Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution

by Peter Polack

The concept of guerrilla warfare is not decades, but many centuries old, with earliest writing on the subject by Sun Tzu dating back to the 6th Century BC. Some guerrilla tactics are probably as old as the first armed groups of cavemen, being a natural evolution of conflict between groups of disproportionate sizes. One of the earliest examples of guerrilla tactics deployed by a consummate institutional military leader was the Roman general Fabius Maximus who took a course of evade and harassment against Hannibal’s columns.

This is a compendium of prominent worldwide guerrilla leaders beginning with William Wallace in the thirteenth century to modern day Sri Lanka. It profiles each leader to analyze their personal history, military tactics, and political strategy. All are home grown leaders in extended guerrilla campaigns many of whom ended up as the first leaders of their countries or liberators of entire regions such as Simon Bolivar. It includes victories and defeats in an effort to tease out not only effective guerrilla tactics but counterinsurgency strategies with some likelihood of success.

The advice expounded by Mao Zedong that “the guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea” with his experiences of long marches over distant countryside regions of China has evolved into a more urbanized context. The name insurgent, freedom fighter, or jihadi is fast replacing guerrilla. The old guerrilla associated with fights for independence and the end of colonialization has dimmed with modern and far-reaching religious insurgencies taking their place.

This concise history gives a fascinating overview of a once history-altering form of warfare.

Genres: Nonfiction, War

160 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2019

About the author

Peter Polack was born in Jamaica in 1958 where he attended various schools including Jamaica College until 1972 when he went to Denstone College boarding school in England. He is a proud graduate of the University of the West Indies and Norman Manley Law School. Whilst at UWI he was co-founder of the Amnesty International campus group and a member of the Union of Democratic Students. A criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands since 1983,he resides there with his wife and two daughters. He was a former rapporteur of the International Bar Association, Co-Founder and first Treasurer Caymanian Bar Association. His only hobby but not a current interest is combat pistol shooting. In July 2005 he organized a Cuba relief shipment after Hurricane Dennis from generous donors of the Cayman Islands.His research led to first international release of a list of Cuban casualties of the Angola War published in the Miami Herald 20 February 2010.Inspired by the book and experiences with youthful offenders the exhibit of his first work as an artist entitled The Confinement Assemblage was displayed at the Cayman Islands National Gallery in May 2013.The exhibit is now on permanent display at HM Prison Northward in the Cayman Islands.

Reviews

[Frosti · Rating 1 out of 5]

tl'dr: Fürchterliches Buch, liest sich wie ein mieses Schulprojekt auf 160 Seiten.

Wenn ein Buch oder Kapitel mit mehr als 2 Zitaten beginnt, besonders wenn eins davon eine Bibelstelle ist, dann sollte man das Buch weglegen. Guerilla Warfare beweist diese Faustregel mit 4 Zitaten. Die Portraits, der einzelnen Guerillaführer sind mies geschrieben, häufig wirken sie wie Neuformulierungen ihrer Wikipediaartikel. Vieles ist fachlich fragwürdig und wurde kaum lektoriert. In dem Kapitel über ibn Saud z.B. verwechselt der Autor mehrfach die Namen der Adelsfamilienen weshalb laut ihm der Sieg der Sauds über die Rashidi bedeutetet, dass die Sauds von den Sauds ins Exil getrieben werden.

Inhaltlich bietet das Buch absolut nichts und um die Seitenanzahl zu steigern baut der Autor hinter jeden vierten Satz eine Aufzählung ein. Hier erfahren wir das Mao, George Washington und William Wallace in ihrer Karriere alle Flüsse überquert haben, oder den ein oder anderen Verbündete hatten.

Fazit
Absolute Zeitverschwendung das Buch zu lesen, amateurhaft und falsch in allen Belangen.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad introduction to the subject but lacking depth.