General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir Rupert Anthony Smith, (born 13 December 1943) is a retired

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and author of '' The Utility of Force''. He was a senior commander during the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, for which he was recognised with the award of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

(DSO), and again during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...

, for which he was recognised with the award of a bar to his DSO. He later became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Early life and education

Smith was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England on 13 December 1943, the son of Irving Smith and Joan Debenham. His father was a New Zealand

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

in the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

who later led No. 487 Squadron RNZAF before rising to

group captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

in the service of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. Smith was educated at the

Haileybury and Imperial Service College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...

and later at the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

Military career

Smith enlisted in 1962 and graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Parachute Regiment in December 1964. He has served in East and South Africa, Arabia, the Caribbean,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, Europe and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. He was promoted lieutenant in June 1966, captain in December 1970, and major in December 1975. In 1978, when a major, he was awarded the

Queen's Gallantry Medal The King's Gallantry Medal (KGM), formerly the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM), is a United Kingdom decoration awarded for exemplary acts of courage, bravery where the services were not so outstanding as to merit the George Medal, but above the l ...

for services in Northern Ireland. In June 1980 Smith was promoted to lieutenant colonel and, having been appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1982 New Year Honours, was advanced in June 1985 to colonel. His promotion to brigadier came in December 1986. In October 1990 Smith was promoted major general and assumed command of the 1st Armoured Division which he led during the

. For services during the war he was awarded the

(DSO), the United States

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

and the Saudi Order of King Abdulaziz, 3rd Class. The citation for the DSO, published in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'' reads: He became the first Assistant Chief of Defence Operations and Security at the UK Ministry of Defence in August 1992. While there he was intimately involved in the UK's development of the strategy in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In January 1995 he was granted the acting rank of lieutenant general and appointed Commander Bosnia and Herzogovina Command to command

UNPROFOR The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. His lieutenant general rank was made substantive in April 1995, and he was awarded a Bar to his DSO in 1996 for his services in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Knighted as a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

in the 1996 New Year Honours, Smith was

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

from 1996 to 1998. His final assignment, initially as an acting general, was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe between 1998 and 2001, covering

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Operation Allied Force The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...

during the

Kosovo war The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...

, and the development of the European Security and Defence Identity. His general's rank was made substantive on 1 January 1999. His retirement from the army took effect in January 2002. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of Exeter University OTC in June 2003 having held periods of tenure as Colonel Commandant Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (November 1992 to November 1997) and Colonel Commandant The Parachute Regiment (July 1993 to September 1998). He also held the appointment of Aide-de-Camp General to the Queen between August 2000 and November 2001.

Works

* '' The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World'' (Allen Lane, 2005) A treatise on modern warfare, it 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 warfare Industrial warfare is a period in the history of warfare ranging roughly from the early 19th century and the start of the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the Atomic Age, which saw the rise of nation-states, capable of creating and e ...

to the paradigm identified in the book as "war amongst the people"—a situation in which an outcome cannot be resolved directly by military force. The strategies for war amongst the people should be analysed as fighting and winning a linked series of confrontations rather than a series of battles.Confrontation Analysis by Professor Nigel Howard at CCRP
/ref>

References

External links

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, 24 January 2007
Book review in The Guardian
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rupert 1943 births Military personnel from Chelmsford Living people People from Chelmsford British Army generals British Army personnel of the Gulf War British military leaders of the Gulf War British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) British military writers British Parachute Regiment officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Legionnaires of the Legion of Merit NATO military personnel Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Recipients of the Queen's Gallantry Medal Fellows of King's College London 21st-century British Army personnel Military personnel of the Bosnian War Military personnel of the Kosovo War