The Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire was a classic example of a successful insurgency. Though it occurred 2,000 years ago, it contains many elements of modern leftist insurgencies. The conflict demonstrates that the nature of...
This monograph examines two insurgencies conducted by the Jews in ancient times: The Maccabbee Revolt against the Seleucid Empire from 166-164 BC and the Revolt against the Roman Empire from 66-70 AD. The monograph proposes that all insurgencies...
This monograph analyzes T.E. Lawrence as a military theorist and campaign planner. It investigates whether Lawrence's development of his own theory of war assisted him in planning the Arab campaign during World War I. The monograph focuses in four...
As warfare continues to become more complex due to the advent and proliferation of new technology, blending of ethnic and cultural groups, population growth and urbanization, and tendency towards asymmetric warfare, commanders will have more...
Military history demonstrates the vital role that geography plays in the planning, execution, and results of any conflict. This project espouses a comprehensive notion of geography that encompasses both physical and human contextual...
Crane Brinton's analysis of popular revolutions offers the strategic and operational planner a valid model for checking the consistency of ends, ways and means, for campaign plans. As a planning tool, Brinton's model fills a gap in FM 100-20, which...
Coalition warfare has been, and will continue to be, a matter of course for the U.S. military. Developing and maintaining coalitions of politically and militarily diverse members is, at its most elemental level, a matter of human relationships--the...
This paper analyzes the Mahdist Revolution in the Sudan from 1881 to 1885. Mohammed Ahmed bin Abdallah proclaimed himself the Mahdi (the expected one or the deliverer in the Islamic faith), and fought the colonial Egyptian government of the Sudan...
Throughout its history the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has exhibited brilliant tactical performance. The War of Independence, the Sinai Campaign, the Six Day War, and even the 1973 War placed Israel on a martial pedestal with few peers. On closer...
This document was prepared during the 1961-62 Regular Course at CGSC and was a critical, yet brief, analysis of combat in the (then) current environment- a study of combat as it was being fought. The authors discuss the relativity of combat, an...
The purpose of this monograph is to determine a conceptual framework for the analysis of the problems involved of integrating irregular and conventional forces into the same theater of operations. The problem is considered from the perspective of...
This is a working paper, the first of three on the Sino-Indian border dispute. This paper traces the political factors which led initially to the dispute and later to the attack of 20 October 1962. In focusing on the motivation of the Chinese and...
Usually in history it seems that the technologically advanced society has a greater advantage in warfare than more primitive societies. For most battles this seems to hold true; however, there are exceptions to this rule. This document examines...
Insurgency is a time-honored form of warfare that allows a weaker opponent to subvert the power of a stronger foe. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Spanish guerrillas waged an effective insurgency against the premier army of the...
Some military thinkers believe that it is possible to avoid urban combat when attacking and seizing a city. They claim that U.S. forces can do this by taking an Indirect Approach. The proposal is basically a siege of the city. This course of...
This thesis examines the British experience in Iraq from 1914-1926. Britain invaded Iraq to secure its oil interests and to protect its lines of communication to India. The British initially defeated Ottoman forces and captured the Basra vilayet...
The Palestine Campaign of the First World War exhibited a fighting style that brought with it various challenges in mission command. While General Allenby, commanding the Allied Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), gained several victories in the...
This paper examines the battle of Teutoburg (9 A.D.), its consequences on the Roman world, and the role cultural misunderstanding played on the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. The Roman commander's cultural misunderstanding of his...
In December 2010, spontaneous protests began in Tunisia following the self-immolation of a Tunisian citizen, who was upset after having his vegetable cart seized by Tunisian police. Wide spread demonstrations followed in the capital city of Tunis....
There is a long historical precedent of great powers utilizing surrogate forces as an economy of force measure in the pursuit of their objectives. The lessons learned during the ideological brush fire conflicts of the Cold War are relevant to the...