The American Revolution Was a Guerrilla War

choi

John Nagl, Chasing Ghosts. Wall Street Journal, Jan 22, 2013
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 47962458324532.html
(book review on Max Boot, Invisible Armies; An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present. WW Norton, 2013)

Quote:

"Guerrilla warfare has always been the province of charismatic individuals with the ability to inspire ragtag bands of soldiers to bear the strain of drawn-out campaigns against superior forces. George Washington's deputy Nathanael Greene, a lapsed Quaker, described his philosophy as: 'We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.'

"They [lessons of 5,000 years of guerrilla warfare ] were well-known when Lawrence led an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I and also when British redcoats were defeated by American colonists protesting unjust foreign rule. In that revolution—one of many that Mr. Boot demonstrates have shaped the world in which we live at least as much as the so-called conventional conflicts—it wasn't the rebels who won but the British who lost. The king's ministers became convinced that the goal of holding onto his American colonies wasn't worth the effort.

Note:
(a) Max Boot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Boot
(1969- ; self-identifies as a conservative; now Jeane J Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations)
(b) The review alludes to "Jewish uprising against the Romans in 66 AD."

First Jewish–Roman War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War
(66-73;  the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of Judaea Province, against the Roman Empire; in 70 AD, Romans destroyed Second Temple in Jerusalem)

(c) "A lapsed quaker"?
(i) Nathanael Greene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathanael_Greene
(1742-1786; table: Nickname  "The Fighting Quaker;" son of Nathanael Greene (1707–1770), a Quaker farmer and smith; It has been speculated that his zeal in attending to military duty led to his expulsion from the Quakers in 1773)

(ii) Nathaniel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel

(d)
(i) Nelson A Miles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_A._Miles
(1839-1925; section 3 Indian Wars: played a leading role in nearly all of the Army's campaigns against the American Indian tribes of the Great Plains)
(ii) Clayton KS Chun, US Army in the Plains Indian Wars 1865-91. Osprey, 2004
http://books.google.com/books?id ... eaps%22&f=false
("The Sioux Indians called infantrymen 'walk-a-heaps,' reflecting the infantry's ability to move long distances in all weather conditions. The 'walk-a-heaps,' with their longer ranged, larger caliber rifles, had an advantage over the indians, unless they came within range of their repeating rifles, arrows, or lances [at page 7]. * * * Many infantrymen thought the cavalry was nothing more than lightly armed mounted infantry since they fought mostly in dismounted actions. The 'Walk-a-heaps' provided more firepower, and over a longer period could out-distance the cavalry [at page 9]")

(e) Gerald Templer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Templer
(1898-1979; British; best known for his defeat of the guerrilla rebels in Malaya between 1952 and 1954; section 3 High Commissioner of Malaya)

Malaysia became independent From the United Kingdom, starting with Malaya in 1957.