One of the main difficulties with applying modern literature on insurgency to the ancient world is that our basic conceptualization of insurgency has arisen from and reflects a modern western tradition that was applied through colonialism. We have tried to avoid a Eurocentric view of rebellion in the pre-modern world while also acknowledging non-western imperialism. We extended the chronological scope to include the Marathas because the sources on earlier Indian history are lacking in this particular area. Our collection, therefore, has included India, China and the Middle East. 9 Jonathan Roth, in his Epilogue to the same Brill volume, writes: ‘A global approach to the study of insurgency and terrorism necessitates not only drawing modern analogies from world history, but looking at the ancient world of other regions, principally China.’ 10 Thus, there is a strong case for a series of papers on insurgent movements and imperial responses in the ancient world as part of a re-examination of the historiography of guerrilla warfare. We still need a global approach to the study of insurgency, and this necessitates drawing analogies from other regions. 8 But even that volume focused solely on the ancient West. Editor, Lee Brice, in his introduction, commented on the fact that study of insurgency and terrorism has lagged behind the work of modern conflict studies. 7 To its credit, Brill has published a Companion to Insurgency and Terrorism in the Ancient World. 6 These crude Eurocentric perceptions begin disappearing once you examine other disciplinary areas such as African or Asian history.Īncient historians, too, have written surveys of war in the ancient world with no mention of insurgency, counterinsurgency, or ambush. Patrick Porter has covered this topic in his book, Military Orientalism.

5 Such attitudes feed into contemporary debate over the nature of insurgencies in societies in Africa and Asia, and they reinforce the stereotypical perception of insurgent warfare as, by nature, ‘tribal’ and ‘primitive’.

General histories of guerrilla warfare, e.g., those of Walter Lacquer, 2 John Ellis 3 and Max Boot 4 give a glancing attention to insurgencies in the ancient world in a few early chapters, but their conclusions are the same: that the methods developed at this time confirm the long-standing, if not ‘primitive’ nature of guerrilla warfare. Historians too often either have skipped over the ancient world entirely, or grossly over-simplified the discussion of events.

1 The neglect is even more acute when discussing ancient insurgencies.

As the literature on insurgency grows daily, even now some military historians choose to neglect the topic.

Insurgency definition