ABSTRACT

The complex and long-drawn war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended with the defeat of the Tigers in 2009. This book provides a military history of the conflict in tracing its evolution from a battle between a ragtag guerrilla force and a mainly ceremonial army to one between an organized guerrilla force with semi-conventional capability and a state military apparatus that had morphed into a large and potent force with modern armour, aircraft and naval vessels. Using a wide range of sources this book offers an incisive analysis of the progress and conclusion of one of the longest and most destructive wars in modern South Asia.

Comprehensive and accessible, the volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of modern South Asia, especially Sri Lanka, military history, politics, defence and strategic studies, as well as the general reader.

chapter |5 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|22 pages

From assassins to guerrillas

The birth of the Tamil rebellion

chapter 2|20 pages

Learning to fight

The Sri Lankan military

chapter 3|15 pages

The first showdown

‘Operation Liberation'

chapter 4|22 pages

The IPKF interlude and the Tigers' return

chapter 5|15 pages

The army on the offensive

chapter 7|15 pages

A new regime, a new war

chapter 8|21 pages

The problem of the Wanni

chapter 9|9 pages

The East in ferment

chapter 10|16 pages

The rise and fall of the Unceasing Waves

chapter 12|15 pages

The rolling up of the Wanni

chapter 13|22 pages

The last retreat of the Tamil Tigers

chapter |5 pages

Conclusion