Free PDF Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch
You could locate the link that we offer in website to download and install Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch By purchasing the budget friendly cost and obtain finished downloading and install, you have finished to the initial stage to get this Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch It will be absolutely nothing when having bought this book as well as not do anything. Read it as well as reveal it! Spend your few time to merely review some covers of web page of this book Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch to review. It is soft file and also very easy to read any place you are. Appreciate your new habit.
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch
Free PDF Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch
Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch. Eventually, you will discover a new adventure and also understanding by investing even more cash. But when? Do you think that you have to obtain those all requirements when having significantly money? Why don't you attempt to get something easy in the beginning? That's something that will lead you to understand even more about the globe, journey, some locations, history, amusement, and also much more? It is your personal time to proceed reading practice. One of guides you can enjoy now is Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch right here.
As known, experience and experience concerning driving lesson, entertainment, and knowledge can be gotten by only checking out a book Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch Also it is not straight done, you could know even more concerning this life, regarding the world. We provide you this proper and simple way to acquire those all. We provide Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch and also several book collections from fictions to science in any way. One of them is this Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch that can be your partner.
Just what should you believe much more? Time to obtain this Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch It is very easy after that. You can just sit and stay in your place to obtain this publication Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch Why? It is on-line publication establishment that supply numerous collections of the referred books. So, merely with internet link, you can enjoy downloading this book Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch and also numbers of books that are looked for currently. By going to the link page download that we have actually offered, the book Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch that you refer so much can be found. Just conserve the requested publication downloaded and install and then you could take pleasure in the book to check out every single time as well as location you desire.
It is really simple to read guide Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch in soft documents in your gizmo or computer. Again, why must be so difficult to get guide Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch if you can choose the simpler one? This internet site will reduce you to select and also choose the very best cumulative publications from the most needed vendor to the launched publication just recently. It will consistently update the compilations time to time. So, attach to internet and also visit this site always to get the brand-new book daily. Now, this Counterinsurgency, By Douglas Porch is yours.
Counterinsurgency has staked its claim in the new century as the new American way of war. Yet, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have revived a historical debate about the costs – monetary, political and moral – of operations designed to eliminate insurgents and build nations. Today's counterinsurgency proponents point to 'small wars' past to support their view that the enemy is 'biddable' if the correct tactical formulas are applied. Douglas Porch's sweeping history of counterinsurgency campaigns carried out by the three 'providential nations' of France, Britain and the United States, ranging from nineteenth-century colonial conquests to General Petraeus's 'Surge' in Iraq, challenges the contemporary mythologising of counterinsurgency as a humane way of war. The reality, he reveals, is that 'hearts and minds' has never been a recipe for lasting stability and that past counterinsurgency campaigns have succeeded not through state-building but by shattering and dividing societies while unsettling civil-military relations.
- Sales Rank: #411032 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-06-30
- Released on: 2013-07-18
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
"In this brilliant volume master historian Douglas Porch shatters the myth of contemporary counterinsurgency by exposing its raw historical roots. American counterinsurgents often preach moralistic sounding bromides like 'protect and serve the local populations'. Porch deconstructs the mythical universe of counterinsurgency and lays bare the historical truth that they are ultimately wars of death, destruction, and often brute conquest."
Colonel Gian Gentile, United States Military Academy, West Point
"Douglas Porch has written one of the single most outstanding reviews and critiques of the modern theory of counter-insurgency. It fully exposes the myths and legends behind a fundamentally flawed and pernicious approach to conceptualising human conflict. This book should be essential reading for military students, scholars and laymen alike."
Alex Marshall, The Scottish Centre for War Studies, University of Glasgow
"... [an] illuminating and feisty book."
The Chronicle Review
"This is a rich, well supported study of a tendentious topic ... it pulls together material on a remarkable variety of cases to make a powerful point that is valuable in the undergraduate and graduate classroom as well as for broader practitioner and public audiences."
Jacqueline L. Hazelton, H-Diplo
About the Author
Douglas Porch is Distinguished Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. A specialist in military history, he advises on security issues all over the world. His most recent book, The Path to Victory: The Mediterranean Theater in World War II, received the Award for Excellence in US Army Historical Writing from The Army Historical Foundation.
Most helpful customer reviews
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful.
It's the strategy, stupid. (Kindle Edition)
By The F7 Pawn
This book could be more accurately described as a thinly-veiled condemnation of imperialism and the related COIN tactics that accompany it rather than an attack on COIN per se. It's a pity, too, because Mr. Porch spoils some fine historical and strategic analysis with some unnecessary and regrettable exaggerations of COIN tactics and condescension toward those with whom he would disagree. Describing the Vietnam-era Phoenix program in multiple places as an "assassination" regime (it was much more than that) or decrying US "scorched earth tactics" (page 321, laughable to anyone who has spent even a day there) in Afghanistan undermines his case and calls into question some of the conclusions he draws regarding his subject. Similarly, Mr. Porch engages in childish name calling of "SOF cowboys" based on little more than Rolling Stone author Michael Hastings' less-than-scholarly treatment of General Stanley McChrystal and his teammates. He also warns, unconvincingly, that COIN fetishes have led to the diminution of civil liberties at home but ignores that conventional wars have produced the same baleful effects.
Stylistically, the book is somewhat awkward. There are minor spelling inconsistencies (General Shinseki's name, for example, is misspelled) and Mr. Porch's academic writing style gives us prose with a tendency to meander.
Having said that, the book's strength lies in its focus on the strategic context on each of the insurgencies under Mr. Porch's analytic gaze. He puts the importance of this strategic context into its proper place of supremacy over COIN tactics. Similarly, Mr. Porch is at his best in throwing cold water on British and French claims to superiority in small wars and he effectively demolishes the Nagl myth of the US Army as a non-learning institution.
As Mr. Porch avers, places where counterinsurgencies tend to take place are rarely within the sphere of America's vital national interests, are subject to the Clausewitzian factors of fog, friction, unpredictability, and chance, and are damned hard to withdraw from once engaged. That American Wilsonians (of both parties) continue to stumble into these briar patches and cause great harm to our nation makes Mr. Porch's book highly recommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Important argument, but....
By Lifelong student
The author has an important perspective that needs to be considered by all military professionals. As a COIN advocate, I'm glad I read it. Some of his arguments hold water and they have changed my mind. However, I had a tough time keeping up with the problems the French and British had conducting COIN. The author assumes the reader is more familiar with the historical colonial insurgencies, which I am somewhat ignorant of. Finally, the author's writing style is wordy. OK if you're an academic type; tough for me to maintain interest (took me about three months to finish). Last chapter is the best, so there's definitely value in finishing the book.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Hearts and Minds? I don't think so.
By Walter E. Kurtz
This book covers the development of counterinsurgency doctrine in theory, and how it was applied in practice. It starts with the Vendée war during the French Revolution. For those who don’t know, Vendée was a region of France that was staunchly royalist. When the French monarchy was overthrown by revolutionaries and king Louis XVIII was executed, Vendée rose up in rebellion.
What followed was a counterinsurgency war renowned for its savagery.
Why does the author start with this particular conflict? After all, this was hardly the first insurgency in the history of the world. What had changed was the nature of the French political thought. The revolutionaries back in Paris painted themselves as enlightened, liberal thinkers who were going to start a new golden age. Up until that moment insurgencies were normally put down with violence and terror, but such methods were no longer compatible with the image that the new French government was projecting.
So, the war in the Vendée was supposed to be fought accordingly to new humane rules. Except that it wasn’t. The government troops waged a war against the insurgents that was in no way different from the old wars. They fell back on mass violence, mass terror, mass destruction, mass plunder and collective punishments to crush the insurgency.
This became a common recurring theme in all future counterinsurgencies. The author goes over such wars as the Spanish insurrection against Napoleon, conquest of Algeria, colonial wars in Africa and Asia, American invasion of Cuba and Philippines, the Boer war, all the way to current war in Iraq. He focuses on the experiences of the French, British and Americans.
His main thesis, which in my opinion he demonstrates quite well, is that despite the lofty rhetoric about fighting insurgencies in smart and human way, counterinsurgency wars always sooner or later fell back on violence as the solution. While the politicians back home talk about hearts and minds and clean, humane wars, the soldiers on the ground quickly descend into barbarism in order to crush the insurgency.
Aside for the fact that these wars quickly become moral black holes, they bring in two problems. The first one is that counterinsurgency wars often fail. While the insurgents usually do not have the strength to win militarily, they often win politically. Tired of fighting and appalled by reports of atrocities, the government back home usually negotiates some sort of deal with the insurgents, or simply pulls out. When insurgents do lose, it is usually more to do with their mistakes and hopeless strategic situation than any brilliant tactic used by their enemies.
The second problem is that the militaries engaged in counterinsurgency have a tendency to develop deep disdain for the civilian government back home and they bring some of the violence home. The best example is Algeria in 1950s, where the French army started dictating terms to the civilian government in France, and then eventually rebelled and had to be put down with harshness. (Some of the rebellious generals were executed.) In South America, the armies engaged in counterinsurgency warfare became notoriously barbaric (even by “normal” counterinsurgency standards) and often threatened to (and sometimes did) take over the country.
These are extreme cases, but pretty much every society engaged in long-term counterinsurgency sees increased militarization and attack on civil rights. You do not go to a foreign country where you spend a couple of years acting like a savage, and then come back home to civilized society and act as if nothing ever happened. The violence and barbarism soak inside you and stay in your soul.
The author is obviously biased against counterinsurgency war. Yet, this book is not some rant by some left-wing peace activist, but a well researched and well presented academic thesis. I enjoyed reading it, but I have to admit that the author often uses big fancy words, and when he speaks about the French, he likes to use French expressions without translating them. When you are writing a book in English, you are writing a book in English. Please don’t make it multilingual.
The author also does not explain much about the wars he is discussing. For example, when talking about Vietnam, he does not explain the war as a whole, but focuses solely on the American counterinsurgency methods and why they failed. He assumes that the reader already has good knowledge of that war. The same goes to lesser degrees for all the other conflicts he discusses. To truly enjoy this book, you would need to already have solid foundation of historical knowledge.
The author also does not provide much in terms of suggesting on how to resolve the problem of savagery of counterinsurgency war. One solution is obviously not to wage such wars at all. For that matter, I think human race would be better off without waging wars of any kind.
The only hope I see on the horizon lies in the development of mass communications. In the 19th century, when European soldiers were drowning Africa in blood in order to colonize it, news from these wars was rare and took weeks to arrive back home. Today we can have (and we often do) live coverage from any conflict on the planet. We have insurgents reporting their own news on the internet. We have soldiers on both sides speaking up about atrocities that they witness on private blogs. Lack of sources is no longer an excuse for ignorance.
We also have less racism. In 19th century Europeans could butcher Arabs, Indians, Africans and other dark-skinned people all they wanted because dark-skinned foreigners were seen as less than human, if they were seen as human at all. I am not so naïve as to say that racism is dead, but at least it is no longer tolerated in the open. Pale-skinned soldiers cannot anymore go to another country and butcher the dark-skinned natives and then justify themselves in front of cameras by saying that those people were inferior in some way. Don’t take me wrong. Racist killings still go on, but at the very least you can no longer brag about it in the medias.
Human race is slowly getting better. Maybe one day hearts and minds will be an actual method of dealing with insurgencies rather than an empty slogan. Then again, I hope that the day will come when there will be no need for hearts and minds because there will be no war anymore.
See all 8 customer reviews...
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch PDF
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch EPub
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch Doc
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch iBooks
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch rtf
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch Mobipocket
Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch Kindle
^^ Free PDF Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch Doc
^^ Free PDF Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch Doc
^^ Free PDF Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch Doc
^^ Free PDF Counterinsurgency, by Douglas Porch Doc
![Holidays Around The World: Celebrate Christmas: With Carols, Presents, and Peace [Hardcover] [2007] Deborah HeiligmanFrom National Geogr](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u1Ivn9rn3yUni43BFwTiLoLC2mNLOqXB2smICjk79qa4iV9DfRdnRh4fcOHdBgNWSxxLe_ph45LxuN7btvjoRVuTstOXWjCvEc-lFYKElbYkN-bA8bUn5c=s0-d "Holidays Around The World: Celebrate Christmas: With Carols, Presents, and Peace [Hardcover] [2007] Deborah HeiligmanFrom National Geogr")