Food for Thought

Week 14: Tuesday, April 27

Mao, Trinquier, and Guevara have become among the most significant figures in the history of thought on modern insurgencies. Mao became the recognized leader of the Communist Party in China starting around the mid-1930s. By that point, the party had been locked in a struggle for some years with the ruling Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek. The Japanese had compounded disorder in China by invading Manchuria in 1931 and launching an all-out assault on China proper in 1937. It is to this Japanese invasion that Mao refers to in his discussion "On Protracted War." Mao's discussion concerning the tactics and strategy of guerrillas, as well as his thoughts about the proper relationship between guerrilla and people, were very important to the future development of military thought.

Trinquier was a parachute officer who had seen combat in the French colony of Vietnam while fighting Communist guerrillas in the Indochina War (1945-1954). The French army was defeated in this conflict, and Trinquier, like many of his fellow officers, sought to learn the lessons of this new sort of conflict. In 1954, an insurgency broke out in the French territory of Algeria in North Africa. The Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), a guerrilla/terrorist force with nationalist, Marxist, and Islamic tendencies, sought Algerian independence from French domination. In 1957, the FLN launched an ambitious terrorist campaign to take control of Algiers (the capital of Algeria) in what became known as the Battle of Algiers. The French army, however, successfully destroyed the FLN organization in Algiers and won the battle. Trinquier played an important role in advising the French authorities and learning the lessons of this conflict which appeared in Modern War. Over the long haul, the French public lost the will to sustain the conflict, and France withdrew from Algeria in 1962.

Guevara achieved fame as Fidel Castro's right-hand man. With a small band of guerrillas, he and Castro toppled the Batista regime in Cuba in 1959. This most unlikely victory made Guevara very popular and influential in leftist circles. He wrote several works concerning guerrilla warfare before attempting to start a peasant uprising in Bolivia. Bolivian forces destroyed his force, captured Guevara, and then executed him in 1967.

Questions concerning The Battle of Algiers

1) Through what different stages did the Battle of Algiers pass? That is, how did FLN strategy consist of a number of well-defined steps? How did the French react to each of these steps? How and why did the French eventually manage to win the initiative and assume the offensive in this battle?

2) In this battle, what advantages did the French enjoy? What advantages did the FLN enjoy?

3) Finally, why do you think the French won the Battle of Algiers but lost the war?

Roger Trinquier, Modern War (1961) (Section A: Bonaventure to Hatton; Section B: Allwarden to Furfari)

1) How does Trinquier define "modern war." What is the goal of modern war? What is the role of terrorism in modern war?

2) How is the terrorist different from the traditional soldier? How is he similar?

3) What must the authorities do when they capture a terrorist? What does Trinquier claim the terrorist must accept as a "condition inherent in his trade"?

4) What strategy must the forces of order adopt with regard to the general population to curb terrorism?

5) Trinquier states: "Warfare operations, especially those of a police nature in a large city, take place in the very midst of the populace, almost in public, whereas formerly they occurred only on a battlefield, to which only armed forces had access." Why is that a problem for the forces of order?

Che Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare (1960) (Section A: Hinchen to Kilcoyne; Section B: Hartford to Maloney)

1) What various roles must the successful guerrilla fill?

2) What are the most important elements of guerrilla strategy?

3) What are the most important ideas associated with guerrilla tactics?

4) What areas are most favorable and most unfavorable for guerrilla wafare?

5) How and why must the guerrilla fighter be a social reformer?

Mao Zedong, Protracted War (1938) (Section A: Kreutz to Snell; Section B: Manchester to Ziino)

1) What does Mao mean when he emphasizes the necessity of political mobilization? How should this mobilization take place?

2) What is Mao's Marxist interpretation of the causes of the war between Japan and China?

3) According to Mao, what are the necessary pre-requisites of victory?