Insurgencies are at the centre 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 counterinsurgency
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.
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.
