Guerrillas, Redcoats, and Empire: Understanding Asymmetric Warfare

How do you beat an enemy who refuses to fight by the rules? From ambushes in the forests of North America to the frontier wars in Africa, the British Army faced enemies who fought small, fast, and ruthless. We now call it asymmetric warfare — the clash between the strong and the weak, the lion and the fly. In this episode of Redcoat History, I sit down with Dr Jacob Hagstrom — former U.S. Army officer and author of Asymmetric Warfare (Cambridge University Press). We explore how Redcoats struggled, adapted, and sometimes failed when fighting foes who didn’t line up on open fields. Expect stories from the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the Cape Frontier as well as a discussion about the recent campaign in Afghanistan. Link to Jacob's book - Sign up for my mailing list - Join the Patreon -

You can listen to Guerrillas, Redcoats, and Empire: Understanding Asymmetric Warfare online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Guerrillas, Redcoats, and Empire: Understanding Asymmetric Warfare is an episode from The Redcoat History Podcast by Redcoat History.

This episode is 46:57 long.

This episode was published on Sep 8, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Redcoat History Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.