Fourth generation warfare book

The 4gw actor can be driven by ideas, religion, or the defense of the purity of its race. Global insurgency and the future of armed conflict. Fourthgeneration warfare is conflict characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, combatants and civilians. Secondgeneration warfare was driven by changes in technology, which included the introduction of. Fourthgeneration warfare pentagon mavericks have been trying for decades to reorient military strategy toward a new kind of threatthe kind were suddenly facing in the war on terrorism. They will accept numerous tactical and operational setbacks in pursuit of the goal. Fourth generation warfare is a conflict between a state actor and a nonstate 4gw actor.

So i decided give this book a chance because the author william s. The aim of a nonstate opponent in a 4gw scenario is to cause the collapse of the enemy through its rearguard, so that the nation state tumbles from within due to the disorder that the. Western military might be reorganized to gift a modern or fourth generation war and in this it succeeds. This is an important book for people trying to understand 4th generation war 4gw. Some scholars associate it with guerrilla war or insurgency. A number of people responded with requests for a description both of the canon and of the four generations, so here goes. He used the pseudonym thomas hobbes in a column for the american conservative. Evolution of modern conflict four generations although war is evolving, in response to changes in the worlds social, political, and economic condition as well as to the introduction of new technologies, it is.

The first public statement of fourth generation war 4gw came in a 1989 marine corps gazette article coauthored by lind along with two army colonels keith nightengale and joseph sutton and two. The term was first used in 1989 by a team of american analysts. Light on coverage of the internet, immigration, corporations, and ngos, which i believe are key pieces of the 4gw battlefield. The new book s origins lie in the fourth generation warfare seminar lt. Lind, for the purpose of an argument for the changing face of war entering into a fourth generation firstgeneration warfare refers to ancient and postclassical battles fought with massed manpower, using phalanx, line and column tactics with uniformed. Fourth generation warfare 4gw modern military theorists, encouraged by the ideas of william lind, are citing the emergence of a new generation of warfare whereby sovereign states are losing their monopoly on war and future conflict will be linked to cultural, not sovereignty issues. The generations of warfare described by these authors are. The fourthgeneration warfare paradigm highlights that in this type of warfare what is of relevance is not the conquest of a physical space but of a social one. The fourth generation warfare handbook is a followon to my maneuver warfare handbook, which was published in 1985 and is still in print. Episode 16 of the professional military education podcast features lt.

These are all important ideas that do not exist individually but rather function together as an integrated interdependent system of systems where the whole is greater than the parts. Fourth generation warfare 4gw is a blend of all previous three types of war being employed by non state actors. In a nutshell, it is guerrilla warfare though not exactly. Nor is fourth generation warfare merely something we import, as we did on 911. On the contrary, many of the tactics fourth generation opponents use are standard guerilla tactics. Thiele and i taught for some years at the marine corps expeditionary warfare school. I wrote about this phenomenon in my book composite warfare under the heading of 4th evolution of warfare. Lind is his real name seems to still be a fairly respected person in most military strategy circles for his publishing of his famous theory of 4th generational warfare way back in 1989, with this book supposedly being an example of how one would carry out this type of strategy. Director of the american conservative center for public transportation. The fallacies of fourth and fifth generation warfare. Written by the author of the maneuver warfare handbook and an activeduty usmc officer with experience in iraq, 4th generation warfare handbook is the doctrine for a new generation of war.

How 4th generation warfare helps to explain the rise of. Fourth generation warfare 4gw is described by the authors as follows. A critical analysis of the vietnam war that after the war he told a north. At its core lies a universal crisis of legitimacy of the state, and that crisis means many countries will evolve. While the first three generations of warfare were clearly delineated, the fourth generation warfare 4gw obscures more than it explains. The wars in afghanistan and iraq have moved from comfortable thirdgeneration warfare 3gw, americas forte, to fourthgeneration warfare, the only type of war america has ever lost. From sun tzu to fourth generation war the american. When i am asked to recommend a good book describing what a fourth generation world will be like, i usually suggest barbara tuchmans a distant mirror. He is the author of many books and one of the first proponents of fourthgeneration warfare 4gw theory. Fourthgenerationwarfare enemies will not seek immediate objectives but a long term shift in the political will of their enemies. Fourthgeneration warfare 4gw modern warfare has been divided into three distinct generations by lind et al. The purpose of this book is to provide a broad outline for how a presentday western military might be reorganized to gift a modern or fourth generation war and in this it succeeds. If we look at the development of warfare in the modern era, we see three distinct generations.

Over the last 40 years, the world has gradually entered into a postclausewitzian state where the wars are undeclared, the battlefields can be anywhere, the. Two schools of thought have formed one touting 4gw as the latest in modern warfare, the other regarding 4gw as an adaption of classical lowintensity warfare methods to modern communications and propaganda methods. Van creveld ends his book with the writings of tac s own william lind on guerrilla and nonstate wars, what lind calls fourth generation warfare. The fifth generation warfare notion wraps up networkcentric warfare, combat cloud, multidomain battle, and fusion warfare concepts. Wilson marine corps gazette december 1994, pages 3437 events of the past 5 years have not greatly altered the views of the fourth generationists. He is the author of many books and one of the first proponents of fourth generation warfare 4gw theory. In 4gw, note, actual physical combat is the least significant component. Over the last 40 years, the world has gradually entered into. Thiele is the distillation of the theory of the predominate form of current warfare under one cover. He coauthored a book called 4th generation warfare handbook with william s.

In simple terms, 4gw is a conflict characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, combatants and civilians. Six strategic challenges fourth generation warfare and. William lind, the four generations of modern warfare william lind, 4th generation warfare handbook forthcoming in 2015 william lind writig as thomas hobbes, victoria. Colonel harry summers noted in his book on strategy. The first generation of modern war began with the peace of. The 4th generation warfare handbook is worth every penny for anyone interested in military strategy andor political philosophy. The fallacies of fourth and fifth generation warfare in evaluating current warfighting trends and reconciliatory attempts to understand said trends, it appears the conceptual model of fourthgeneration warfare 4gw and, by extension, fifthgeneration warfare 5gw has achieved a level of. However, id argue that its a little too lockedin the solution preferred by the authors the use of a lightfootprint embedded force and that it doesnt give. William linds way of war the american conservative. In the united states, the army and the marine corps are now coming. If we combine the above general characteristics of fourth generation warfare with new technology, we see one possible outline of the new generation.

I believe that many people in our government, and indeed most of our citizens, are unaware of the fact that, as a country, we are being targeted by fourth generation warfare fgw. Lind, writes in his book, 4 th generation warfare handbook, that mindset of a 4gw warrior is that of a light infantryman. Fourth generation warfare in afghanistan with warren chin a particular strength of 4gw is that it is not locked into a myopic technically driven vision of war which seeks to provide a silver bullet in the conduct of operations. Full text of 4th generation warfare handbook william s.

In my last column, i referenced the canon, the seven books which, if read in the correct order, take the reader from the first generation of modern war through the second and third generations and into the fourth. Over the last decade, theres been a lot of discussion of 4th generation warfare. Lind born july 9, 1947 is an american conservative author, described as being aligned with paleoconservatism. When it comes to actual combat, 4gw takes a more flexible approach than traditional military training. Pentagon mavericks have been trying for decades to reorient military strategy toward a new kind of threatthe kind. New age technology and communication system are essential part of propaganda involved. This is more about changing the philosophy and culture within the military into dealing with nonstate forces, i. A novel of fourth generation warfare explores how 4gw might play out in the united states.

A novel of fourth generation warfare is a novel by military theorist william s. The book, authored by military theorist and commentator william lind, was started in the 1990s one can tell the parts written then by really clunky references to certain figures and the absence of military equipment. Fourthgeneration warfare targets the passion part of the trinity by wooing people who now become willing accomplices of the nontrinitarian warriors, the presentday terrorists. Nor are we saying that fourth generation tactics are new. Fourth generation adversaries will be adept at manipulating the media to alter domestic and world opiniontelevision news may become a more powerful operational weapon than armored divisions some terrorists already know how to play this game. The 4th generational warfare handbook by william s.

Fifth generation warfare and the challenges for pakistan. Currently, he is writing a book about urbanized warfare. This is an excellent summary of 4gw by brandon smith. Yet more surprising, note further, moral outlook is the most important component. Are we becoming victims of fourth generation warfare. Lind published in 2014 under the penname thomas hobbes in which, 20 minutes into the future, the united states breaks up into a series of warring successor states, including the northern confederation eventually renamed victoria in new england the story is told from the perspective of john rumford. The concept of four generations in the history of modern warfare was created by a team of united states analysts, including william s. The 4th generation warfare handbook is an easy read for expert and novice alike.