In the annals of warfare and strategic thought, the book The Utility of Force stands out as a tour de force. The year 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of this groundbreaking work. The author, General Rupert Smith, is a vastly experienced military officer who served in the British Army for four decades. His last assignment was as the Deputy Supreme Commander of NATO in Europe, which he served with distinction.
The book has several key themes; the first is an exposition of the military ideas and concepts of key military thinkers over the centuries. The author highlighted the work of two of the most renowned thinkers in the history of warfare – Sun Tzu and Carl Von Clausewitsz. The author gave a brief explanation of the The Art of War and its significance in the modern world. However, it was On War, the book of Carl Von Clausewitz that formed the staple of General Smith’s intellectual base as far as the explanation of the phenomena of war is concerned.
In his exposition of On War, Smith argued that war is “the continuation of politics by other means” and “a general act of fighting that is meant to force the enemy to submit to our will”. Smith emphasised that for Clausewitz, the nature of war varies from epoch to epoch with its own peculiar features and classifications. For Clausewitz, war essentially is a trinity of three entities – people, military and government. Clausewitz, according to General Smith, articulated two crucial ideas – trial of strength and clash of wills.
Trial of strength denotes the ability of a state or a non-state actor to attain victory based on the sheer size of the number of the armed forces and the mobilisation of resources and people for the purpose of war. In contrast, clash of wills refers to the conflictual relationship between the resolve of two belligerents – whether state versus state actor or state versus non-state actor.
In that context, the book delves on another key theme – the nature of war. General Smith argues that war as we knew is changing forever. He cited the American philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn’s idea of paradigm shift to explain the transition from an inter-state industrial war to a new idea – war amongst the people.
General Smith argues that war is fought at four levels – political, theatre, strategic and tactical. In the context of inter-state industrial war, the author cites the examples of the American Civil War and the Napoleonic wars of the 19th centuries
Regarding the former, the author defines the paradigm of inter-state industrial war as a form of conventional war, marked by war between the armed forces of a nation-state, which has developed resources based on the industrial development of a country. He defines an armed force as a coherent, structural institution marked by the presence of professional soldiers who don a uniform, are licensed to bear arms and are governed by a strict code of conduct, both endogenously i.e., bound the written rules and regulations anchored in statutory or constitutional language as well as exogenously i.e., international humanitarian law.
Smith argues that war takes place at four levels – political, theatre, strategic and tactical. In the context of inter-state industrial war, General Smith cites the examples of the American Civil War and the Napoleonic wars of the 19th centuries. In the former, he undertakes a detailed analysis of the war, emphasising the war as a key moment in global arms history wherein several new weapons of war, particularly the revolutionary Gatling gun, was introduced which changed the face of war as we know it. In it, he went into the depth of different strategies used by the Union and the Confederate forces and also delved into the strategic nature of operations undertaken by the Union forces whose military superiority and industrial strength tilted the war in their favour, resulting in the defeat of the Confederate forces and the preservation of American unity.
General Smith undertook a detailed exposition of the Napoleonic wars, praising the military genius for achieving operational mobility and organisational flexibility in the wars against Holland, Germany, and Spain. In the context of the Napoleonic wars, the author gave the first glimpse of one of the next generation of warfare methods – guerilla warfare.
Upon invading Spain, the French troops, which enjoyed vast superiority in conventional terms, couldn’t come to terms with the guerilla warfare waged by the Spanish rebels. What was more interesting was the ubiquitious support the rebels enjoyed among the people, thereby providing popular legitimacy to the actions of the guerillas. The conventional tactics used by the French forces failed to dislodge the guerillas. Napoleon, ultimately had to face defeat in the Battle of Waterloo at the hands of combined British and Prussian forces, and was subsequently banished to the island of Corsica.
For General Smith, the paradigm of inter-state industrial war reached its apogee in the 20th century in the shape of two wars – the First and the Second World Wars. He described these wars as “total wars” in that they involved the complete mobilisation of the respective belligerents’ resources, people, and armed forces personnel for the war effort. It involved the doctrine of “unconditional surrender”. The results were horrifying – the 20th century proved to be the bloodiest epoch in human history with millions of people dead, billions of dollars in economic losses and ruination of countries in the total sense of the term.
The author defines the ‘war amongst the people’ as a new diffused, decentralised form of war marked by a combination of conventional and irregular forces using various methods to achieve their objectives. The aim is essentially political
The most crucial theme of the book the author emphasises is the changing nature of war – the paradigm of inter-state industrial war is no longer the definite norm in international politics, but a new form of warfare has taken shape in what General Smith calls the paradigm of “war amongst the people”.
He defines the “war amongst the people” as a new diffused, decentralised form of war marked by a combination of conventional or regular armed forces coupled with irregular forces which make use of a plethora of methods and procedures to achieve their aims and objectives. The aim, according to the writer, is essentially political.
The 1991 Gulf War, according to the veteran officer, was the last of the interstate industrial wars and served as a prelude to the burgeoning impact of the new forces of “war amongst the people”.
In this context, he cited the influential role played by media. He delves into the so-called “CNN effect”, referring to the formulation of domestic and global public opinion based on the coverage of a conflict or war by news channels on a 24×7 basis. The coverage is so wide, that now-a-days any individual sitting in their homes can view a war on the television or smartphone screen.
This “war amongst the people” has been regarded as one of the seminal contributions of the author to the discourse of strategic studies and international politics. Today, the “war amongst the people” is considered as a critical dimension of new & emerging ideas of war like “unrestricted warfare”, “non-linear warfare” and “hybrid warfare”.
The ‘war amongst the people’ is one of the key contributions of the author to the discourse of strategic studies and international politics. Today, the war among people is considered a critical dimension of new ideas of war such as ‘unrestricted warfare’, ‘non-linear warfare’ and ‘hybrid warfare’
The last part of the book was dedicated to the writer’s experiences as a field officer during the Yugoslavian civil war of the 1990s; he was particularly critical of the Serbian side’s violation of international humanitarian law and the marauding conduct, especially against the Bosnian side. He was also critical of the UN’s failure to provide adequate safeguards to the Bosnian Muslim population, resulting in the genocide against the Bosnian people in the towns of Srebrenica, Zepa and Goradze.
In conclusion, it can be stated that the book is a masterpiece in terms of strategic thought and clarity of new ideas. General Rupert Smith’s idea of “war amongst the people” set the template for the military and strategic thinkers the world over to understand this new concept and focus on the new and emerging forms of warfare and develop them accordingly. The 20th anniversary of this book makes such an intellectual exercise all the more relevant.
–The writer is currently working as a Research Associate at Defence Research and Studies (dras.in) and is a columnist. The views expressed are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
