Low Intensity Operations

Low Intensity Operations is an important, controversial and prophetic book that has had a major influence on the conduct of modern warfare. First published in 1971, it was the result of an academic year Frank Kitson spent at University College, Oxford, under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence, to write a paper on the way in which the army should be prepared to deal with future insurgency and peacekeeping operations. Its findings and propositions are as striking as when the work was first published.
'To understand the nature of revolutionary warfare, one cannot do better than read Low Intensity Operations... The author has had unrivalled experience of such operations in many parts of the world.' Daily Telegraph
'A highly practical analysis of subversion, insurgency and peacekeeping operations... Frank Kitson's book is not merely timely but important.' The Economist

General Sir Frank Kitson GBE, KCB, MC and Bar was commissioned in the army soon after the end of the Second World War. In the course of his service he spent many years with armoured formations in Germany, culminating in command of an armoured division. He also took part in counter-insurgency and peace-keeping activities in Kenya, Malaya, Oman, Cyprus and Northern Ireland and held staff appointments in two of the most influential departments in the Ministry of Defence. He retired in 1985, having spent the final three years of his service as Commander-in-Chief United Kingdom Land Forces. His sometimes controversial writings on military subjects - notably Low Intensity Operations (reissued by Faber Finds in 2010, along with Directing Operations and Bunch of Five) - remain highly relevant and continue to be widely read and to provoke strong opinions. In retirement, he has given evidence to the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland. General Sir Frank Kitson GBE, KCB, MC and Bar was commissioned in the army soon after the end of the Second World War. In the course of his service he spent many years with armoured formations in Germany, culminating in command of an armoured division. He also took part in counter-insurgency and peace-keeping activities in Kenya, Malaya, Oman, Cyprus and Northern Ireland and held staff appointments in two of the most influential departments in the Ministry of Defence. He retired in 1985, having spent the final three years of his service as Commander-in-Chief United Kingdom Land Forces. His sometimes controversial writings on military subjects - notably Low Intensity Operations (reissued by Faber Finds in 2010, along with Directing Operations and Bunch of Five) - remain highly relevant and continue to be widely read and to provoke strong opinions. In retirement, he has given evidence to the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland.