Small Wars Journal

guerilla warfare

“Accidental Guerrilla” Syndrome in California, 1836-1846

Wed, 04/01/2020 - 3:21am
Sun Tzu’s injunction to “know your enemy” is never more critical than in counterinsurgency (COIN) warfare. During its COIN conflicts in the last hundred years, the United States military has fallen especially prey to the thinking trap of lumping all its opponents into the same category. COIN expert David Kilcullen identified this phenomenon as “accidental guerrilla syndrome” in his 2009 book of the same name.

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