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Unconventional Warfare from Antiquity to the Present Day

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Addresses the issue of unconventional warfare in a range of historical periods and places, from a variety of analytic perspectives

  • Provides unique insights into the practices, experiences, and discourses that have shaped unconventional warfare throughout history

  • Engages with a wide range of conflicts, including the American Civil War and regional rebellion in Tudor England

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction: Guerrillas and Counterinsurgency in History

    • Brian Hughes, Fergus Robson
    Pages 1-21
  3. Back Matter

    Pages 253-264

About this book

This volume addresses the problem of small, irregular, and unconventional war across time and around the globe. The use of non-uniformed and often civilian combatants, with tactics eschewing pitched battles, is the most common form of warfare throughout history and comes in many forms.

 The collection works back in time beginning with the ‘Long War’ in present day Afghanistan and concluding with warfare in classical Greece. Along the way it engages with conflicts as diverse as the American Civil War and regional rebellion in Tudor England. Each case study provides unique insights into the practices, experiences, and discourses that have shaped this ubiquitous type of conflict.

 Readers interested in rebellion and repression, cultural and tactical interpretations of conflict, civilian strategies in wartime, the supposed ‘western way of war’, and the ways in which participants have framed and related their actions across a variety of spheres will find much of interest in these pages.

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of Exeter , Penryn, United Kingdom

    Brian Hughes

  • Trinity College Dublin , Dublin, Ireland

    Fergus Robson

About the editors

Fergus Robson was Associate Director of the Centre for War Studies and currently lectures on Napoleonic Europe in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is a specialist on resistance and rebellion during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. His recent work on French soldiers’ cultural encounters with Italians and Egyptians complements his interest in the contested creation of national identities and states.


Brian Hughes is NUI Research Fellow in the Humanities at An Foras Feasa, Maynooth University, Ireland and a historian of modern Ireland, specialising in civilian and grassroots experiences of conflict in revolutionary Ireland. His most recent book is Defying the IRA? Intimidation, Coercion, and Communities during the Irish Revolution (2016).


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Unconventional Warfare from Antiquity to the Present Day

  • Editors: Brian Hughes, Fergus Robson

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49526-2

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-49525-5Published: 14 July 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-84180-9Published: 12 May 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-49526-2Published: 03 July 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 264

  • Number of Illustrations: 6 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: History of Military, Ancient History, World History, Global and Transnational History, Modern History, Crime and Society

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access