Royal Navy

Guerrilla literally means “small war”; the name derives from the struggles of Spanish irregulars against Napoleon from 1808 to 1814, but the practice is as ancient as mankind. Here it will be used to describe the use of hit-and-run tactics by an armed group directed primarily against a government and its security forces for political or religious

52. THE OTHER WAR The Limitations of Firepower in Vietnam, 1960

Royal Air Force,

Special Air Service (SAS),

All of these special operators made critical use of modern inventions such as the airplane and radio. But they were also inspired by the timeless lessons of history. SOE’s first leaders, the army officers J. C. F. Holland and Colin Gubbins, had fought against the IRA. In addition, Holland had served with the Arab irregulars in World War I and had

Theodore von Hippel,

Yet there was no accessible and up-to-date account to trace the evolution of guerrilla warfare and terrorism over the ages.5 The aim of Invisible Armies is to deliver precisely such a narrative, telling the story of irregular warfare from its origins in the prehistoric world to the contemporary conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond. The aim is

Popski’s Private Army,