Faced with numerous challenges resultant from intelligence inertia, information overload, agenda-driven intelligence, and so forth, African military intelligence organisations must revisit the art of HUMINT (Human Intelligence). It remains a vital prerequisite to know and understand a challenger, an enemy, or a threat. Without intelligence, adjustments and corrections to strategies and operational designs cannot be made. Without it, the armed forces will be unable to discover the strategic or operational intent of the hostile forces.

African military intelligence organisations currently face a deficit when it comes to the approaches to and collection of intelligence-information by human sources. These organisations must reassess how they are posited and become more forward-looking, pre-emptive, and action orientated and with a deeper operational reach. For defensive, offensive and containment reasons, the role of humans as collectors of intelligence-information must be more aggressively pursued.

Covering topics such as understanding the role of military intelligence, HUMINT operations in Africa, intelligence tradecraft, and combat intelligence in support of Composite Warfare operations, this book is both a valuable contribution and guide to African military intelligence organisations and their trainers. It ought to be on every intelligence officer’s bookshelf.

A deeply thought-provoking book full of wisdom, insight and common sense, by two of our foremost strategists.’ – James Holland, bestselling author of The War in the West
 
How have the character and technology of war changed in recent times?
Why does battlefield victory often fail to result in a sustainable peace?
What is the best way to prevent, fight and resolve future conflict?
 
The world is becoming a more dangerous place. Since the fall of Kabul and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US-led liberal international order is giving way to a more chaotic, contested and multipolar world system. Western credibility and deterrence are diminishing in the face of wars in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, tensions across the Taiwan Strait, and rising populism and terrorism around the world. Can peace, mutual respect and democracy survive, or are we destined to a new permanent chaos in which authoritarians and populists thrive?
 
Based on their decades of experience as policy advisors in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia and across Africa, and on recent fieldwork in Israel, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Taiwan, the authors analyse the nature of modern war, considering both large-scale, high-intensity state-on-state conflicts as well as limited-objective, irregular, low-intensity conflicts that often include both inter- and intra-state dimensions.
 
The book investigates how technology can be a leveller for small powers against larger aggressors; how one can shape and sustain a viable narrative to ensure public and international support; the balance between self-reliance and alliance commitment; and the role of leadership, intelligence, diplomacy and economic assistance.
 
Weighing up past lessons, present observations and predictions about the future, The Art of War and Peace explores how wars can be won on the battlefield and how that success can be translated into a stable and enduring peace.

Has any war in history gone according to plan? Monarchs, dictators and elected leaders alike have a dismal record on military decision-making, from over-ambitious goals to disregarding intelligence, terrain, or enemy capabilities. This not only wastes the lives of civilians, the enemy and one’s own soldiers, but also fails to achieve geopolitical objectives, and usually lays the seeds for more wars.

Conflict scholar and former soldier Mike Martin takes the reader through the hard logic to fighting a conclusive interstate war that solves geopolitical problems and reduces future conflict. He outlines how to orchestrate military forces, from infantry and information to strategy and tactics.

Martin explains the unavoidable art of using violence to force your enemies to do what you want. It should be read by everyone seeking to understand today’s wars, and those wishing to lead us through future conflicts.

Over the past century, South Africa’s military has established itself in several defining battles and operations. Preferring manoeuvre over attrition, and often punching above their weight, they have become known for their tenacity, dash, and ability to defy the odds. Their unique command style also sets them apart from other armies and has helped them excel in challenging circumstances.

In 20 Battles, military historians Evert Kleynhans and David Brock Katz investigate how South Africa’s way of war evolved over a 100-year period. They track the evolution of the doctrine and structure of the South African defence forces, rediscovering historical continuity, if any, and the lessons learned in past battles and operations such as Otavifontein, Delville Wood, Southern Ethiopia, Tobruk, Chiusi, Savannah, Cassinga, Cuito Cuanavale and Boleas.

The book also identifies a number of firsts for the defence force, such as the first ever deployment during the 1914 Industrial Strike; the varied deployments across different theatres during both world wars; the first large scale crossborder deployments during the Border War; the first deployment of the new South African National Defence Force after 1994; and, culminating with the recent, and now infamous, Battle of Bangui.

This compelling, interdisciplinary compilation of essays documents the extensive, intersubjective relationships between gender, war, and militarism in 21st-century global politics. Feminist scholars have long contended that war and militarism are fundamentally gendered. Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives provides empirical evidence, theoretical innovation, and interdisciplinary conversation on the topic, while explicitly—and uniquely—considering the links between gender, war, and militarism. Essentially an interdisciplinary conversation between scholars studying gender in political science, anthropology, and sociology, the essays here all turn their attention to the same questions. How are war and militarism gendered? Seventeen innovative explanations of different intersections of the gendering of global politics and global conflict examine the theoretical relationship between gender, militarization, and security; the deployment of gender and sexuality in times of conflict; sexual violence in war and conflict; post-conflict reconstruction; and gender and militarism in media and literary accounts of war. Together, these essays make a coherent argument that reveals that, although it takes different forms, gendering is a constant feature of 21st-century militarism.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.`Opportunities multiply as they are seized.'Written in the 6th century BC, Sun Tzu's The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that is still revered today as the ultimate commentary on war and military strategy. Focussing on the principle that one can outsmart your foe mentally by thinking very carefully about strategy before resorting to physical battle, this philosophy continues to be applied to the corporate and business world.Sun Tzu's timeless appraisal of the different aspects of warfare are laid out in 13 chapters, including sections on `Laying Plans', `Waging War' and `Terrain'. Words that are as resonant today in every aspect of our lives as they were when he wrote them.

Russian strategy today is often framed in terms of ‘hybridity’, an approach characterised by interference in domestic politics through cyber warfare and disinformation campaigns. Such asymmetric measures are seen as part of a shift away from armed violence towards political subversion and other non-military tools. Moving beyond the concept of hybridity, this book looks more broadly at Russian thinking about warfare. Drawing directly on Russian sources, it reflects on a series of questions that are generally overlooked in the existing Euro-Atlantic literature about Russia, notably: what is the military leadership’s distinctive idea of twenty-first-century blitzkrieg? How does it understand holistic territorial defence? And how does it manage the shifting balance between the offensive and defensive? Exploring key concepts and terms used in Russian military thinking and action, Blitzkrieg and the art of Russian war contributes to an active and lively debate about Russia’s resurgent role in international affairs and the challenge the country poses to the international order. -- .

CHRISTOPHER PIKE's first book in his trilogy Making Sense of War examined war as a social phenomenon. About War (2021) explained why war, organised violence, happens. War in Context shows - through examples from history - how the state legitimises war and how war legitimises the state, and how Britain has used military force in the past. Pike asks: is war necessary? Can it be predicted? Is terrorism war? Is terrorism effective and how should it be countered? What were the implications of al Qaeda's attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in September 2001? What then might be the effect on world stability of America's less assertive leadership? War in Context looks at deterrence, the basis for nuclear strategy; and the strategic implications of such modern phenomena as cyborgs, Artificial Intelligence and Drones. But the human factor is emphasised - the moral and physical pressure on commanders of robots and hypersonic missiles. Above all, it is humans who decide how and when death is delivered. Science increases the intensity of battle, but man, not the machine, controls the outcome. The book ends with an assessment of Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

A brilliantly original exploration of our obsession with the end of the world, from Mary Shelley’s The Last Man to the Manic Street Preachers’ Everything Must Go.

For two millennia, Christians have anticipated the end of the world, haunted by the apocalyptic visions of the Book of Revelation. But over the past two centuries, these dark fantasies have given way to secular stories of how the world, our planet, or our species (or all of the above) might be annihilated.

In Everything Must Go – a cultural history of the modern world that weaves together politics, history, science, high and popular culture – Dorian Lynskey explores the endings that we have read, listened to, or watched, while perched on the edge of our seats with eyes wide, (mostly) loving every moment.

Whether with visions of destruction by nuclear holocaust or a mighty collision with a meteor, a devastating epidemic or a violent takeover by robots, why do we like to scare ourselves, and why do we keep coming back for more?

Deeply illuminating about our past, our present and – given the revelation that the end of the world has seemingly always been nigh – hopeful about our future, Everything Must Go will grip you from beginning to, well, end.

While researching for my book about the Indian Air Force Himalayan Eagle - The Story of the Indian Air Force, I came across some very interesting details about the military/warrior traditions of India that seemed at odds with the general image of a country thought to be spiritual and pacifist - the Buddha and "Mahatma" Gandhi immediately spring to mind in this context. The details were intriguing enough for me to embark upon another ambitious project - to gather together and collate the data available on this Indian warrior tradition and its resurgence in modern-day India. This work is the presentation of certain pertinent details that are available in the open sources but told in a comprehensive, objective and readable form so that an interested reader gains a better understanding of India's little-known martial and warrior history! It is a narrative of the warrior/military traditions of India going back to its pre-Vedic roots and covers the birth of the Indian warrior caste, the Kshatriyas. How these warriors dominated among the empire builders, and how their pre-eminence was superseded by civilian rule, a change in the political scene of India that was to have ramifications from the 10th to 20th century CE. The title chosen for this work may confuse those readers who are aware that the emperor Ashoka eschewed violence for pacificism as a Buddhist. The lions in the title refer to the four represented on the Ashoka pillars at Sarnath, each facing to the points of the compass and which are symbolic of the present-day warriors of the country, the Indian armed forces, guarding against intrusions from any point.

Special Forces are a key component of every modern army, capable of carrying out clandestine operations, reconnaissance, and incisive attacks behind enemy lines. Units such as the British SAS, US Navy SEALs, the US Army’s Delta Force, Polish GROM and the France’s National Gendarmerie Intervention Group are famous for their bravery and formidable record. Aircraft are a key element of their functionality, without which Special Forces would not be able to move quickly to the combat zone. Arranged into chapters divided by transports, gunships, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles, the book includes the AC-130H gunship, which can be armed with weapons such as the M61 Vulcan rotary cannon and can destroy ground targets from a range of 2,000 metres; the CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, which can land large numbers of men and material in tight spaces because of its STOL capabilities; the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin II, used by the British Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing (JSFAW) for the insertion of small units behind enemy lines; and the Mil Mi- 171Sh Storm rotorcraft, used by the Russian Spetsnaz commandos for operations in difficult terrain. Illustrated with 140 photographs and artworks, Aircraft of the Special Forces is a dynamic guide to the specialist aircraft and UAVs deployed by Special Forces throughout the world today.

From bestselling author Robert Greene comes a new guide to the strategies of war that can help us gain mastery in the modern world. Spanning world civilisations, and synthesising dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts, The Concise 33 Strategies of War is a guide to the subtle social game of everyday life. Based on profound and timeless lessons, it is abundantly illustrated with examples of the genius and folly of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher and Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, as well as diplomats, captains of industry and Samurai swordsmen.

Over the last 20 years, the role of unmanned aircraft systems in modern warfare has grown at an unprecedented rate. No longer simply used for intelligence, data collection or reconnaissance, drones are routinely used for target acquisition and to strike enemy targets with missiles and bombs. Organized by nationality, Military Drones offers a compact guide to the main unmanned aerial vehicles being flown in combat zones today. These include classics, such as the MQ-1 Predator, primarily used for intelligence gathering; the Black Hornet Nano, a micro UAV that is so small it can fit in the palm of your hand and is used by ground troops for local situational awareness; the Chinese tri-copter Scorpion, which is ideal for the stationary observation and strike role in a built-up area; and the French EADS Talarion, a twinjet long-endurance UAV designed for high-altitude surveillance. Illustrated with more than 100 photographs and artworks, Military Drones provides a detailed insight into the specialist military unmanned aerial vehicles that play a key role in the modern battle space.

The Illusion of Victory demonstrates that most of the rewards of victory in modern warfare are either exaggerated or false. When the ostensible benefits of victory are examined a generation after a war, it becomes inescapably evident that the defeated belligerent rarely conforms to the demands and expectations of the victor. Consequently, long-term political and military stability is denied to both the victorious power and to the defeated one. As a result, neither victory nor defeat deter further outbreaks of war. This sobering reality is increasingly the case in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Ian Bickerton persuasively argues that as the rhetoric of victory becomes more hollow all countries must adopt creative new approaches to resolving disputes.

The Samurai warrior is one of the most famous types of soldier, with his intricate armour, longbow and distinctive katana sword, as well as his strict martial code. But samurai warfare and military culture is much misunderstood in the modern era. In Samurai Weapons & Fighting Techniques, Thomas D. Conlan traces the history and development of samurai warfare over seven centuries, beginning with the historic dominance of the mounted, bow-armed samurai, moving through the introduction of naginata-wielding ashigaru (skirmishers) and pike formations, and finishing with the revolutionary introduction of firearms and cannon. Conlan analyses the success of particular samurai dynasties, such as the Ashikaga, Uesugi and Tokugawa clans, and examines the role of many of the great battlefield commanders - such as Oda Nobunaga, Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu - at key battles like Kawanakajima (1561), Nagashino (1575) and the siege of Osaka (1615). The book is illustrated throughout with more than 300 detailed line drawings and colour photographs showing the weapons, equipment, techniques and tactics of the samurai. Types of armour - such as o-yoroi, haramaki and paper armour - and weapons - such as the tachi long sword, wakizashi short sword and yari (pike) - are depicted in detail. Expertly written, Samurai Weapons & Fighting Techniques is a highly illustrated, accessible introduction to samurai warfare for both the military enthusiast and general reader.

As Rynning shows, armed forces have a natural interest in shaping military doctrine according to their resources, doctrinal traditions, as well as their assessment of the international environment. However, armed forces are also the instrument of policy-makers who are in charge of national security. Using civil-military relations in France from 1958 to the present as a case study, he shows when policy-makers are capable of controlling military doctrine as well as the means armed forces rely on to influence doctrine.

Some scholars argue that policy-makers can control military doctrine only when the international environment is threatening--a situation granting them added decision-making authority. Others argue that such control ultimately depends on the degree of domestic political disagreement/consensus. With access to most of the leading military personnel and policy-makers of the era, Rynning provides an analysis that will be instructive to scholars as well as policy-makers and military leaders concerned with contemporary civil-military relations.

What if the true weak link of the Information Age force is not the hardware of machines, but the software of the human mind? And if so, could it be that the entire conceptual structure of the Information Revolution theorists, at least as it applies to military affairs, is built on sand, on the notorious fickleness of human cognition? These are the questions this book strives to examine. Looking at the command and control of information-rich warfare, the contributors explore its potential new processes, techniques, and organizational structures. As they do so, they find reasons for both optimism and concerns about the limitations of human cognition and supporting technologies in commanding battles in the Information Age. Since the beginning of the Information Revolution, the military in the United States and elsewhere has been analyzing and implementing the changes driven by the rapidly advancing information technologies. Among military theorists and practitioners, many focus on the Information Revolution's impact on matters of military equipment. Far fewer, however, seem to worry about the gray matter—the mind of the commander, the place where all the information power of the new age is supposed to converge and to yield its mighty dividends. Consider that it is the human mind, particularly the minds of military commanders and their staffs that remain the pinnacle and the ultimate consumer of the rapidly growing information flows. What if the true weak link of the Information Age force is not the hardware of machines, but the software of the human mind? And if so, could it be that the entire conceptual structure of the Information Revolution theorists, at least as it applies to military affairs, is built on sand, on the notorious fickleness of human cognition? These are the questions this book strives to examine. Looking at the command and control of information-rich warfare, the authors explore its potential new processes, techniques, and organizational structures. As they do so, they find reasons for both optimism and concerns about the limitations of human cognition and supporting technologies in commanding Information Age battles.

One of the greatest sources of America's troubles in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans was the inability of our government's many parts to work well together. Often called interagency operations, applying everything that official Washington can do to keep Americans safe, free, and prosperous, is no easy task. The Pentagon, State Department, Homeland Security, Treasury, FBI, CIA, and other agencies have different capabilities, budgets, cultures, operational styles, Congressional oversight committees, and even operate under different laws. Getting them all organized on battlefields, after disasters, and during other times of crisis is often equated with herding cats. The history of getting government agencies to cooperate is replete with stories of courage, heart-breaking tragedy, and blundering incompetence. To meet the dangers of the 21st century, interagency operations will be more important than ever, yet few Americans understand the troubling history of Washington's failures and the pressing needs for reform. One of the greatest sources of America's troubles in Iraq, Afghanistan, and New Orleans was the inability of our government's many parts to work well together. Often called interagency operations, the coordination of everything official Washington can do to keep Americans safe, free, and prosperous, is no easy task. The Pentagon, State Department, Homeland Security, Treasury, FBI, CIA, and other agencies have different capabilities, budgets, cultures, operational styles, Congressional oversight committees, and even operate under different laws. Getting them all organized on battlefields, after disasters, and during other times of crisis is often equated with herding cats. The history of getting government agencies to cooperate is replete with stories of courage, heart-breaking tragedy, and blundering incompetence. To meet the dangers of the 21st century, interagency operations will be more important than ever, yet few Americans understand the troubling history of Washington's failures and the pressing needs for reform. This book is the first comprehensive history and sober analysis of one of the most pressing national security challenges of the century. The goal is to make a serious and unappreciated subject accessible to a wide audience through a series of engaging and informative historical case studies. The case studies span American history from the turn of the 20th century to today. They cover a variety of subjects from dealing with the great flu epidemic of 1918, to responding to natural disasters at home and abroad, to fighting wars and rebuilding countries after war. Each engaging chapter is a single case study written by a distinguished scholar who covers the historical context, the key players, actions, incidents, and, perhaps most important, lessons learned.

After a century-long hiatus, honor is back. Academics, pundits, and everyday citizens alike are rediscovering the importance of this ancient and powerful human motive. This volume brings together some of the foremost researchers of honor to debate honor's meaning and its compatibility with liberalism, democracy, and modernity. Contributors-representing philosophy, sociology, political science, history, psychology, leadership studies, and military science-examine honor past to present, from masculine and feminine perspectives, and in North American, European, and African contexts. Topics include the role of honor in the modern military, the effects of honor on our notions of the dignity and "purity" of women, honor as a quality of good statesmen and citizens, honor's role in international relations and community norms, and how honor's egalitarian and elitist aspects intersect with democratic and liberal regimes.

Buddhism has played a significant role in the current global rise in religious nationalism and violence, but the violent aspects of Buddhist tradition have been neglected in the outpouring of academic analyses and case studies of this disturbing trend. This book offers eight essays examining the dark side of a tradition often regarded as the religion of peace. The authors note the conflict between the Buddhist norms of non-violence and the prohibition of the killing of sentient beings and acts of state violence supported by the Buddhist community (sangha), acts of civil violence in which monks participate, and Buddhist intersectarian violence. They consider contemporary and historical cases of Buddhist warfare from a wide range of traditions - Tibetan, Mongolian, Japanese, Chinese, Sri Lankan, and Thai - critically examining both Buddhist textual sources justifying violence and Buddhist actors currently engaged in violence. They draw not only on archival material but interviews with those living and involved in war zones around the world. The book enriches our understanding both of the complexities of the Buddhist tradition and of the violence that is found in virtually all of the world's religious traditions.

Terrorism cannot be treated as a monolithic threat. Moreover, as much as we may wish to focus on the terror tactics and terrorist means, we cannot overlook the ends. In fact, good policy can only be crafted with an understanding of the terrorist strategy; that is, how terrorists integrate their means to secure their goals, given their perception of the security environment. The groups covered in this book change and evolve. While their governments must take aggressive actions to secure their populations against attacks, those governments that recognize the real grievances can simultaneously take action that addresses those grievances. This two-pronged approach simultaneously bolsters state legitimacy across the ethnic and majority populations, while demonstrating state effectiveness regarding insecurity. The authors argue that the best way for states to win legitimacy vis-a-vis terrorists is by adhering to liberal democratic values, cooperating with other states, and applying prudent counterterrorist tactics. Inter-state cooperation, which affects domestic and foreign policies, requires some convergence of political cultures among those cooperating states. This book begins by analyzing five hotspot situations and their regional effects: the Basques in Spain, the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, the Kurds in Turkey, the Chechens and Russia; and the Palestinians, Israel, and a future Palestinian state. These cases shed some light on how we should understand, characterize, and categorize terrorism, and they provide insights into the concepts of political legitimacy, liberal democracy, political culture, and political community. As the United States assesses its homeland defense posture, itmust resist any temptation to weaken its liberal democratic values, and, as a superpower, it must encourage other states to adhere to liberal democratic values as well. Liberal democracy is a security imperative in today's global security environment.

Current trends suggest that the fog of war continues to make strategy an opaque enterprise notwithstanding enormous U.S. investments in high-tech weapons, intelligence capabilities, and homeland defense. This edited volume includes essays originally presented at the IISS Global Strategic Review, which was held in Geneva on September 7-9, 2007.