"The German irregular-warfare tradition — Johann Ewald's counter-insurgency…" — Major Johann Hindert (#c1409)

Card #c1409IR // #c1409SynthesisMilitary report

The German irregular-warfare tradition — Johann Ewald's counter-insurgency principles from the American Revolution, Clausewitz's "people's war" chapter, Lettow-Vorbeck's irregular adaptation in WWI East Africa — rivals Germany's famous conventional expertise, and Clausewitz's lesson still bites: powerful nations that revert to regular-warfare solutions against irregular threats repeat Napoleon's error.

— In our words · Source: German Views of Irregular Warfare (Major Johann Hindert)

[Use when]

Check the overlooked tradition — the canonical canon is never the whole canon, and the neglected lineage may carry the lesson you need.

[Why it matters]

The Anglophone canon (British, French, American COIN) dominates irregular-warfare doctrine; this NPS thesis hands planners a parallel tradition — and the Ewald-to-Lettow-Vorbeck lineage is unfamiliar to most practitioners.