Let's Take the French Experience in Algeria Out of U.S. Counterinsurgency Doctrine
Abstract
The U.S. Army and Marine Corps Field Manual (FM) 3-24, Counterinsurgency, is not written from a perspective of classic strategy or strategic principles. Most of the standard terms of military strategy are wholly absent, and where present they are used outside the confines of traditional military usage. While rejecting classic terms, a new conventionalism appears in the manual with lessons from the French experience in Algeria featured favorably in that convention. Together, the words Algeria, France, French, and Galula (surname of a French officer and author frequently referenced in the manual) are used at least 42 times. The FM's annotated bibliography includes several books on the Algerian counterinsurgency. But, to what end? Why do the manual writers put so much emphasis on that French experience, given that the French failed strategically, engaged in immoral conduct during the war, provoked a civil-military crisis in France, and tolerated genocide and mass population displacement in northern Africa after the withdrawal of French forces? It seems that the French government could not have achieved a worse set of results, nor could U.S. doctrine have chosen a worse model to admire, if admiration it is. Publication of FM 3-24 understandably sparked some pushback by interested commentators. Armed Forces Journal articles and subsequent blogging debates produced a slew of important questions. What exactly are the supposed French "lessons learned?" What is it about the Algerian case that earns special emphasis in U.S. military instruction or about David Galula that the FM should anoint him as a counterinsurgent guru? What French lessons have entered recent U.S. doctrine, and are they the right ones? Did the French view of counterinsurgency accelerate a U.S. move away from classic strategy to another set of counterinsurgent principles? Was this switch warranted?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA536515
Entities
People
- Geoff Demarest
Organizations
- United States Army Combined Arms Center