Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2010 FAILURE, SUCCESS AND LESSONS LEARNED: THE LEGACY OF THE ALGERIAN WAR AND ITS INFLUENCE ON COUNTERINSURGENCY DOCTRINE Zack Rish Clemson University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Part of the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Rish, Zack, "FAILURE, SUCCESS AND LESSONS LEARNED: THE LEGACY OF THE ALGERIAN WAR AND ITS INFLUENCE ON COUNTERINSURGENCY DOCTRINE" (2010). All Theses. 820. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/820 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. FAILURE, SUCCESS AND LESSONS LEARNED: THE LEGACY OF THE ALGERIAN WAR AND ITS INFLUENCE ON COUNTERINSURGENCY DOCTRINE A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts History by Zachary Edward Rish May 2010 Accepted by: Dr. Alan Grubb, Committee Chair Dr. Stephanie Barczewski Dr. Edwin Moise ABSTRACT The 2003 American invasion of Iraq resulted in a violent insurgency that American forces were initially unable to counter. The United States military was shocked by its failure and was forced to consider what it had done wrong. Once the U.S. military looked into its past it was forced to admit it had wrongly ignored counterinsurgency. To correct this, it assigned many of its officers, along with other military experts, to create a new, updated doctrine that incorporated the lessons of Iraq and other recent, relevant historical precedent.