Conflicts between regular armies and various groups of insurgents, fighting for a range of causes, are some of the most protracted and extensive military crises to have emerged in recent years. The introductin provides a point on which the five major historical examples that follow may be compared and contrasted. Similarities and differences between some of the more important episodes from this century are highlighted; similarities such as the role of intelligence, the value of police work and the necesity of expert political assessment and differences such as the factors of time or...