4GW (Fourth Generation Warfare)

Seven of the best sites about the concept of Fourth Generation Warfare, abbreviated as 4GW. Know of another site that should be listed here? Leave your suggestion at the bottom of this page. (Related searches: Post Military Employment, U.S. Veterans, Al Jazeera)

1. Fourth Generation Warfare at Wikipedia - Online encyclopedia defines Fourth Generation Warfare as “combat characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, soldier and civilian, peace and conflict, battlefield and safety.” Terrorism is used as one example, but many others are profiled as well. Also explains what the first three generations of warfare are/were. (en.wikipedia.org)

2. Understanding Fourth Generation War - January, 2004 article by William S. Lind, who is often credited with originating the concept of Fourth Generation Warfare, in which Lind discusses previous generations of war (a generation meaning a “shift” in style) and how 4GW differs. (antiwar.com)

3. 4GW - Fourth Generation Warfare at Global Guerillas - May, 2004 blog post offers a nice bullet-pointed list that describes Fourth Generation Warfare strategies, tactics and how an enemy using 4GW might be defeated. (globalguerrillas.typepad.com)

4. On War #272: A Deeper Global Crisis - August, 2008 article by William Lind offers the opinion that recent credit crises, national debts and climbing oil prices could be fertile ground for the success of groups employing 4th Generation Warfare, as militant groups battle the established state for the loyalty of the average person by making the case that the states (governments) are failing. (www.d-n-i.net)

5. Fifth Generation Warfare? - February, 2004 article discusses the possibility of a fifth generation of warfare involving technology and the breakdown of the state, but author William Lind says it’s too early to consider what a fifth generation of warfare might look like. (www.military.com)

6. Wargaming Fourth-Generation Warfare - September, 2006 document from the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) offers a lengthy analysis of what Fourth Generation Warfare is and how to teach / wargame 4th Generation warfare scenarios. This document is in Adobe PDF format. (www.cna.org)

7. Sun Tzu and Fourth Generation Warfare - October, 2005 blog post invokes Sun Tzu, the renowned ancient Chinese military strategist, in discussing 4GW as discussed in the 2004 Thomas X. Hammes’ book The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century. (uselesstree.typepad.com)