detailed 'fact-boxes' for
significant units and individuals, this book is a compelling guide to
Russia's Five-Day War in Georgia.
