ABSTRACT
With the profound global shifts in the post-World War II balance of power, guerrilla warfare received a galvanic fresh impetus. Very much weakened, the European colonial powers could no longer resist the rising tides of nationalism in both Asia and Africa. By 1960 most former colonies had attained independence, the majority without recourse to armed struggle. The breaking of the "colonial yoke" did not, however, inaugurate a new era of peace and stability, for there were many contenders for dominance in the newly established countries. Radicals fought conservatives, national minorities pursued separatist policies, and the conflicts frequently took the form of guerrilla, or quasi-guerrilla war. Of these many wars no two were alike. Some, as in Palestine, predated World War II in origin, some were given a fillip by it, with continuing resistance merely switching its focus — as in Greece, Malaya and the Philippines, for instance — once the territories concerned were no longer occupied by the wartime invader. Some of these wars were short, others protracted, some ended with the victory of the insurgents, others with their total defeat. The Greek and the Malayan insurrections were Communist-inspired and led, the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya was in the time-honored tradition of anticolonial uprisings. In Malaya, Palestine and Cyprus the wars were further complicated because they took place within a multinational society. In the military sphere, too, the patterns were infinitely variable. In Indonesia the rudiments of a regular army had come into being during the war; in Palestine and Cyprus the accent was for the most part on urban terrorism, in Greece and in 279Indochina the Communists transformed their guerrilla groups into militias and even regular army units of brigade and division strength. The Greek and the Indochinese Communists received key support from neighboring Communist countries whereas the Huks in the Philippines were given no such assistance. In Greece most of the fighting took place in the mountains, in Southeast Asia, on the contrary, in jungles and forests.
