Casebook on Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare

The Conflict Research Group is proud to bring the original 1962 edition of the Casebook on Insurgency and Revolutionary Warfare back into print. Originally published by the Special Operations Research Office, the original Casebook represents an enduring resource for academics and for professional military education, pertinent for contemporary studies in the fields of unconventional warfare, insurgent strategies, and the broader context of revolutionary movements.



This book is a comprehensive anthology of 23 revolutionary warfare case studies from 1933 up to its year of original publication. The casebook offers a systematic portrayal of 23 insurgencies, employing a uniform structure to ensure comparability and ease of academic study. This methodical approach provides a foundation for the reader to analyze, contrast, and contribute to the historiography of revolutionary warfare.



The United States, with its origins in revolution, maintains a vested interest in the study of such movements and their impacts on global stability. This interest is reflected in the dualistic challenges of maintaining a robust unconventional warfare capability while also maintaining counter-unconventional warfare capabilities for COIN and Foreign Internal Defense mission sets. The Casebook addresses the complex dynamics of past unconventional warfare campaigns, offering historical insights that remain relevant to current geopolitical and military strategy.



The Casebook's content underscores the importance of understanding the processes and outcomes of revolutions, both from an historical perspective and for the potential application of military strategy in nation-building and counterinsurgency operations.



Moreover, this volume lays the groundwork for subsequent, more detailed studies of selected revolutions, aiming to develop a comprehensive model of political change. Indeed, a second, updated volume of this casebook was produced by USASOC's ARIS Project in the 2010s. This scholarly work strives to contribute to the predictive analyses of unrest and revolutionary potential within nations, a task of considerable importance for both academia and policy formulation.



The bringing of this significant volume back into print by the Conflict Research Group ensures continued accessibility and relevance of this work for military personnel, scholars, military historians, and policymakers engaged in the study of asymmetric warfare and the intricacies of revolutionary change.