Pre-20th-Century Guerrilla Warfare (Military History)

Introduction

Irregular warfare is generally defined as conflict in which at least one protagonist depends in some substantive part on the use of irregular, in contrast to regular or conventional, military forces. Guerrilla warfare, asymmetric warfare, partisan warfare, and the use of conventional forces in unconventional ways are considered part of irregular warfare. This article focuses on the evolution, doctrine, theory, and practice of irregular warfare, from early antiquity to 1900 CE. It is not intended to address 20th-century and later irregular warfare; for this focus, see the separate Oxford Bibliographies article Semi-Military and Paramilitary Organizations. This article is organized by chronological sequence, as well as regional/national focus. Consequently, each section is given a short historiographical introduction before the discussion of pertinent works covering the era and/or region. In general, this article is divided into two major parts. The first focuses on the major empires of antiquity (Rome, China, Persia, etc.) up to the Early Modern era (1500 CE). The second is more nationally or regionally directed and pertains to major areas of scholarship in the field, such as the United States experience with irregular warfare during the American Civil War (1861–1865). This is not intended to slight or ignore contemporary irregular warfare conflicts during those eras; simply put, little work has emerged on non-Western and pre-1900 irregular conflicts that focus solely on the military aspect. Substantial work has been done in post-1900 irregular warfare directed toward non-Western experiences; future scholars will surely direct their attention to the rich but neglected pre-1900 field over the next few decades.

General Overviews

Most general works and references in the field of irregular warfare focus less on specific time periods and more on broad surveys of the topic. In addition, while many attempt to examine irregular warfare in a holistic manner, the bulk in reality consist of a short pre-20th-century examination and an in-depth focus on guerrilla wars after 1900. Asprey 1994, Beckett 2001a, and Joes 2007 all follow the short pre-1900/long post-1900 model, but are valuable references for understanding the overall field. A second type of approach is focused more on the general model developed by the authors using historical case studies, such as Boot 2012 and Mansoor and Murray 2012. The case study approach, while useful, is often used less to show details of pre-1900 irregular warfare than to support the author’s thesis on contemporary unconventional warfare. While the scholarship in the case study models is always sound, they tend to shy away from detailed descriptions of irregular warfare in the temporal context in which it occurred, instead tilting toward modern theories and events and using history to prove the point. The third type, detailed histories of pre-1900 irregular warfare, is somewhat harder to find. Ellis 1995 and Mackenzie 1997 are representative of this elusive general work in the area. The final type is the pure encyclopedia of events, such as Beckett 2001b, which is of great use to scholars and researchers, and opens investigation into less-well-known pre-1900 conflicts, such as those in the post-Renaissance Balkans or in the imperialist expansion into Africa.

Asprey, Robert B. War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History. New York: William Morrow, 1994.
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For decades one of the few general works in the field. Asprey’s lengthy tome suffered from a strong 20th-century bias and concentration. Pre-1900 irregular warfare is, in general, given only a cursory study, while the bulk of the work focuses on post-1900 guerrilla wars in China, Africa, and especially Indochina.
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Beckett, Ian F. W. Modern Insurgencies and Counter-Insurgencies: Guerrillas and Their Opponents since 1750. London: Routledge, 2001a.
DOI: 10.4324/9780203402450Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Beckett’s short survey, much like Asprey’s much longer War in the Shadows (Asprey 1994), focuses almost entirely on post-1900 irregular warfare. The pre-1900 period is short and is used as an intellectual basis for his 20th-century-focused thesis on the nature of guerrilla warfare. As a solid introduction to the subject, it is highly valuable; its value as a survey of pre-1900 irregular warfare is limited.
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Beckett, Ian F. W., ed. Encyclopedia of Guerrilla Warfare. New York: Checkmark, 2001b.
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Beckett’s overview of the topic, like many others, tends to focus on post-1900 guerrilla warfare. However, hidden within many of the entries is solid pre-1900 information, especially on colonialism. The entries are varied and complete, and the work is a solid source for further research. Includes an excellent bibliography.
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Boot, Max. Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012.
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Boot’s opus is a general survey of the ebb and flow of irregular warfare since recorded history. Given his focus on post-2001 operations in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it is not surprising that only one-fourth of the work covers the history of irregular warfare up to 1900. However, Invisible Armies does have an excellent bibliography of pre-1900 sources that provides a solid resource for scholars in the field.
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Ellis, John. From the Barrel of a Gun: A History of Guerrilla, Revolutionary, and Counterinsurgency Warfare, from the Romans to the Present. London: Greenhill, 1995.
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The 1995 expanded edition of Ellis’s 1975 book attempts, in a single work, to adequately cover the entire expanse of irregular warfare from the Roman Empire to the 1990s. Ellis frames his work around case studies, some of which focus on the pre-1900 struggles against the Roman Empire, as well as the Middle Ages and Renaissance eras. The work is primarily from a western European viewpoint, even when discussing conflicts in Asia or Africa. A valuable short survey.
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Joes, Anthony James. Guerrilla Warfare: A Historical, Biographical, and Bibliographical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007.
DOI: 10.5810/kentucky/9780813124377.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A solid overview of guerrilla warfare, but with limited information on the pre-1900 era, makes Joes’ work a mixed bag for scholars examining irregular conflict prior to the 20th century. The work is divided into two parts. The first provides a general overview of guerrilla wars from the 18th to the 20th century, while the second focuses on key leaders, organizations, and influential people involved with irregular warfare.
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Mackenzie, S. P. Revolutionary Armies in the Modern Era: A Revisionist Approach. New International History Series. London: Routledge, 1997.
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A solid overview of revolutionary armies from 1640 to the Vietnam War; seven of ten chapters address pre-1900 guerrilla warfare. Included in the work are examples of guerrilla wars and partisan warfare prior to 1900. Fine overview of major conventional revolutionary armies during the period, with a balanced focus, to include discussion of non-European and non-Western irregular conflicts.
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Mansoor, Peter, and Williamson Murray, eds. Hybrid Warfare: The Struggle of Military Forces to Adapt to Complex Opponents from the Ancient World to the Present. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
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Mansoor and Murray’s anthology of essays on hybrid warfare represents a new redefinition of irregular warfare, specifically one in which conventional military forces are faced with both irregular and conventional enemies simultaneously on the battlefield. A more balanced feel than other general works and highly recommended for any student of the subject.
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Irregular Warfare Theory and Doctrine (Pre-1900)

The theory and doctrine of irregular warfare are as critical to understanding the method of warfare as are biographies, histories, and research. Any attempt to address the theory of irregular warfare should begin with Laqueur 1975; this short survey is exceptional as it focuses on the 1750–1900 period. Frontinus 1811, by the great classical writer, is invaluable to understanding the issues and thought of Roman commanders in the middle and late Imperial periods. Sun Tzu 1971 is required reading for any student of military history and theory; its focus on irregular warfare gives the work credit as the first guerrilla warfare manual in history. Jeney 1760 and Grandmaison 2010 provide valuable insights into the theory of irregular warfare from practitioners of the period. Ewald 1991 does so as well, but from a distinctly American colonial and Revolutionary War experience; it is one of the few works in the area written not from the American revolutionary viewpoint, but from that of a foreigner. Callwell 1896 examines the theory and practice of guerrilla warfare, but from a distinctly British Imperial view. Hartigan 1983 addresses one of the forgotten parts of pre-1900 irregular warfare; the role of law and definition in describing irregular warfare. Boguslawski 1881 does as well, but is focused just as much on the actual conduct of irregular warfare as on the legal aspects of the practice.

Boguslawski, Albrecht von. Der kleine Krieg und seine Bedeutung für die Gegenwart. Berlin: F. Luckhardt, 1881.
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A Prussian officer and veteran of the irregular war portions of the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War, Boguslawski focused in this work on the legality and conduct of irregular warfare. Boguslawski maintains that all nations had the right, at some point, to convert to guerrilla warfare for survival, and that political needs were even more critical in an irregular war than in a conventional one.
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Callwell, C. E. Small Wars. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1896.
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Callwell’s collected thoughts on the conduct and theory of irregular warfare would ultimately become the first counterinsurgency (COIN) manual in the Western world. His work was heavily used, for example, by the US Marine Corps in their first COIN field manual in the 1920s, and is cited well into the 21st century. A classic work from a practitioner in the field with only one major failing; Callwell saw all irregular warfare as a phenomenon of imperial frontiers, not popular movements. Latest reprint: Melbourne, Australia: Book Jungle, 2009.
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Ewald, Johann von. Treatise on Partisan Warfare. New York: Greenwood, 1991.
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A classic work of the concepts, theory, and practice of irregular warfare in the 18th century by one of its practitioners. Ewald (b. 1744–d. 1813) was a Hessian professional military officer with extensive experience in the Seven Years’ War, the American Revolution (which formed the basis of his treatise), and later the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Required reading for detailed understanding of the nature and tactics of both light infantry and partisan troops in the era.
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Frontinus, Sextus Julius. Strategematicon. London: Thomas Goddard, 1811.
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Frontinus, a Roman magistrate and administrator, fought in numerous irregular campaigns against a variety of tribes throughout the Empire, as well as being the Imperial Governor of Britain. His experiences, captured in Strategematicon, were combined with his knowledge of Greek military theory and practices as well as those of earlier Roman leaders. The 1811 translation is the first in English; more modern English works are based upon it. Available online at University of Toronto’s Public Archive.
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Grandmaison, Thomas August Le Roe de. La petite guerre; ou, Traite du service de troupes legeres en campagne. Charleston, SC: BiblioBazaar, 2010.
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Grandmaison was an experienced irregular officer and tactician, whose La petite guerre became one of the “bibles” of 18th- and 19th-century partisan warfare. While acknowledging that only the “most barbaric” nations conducted guerrilla warfare, he described in detail how a conventional army could raise, train, and employ specialized light forces by unconventional means. Multiple reprintings. (Originally published Paris: n.p., 1756.)
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Hartigan, Richard S. Lieber’s Code and the Law of War. Chicago: Precedent, 1983.
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Lieber’s Code, named after the famed 19th-century jurist Francis Lieber, is a key work in the legal understanding of irregular warfare. Based on Union Army operations in Missouri and Arkansas during the Civil War and the legal and moral issues surrounding combatant status of guerrillas, his Code became General Order 100 in 1863. Hartigan’s insightful work outlines Lieber’s impact on international understandings of combatant and non-combatant status that later formed the basis of the Hague and Geneva Conventions.
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Jeney, Louis Michel de. Le partisan; ou, l’art de faire la petite-guerre. London: R. Griffiths, 1760.
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Jeney was a Hungarian officer and experienced commander of light cavalry, and his work on partisan warfare established the semi-regular role of light cavalry and infantry as adjuncts to conventional mainline forces. Jeney’s experiences against Ottoman light forces, and with French and Prussian light cavalry, gave him extensive command experience in both irregular and counter-irregular warfare. Available online at the Bayerisch [Germany] Staatsbiblotheck Digital Archive.
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Laqueur, Walter. “The Origins of Guerrilla Doctrine.” Journal of Contemporary History 10.3 (July 1975): 341–382.
DOI: 10.1177/002200947501000301Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
By far one of the best summaries of the evolution of irregular warfare doctrine available, Laqueur covers all the major actors in guerilla warfare theory, from 1750 to 1900. Dated, but perfectly suited for pre-1900 studies in the field. A primary source and primer for anyone interested in the subject; strongly recommended as the first reading in any discussion of the theory of irregular warfare.
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Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Samuel B. Griffith. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
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The classic military theory work of ancient China is often considered the first irregular warfare tome as well. Filled with descriptions, examples, and lessons on irregular warfare, Sun Tzu (who may or may not have existed) describes a world in which guerrilla warfare is the norm. Required reading for any student of military history and theory, as well as any scholar focused on irregular warfare. Numerous editions, translations, and versions.
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Europe and the Middle East

Warfare in modern Europe and the Middle East is built on a foundation of irregular warfare beginning in antiquity, as noted by Ferrill 1997. The nature and evolution of conflict in the region were greatly shaped by the major imperial states, such as Imperial Rome, the Byzantine or German Empires (1871–1919), all of whom found themselves facing substantial resistance to their imperial ambitions from native tribes or weak neighboring states. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that irregular warfare developed as a method of conflict used by weaker powers against stronger ones. As Europe expanded past its borders during the Age of Exploration, the Europeans carried their counter-irregular strategies with them, as noted in the brutal colonial wars of Great Britain, France, Belgium, and others in the 17th to 19th centuries. In the Middle East, the coming of Islam and the Mongol invasions did much to create an environment for irregular warfare, which was further refined by clashes against European and Asian adversaries into the modern era.

Ferrill, Arther. The Origins of War: From the Stone Age to Alexander the Great. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997.
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Ferrill’s examination of the nature of early tribal warfare, culminating in the empire-building of Alexander of Macedonia, addresses the often-forgotten study of how “premodern” warfare was conducted. Effectively, all warfare in that period was irregular; few tribes or city-states could afford to create and maintain an effective and permanent army. Consequently, with the exception of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian empires, most warfare was conducted by small forces using guerrilla tactics.
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4000 BCE to 600 CE

From the early days of tribal warfare to the fall of the Roman Empire, irregular warfare shaped conflict in Europe and the Middle East. Frayne 1993 supports this thesis, at least from the experience of the ancient Mesopotamian empires. The conduct of the Peloponnesian War (434–431 BCE), as described by Kagan 2004, was a constant shift from conventional warfare to unconventional and irregular warfare by all parties involved. During the same general period, the ancient Israelis fought much the same way, according to Gabriel 2003. Mayor 2003 reminds readers that the tactics and strategies of ancient-era counter-irregular warfare were brutal and harsh in execution. The coming of the Roman Empire, and its long dominance from the British Isles to the Persian frontier, changed both the nature of warfare and how Rome’s enemies resisted her advance. Strauss 2009 provides an outstanding history of one internal revolt within the late Roman Republic, while Campbell 1994 surveys the Roman military and is rife with examples in how conventional forces fought irregular ones, as is also reflected in the classical writings of Marcellinus 1894. Organized irregular resistance to Rome is central to Bloom 2010, and key in understanding the nature and conduct of guerilla warfare in the period. No observer of the irregular resistance to Rome is second to Caesar 1996, outlining the experiences of the famous Roman general and emperor, while Fuhrmann 2011 describes how the Romans managed to keep their far-flung Empire from dissolving due to scattered irregular wars.

Bloom, James J. The Jewish Revolts against Rome, AD 66–135: A Military Analysis. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.
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Bloom’s groundbreaking work examines the three Jewish uprisings against Rome (66–74 CE, 115–117 CE, and 132–135 CE) as a singular multi-generation irregular war, in contrast to past historians who saw the conflicts as separate events. From this thesis, he is able to objectively analyze the conflict from a military viewpoint, with less emphasis on religious or political issues than other historians.
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Caesar, Julius. The Gallic War. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
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Not only is Caesar’s Gallic War a classical work of Western literature, but it records one of the first asymmetric warfare campaigns in history. His operations to suppress the Gaulish provinces, find and destroy organized tribes, and force a major conventionally oriented campaign to bring his opponent to battle are all core counterinsurgency objectives. Military leaders since Caesar have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to win the sort of total victory over irregular opponents that he did.
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Campbell, J. B. The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook. New York: Routledge: 1994.
DOI: 10.4324/9780203312339Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A solid short history of the Roman Imperial armies, Campbell’s focus on Roman conventional tactics and organization to face a mix of unconventional and conventional enemies is worth noting. For a single tome on the subject, only Adrian Goldsworthy’s 2011 The Complete Roman Army (London: Thames & Hudson) compares, but with a lesser emphasis on irregular warfare in the Goldsworthy work than in Campbell.
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Frayne, Douglas. The Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia, Early Periods. Vol. 2, Sargonica and Guitan Periods (2334–2113 BC). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.
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Focusing on the Akkadian and other empires in the Tigris and Euphrates River Basin, this second volume in the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia (the RIM Project) provides an excellent view of the nature of warfare and imperial power in the 2,000 years before the Roman Empire. Much as the later Romans would face, the Mesopotamian empires found themselves beset by numerous internal and external enemies, all of whom would adopt guerrilla warfare strategies and tactics at different periods.
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Fuhrmann, Christopher J. Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737840.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Often forgotten in studies of the Roman Empire is the actual practice of managing the Empire itself. Fuhrmann’s excellent work argues that military policing and administration evolved as the Roman Empire did, and provided a solid backbone to the organization of the Imperial bureaucracy. For irregular warfare scholars, Fuhrmann demonstrates how this system enabled the Romans to quickly fight and win small irregular wars and prevented them from evolving into large uprisings.
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Gabriel, Richard A. The Military History of Ancient Israel. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.
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Gabriel’s book focuses on the military history of the ancient Israeli kingdoms, as depicted in the Holy Bible and Torah. While some of the history is based on readings of scriptures instead of historical works, it is still an interesting view of the issues confronting ancient Jewish military and political leaders as regards partisan warfare.
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Kagan, Donald. The Peloponnesian War. New York: Penguin, 2004.
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Written by one of the premier military historians of his era, Kagan’s work outlines the great conflict from beginning to end. Irregular warfare, by both land and sea, often played a key role in shaping the conflict from both the military and political perspectives. The best single-volume history of the conflict available.
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Marcellinus, Ammianus. The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus. London: George Bell, 1894.
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Marcellinus’s 4th-century study of Roman history is one of the core works in Western historiography. This classic book is filled with accounts of the difficulties faced by a succession of Roman emperors, from Constantus to Valens, in holding the remains of the Western Empire from the ever aggressive barbarian tribes on the borders. Online version, 1911 edition, via The Gutenberg Project.
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Mayor, Adrienne. Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Chemical and Biological Warfare in the Ancient World. New York: Overlook, 2003.
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Mayor’s original and thought-provoking work, for students of irregular warfare, notes how the organized city-states and empires used a variety of chemical and biological weapons to isolate, starve, and defeat regular and irregular enemies. Well worth reading, and provides key insights on the total war nature of both ancient warfare and irregular warfare.
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Strauss, Barry. The Spartacus War. London: Simon & Schuster, 2009.
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The Spartacus War is a detailed study of the most famous slave uprising in Roman history, that of the gladiator Spartacus (107–71 BCE) and his followers in the late Roman Republic’s Third Servile War (73–71 BCE). Marcus Lucinius Crassus, the Roman politician and general sent after him, becomes a model of counterinsurgency; his mix of punitive actions and relations building led to the ultimate defeat of the slave rebellion.
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600 CE to 1500 CE

In contrast to studies of the irregular warfare in the Roman Imperial era, few detailed works exist on irregular warfare in the Middle Ages. Military historians of the era tend to focus more on technological innovation, the conduct of major wars and campaigns, and the nature of feudal warfare. The experience with purely irregular warfare tends to be limited to the field of popular or peasant revolts of the era, especially the late Middle Ages, as noted in works such as Sivéry 1990. The subject was a focus from the early days of European written history, as noted by Barbour 1907. Fourquin 1978 is a fine example of the field, and provides scholars with the details of rebellion and irregular conflict during the period. A more regionally focused work of the same focus is TeBrake 1993. Mollat and Wolff 1973, much like Fourquin, examines the entirety of late Middle Ages popular revolt, to include often-forgotten insurrections and their conduct. Rogers 2000, while predominantly a conventional military history of the wars of English King Edward III, provides excellent insights on how Edward III’s decisive battle strategy was an attempt to stop continual irregular warfare. Kennedy 2001 is much the same, but with a focus on Islamic armies and their response or adaptation to irregular warfare. Treptow 1995, besides being an excellent short survey of unconventional warfare in the Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, is worth noting as an example of the stellar work often hidden in university archives and collections as doctoral dissertations.

Barbour, John. The Bruce: Being the Metrical History of Robert Bruce, King of Scots, Compiled AD 1365. Glasgow: Gowans and Gray , 1907.
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Barbour’s patron, King Robert II of Scotland, chartered this work on his grandfather; consequently, the work lacks objectivity, but makes up for it with one of the few existing contemporary accounts of guerrilla warfare in the Middle Ages. The book follows the life of Robert the Bruce (b. 1274–d. 1329 CE) and outlines how the Scots managed to keep a hard core of insurgents alive against a powerful enemy. Available online at Cornell University Library, Open Library Project.
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Fourquin, Guy. The Anatomy of Popular Rebellion in the Middle Ages: Europe in the Middle Ages, Selected Studies. Translated by Anne Chesters. Amsterdam: North Holland, 1978.
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Originally published in 1972, Anatomy was one of the first scholarly works to address the overall phenomenon of peasant uprisings in the Middle Ages. It established the basic template for later scholars in the field, dividing the subject into areas of specific focus, such as religiously inspired uprisings, instead of trying to find an overall theme or pattern in the subject. Despite a presentist approach, the work is valuable to scholars researching the nature of guerrilla warfare in the period.
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Kennedy, Hugh. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in Early Islamic States. New York: Routledge, 2001.
DOI: 10.4324/9780203458532Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Kennedy’s work is an excellent overview of the military systems, culture, practice, and doctrine of Islamic armies in the early period. Noted for its prose and outstanding source material, The Armies of the Caliphs gives the same focused treatment often reserved for studies by Western historians of Western militaries of the period.
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Mollat, Michel, and Philippe Wolff. The Popular Revolutions of the Late Middle Ages. Translated by A. L. Lytton-Sells. London: Allen & Unwin, 1973.
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A solidly researched overview of peasant uprisings in western Europe from 1300 to 1500 CE. Interesting and informing, the work focuses on such forgotten incidents as the long Flemish revolts of the 1320s and the very short English uprising of 1381. Well worth study as an overview of the era and one of the few effective general works on the topic.
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Rogers, Clifford. War Cruel and Sharp: English Strategy under Edward III, 1327–1360. Rochester, NY: Boydell, 2000.
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Rogers’s impressive work covers one of the least studied (at least in military terms) English leaders of the late Middle Ages, Edward III. Rogers’s research, based on contemporary sources, maintains that King Edward III attempted to fight decisive battles against his opponents, partially to prevent the never-ending irregular conflicts in France, Scotland and elsewhere.
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Sivéry, Gérard. Terroirs et communautes rurales dans l’Europe occidentale au moyen age: Economies et societes. Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France: Presses Universitaires de Lille, 1990.
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A rare provincial study during the Middle Ages, Sivéry’s work outlines the seeds of insurrection, from high taxation to physical abuse, sown by the French nobility. While it is not a military history, it is useful for a scholar of the era as a starting point for understanding the nature of irregular warfare at its most basic levels.
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TeBrake, William H. A Plague of Insurrection: Popular Politics and Peasant Revolt in Flanders, 1323–1328. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
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Much like other regionally focused studies that populate medieval studies, TeBrake’s work outlines the events, politics, and conduct of the peasant uprising in Flanders in the late Middle Ages. This account was one of the first covering the revolt, and is well worth reading, as it provides a fine example of a detailed study of irregular warfare, and the many factors that lead to conflict.
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Treptow, Kurt W. “Of Saints and Sinners: Native Resistance to Ottoman Expansion in Southeastern Europe, 1443–1481: George Castriota Scanderbeg and Vlad III Dracula.” PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign, 1995.
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Treptow’s dissertation reflects the often detailed and valuable research hidden in committees and university archives. An excellent overview of the irregular conflict fought against Ottoman expansion in the late Middle Ages, Treptow presents a complex war involving every aspect of a modern insurgency, including popular leadership, religious influences, propaganda, conjoined with the brutality of guerrilla war. Excellent work from a dedicated scholar.
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Renaissance Era to French Revolution (1500 to 1789)

The period from 1500 CE to the French Revolution is a prime candidate for detailed studies of irregular warfare. Simply put, few works directly address the topic, burying irregular warfare in overall military, political, or cultural histories, or ignoring it completely. This is understandable, as the era, in general, was one of more conventional military growth, not irregular. However, the peripheries of European society provide a number of examples of irregular warfare at work. Phillips 1999 and Moffat 2008, for example, look at the Scottish/English border for details of irregular warfare in the context of larger conventional issues. Much the same, Griswold 1983 examines the Ottoman/Anatolian frontier, noted for its brutality and widespread guerrilla warfare. White 2007, a study of the Spanish-Portuguese conflict, should not be ignored; outside of a handful of pitched battles, the entire twenty-year conflict was dominated by irregular combat. Chambers and Dean 1997 adds another layer to the heavily studied topic of Renaissance Italy, by focusing on the attempt to end endemic irregular warfare in the countryside through the establishment of legal systems and law enforcement.

Chambers, David S., and Trevor Dean. Clean Hands and Rough Justice: An Investigating Magistrate in Renaissance Italy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
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A rarity in studies of Renaissance Italy, this work focuses not on the over-studied economic, cultural, or biographical facets of the period but on the growth of law enforcement and order. For students of irregular warfare, the story of Beltramino Cusadri, a traveling magistrate, whose primary purpose was to bring order in the chaotic regions outside of the city-states, provides an interesting read from a different perspective on the era.
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Griswold, William J. The Great Anatolian Rebellion 1000-1020/1591-1611. Islamkundliche Untersuchungen 83. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1983.
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This focused study of the Ottoman Empire’s period of great expansion, and the seemingly never-ending guerrilla war that sapped its military and economic strength in Anatolia, begins with the original rebellion (1000–1020). The primary focus of the work is the Renaissance-era conflict that directly aided in the end of Ottoman expansion.
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Moffat, Alistair. The Reivers: The Story of the Border Reivers. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2008.
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In contrast to George MacDonald Fraser in The Steel Bonnets (New York: Knopf, 1972), Moffat presents a much more detailed and academic approach to the topic of the Scottish Border Reivers. Of interest to students of irregular warfare is the author’s description of the preferred methods of irregular tactics used by the different groups, families, and clans. A solid academic work on a neglected topic.
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Phillips, Gervase. “Strategy and Its Limitations: The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1480–1550.” War in History 6.4 (October 1999): 396–416.
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An interesting study of the border conflicts between England and Scotland, Phillips’s essay focuses on the political as well as military issues of the two countries. Worth noting is the general irregular nature of the conflict, which became a replacement for a larger conventional war.
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White, Lorraine. “Strategic Geography and the Spanish Habsburg Monarchy’s Failure to Recover Portugal, 1640–1668.” The Journal of Military History 71.2 (April 2007): 373–409.
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White’s excellent short study addresses the failure of Spain to conquer and absorb Portugal in the mid-17th century. Of importance to students of irregular warfare is the continual guerrilla war fought against Spanish supply lines, outposts, and detachments by Portuguese guerrillas. Compare this work with those focused on Napoleonic Spain for an interesting view on how irregular warfare began in modern-age Iberia.
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French Revolution and Napoleonic Era (1789 to 1815)

The era of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire has been a fertile ground for the study of irregular warfare; the very word guerrilla draws its roots from the Spanish irregular war of 1809–1813. Consequently, a multitude of fine works have been produced in the field. Only a sampling of scholarly effort is represented in this section. A handful of general works on the overall era, such as Esdaile 2005 and Broers 2010, have covered the specific subtopic of irregular warfare from 1789 to 1815. The French Revolution (1789–1792 CE) was noted for the major irregular war inside France itself; Paret 1961 was one of the first to focus on the then-forgotten topic. The overwhelming focus of Napoleonic-era guerrilla warfare has been on the French occupation of Spain (1809–1813). Alexander 1985 follows many of the studies, in a focused analysis of one part of the Spanish fighting. Esdaile 2004 is more of a generalist work in the subject, and provides a fine overview, as does Fraser 2008. Tone 1994 is somewhat different, as it is not only a focused study of one area of the Spanish War, but is often cited in post-2001 studies of counterinsurgency; one of the better examples of the application of past history to current issues. A rising effort has been made to look at resistance to French rule outside of Spain, as noted in Eyck 1986 and Finley 1994, examining nascent guerrilla movements in what are now modern Germany and Italy.

Alexander, Don W. Rod of Iron: French Counterinsurgency Policy in Aragon during the Peninsular War. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1985.
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Unlike many scholars content to attribute French defeat in Spain to a combination of mindlessly insensitive brutality by Napoleon’s administrators, a deeply Catholic Spanish peasantry, and support from Great Britain, Alexander examines the simple question of how the French succeeded for several years in Aragon before defeat. Highly recommended as a different view of Napoleonic Spain.
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Broers, Michael. Napoleon’s Other War: Bandits, Rebels and Their Pursuers in the Age of Revolution. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang, 2010.
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An exceptionally well-written study of Napoleonic irregular warfare that covers the entire breadth of French-occupied Europe. Broers’s work should be considered a basic text for the field of study, as it addresses nontraditional (such as the Balkans and central Germany) areas of Napoleonic irregular warfare scholarship in addition to Spain and Italy.
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Esdaile, Charles J. Fighting Napoleon: Guerrillas, Bandits and Adventurers in Spain, 1808–1814. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004.
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Esdaile’s work stands apart from many studies of the guerrilla war in Spain during the Napoleonic era; it actually is told from the perspective of the Spanish. The vast majority of works on the conflict written in English predominantly focus on the British or French experience; Fighting Napoleon gives instead a clear vision of what constituted the guerrilla war in Spain. Required reading on the war in Spain, for its different and critical viewpoint alone.
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Esdaile, Charles J., ed. Popular Resistance in the French Wars: Patriots, Partisans and Land Pirates. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
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Based upon a 2003 conference, this collection of essays addresses the wide variety of irregular warfare that was conducted during the Napoleonic Wars. From the well-known view of Spain, to lesser-known guerrilla activities in the Rhineland, this work encompasses the widespread irregular reaction to French imperialism. Of special note are the essays addressing the relationship between irregular groups and local religious and political leaders opposed to French occupation.
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Eyck, F. Gunther. Loyal Rebels: Andreas Hofer and the Tyrolean Uprising of 1809. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1986.
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The failed attempt by the Tyroleans to resist French occupation is the focus of this work. Of interest is Eyck’s contention that the Tyroleans themselves were not proto-Germany adherents, but wanted to restore the Hapsburg monarchs to their rule. The work begins by addressing the Tyrolean resistance to the pro-French Bavarians, and concludes with a fine summary of the guerrilla war and its long-term implications.
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Finley, Milton. The Most Monstrous of Wars: The Napoleonic Guerilla War in Southern Italy, 1806–1811. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1994.
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Milton’s groundbreaking study opened the door for later work on non-Spanish resistance to French occupation during the Napoleonic Wars. The Most Monstrous of Wars is often cited in later works as one of the primary models for regional histories of irregular warfare during the era. A model for scholars to use for a strong and highly readable study of guerrilla activities in the Napoleonic era; addresses such issues as external support, guerrilla motivation, and counter-guerrilla operations.
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Fraser, Ronald. Napoleon’s Cursed War: Popular Resistance in the Spanish Peninsular War, 1808–1814. London: Verso, 2008.
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Fraser’s work is a good general introduction to the issues and conflicts in Napoleonic Spain and Portugal, with a heavy emphasis on both the conventional Franco-British conflict and the French war against the Spanish guerrillas. Recommended as an overview of the topic; scholars looking for more detailed information would be better served by focusing on specific works on the subject.
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Paret, Peter. Internal War and Pacification: The Vendee, 1789–1796. Princeton, NJ: Center of International Studies, 1961.
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Written by one of the great military theory scholars of his time, Internal War and Pacification was one of the first studies of irregular warfare within France during the decade of the French Revolution. Paret’s outstanding research and prose opened the door to other detailed studies of irregular warfare from 1789 to 1815, often from the viewpoint of those opposed to French domination. Outstanding source material, bibliography, and notes. Available online.
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Tone, John Lawrence. The Fatal Knot: The Guerrilla War in Navarre and the Defeat of Napoleon in Spain. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
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Heavily based on primary archival holdings in Spain and France, Tone’s The Fatal Knot is one of the rare academic works whose impact is felt far outside of its original field. Used by military colleges worldwide, this detailed examination of the Spanish province of Navarre and France’s disastrous counterinsurgency campaign is solidly researched and very readable. Highly recommended to any student of the Napoleonic Wars and 19th-century guerrilla warfare.
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Post-Napoleonic and Imperial European (1815 to 1900)

The study of irregular warfare in Europe and by Europeans in their colonial possessions after 1815 is rich in high-quality scholarly works, popular novels, and best-selling histories. Second only to the Second World War and the American Civil War in popularity, thousands of works of varying quality fill library shelves. The below entries are a sampling of a handful of the best-known and general works in the field of colonial warfare. For students of irregular warfare, all of these works are filled with excellent examples of the nature of irregular warfare in the period. Primary source materials, such as Garibaldi 1889, abound for students of the field and are invaluable. Several general works, such as Pakenham 1992 and Vandervort 2000, are highly useful to anyone beginning research in the period. The predominant focus of European colonial irregular warfare has been changing over the past few decades; Blanch 2006, a study of Caucasian irregulars, is outstanding and opens an entirely new field of study on the subject. Howard 2001 touches on the role of irregulars in the Franco-Prussian War, as does Hatley 1997; both are worth reading. Brower 2009, Porch 1991, and Porch 2005 examine the French experience with irregular warfare, especially in the long campaign to conquer, occupy, and pacify northern Africa. Specific campaign studies abound, especially of the regular and irregular conflicts in southern Africa, such as Jones 2006, and can serve as an important source for further research in the field.

Blanch, Leslie. The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus. London: Tauris Parke, 2006.
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A solid history of the twenty-five-year guerrilla war (1834–1859) fought against Russian Imperial ambitions in the Caucasus; Blanch’s book addresses the long-forgotten irregular conflict from both military and non-military aspects. Given the religious overtones of the conflict, the work provides a strong example of the timeless nature of irregular warfare, guerrilla tactics, and the role of morale in sustaining a lengthy conflict.
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Brower, Benjamin C. A Desert Named Peace: The Violence of France’s Empire in the Algerian Sahara, 1844–1902. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.
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An often-brutal examination of France’s colonial occupation of what would later be called “French North Africa,” Brower pulls few punches in describing the methods by which French soldiers and civilians seized control of Algeria. For example, the description of the razzia, an organized raping and looting campaign, contrasts starkly with apologist writings on the subject. While not a purely military history, the work clearly demonstrates how many “civilized” nations fought unconventional wars in the 19th century.
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Garibaldi, Giuseppe. Autobiography of Giuseppe Garibaldi. 3 vols. London: Walter Smith and Innes, 1889.
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Occasionally in print, Italian revolutionary Garibaldi’s memoirs outline the method of creating, sustaining, and fighting an irregular war in mid-19th-century Europe. Multiple versions of the work are available. Few first-person, post-conflict accounts of irregular warfare are as clear and interesting as Garibaldi.
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Hatley, Paul B. “Prolonging the Inevitable: The Franc-Tireur and the German Army in the Franco-German War of 1870–1871.” PhD diss., Kansas State University, 1997.
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The French irregular resistance in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 is often ignored in studies focusing on major campaigns or the Paris Commune. However, it was this guerrilla conflict that had the longest repercussions for the conduct of unconventional warfare into the 21st century. Hatley’s insightful study brings additional knowledge into this often-forgotten area.
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Howard, Michael. The Franco-Prussian War, 1870–1871. London: Routledge, 2001.
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Few historians are as distinguished as Howard, and his single-volume work on the Franco-Prussian War is an outstanding study. For students of irregular warfare, his examination of French irregulars (francs-tireurs) operating against Prussian regular forces, and of the Prussian response to guerrilla attacks, is very valuable.
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Jones, Huw. The Boiling Cauldron: Utrecht District and the Anglo-Zulu War, 1879. London: Shemershill, 2006.
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Jones’s excellent work outlines the political background as well as the major military campaigns of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Excellent description of major battles, the irregular nature of the war, and the behind-the-scenes political machinations by both sides that ruled the conduct of the war.
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Pakenham, Thomas. The Scramble for Africa: White Man’s Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912. New York: Avon, 1992.
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An excellent holistic overview of European colonialism in Africa in the late Victorian era, Pakenham’s work is a good basis for further research. Highly readable and detailed, he manages to cover the actions of French, British, German, and other European colonial nations in the scramble for Africa. While not groundbreaking, it provides a solid examination of the major issues of the era.
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Porch, Douglas. The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting Force. New York: HarperPerennial, 1991.
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Porch’s work is by far the best single book on the organization and employment of the French Foreign Legion. While a substantial portion of The French Foreign Legion focuses on 20th-century activities, his description of irregular warfare in Cochin China (modern Vietnam) and North Africa are valuable. A distinctly European-focused history, his impeccable prose and excellent sources make the work a basic tome for scholars in the field.
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Porch, Douglas. Conquest of the Sahara. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
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A solid study on the French occupation of northwestern Africa, Porch adroitly describes the nature of irregular warfare, counterinsurgency, and pacification in the 19th century. Very valuable general work on the topic.
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Vandervort, Bruce. Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa, 1830–1914. London: Routledge, 2000.
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Vandervort’s work is somewhat different from most in the field in that it attempts—successfully—to tell the story of European colonial warfare in Africa from both sides, relating how the conflicts shaped both imperial Europe and modern Africa. A solid overview of the Victorian-era European conflicts in Africa.
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Asia (Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia, and Eastern Asia)

As with the European and Middle Eastern historical experience, Asian groups also practiced irregular warfare extensively. To more easily research this topic, this section is divided into distinct historical periods and regions. The year 1789 CE was chosen as a breakpoint for the section to allow for easy comparison to other sections of the overall entry, as the French Revolution had no immediate impact in Asia, in contrast to the other parts of the globe.

Eastern and Central Asia: 4000 BCE to 1789 CE

Studies of irregular warfare in ancient and medieval Asia, much like their counterparts in Europe, tend to be bundled into overall histories of the period or specific nation. Luckily for scholars, this trend has been fading since 1990, with focused works on the history of major kingdoms, such as China, and those of the central Asian nomadic peoples. Chang 2007 is an outstanding example of the former. A detail-filled work of extraordinary scholarship, the two-volume examination of the Chinese Empire from 200 BCE to 0 CE is second to none, and filled with examples of irregular, guerrilla, and unconventional warfare. To some extent, Di Cosmo 2002 completes the study, at least from a military viewpoint. Barfield 1989 tends to follow the broad history approach, but in a manner that is both readable and useful to further scholarship. Hildinger 2001 tends to follow the same approach, but with a distinct military focus. It examines the military doctrine, operations, and major campaigns of the central Asian steppe peoples, whose general manner of warfare was irregular in nature. May 2007 follows the examination of steppe military doctrine, but focuses instead on the period of Chinggis Khan (b. 1162–d. 1227 CE). In stark contrast to purely academic studies, Dzengseo 2006 is a rarity; the English translation of a diary of a young Manchu officer during the early 17th century. His experiences in fighting conventional and guerrilla enemies easily remind readers of the memoirs of 20th-century soldiers’ experiences in their guerrilla wars. Sarkar 1984 provides an outstanding military history of Maratha India. Malik 1975 focuses on the Sikh experience in irregular warfare, while Roy 2005 uses the concept of military synthesis to explain the regular/irregular construction of native Indian armies in early British India.

Barfield, Thomas J. The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1989.
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In contrast to many Western-focused works on irregular warfare, Barfield examines nearly 2000 years of nomadic, central Asian history. In essence, all military operations by these nomadic tribes on the Chinese and Middle Eastern frontiers were irregular in nature. Deep raids by fast-moving, compound bow–armed cavalry was the primary method of warfare used against the more organized civilizations that were their primary opponents.
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Chang, Chun-shu. The Rise of the Chinese Empire. 2 vols. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2007.
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A truly groundbreaking work on the early period of the Han dynasty (1st and 2nd centuries BCE), based entirely on modern archeological discoveries of thousands of bamboo reed written records from the era. For scholars of irregular warfare, what stands out is the commonality of guerrilla-style combat. From small forces defeating larger through ambush and deception, to internal uprisings that sapped the strength of conventional armies, the work is filled with non-Western examples of irregular warfare.
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Di Cosmo, Nicola. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511511967Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A fascinating study of the two major powers in what is now northern China from the 2nd to the 1st century BCE. Di Cosmo outlines the evolution of the Han and Hsiung-nu cultures, the former more urbanized and organized, the latter more rural and nomadic, and both moving quickly toward military conflict. The irregular warfare operations of the Hsiung-nu are contrasted by the conventional armies of the Han, a pattern of conflict repeated well into the 21st century.
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Dzengseo. The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China: My Service in the Army. Translated by Nicola Di Cosmo. London: Routledge, 2006.
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One of the few first-person accounts of military life in the Manchu Army, the diary of Dzengseo is a highly valuable source for scholars. His experiences parallel that of young junior officers fighting a mixed conventional and unconventional war. The emotional writings of a young man facing war for the first time, the frustration of fighting irregular armies, and the details of logistics, equipment, and operations make this a truly unique work.
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Hildinger, Erik. Warriors of the Steppe: A Military History of Central Asia, 500BC to 1700AD. New York: Da Capo, 2001.
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For the mounted steppe warriors of Central Asia, all war was irregular in both nature and tactics, according to Hildinger. The ability to avoid major shock cavalry combat with European, Asian, and Middle Eastern civilizations, while harassing their supply lines, enabled these tribal civilizations to survive for centuries while less mobile cultures fell to more organized military systems.
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Malik, Arjan Dass. An Indian Guerilla War: The Sikh Peoples War, 1699–1768. New York: Wiley, 1975.
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This important and interesting discussion of the guerrilla conflicts among Sikhs, Moslems, and Mughals, which were nearly a century long but have been ignored by Western scholars, is worthy of study. Of importance to scholars of irregular warfare is the manner in which the Sikhs ultimately established and maintained their small empire; guerrilla warfare and deep cavalry raids formed the basis of their resistance to their larger neighbors.
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May, Timothy. The Mongol Art of War: Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Military System. Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2007.
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May’s work is directed toward the military system that evolved under the Mongol dynastic leadership that reached its apogee under Chinggis Khan (1162–1227 CE). The Mongol Art of War lucidly demonstrates how the steppe warriors were inventive and adaptive in their modification of traditional raiding-style irregular warfare and evolved into a more conventional military force, albeit with distinct guerrilla-type tactics.
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Roy, Kaushik. “Military Synthesis in South Asia: Armies, Warfare, and Indian Society, c. 1740–1849.” Journal of Military History 69.3 (July 2005): 651–690.
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Roy’s short study of the nature of Indian military systems throughout the early British Empire presents a counter to more traditional views of military development. In his essay, Roy maintains that the synthesis of regular (European-style) and irregular (traditional Indian-style) military organizations created the Indian armies of the various principalities, empires, and even the European armies of the British East India Company.
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Sarkar, Jagadis Narayan. The Art of War in Medieval India. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1984.
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An extremely well-researched, readable, and interesting work, The Art of War in Medieval India provides scholars with one of the few holistic views of that subject. Covering centuries of military development, Sarkar focuses on organizations, doctrine, tactics, and major campaigns of the medieval era in India. A solid book, it is filled with maps and other aids, as well as numerous examples of the irregular nature of warfare in medieval India.
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Asia: 1789 to 1900

Irregular warfare, as practiced from the Persian frontier to Japan, during the post–French Revolution era is shaped by two major factors. First, the industrialization of the West and globalization of its military forces meant that conflicts once considered regional would now have a global impact. Second, the rapid spread of European and to a lesser extent US colonial expansion into Asia remade the military and political maps of the region. For Imperial China, the 19th century was one of decline, and the endemic guerrilla wars noted by Teng 1961 and Elleman 2001 set the stage for the revolutions of the 20th century. European colonial expansion and clashes with indigenous peoples, as noted by Preston 2012, shaped how the West would see and react to irregular conflicts for the next 200 years. The American experience in irregular warfare in the Philippines is best addressed in Linn 2002; it is by far the best single-volume work on the topic. No discussion of irregular warfare in the 19th century in Asia would be complete without an examination of the 1857 Indian Mutiny, such as Robson 2000 and Roy 2007, and that of the earlier Sikh-led conflicts against British and other European and Indian competitors, as noted in Singh 1977. The impact of a culture and society defined by irregular warfare is covered by Johnson 2011, a study of Afghanistan. Lastly, Chew 1998 reminds scholars that resistance to European imperialism was not limited to the large empires in India, China, and Japan; his study of the 1831–1832 Naning War in modern Malaysia is a valuable contribution to the overall field. The works below are those focused less on Western experiences in the post-1789 period, which are covered elsewhere.

Chew, Emry. “The Naning War, 1831–1832: Colonial Authority and Malay Resistance in the Early Period of British Expansion.” Modern Asian Studies 32.2 (May 1998): 351–387.
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The Asian resistance to European colonial expansion was reflected in more areas than just China or India. As Chew reminds scholars, areas often ignored by scholars in the field, such as Malay resistance, are a source of insightful and critical histories of the period. A needed and valuable addition to scholarship in the field.
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Elleman, Bruce A. Modern Chinese Warfare, 1795–1989. London: Routledge, 2001.
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A thorough survey of modern Chinese military history and doctrine, it has a distinctly 20th-century focus. However, extensive sections on the revolts of the 19th century provide an excellent overview of how the Chinese Imperial government attempted to fight counter-guerrilla wars during the Taiping Rebellion and many others. A solid and concise overview of 200 years of Chinese military practice.
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Johnson, Rob. The Afghan Way of War: Culture and Pragmatism—A Critical History. London: Hurst, 2011.
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Often cited by modern counterinsurgency experts, Johnson’s book examines the nature of conflict in Afghanistan, from the viewpoint of the Afghanis. A solid overview of a culture and people shaped by irregular warfare.
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Linn, Brian M. The Philippine War: 1899–1902. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002.
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Linn’s exceptional work on the US efforts to occupy and pacify the Philippine Islands after their surrender by Spain in 1898 CE is award winning, highly readable, and expertly researched. His use of primary sources, from both American and Filipino participants, gives the book a balanced and objective feel. The best single work on the topic available.
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Preston, Diana. The Dark Defile: Britain’s Catastrophic Invasion of Afghanistan, 1838–1842. New York: Walker, 2012.
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Preston’s work is indicative of recent scholarship of the Anglo-Afghan Wars of the 19th century, and is both highly readable and useful to students of the field. Her extensive notes and bibliography give the work depth, and the lessons to be learned from irregular warfare in the 19th century, as well as in the 20th and 21st centuries, make the book the best single volume on the topic.
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Robson, Brian, ed. Sir Hugh Rose and the Central India Campaign, 1858. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing for Army Records Society, 2000.
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A fine primary source collection of records, papers, and official documents relating to the 1858 Central India Campaign, from the British perspective. The post-mutiny operations and the methods of British anti-irregular warfare are well worth noting.
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Roy, Kaushik. “The Beginning of ‘People’s War’ in India.” Economic and Political Weekly 42.19 (12–18 May 2007): 1720–1728.
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An interesting and valuable contribution to the field, Roy contends that the Mutiny of 1857, by Indian forces against Europeans, was less of a traditional revolt than a pro-“People’s War” of the 20th-century mold. His focus on the use of propaganda, information warfare, and other facets of post-1900 guerrilla warfare is insightful. Highly recommended.
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Singh, Khushwant. A History of the Sikhs, 1469–1839. Vol. 1. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1977.
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Singh’s research into the early history of India’s Sikh minority is filled with examples of early guerilla warfare that ultimately led to an autonomous Sikh Empire. The work, sadly, is difficult to find in print, and is normally held only at major universities. However, it is well worth study, especially portions dealing with the activities and traditions of Sikh irregular warfare. Reprint.
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Teng, Ssu-yü. The Nien Army and Their Guerrilla Warfare, 1851–1868. Paris: Mouton, 1961.
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Often overshadowed by the more famous Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864 CE), the Nien Army’s twenty-seven-year war against the central Qing dynasty is often seen as a prototype of 20th-century guerilla wars. Teng’s examination of the major operations of the rebels, their general lack of organization, and the issues involved with conventional armies attempting to suppress internal guerrilla wars are all worth careful study.
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Precolonial and Colonial Africa: 4000 BCE to 1900 CE

For decades, nearly all scholarship on irregular warfare in Africa was from a distinctly western European focus, dominated by studies of British and French military operations of the 19th century. In this section, the focus is from the African perspective; European colonial experiences in Africa are covered elsewhere. Beginning in the 1960s, a substantial body of work in precolonial warfare and resistance to colonialism and African military systems opened new areas for research. Uzoigwe 1975 is a perfect example of the untapped area of precolonial and colonial African warfare, to include irregular warfare. Several of these, such as Crowder 1971 and De Moor and Wesseling 1989, are broad cooperative surveys of general themes in African military history, and are extremely useful in shaping future research. The outgrowth of this approach has been hidden mostly in academic journals, such as Elbourne 2000 and its study of the 1850–1853 uprisings in the Cape Colony (South Africa). Reid 2003 is one of the few works that focus solely from a military/political view, to include irregular warfare, before the coming of European imperialism. While slightly dated, Smith 2005 is a core work in the field of precolonial African military systems and methods of warfare, and required reading before further study. Thornton 1999 is somewhat similar in approach, but with a specific focus on the Atlantic western African states. See also Vandervort 2000 cited under Post-Napoleonic and Imperial European (1815 to 1900).

Crowder, Michael, ed. West African Resistance: The Military Response to Colonial Occupation. London: Hutchinson, 1971.
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A groundbreaking work, West African Resistance changed the paradigm of historical understanding about the nature of regular and irregular warfare in the early colonial era in West Africa. For scholars of irregular warfare, the important overall theme is the use of guerrilla warfare by indigenous forces after their defeat by more powerful European armies.
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De Moor, J. A., and H. L. Wesseling. Imperialism and War: Essay on Colonial Wars in Asia and Africa. Leiden, The Netherlands: Leiden Center, 1989.
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A collection of conference essays, this work adds to the body of knowledge in the field of colonial warfare. In general, the work is an overview of the nature of warfare during colonial conflicts from the early age of exploration into the 20th century. Well written and researched from experts in the field; valuable as a baseline on any study of irregular warfare in the areas.
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Elbourne, Elizabeth. “Race, Warfare, and Religion in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Southern Africa: The Khoikhoi Rebellion against the Cape Colony and Its Uses, 1850–58.” Journal of African Cultural Studies 13.1 (June 2000): 17–42.
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A useful and convincing essay on the nature of the 1850–1853 native uprisings in colonial South Africa, Elbourne describes perfectly the nature of an internal anticolonial insurgency. Often forgotten or ignored, she describes the factor of race from both white colonialist and black native perspectives. A valuable addition from a recognized expert in the field.
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Reid, Richard J. Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda: Economy, Society and Warfare in the Nineteenth Century. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2003.
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Reid’s Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda shifted military studies of precolonial Africa from its West African focus to the middle and eastern side of the continent. The constant push for hegemony by one kingdom or another over the rich and strategically important Lakes Region. Worth noting is how all the political powers of the region used irregular warfare to destabilize areas before their regular forces occupied.
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Smith, Robert S. Warfare and Diplomacy in Pre-Colonial West Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005.
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Long recognized as the best single work on the topic, Smith’s examination of precolonial West Africa established the basic framework for a generation of historians. The complexity of the region’s regular and irregular military and diplomatic systems became as confusing as those of medieval Europe, in Smith’s work. An important contribution to the field. Reprint.
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Thornton, John K. Warfare in Atlantic Western Africa, 1500–1800. New York: Routledge, 1999.
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One of the few works addressing the actual conduct of intertribal warfare, as well as European-African conflicts, in West Africa prior to European dominance. Thornton examines 300 years of regular and irregular warfare, from present-day Senegal to Angola. Regionally focused, the work provides an outstanding overview of the topic.
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Uzoigwe, G. N. “Pre-Colonial Military Studies in Africa.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 13.3 (September 1975): 469–481.
DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X00052381Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An excellent but dated overview of the available literature on precolonial warfare in Africa. Uzoigwe’s focus on the irregular nature of precolonial conflicts, and the distinctly regular approaches as well, was a useful and needed shift in scholarship in the field.
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South America

In North America, irregular warfare was an endemic and integral part of conflict from the establishment of the first English colonies soon after 1600. To the south, the long-established Spanish and Portuguese colonies in Latin America were also the subject of continual irregular warfare, yet this topic has been long ignored by scholars. Luckily, in the late 1990s, this vision began to change. Before then, only a handful of biographies of famous Latin American leaders, such as Harrison 1943, noted the irregular nature of war in the region and only then in the context of the anti-European uprisings after 1815. Schenia 2003 is required reading of any scholar in the field, as it provides an outstanding baseline for understanding the nature of Latin American warfare in the postcolonial era. As noted by Robins 2005, this is an error as it ignores pre-1815 conflicts such as the Peruvian uprising of 1780–1783 first described in Fisher 1966. Gonzalez 1990 is one of the newer works to look outside of large Latin American nation-states, and in the context of pre-1815 colonial rule; the study is truly groundbreaking in that respect. While the Haitian Revolution of 1804 was often a bugbear for the American slaveholder, it was, as noted in Dubois 2004, one of the few nationalistic anticolonial rebellions to succeed without extensive foreign support and presents another little-studied area in irregular warfare. The French occupation of Mexico from 1861 to 1867 is often discussed in general European, American, or Latin American history books, but little actual detailed research in the event was done until Dabbs 1963, a study of military government that is still sound today. For a more personal view of the short reign of Emperor Maximilian I, see Stevenson 1899. Lastly, few works other than Vandervort 2006 look at the long Mexican vs. Native conflict that paralleled the American and Canadian “Indian Wars” during the same period.

Dabbs, Jack A. The French Army in Mexico, 1861–1867: A Study in Military Government. The Hague: Mouton, 1963.
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Dated, but still one of the few scholarly explorations into the actual functioning of the Maximilian government in Mexico. Dabbs makes extensive use of the papers of Marshal Bazaine, along with other primary material then available for researchers. Of interest to students of irregular warfare is how the French only halfheartedly attempted to pacify Mexico, with the result being a widespread armed rebellion that ended with Maximilian’s execution in 1867.
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Dubois, Laurent. Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2004.
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Based on Dubois’s doctorial research, the work provides a solid primary source–heavy account of the 1804 Haitian Revolution. The role of guerrilla warfare in Haiti—presaging that in Napoleonic Spain by five years—becomes the key factor in understanding the revolution itself.
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Fisher, Lillian E. The Last Inca Revolt, 1780–1783. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966.
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Fisher’s study of the Peruvian revolt of 1780–1783, and the role of its leader, José Gabriel Túpac Amaru, was one of the first on the topic. By looking at this conflict, often ignored by non-Peruvian historians, The Last Inca Revolt energized other scholars to focus on warfare in colonial-era Latin America. Filled with primary source material from participants, and the Spanish and Peruvian national archives, this work is still highly valuable to students of the subject.
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Gonzalez, Nancie L. “From Cannibals to Mercenaries: Carib Militarism, 1600–1840.” Journal of Anthropological Research 46.1 (Spring 1990): 25–39.
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Gonzalez presents a new and intriguing look into the methods of conflict, culture, and politics of the Black Caribs of St. Vincent from 1500 to 1840. Worth noting is the author’s separation of how the Black Caribs fought among one another, against other competing tribes, and against Europeans. A valuable paper, from a non-history-focused source.
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Harrison, Margaret H. Captain of the Andes: The Life of Don Jose de San Martin, Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru. New York: Richard R. Smith, 1943.
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While dated, Harrison’s biography of Don Jose de San Martin is filled with prime examples of irregular warfare in postcolonial Spanish America. A solid read, the topic could use updating and a modern appreciation of notes and sources.
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Robins, Nicholas A. Native Insurgencies and the Genocidal Impulse in the Americas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
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A thought-provoking, original, and occasionally disturbing work, focusing on three very long conflicts; that of the Pueblo from 1680–1692, the Peruvian revolt of 1777–1782, and the Caste Wars of the Yucatan (Mexico) from 1847–1901. Very insightful and interesting, the work has been criticized for using too broad a definition of “genocide” without taking into context the nature of irregular warfare in the era.
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Schenia, Robert L. Latin America’s Wars, Vol. 1, The Age of the Caudillo, 1791–1899. Washington, DC: Potomac, 2003.
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The best one-volume study of the military history of Latin America after the end of colonial rule and the beginning of the 20th century. The author describes the evolution of Latin American military systems, as well as their involvement in politics as well as war. The irregular nature of conflicts, from conventional wars against major powers to suppression of Native tribes, is a constant theme of the work.
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Stevenson, Sara Y. Maximilian in Mexico: A Woman’s Reminiscences of the French Intervention, 1862–1867. New York: Century, 1899.
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Stevenson’s rare book represents one of the few first-person accounts written of the French occupation of Mexico. Her work is dominated by the broad resistance to Maximilian, and pages are filled with guerrilla attacks, atrocities, and other events surrounding the conflict. Available online via the Project Gutenberg.
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Vandervort, Bruce. Indian Wars of Mexico, Canada, and the United States, 1812–1900. New York: Routledge, 2006.
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A solid overview of the “Indian Wars” fought by the North American powers in the 19th century, this work is a superb basis for further study. Of note, the author describes not only the heavily studied United States experience, but also the conflicts between Canadians and native tribes and Mexicans and the indigenous peoples of that region.
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North America

The European irregular warfare experience in North America, to include the formation of the United States and Canada, is one of the most studied areas of the topic. Consequently, this section is divided into three fields, for ease of reference. The first covers the European colonial experience and the American Revolutionary era. The second covers the conflicts of the Early American Republic to and the Antebellum Period, and the last covers the American Civil War, and final Native-American conflicts up to 1900. The North American colonies became a hotbed of irregular warfare from the beginning of European encroachment. According to Malone 1991, the Native tribes traditionally used irregular tactics when dealing with adversaries and applied the same approach to the newly arrived Europeans. As the Europeans began to create their own independent nation-states in what are now the United States and Canada, they found themselves adapting to irregular warfare based on several key factors. As noted by Grenier 2005, these included physical separation from European arsenals and military forces as well as the isolated nature of frontier life. As the United States formed (1787) and expanded into North America, irregular warfare was the norm and not the exception, as noted in Boot 2002.

Boot, Max. The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
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A solid overview of American interventionism from 1787 to the 20th century by one of the top historians in the field. The work is useful as a general overview of the American experience in “small wars,” but does not address non-US actions, and the focus is more on the overall conflicts than on the conduct of the wars themselves in the context of pre-1900 irregular warfare.
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Grenier, John. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511817847Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
One of the core works in the field of colonial American irregular operations. Grenier’s wide-ranging work covers such topics as the impact of the great 17th- and 18th-century military theorists and commanders on conduct of the frontier warfare in North America, and the history of the various border wars. Highly readable and solidly researched.
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Malone, Patrick M. The Skulking Way of War: Technology and Tactics among the New England Indians. Lanham, MD: Madison, 1991.
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A rarity in studies of the era, Malone’s work looks at the conduct of irregular warfare in the American colonial era from the view of the Native American tribes. For this factor alone, the work is worth careful study. However, The Skulking Way of War is one of those exceptional works that is both readable to the general public and highly valuable to the professional historian.
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Colonial America (1600 to 1783)

Warfare in colonial America was, by its very nature, irregular and unconventional when compared to conventional conflicts in Europe. As noted in Fausz 1978, the Native American vs. European colonist paradigm began early in the settlement history of North America and persisted throughout the period. By the time of the 1754–1766 Seven Years’ War (referred to as the French and Indian War in the history of North America), the American penchant for irregular warfare had spread to European armies operating in the Canadian/American theater, as described in Anderson 2000. The American Revolution (1775–1783 CE) is a solid era for scholarship in irregular warfare. Bass 1961, Bass 1973, and Bass 1974 represent one primary field of study in the topic, based on biographies of noted irregular warfare leaders. The second is outlined by such works as Greene 1976–2005: primary source material based on the experiences of major participants in the conflict. Lastly, much of the study of irregular warfare in the American Revolution is buried in overall works on the topic, such as Gordon 2002. For scholars, specifically focused texts on irregular warfare in the American colonial and American Revolutionary eras are rare, requiring the sifting of general works, biographies, and other sources focused on non-irregular topics to find information on irregular warfare in the 1605–1783 era in North America.

Anderson, Fred. The Crucible of War: The Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2000.
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A highly readable synthesis of more scholarly works, The Crucible of War is a solid introduction to the major issues and themes of the Seven Years’ War (1754–1766 CE). Anderson’s focus on the irregular nature of war by all sides in North America is counterbalanced by the more traditional form of linear tactics in Europe. The book focuses on strategy rather than on guerrilla tactics, but is useful as an overview for deeper study.
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Bass, Robert D. Gamecock: The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961.
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Bass’s study of Thomas Sumter, known as “The Gamecock,” is a classic study of a partisan warrior during the American Revolution. While the work is written in a narrative style popular in the early 1960s, it is a solidly researched book with numerous examples of the difficulty of leading a guerilla war in the 18th century.
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Bass, Robert D. The Green Dragoon: The Lives of Banastre Tarleton and Mary Robinson. Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper, 1973.
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Bass’s second major work on irregular warfare, focused on the Loyalist and British side of the American Revolution. His examination of Banastre Tarleton is considered one of the more balanced, seeing the cavalry leader as both a brutal counterinsurgent fighter at times (“Tarleton’s Quarter” was a phrase used to reflect that prisoners would be killed) and as an accomplished troop commander of both regular and irregular troops.
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Bass, Robert D. Swamp Fox: The Life and Campaigns of General Francis Marion. Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper, 1974.
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The final book of Bass’s Revolutionary War irregular warfare trilogy concluded with a study of the “Swamp Fox” himself, General Francis Marion. The author’s excellent prose results in a highly readable work that examines Marion’s major military campaigns and his guerrilla warfare operations.
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Fausz, J. Frederic. “The ‘Barbarous Massacre’ Reconsidered: The Powhatan Uprising of 1622 and the Historians.” Explorations in Ethnic Studies 1 (1978): 16–36.
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A short but important overview of the Massacre of 1622, a little-studied attack on the Jamestown colony in Virginia that led to the deaths of nearly one-fourth of the colonists. Fausz’s essay describes not only the attacks themselves, along with the tactics used by both sides after the initial assault, but also the long-term impact the massacre had on how early colonial Americans fought against the Native American tribes. A fine example of the brutality of irregular warfare.
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Gordon, John. South Carolina and the American Revolution: A Battlefield History. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2002.
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From the campaigns of Nathanael Greene and Lord Cornwallis to the very personal and bloody guerrilla war fought off the traditional battlefields, South Carolina and the American Revolution is an excellent study of nearly one-third of all the battles of the Revolution, and the cost of irregular war in the 18th century.
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Greene, Nathanael. The Papers of General Nathanael Greene. 13 vols. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1976–2005.
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The primary source basis for any study of General Greene’s operations in the Southern Theater of the American Revolution. Greene’s use of irregular forces, and those forces’ use of guerrilla tactics, is insightful and informing. Worth study by both scholars and professional military officers seeking to understand the chaotic world of a mixed conventional and irregular war.
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Early Republic and Antebellum Era (1783 to 1861)

For the new United States, protected by nearly impassible and low-population territories at their northern, southern, and western borders, and a broad ocean from potential threats in Europe, the sole threat to further expansion was soon recognized as the Native American tribes in their path. Not surprisingly, the Native Americans soon employed asymmetric warfare tactics to resist the numbers, technology, and training of the often conventionally focused US Army. Birtle 1998 addresses this facet, as well as non-Native conflicts, such as labor disputes, that are often overshadowed by the European-vs.-Native focus of study. Many of the works covering the 1783–1900 period are focused on the more infamous conflicts, such as the Great Sioux War of 1876–1877, adroitly described in Greene 1993. DeLay 2008 is well worth reading as it ties in the impact of the generally conventional US-Mexican War of 1846–1847 with a secondary irregular conflict fought by Native tribes against both sides. However, a few works exist that focus elsewhere; Mahon 1989 is an excellent study of the nearly forgotten counterinsurgency war against the Seminoles in Florida. No study of the subject is complete without considering Utley 1967 and Utley 1973. A fine overview, but limited by its focus from a US Army viewpoint. As a counterbalance, include Brown 1971 and West 2011, both of which focus on the Native view of irregular warfare. The topic, for presentist political and cultural issues, is often difficult to study from a purely irregular warfare perspective due to bias or perception, but few if any works on the topic ignore the brutality and conduct of this centuries-long struggle between Native Americans and a rapidly growing United States.

Birtle, Andrew J. US Army Counterinsurgency and Contingency Operations Doctrine, 1860–1941. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1998.
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Birtle’s work, an official publication of the US Army, provides the single most useful overview of American non-conventional military operations available. He covers diverse topics from involvement in the incessant Indian Wars, to counterinsurgency operations in the Civil War and the Philippines, to strikebreaking by Federal troops. Any scholar examining the era and the topic is well advised to use Birtle’s work as the baseline for any further research.
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Brown, Dee A. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1971.
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Until Brown’s work, most scholars saw the conflicts from the perspective of the Euro-American immigrants and the US Army, with some small respect paid to the fighting abilities of the Native American tribes. While her work was criticized due to its bias toward the indigenous peoples, it was also seen as a needed response to over two centuries of Western-focused history and popular culture.
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DeLay, Brian. War of a Thousand Deserts: Indian Raids and the U.S.-Mexican War. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008.
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DeLay’s work provides one of the few studies to examine irregular warfare in the context of conventional warfare, outside of those focused on the American Civil War. In the book, he describes the widespread use of raiding by Native tribes to gain resources or limit expansion, while US and Mexican regular forces fought one another in the 1846–1847 conflict.
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Greene, Jerome A. Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.
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The strength of Greene’s tome, which is sadly not directly noted in the title, is that it is filled with primary source accounts of the key incidents and battles of the “Great Sioux War” of 1876–1877. Told from an American (United States) viewpoint, it is a solid work of 19th-century US military history backed by plenty of accounts from soldiers, surgeons, newspapermen, and others.
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Mahon, John K. History of the Second Seminole War, 1835–1842. Rev. ed. Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1989.
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Often forgotten as one of the longest conflicts in American history, Mahon’s outstanding study of the Second Seminole War reminds the reader of the true nature of 19th-century irregular warfare. Ambushes, accidental clashes, and a brutal (but failed) burn-and-destroy strategy fill the work. Mahon’s contribution to the field is legendary, and should be required reading for all interested scholars.
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Utley, Robert M. Frontiersmen in Blue: The United States Army and the Indian, 1848–1865. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967.
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Utley’s two-volume study of the life of the frontier American soldier represents a lost narrative historical style combined with solid new modern military history. Utley attempts to rebuild the daily life of the American trooper after the Mexican-American War (1846–1847 CE) until the end of the American Civil War in 1865 CE. Worth noting is that Utley attempted to tie in the relationship of the US Army with the Native American tribes, presenting a more balanced view than that of popular culture or postmodern examinations of the period.
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Utley, Robert M. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1891. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973.
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Frontier Regulars is the companion work to Utley’s earlier Frontiersmen in Blue (Utley 1967). Beginning just after the end of the Civil War (1865 CE), he focuses on the relationship of both Army high commanders and the individual soldier with Native tribes, uncontrolled settlers, industrial expansion, and domestic politics throughout the era.
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West, Robert. “Victorio’s Military and Political Leadership of the Warm Springs Apaches.” War in History 18.4 (2011): 457–494.
DOI: 10.1177/0968344511416720Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An informative and solid essay on the leadership of Victorio, the Apache war leader who fought an extended irregular conflict against the US Army, Mexican regulars, and law enforcement officials from both sides of the border from the 1870s until the 1880s. West’s essay is worth reading based on his insightful analysis of the political, as well as military, acumen of Victorio.
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American Civil War and Reconstruction (1861 to 1876)

The historiography of the American Civil War, for a variety of reasons, was long focused on the major campaigns, leaders, technology, and other less divisive topics until the 1960s. The coming of the centennial of the conflict spawned a wave of books, to include the first realistic depictions of irregular warfare in the conflict, as noted by Brownlee 1958. However, these works tended to treat guerrilla warfare as the purview of criminals, miscreants, and zealots, fought on the edges of the conflict. This general viewpoint dominated the topic until the 1990s, when scholars reexamined the subject and gained new understanding of the nature of the conflict. Only a few broad works, most notability Mackey 2004 and Sutherland 2009, attempt to examine more than a regional or state-focused area. However, this does not mean that specific state studies are not applicable elsewhere, as described in Fellman 1990 and Goodrich 1995. Grimsley 1995 is one of the more interesting regional/generalist discussions in the field; his analysis of the impact of irregular warfare on the generalship of William T. Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant is insightful and required reading for any student of those leaders or irregular warfare. The end of the war in 1865, as upheld by Rable 2007, did not end the irregular nature of the conflict. Fighting against bandits, “un-Reconstructed” Confederates, and members of the Ku Klux Klan became the norm for Federal troops occupying the former Confederate states, as noted by Sefton 1967. Suppressed by politicians and scholars for over a century, the study of guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War now has its place in the general historiography of the topic.

Brownlee, Richard S. Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy: Guerrilla Warfare in the West, 1861–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1958.
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Now dated, Brownlee’s Gray Ghosts represented for decades the primary view of irregular warfare in the American Civil War. Like other historians of the era, he writes in a narrative form, which is entertaining and informative. However, he does fail, as others did in the 1950s, to treat irregular warfare as a widespread Civil War problem, not limited to the border states.
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Fellman, Michael. Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri during the American Civil War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195064711.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Inside War is the single best study of the bloody internal war in Missouri during the American Civil War. Fellman focuses on the tactics and operations of the Confederate guerrilla bands, along with the Federal counterinsurgency operations that limited and ultimately destroyed them. Strongly recommended; Inside War shows the chaos of a guerrilla conflict at all levels, and the violence that is often required to win such a conflict.
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Goodrich, Thomas. Black Flag: Guerrilla Warfare on the Western Border, 1861–1865. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
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Black Flag is representative of the first of the post-1960s scholarly interest in guerilla warfare in the Civil War. Goodrich’s focus on Missouri dovetails well with other scholarly work on Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and western Virginia. These state-focused works are prime resources for general studies on the overall irregular war, and for a starting point for deeper works on the topic. Black Flag is interesting, highly readable, and the core work on Missouri in the Civil War.
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Grimsley, Mark. The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy toward Southern Civilians, 1861–1865. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
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Grimsley’s award-winning work is a requirement for any student of guerrilla and counterinsurgency warfare in the Civil War. Focusing on the Union Army’s military operations and nation-building along the Mississippi River in 1861–1863, Grimsley maintains that this experience with irregular warfare, civilian issues, and the brutality of modern war was a learning experience not only for Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman, but ultimately for the modern world as well.
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Mackey, Robert R. The Uncivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861–1865. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.
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A series of three case studies that focus on Confederate guerrilla, partisan, and raiding operations, accompanied by Union counterstrategies to defeat the threat, forms the core of this work. Of especial note is Mackey’s discussion of the 19th-century legal definitions of “guerrilla,” the growth of international law out of the conflict, and unconventional Federal responses to Confederate guerrilla actions.
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Rable, George C. But There Was No Peace: The Role of Violence in the Politics of Reconstruction. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2007.
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Rable’s study of post–Civil War violence is a serious work that strips away much of the myth surrounding the supposedly peaceful Ku Klux Klan and other Southern resistance organizations from 1865–1877. But There Was No Peace shows an occupied South that immediately began to use force to virtually re-enslave African Americans, disenfranchise white Unionists, and terrorize entire communities from the start of Reconstruction. Outstandingly researched and solidly written; a standard in the field.
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Sefton, James E. The United States Army and Reconstruction. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 1967.
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Sefton’s classic work was one of the first to outline the actual practice of occupation of the conquered Confederacy by Federal troops from 1863 to 1877. In this work, he describes the functioning of the military justice systems, along with the relationship between the Army, Congress, and the southern states, and he counters the traditional belief that the Army during Reconstruction was incompetent, corrupt, or both.
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Sutherland, Daniel E. A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
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Sutherland’s opus is by far the best single comprehensive book on guerrilla warfare in the war. From the Far West to Virginia, the broad scope of the unconventional conflict and the postwar efforts to suppress the brutality of the guerrilla war become obvious to any reader. While his thesis that guerrillas were decisive in determining the outcome of the conflict is debatable, there is no denying that he presents a strong and well-researched defense of that idea.