French & US COIN and Galula (merged thread)

[Shek]

I'm curious if anyone can trace the roots of Galula's influence on American COIN doctrine.

I'm sure that having Pacification in Algeria in the files at RAND provided some accessibility (and ease of distribution given that you can download the .pdf and email it), but the first copy of Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice that I ever saw was an old copy on a friend's bookshelf which had been issued to his father for a class on revolutionary warfare at USMA back in either 1969 or 1970. Based on that, it seems that Galula had some currency back during the time of Vietnam as well for his book to have found its way into the USMA curriculum.

[Ken White]

intelleckshulls as soon as it came out in 1964. The JFK SWC Center Bookstore at Ft Bragg couldn't keep it in stock. With no Amazon, B&N, Borders and such, people were driving to D.C and Atlanta to buy it. Seriously. Now, those of us with a first edition are all old...

Unfortunately, those who read it in those early days didn't rise to high command in Viet Nam for seven years or more...

That being said, it was not and is not the be all and end all on the topic, just one of many decent treatises on the subject.

[Jedburgh]

I'm curious if anyone can trace the roots of Galula's influence on American COIN doctrine.

I'm sure that having Pacification in Algeria in the files at RAND provided some accessibility (and ease of distribution given that you can download the .pdf and email it), but the first copy of Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice that I ever saw was an old copy on a friend's bookshelf which had been issued to his father for a class on revolutionary warfare at USMA back in either 1969 or 1970. Based on that, it seems that Galula had some currency back during the time of Vietnam as well for his book to have found its way into the USMA curriculum.

Back on page 2 of this same "Training and Education" forum, there is a thread titled COIN: A Symposium, April 16-20, 1962. This was a RAND-sponsored syposium that brought together the most experienced professional military minds in the field to discuss all aspects of COIN. This was at a time when serious, structured efforts were ongoing to develop modern US COIN doctrine.

Of course, Galula was one of the participants - and if you read the reprint you'll more than likely come away with the impression that he was one of the most influential of the participants. He certainly weighed in heavily in almost every area of discussion.

If you can find a copy of USMA Revolutionary Warfare Volume V-French Counterrevolutionary Struggles: Indochina and Algeria, dated Dec 68, you'll find that Galula is mentioned not a few times as well.

And here's a declassified TS memo from Amb. Henry Cabot Lodge to President Johnson dated 27 Mar 68 that provides an indication of the high-level influence of Galula's writing:

....I believe that urgent consideration be given to a shift away from "search and destroy" and the "war of attrition", in which a purely military victory appears to be, I believe, the unattainable goal, towards a strategy of using military power as a shield behind which South Vietnamese society would be organized as effectively as North Vietnamese society is organized. This last would be done by intensive and repeated scourings--that is a "comb-out" by repeated police-type methods, precinct by precinct, block by block, house by house and farm by farm, much as was done by General Massau in Algiers and which is set forth in David Galula's book "Counter Insurgency Warfare".....

....That being said, it was not and is not the be all and end all on the topic, just one of many decent treatises on the subject.

Along those lines, here's a link to a COIN bibliography prepared by the CIA library for William Colby back in '64:

Bibliography: Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Since World War II

Aside from the cover sheets, index, etc. the 32 page pdf file has 27 pages of book listings, starting with general texts, then broken down by regions of the world.

[Ken White]

I'd forgotten how many of those I'd read...

[Shek]

Ken and Jedburgh,

Thanks for the quick replies.

[taillat]

Maybe you will be surprised to learn that the first french edition of Counter-insurgency warfare by Galula was published.... last week!!!
Indeed, Galula is not well-known in France and this publication is the result of "Galulamania" in the US military (the collection in which it is published, doctrine et stratégie is led by gen. Vincent DESPORTES, head of French Army's Centre de Doctrine d'Emploi des Forces, and a specialist of US Way of warfare).
Stéphane TAILLAT
PS: i recently posted on SWJ an english version of French Doctrine on stabilization ops.

[Shek]

Maybe you will be surprised to learn that the first french edition of Counter-insurgency warfare by Galula was published.... last week!!!
Indeed, Galula is not well-known in France and this publication is the result of "Galulamania" in the US military (the collection in which it is published, doctrine et stratégie is led by gen. Vincent DESPORTES, head of French Army's Centre de Doctrine d'Emploi des Forces, and a specialist of US Way of warfare).
Stéphane TAILLAT
PS: i recently posted on SWJ an english version of French Doctrine on stabilization ops.

Stephane,

Do you know why his writings weren't as popular in France?

A matter of timing, perhaps (Pacification in Algeria was published in 1963 and Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice was published in 1964, both of them written with how to prescriptions but about conflicts already past history for France)?