Rupert Smith
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| Rupert Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born 1943 | |
 Crown Copyright |
|
| Place of birth | England |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |  British Army |
| Years of service | 1962 – 2002 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | 1st Armoured Division UN forces in Bosnia HQ Northern Ireland 1996–99 Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (NATO) |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order & Bar Officer of the Order of the British Empire Queen's Gallantry Medal |
| Other work | Author |
General Sir Rupert Smith KCB, DSO & Bar, OBE, QGM (born 1943) was an officer in the British Army until his retirement in 2002. He was educated at the Haileybury and Imperial Service College and later at Sandhurst.
Contents |
[edit] Military career
Smith enlisted in 1962 and was commissioned into the Parachute Regiment in 1964. He has served in East and South Africa, Arabia, the Caribbean, Europe and Malaysia. As a major general, Smith commanded the British 1st Armoured Division during the Gulf War (1990–1991). He became the first Assistant Chief of Defence Operations and Security at the UK Ministry of Defence in 1992. While there he was intimately involved in the UK's development of the strategy in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1995 he was Commander UNPROFOR in Sarajevo, and was responsible for breaking the siege of the city by creating the UN Rapid Reaction Force, and ultimately thereby bringing the war to an end. Between 1996 and 1998 he was General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland. His final assignment was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe between 1998 and 2001, covering NATO's Operation Allied Force during the Kosovo war, and the development of the European Security and Defence Identity. He is currently the Honorary Colonel of Exeter UOTC.
[edit] Later life
On 22 January 2007, Smith appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.[1]
[edit] Works
He is the author of The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World (2005, ISBN 0-7139-9836-9), a treatise on modern warfare that explains why the best military forces in the world win their battles but lose the wars. This is due to the paradigm change in military activity, from industrial war to the paradigm identified in the book as "war among the people" -- a situation in which an outcome cannot be resolved directly by military force.
[edit] References
- ^ General Rupert Smith Pt. 1, video interview, at Comedy Central. See also List of The Daily Show guests (2007)
[edit] External links
- Interview: Jasper Gerard meets General Rupert Smith for The Times Online
- The Utility of Force, book review at The Times Online
- The Utility of Force book launch at the Carnegie Council General Sir Rupert Smith Wednesday, January 24, 2007
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Roger Wheeler |
General Officer Commanding the British Army in Northern Ireland 1996—1998 |
Succeeded by Sir Hew Pike |
| Preceded by General Sir Jeremy Mackenzie |
Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1998–2001 |
Succeeded by Dieter Stöckmann |
