Although the twentieth century is now best remembered for two world wars, in the future it may be at least equally well-known for its profusion of little wars against great opponents. The trend began long before mujahideen took up arms against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. From China and Vietnam to Palestine, Algeria, and Ireland, Daniel Moran explores the nationalist insurgencies that have characterized much of recent warfare.
A decent little book on various conflicts for independence in the 20th century, especially with respect to decolonization. It's not that big, but I only paid a few bucks for it and I felt like it was good enough given the price. The section on Algeria really interested me as it was one of the major colonial conflicts for France which had a crucial role in their development of COIN strategy, yet is overshadowed by the First Indochina War because of future American involvement. Yet the Algerian experience, especially with the French's widespread use of torture in dealing with the FLN would threaten the stability of the French government itself, despite the appearance that the government had delivered a fatal blow to the insurgency's network. The book also covers more famous wars, such as the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, the First and Second Indochina Wars, the Angolan War for Independence, and The Six Day and Yom Kippur Wars.