1st Edition

Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies Guerrillas and their Opponents since 1750

By Ian F. Beckett Copyright 2002
    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    Introduction, 1. The roots of insurgency, 2. The roots of counter-insurgency, 3. Resistance and the partisan, 4. Mao Tse-tung and revolutionary warfare, 5. Formative experiences, 6. 'Wars of national liberation'?, 7. The transition to urban insurgency, 8. Insurgency and the superpowers, 9. Forward to the past, Index

    Biography

    Ian F. W. Beckett is Professor of Modern History at the University of Luton and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His many publications include The Amateur Military Tradition (1991) and Encycolpedia of Guerrilla Warfare (1999)