War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare

by Robert Taber

Overview

“The guerrilla fights the war of the flea, and his military enemy suffers the dog’s disadvantages: too much to defend; too small, ubiquitous, and agile an enemy to come to grips with.” With these words, Robert Taber began a revolution in conventional military thought that has dramatically impacted the way armed conflicts have been fought since the book’s initial publication in 1965. Whether ideological, nationalistic, or religious, all guerrilla insurgencies use similar tactics to advance their cause. War of the Flea's timeless analysis of the guerrilla fighter’s means and methods provides a fundamental resource for any reader seeking to understand this distinct form of warfare and the challenge it continues to present to today’s armed forces in the Philippines, Colombia, and elsewhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781574885552
Publisher:	Potomac Books
Publication date:	08/01/2002
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	214
Sales rank:	119,779
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert Taber traveled to Cuba in the late 1950s as a CBS investigative journalist to cover the country’s burgeoning revolutionary movement. He became an eyewitness to history as he marched from the Sierra Maestra to Havana with the ragtag revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, who forced Batista to flee the country. Taber also wrote M-26: Biography of a Revolution.

Table of Contents

I1
	The wind of revolution
	Popular will as the key to strategy
	The confrontation of the haves and the have-nots
	Fallacies of counterinsurgency
	Guerrilla war as an extension of politics
	Cracks in the armor of the modern state
II17
	The war of the flea
	Political and military objectives
	Creating "the climate of collapse."
	Organization of insurgent forces
	Guevara on guerrilla war: the base
III25
	Inception and evolution of an insurgency
	Transition to civil war
	Alternative solutions
	The Cuban example
IV39
	Protracted war
	Popular forces versus regular armies
	The guerrilla as missionary
	Mao Tse-tung on the war of the flea
	The lessons of China
V57
	Colonial war and the French experience
	Strategy and tactics of Vo Nguyen Giap
	How the Vietminh won in Indochina
VI75
	The political character of the Second Indochina War
	The American role
	Expansion of the war
	The outlook
VII97
	Wars of national liberation and their cost
	The Irish "troubles" and the role of the Black and Tans
	Terrorism in Israel
	Rebellion in North Africa
VIII117
	General Grivas on guerrilla war in Cyprus
	The political uses of terrorism
	Errors of British strategy
IX135
	Failures in the war of the flea
	Magsaysay and the Huks in the Philippines
	The price of British victory in Malaya
	Why the Communists lost in Greece
X149
	Sun Tzu on The Art of War
	Principles of guerrilla strategy and tactics
	Terrain as a determining factor
	Guerrilla war in urban areas
	The character of the guerrilla
XI173
	Guerrilla movements in the Third World
	The revolutionary base
	Outlook for the United States
	Proposals for a new American foreign policy in Latin America

Editorial Reviews

"[The author has] the odd accolade of being the only American among Castro's defending forces at Playa Giron....He makes an excellent case, a sort of modern Sun Tzu who finds romance in the abstract guerilla formula of juggling time, space, and will."

"Very interesting on the popular level, and a good example of political journalism..."

"Has new relevance as terrorist organizations inspired by new revolutionaries dominate the international security landscape. . . . Reading The War of the Flea is an excellent beginning to understanding the current problems facing the military."

From the Publisher

In the late 1950s, American investigative journalist Robert Taber marched from Sierra Maestra to Havana with revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. In this reprint of his 1965 text, Taber analyzes the means and methods of the guerilla fighter, likening him to an agile flea, and comparing his enemy to a dog with too much territory to defend. The volume features a new foreword by Bard E. O'Neill (insurgency and revolution studies, National War College). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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