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Best Books on Hybrid Warfare

August 24, 2023

The term hybrid warfare is a relatively new and ambiguous term used to describe what is largely an ancient concept, the involvement and use of non-military factors, either alone or in conjunction with conventional military means, that shape military/political objectives and outcomes. Continually changing elements of human society with the advent of information technology and increasing globalization, among other trends, precipitates changes in the nature of warfare, and discussions of hybrid warfare are attempts to understand the changing landscape of how non-military factors shape military outcomes. 

The Best Book on the History of Hybrid Warfare

Hybrid Warfare: Fighting Complex Opponents from the Ancient World to the Presentby Williamson Murray (Editor), Peter R. Mansoor (Editor)

Hybrid Warfare: Fighting Complex Opponents from the Ancient World to the Present
by Williamson Murray (Editor), Peter R. Mansoor (Editor)

This book contains nine historical examples (written by nine different historians) of hybrid warfare: ancient Rome in Germania, the English in Ireland in 1594-1603, the American Revolution, the Spanish “Peninsular War” of 1807-1814, the Union’s counter-guerrilla war in 1861-1865, the German army in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the hybrid warfares of the British Empire 1700-1970, the Japanese experience in North China 1937-1945, and the US experience in Vietnam. 

This is a great book to read on hybrid warfare because it discusses actual examples of hybrid warfare across history and it gives the reader a broad perspective of what hybrid warfare is and its significance in war. 

“While regular military forces conduct conventional operations against the armed forces of their opponent, irregular forces work to achieve control over the population.”

– Williamson Murray (in Hybrid Warfare: Fighting Complex Opponents from the Ancient World to the Present)

The Best Book for a Structured Discussion of Hybrid Warfare Using Modern Case Studies

The Hybrid Age: International Security in the Era of Hybrid Warfareby Brin Najžer

The Hybrid Age: International Security in the Era of Hybrid Warfare
by Brin Najžer

This book offers a more structured discussion of hybrid warfare. The early chapters discuss “the theory of hybrid warfare”, “the definition of hybrid warfare”, and “hybrid warfare strategy”. The later chapters discuss more recent examples of hybrid warfare including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Russia, and China in the South China Sea.

Notable Recommendations

On Warby Carl von Clausewitz  (Author), Michael Howard (Translator)

On War
by Carl von Clausewitz  (Author), Michael Howard (Translator)

Although this book by the famed 19th-century Prussian general was published in 1832, we feel it is highly relevant to the understanding of hybrid warfare since it remains one of the best and most important works on the nature and strategy of warfare ever written. Some fundamental truths behind the act of warfare remain true beyond the passage of time and Carl von Clausewitz’s writing remains some of the best treatments of these truths. Some themes in the book: “nature of war”, “what is war”, “purpose and means in war”, “on military genius”, “on danger in war”, “on physical effort in war”, “intelligence in war”, “theory of war”, “strategy in general”, “military forces”, “defense”, “attack”, “the effect of the political aim on the military objective”. These themes remain highly relevant to the understanding of modern warfare and thus modern hybrid warfare.