Small Wars Journal
  • “It takes a brave man to be a coward in the Red Army.”
    -- Joseph Stalin
  • "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."
    -- Old MOUT Adage
  • “For Dave Dilegge and Bill Nagle, founders and editors of Small Wars Journal. They gave the counterguerrilla underground a home, at a time when misguided leaders banned even the word ‘insurgency,’ though busily losing to one. Scholars, warriors, and agitators, Dave and Bill laid the foundation for battlefield success: our generation owes them a debt of gratitude.”
    -- David Kilcullen ('Counterinsugency' Dedication)
  • "In 1991 the Gulf War showed everyone how not to fight us, but the 2003 invasion of Iraq showed everybody how to fight us."
    -- David Kilcullen
  • “With no other security forces on hand, U.S. military was left to confront, almost alone, an Iraqi insurgency and a crime rate that grew worse throughout the year, waged in part by soldiers of the disbanded army and in part by criminals who were released from prison.”
    -- John Spratt

Welcome to the Archive - Old School

 

Small Wars Journal is now owned and operated by Arizona State University. We have upgraded the site but the transition was challenging. While most of the content has migrated to the new site it still requires categorizing and tagging to make it more searchable. If you are looking for an old article and can't find it on the new site, you might be able to find it here. If you have an old URL, just add the word "archive. " to the first part of the URL in front of  'smallwarsjournal.com....". 

Journal

Trump’s Chance to Shape History with a Lasting Peace in Ukraine
by Dan Rice | Thu, 11/07/2024 - 7:58pm | 0 comments
President-elect Trump has inherited one of the most complex and devastating conflicts of our time, a war that has scarred Ukraine, challenged NATO, and shaken European security. Now, with his recent victory, Trump stands poised to seize a historic opportunity: to end a brutal conflict, honor America’s longstanding commitments, and demonstrate global leadership on the scale of President Eisenhower and President Reagan.
Drones Are Not Artillery Yet
by L. Lance Boothe | Mon, 11/04/2024 - 9:39pm | 0 comments
“Mushroom clouds are rising above the ground; doors in Staraia Toropa are shaking. Part of the military personnel fled during the night, abandoning the vehicles they arrived in. Everything is burning,” an unidentified villager tells Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU. These things happen when munitions are left laying out in the open in a depot and stacked-up on not-so-secret railway platforms. Welcome to war. A drone pack set in motion by Ukrainian special forces claims another arsenal deep in Russian territory.
Open Letter to the President of Ukraine Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy
by Hyun Seung Lee | Mon, 10/28/2024 - 9:52am | 0 comments
A recommendation for Ukrainian Psychological Operations against north Korean forces in Ukraine and Russia.
These days, we’re mostly Confederates: Antebellum strategy/policy ethos in 21st century America
by Martin Stanton | Sun, 10/27/2024 - 10:16pm | 0 comments
Despite the recent Orwellian attempts to “unperson” him, Robert E. Lee remains an iconic figure in American military history.  He was a great field commander who probably got more out of his outnumbered and ill-supplied tatterdemalion army than any other general of his time could have by sheer professional acumen and force of personality.  However, with him (and every other senior Southern commander) that’s as far as it goes.  He failed utterly in his responsibility to convince his political superiors of their folly in the strategic prosecution of the war.  He also dissipated combat power he could not afford to lose in two futile invasions of the North.  Worst of all, he allowed Jefferson Davis to tie the Army of Northern Virginia to the defense of Richmond and Petersburg like a staked goat for the implacable Grant to ultimately devour.  By June 1864 he could see the writing on the wall.  If he stayed in Grant’s gory embrace the Army of Northern Virginia would perish and with it the Confederacy.  But he could not bring himself to forcefully challenge his civilian leadership who were willfully blind to the facts – or walk away from them.  Instead, he soldiered on as nemesis approached.
Closing the Border to Terrorists: Cooperation between Mexican Cartels and International Terrorist Organizations
by Kelsey Warner, by Andrew Byers | Tue, 10/22/2024 - 8:19pm | 0 comments
In July 2024, three Palestinians and a Turk, all with possible connections to terrorist organizations, were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents while attempting to illegally cross the Southwest border from Mexico into the San Diego area. One of the two Jordanians who attempted to breach the USMC Marine Corps Base at Quantico in May 2024 was confirmed to have crossed the Southwest border illegally before being detained and then released into the United States. Eight Tajiks with ties to the Islamic State-Khorasan Branch (ISIS-K) were found to have crossed illegally into the United States via the Southwest border at various points in 2023 before being released into the United States. These are just a handful of the most recent incidents involving potential international terrorism-affiliated individuals entering the United States via the Southwest border in the past several years, all facilitated by the Mexican cartels that control the flow of human trafficking across the border.
From Insurgency to Illicit Trade: Analyzing FARC Dissidents in the Cocaine Market
by Camilo Pardo-Herrera, by Mahmut Cengiz | Mon, 10/14/2024 - 10:06pm | 0 comments
Colombia holds a crucial role in the global drug trade, serving as a major source of cocaine linked to its historical conflicts and ongoing violence. The nation has been marred by some of history's most notorious drug trafficking organizations, including the Medellín and Cali cartels, which have significantly affected Colombia's stability and safety. Additionally, Colombia has been home to several violent revolutionary groups. For decades, organizations like FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – National Liberation Army) engaged in armed conflict, exacerbating the country’s violence.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF FRONTLINE CIVILIANS
by Tom Ordeman, Jr. | Wed, 10/09/2024 - 4:24pm | 0 comments
If online comment sections frequented by America's veterans are any indication, a widening "civil-military divide" - the alleged cultural segregation of America's military/veteran and civilian communities - requires attention from all parties. Simultaneously, fraternal organizations dedicated to serving America's veterans face dwindling membership. Both of these challenges could be mitigated if the fraternal organizations took the radical step of offering limited membership to former frontline civilians.
How Ukraine’s Recovery From War Can Inform Kyiv’s Car-driven Chaos
by Russell W. Glenn | Mon, 10/07/2024 - 5:18pm | 0 comments
Urban operations specialist Dr. Russell W. Glenn provides insights into recovery from urban warfare from experience in Ukraine. Here, Dr. Glenn reviews the impact of urban conflict on traffic and parking. These insights draw from the research for Dr. Glenn's new book "Brutal Catalyst: What Ukraine's Cities Tell Us About Recovery From War" (KeyPoint Press, 2024).
Reflections on Buffalo Bill Cody: Lessons for Warfighters and Strategists
by Tom Ordeman, Jr. | Mon, 10/07/2024 - 5:10pm | 0 comments
In 2020, I had occasion to begin reacquainting myself with one of my childhood heroes: Buffalo Bill Cody. As a youngster, my family took occasional trips to the city in Wyoming that bears his name. We visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and I read the semi-apocryphal biography penned by Cody's sister. Then, in 2021, I watched as American troops concluded their two-decade-long campaign in Afghanistan. Like many members of my generation, the events that precipitated America's foray into that ancient land proved life-changing for me. When the entire enterprise collapsed, I found myself trying to make sense of it and Bill Cody's story has proved insightful.
SWJ El Centro Book Review – Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises
by Daniel Weisz | Mon, 10/07/2024 - 2:57pm | 0 comments
SWJ−El Centro Associate Daniel Weisz Argomedo Reviews of "Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises" by Jonathan S. Blake and Nils Gilman.

Blog Posts

11/10/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 11/10/2024 - 11:52am | 0 comments

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11/9/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sat, 11/09/2024 - 3:12pm | 0 comments

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11/8/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Fri, 11/08/2024 - 9:46am | 0 comments

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11/7/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Thu, 11/07/2024 - 7:42am | 0 comments

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11/6/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Wed, 11/06/2024 - 10:16am | 0 comments

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11/5/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Tue, 11/05/2024 - 12:27pm | 0 comments

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11/4/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Mon, 11/04/2024 - 9:13am | 0 comments

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11/3/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sun, 11/03/2024 - 10:43am | 0 comments

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11/2/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Sat, 11/02/2024 - 12:31pm | 0 comments

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Irregular Warfare (Video from Army University Press)
by SWJ Editors | Sat, 11/02/2024 - 10:13am | 0 comments
Irregular Warfare (Video from Army University Press)    
11/1/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Fri, 11/01/2024 - 8:37am | 0 comments

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10/31/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Thu, 10/31/2024 - 7:47am | 0 comments

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10/30/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Wed, 10/30/2024 - 9:13am | 0 comments

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10/29/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Tue, 10/29/2024 - 9:39am | 0 comments

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10/28/24 National Security and Korean News and Commentary
by Dave Maxwell | Mon, 10/28/2024 - 9:14am | 0 comments

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