Small Wars: Their Principles and Practice, Part 5

by Charles Edward Callwell

A book on the subject of the conduct of small wars where the campaigns do not consist of regular troops. It contains strategy, tactics, and information on all of the minor expeditions in which the British Army was frequently engaged.

86 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2013

About the author

Maj Gen Sir Charles Edward Callwell (1859-1928), Anglo-Irish military writer and thinker, intelligence officer and talented linguist, author of Small Wars (1896) and Military Operations and Maritime Preponderance (1905). Interest in Callwell's work revived in the 1990s because of its relevance to peacekeeping and its treatment of asymmetric conflict. He was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1878 and in 1886, as a captain, was awarded the Royal United Service Institute gold medal for an essay on British army operations since 1865 which became the basis for Small Wars, assuring his career as a military writer. It was republished in 1899 and 1906 and translated into French. In the Second Boer War (1899-1902) Callwell served on the staff of Sir Redvers Buller and then commanded a mobile column. He retired in 1909 to devote himself to writing but was recalled in 1914 to be Director of Military Operations and Intelligence.