I think it is one of the best books written in the 20th century. It is about one very violent case study of terrorism and insurgency in the Algerian War for Independence and it’s a rare combination of an excellent detailed historical book that also brings a timeless strategic perspective.
Experts who have recommended this book
In an interview on Terrorism
Interview Extract:Your next book is A Savage War of Peace, by Alistair Horne.
This is a brilliant book. Indeed, I think it is one of the best books written in the 20th century. It is about the Algerian War for Independence, a very violent case study. Horne crafts it into a rare combination of an excellent detailed historical book about a war that also brings along a thought-provoking and timeless strategic perspective. Although originally written in the early 1970s, its themes are directly relevant to today’s challenges, including the ethics of torture, the power of popular ideas, and the fraught relationship between military victory and political outcome. The French engaged in brilliant counter-insurgency tactics and militarily defeated the FLN [Front de Libération Nationale], especially following the Battle of Algiers, yet France lost the war. Why?
Horne is masterful in answering that question, making the complex very simple. He explains not just what was happening on the ground in Algeria (there are a number of other good books that do that), but also opens the lens to encompass political instability in continental France, sanctuary in Tunisia and Morocco, Arab nationalism in the region, pressure from other major powers, and even the vital role of the United Nations. I like to use his book with my students because it graphically demonstrates the dynamic interaction between ‘terrorism’ and ‘insurgency’. It also paints a grand strategic picture beyond what was happening on the ground that helped to shape what it meant to win. This book will persist well into the 21st century.
Read full interviewAbout Audrey Kurth Cronin
Audrey Cronin is Professor at the US National War College and Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University in the Changing Character of War Programme. The views she expresses in the following article are her own and not the official policy of the US government. Her view on al-Qaeda is that they may implode: ‘By which I mean succumb to internal weaknesses, in-fighting, ideological bickering, loss of operational control, targeting mistakes and loss of popular support – some of the dynamics that we have already seen. Or they are going to transition into a more conventional kind of violence, meaning insurgency or even conventional war.’
