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 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 unto 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. AUTHOR: Professor Ian F.W. Beckett is Visiting Professor of Military History at the University of Kent. He has previously held chairs at the University of Northampton, the US Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia, and the University of Luton. His publications include Modern Insurgencies and Counter-insurgencies, and Modern Counter-insurgency. Dr. John Pimlott was Head of the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst from 1993 until his death in 1997. He had worked at Sandhurst for 24 years and was a prolific author, whose publications included Guerilla Warfare, Vietnam: The History and Tactics, and the Guinness History of the British Army. SELLING POINTS: ?Second edition of a classic study of counter-insurgency ?New introduction by Ian Beckett ?Chapters on Vietnam, the Tupamaros, Mozambique, Namibia ?Links the counter-insurgency techniques of the past with those of the present day
