Originally published in 1896; Small Wars is an ambitious attempt to analyze and draw lessons from Western experience in fighting campaigns of imperial conquest. The quality of C. E. Callwell’s analysis; the sweep of his knowledge; and his ability to integrate information from an impressive variety of experiences resulted in Small War’s reputation as a minor classic. For the historian; Small Wars remains a useful and vital analysis of irregular warfare experiences ranging from Hoche’s suppression of the Vendée revolt during the French Revolution; to the British wars against semi-organized armies of Marathas and Sikhs in mid-nineteenth-century India; to the Boer War of 1899–1902.The military specialist discovers in Callwell lessons applicable to what today is called “low-intensity conflict.†his message is clear; and it is relevant to current debates about conflicts as diverse as those in Bosnia; Somalia; and Vietnam. Technological superiority is an important; but seldom critical; ingredient in the success of low-intensity operations. An ability to adapt to terrain and climate; to match the enemy in mobility and inventiveness; to collect intelligence; and above all the capacity to “seize what the enemy prizes most;†will determine success or failure. This reprint adds vital historical dimension to the growing literature on unconventional conflict.
#1845871 in Books University of Nebraska Press 2013-07-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.23 x 2.31 x 6.41l; 2.85 #File Name: 080322544X792 pages
Review
3 of 10 people found the following review helpful. Loaded-Word Title. The Same Old; Standard Judeocentric Approach to the Holocaust. Attempts to Impose it on Eastern EuropeansBy Jan PeczkisThe only value of this book is the comprehensiveness of its treatment of public reception to the Holocaust throughout Eastern Europe. Otherwise; the reader who is looking for something new; or particularly enlightening; can stop right here. It does not. It treats the Holocaust as self-evidently supreme over all other genocides; and never stops hammering this point into the heads of the many Eastern European peoples.JEDWABNE WIELDED AS A CLUBThe editors; John-Paul Himka and Joanna B. Michlic; call on Eastern European nations to have their own "Jedwabne debates". (p. 9). In addition; Michlic (p. 410); and Omer Bartov (p. 691) misrepresent Polish responsibility; for Jedwabne; as proven fact. It is not. For an analysis of what the Polish investigative commission (IPN--INSTYTUT PAMIECI NARODOWEJ) actually concluded about Jedwabne; notably the ambiguity of responsibility for the barn-burning of Jews; see the second part of the first Comment under this review.WHOSE DARK PAST?The phrase--dark past---used in the title of this book; is used in a transparently tendentious manner in reference to Eastern Europeans. There is no mention of the dark past of Jewish conduct in Eastern Europe; except in backwards-bending attempts by the authors to evade it—in a manner that seems to border on intellectual dishonesty. For details; see the first part of the first Comment under this review.A very thoughtful approach; to the "dark past" construct; is quoted; albeit dismissively; by Omer Bartov; as follows; "The Paris-based Romanian writer Paul Goma believes reconciliation is possible only if the Jews 'come to the same table of mutual admission of responsibility; as every other ethnic community'." (p. 669). That would be the day!ARE JEWS SPECIAL? INESCAPABLY; YESThe reader may be astonished; as I was; about the numbers of nations throughout Eastern Europe that have already been subject to Holocaust supremacist thinking. In fact; much of this book is; quite frankly; a litany of complaints (and even laments) that Eastern Europeans are not generally buying into the notion that Jewish suffering is special and that their own genocides (at the hands of the Nazis and Communists) are secondary. This is notably said of Estonia (p. 202; 668); Latvia (p. 317); Lithuania (p. 327); Poland (pp. 439-440); Russia (p. 488); Slovenia (p. 687); Ukraine (p. 646); etc. On the other hand; specifically-named Eastern Europeans that are Judeo-compliant are featured and praised.WARMED-OVER POLONOPHOBIAIn her chapter on Poland; Joanna Beata Michlic dusts off all her mischaracterizations of basic facts; and of scholars not to her liking; that she had presented in her strongly anti-Polish Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present. (For details; please click on this item; and read my detailed review.)Those who control the vocabulary control the discourse: That is why we; according to the likes of Michlic; have “historians†and “nationalist historiansâ€. If; however; we are to have Orwellian labelling and polarization; why not do it fairly? We could then have “Judeo-compliant historians†and “Judeo-independent historians.â€SOME INTERESTING PERSPECTIVESAuthor Bella Zisere quotes Latvian-American historian Andrew Ezergailis; who speaks of the German and Jewish approaches to the Holocaust as ones that involve; in his words; a “Germanless Holocaust†in which locals are blamed. (p. 304). [I find this observation quite perceptive. In fact; in my reviews; I have been using the phrase “de-Germanization of the Nazis.â€]Author John-Paul Himka discusses Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) in Ukraine. Some 100;000 locals; mostly Russians and Ukrainians; had been murdered there by the Germans. Among these 100;000 were 33;771 Jews. (p. 645). Recently; an American Jewish group had wanted to build a memorial to only the Jewish victims. In a manner reminiscent to that of Poles regarding Auschwitz; local Ukrainians objected to the privatization (monopolization) of Babi Yar as a site memorializing only the Jewish victims. (p. 646). Bravo!
