Comandante Che: Guerrilla Soldier, Commander, and Strategist, 1956-1967

Rating:
Summary: An Honest Military Assessment
Review: A historical figure like Che Guevara can easily become enshrouded in myth and legend. Much of the material written on him focuses on Che the revolutionary or Che the theorist, but they miss the real point. Guevara was first and foremost a soldier and tactician, and that is the emphasis of Paul J. Dosal's level-headed assessment of Guevara as a military figure.

Dosal takes a hard, honest look at Guevara's contributions to history, eschewing image for substance. When one probes beyond Guevara's vitriolic words against capitalism and imperialism, we find a man impatient with debate and theory, and anxious for decisive action and violence. Instead of a live-saving man trained in medicine, Guevara cast himself as a dealer of death in combat.

The Cuban Revolution is examined, from the first disastrous engagement after landing to the deluge of victories over Batista's tottering regime. Dosal supplies helpful and detailed maps of specific engagements and campaigns (some as small as squad-level) to illustrate the action for his readers. I found the maps to be a welcome addition that allowed me to visualize the engagements as they happened. They also made other engagements easier to imagine, because Che's ambushes usually followed a fairly set pattern.

It is refreshing to read a book that is so solidly concerned with Guevara's actions. While Dosal dwells on the development of Guevara's revolutionary philosophy, he also illuminates his record as a commander. Guevara was a superior tactician among his comrades in the Cuban revolution, but he had no subtlety or finesse in the political arena. This shortcoming steadily hindered his efforts after the victory over Batista: first by angering the USSR and China while ostensibly seeking their support for Third World revolution, and second by alienating any Bolivian allies during his ill-fated campaign there.

Che's modest theoretical efforts are reviewed in detail as well, and Dosal makes no effort to portray these contributions as especially original. Instead he points out that Mao Tse-Tung's writings, as well as those of Lawrence of Arabia, originally covered the field of Guerilla Warfare in more detail. Dosal also highlights how the conditions of the Cuban Revolution were unique. Batista's army was well equipped with weapons, but not with the will to fight. Guevara wrongly assumed that every other undeveloped capitalist/authoritarian regime would crumble just as easily. In fact, many of Guevara's theories are based upon this mistaken belief, and explain his awful performance in Bolivia.

The focus is kept tight throughout, and Dosal's findings are not always flattering. Fidel's miscalculations, especially at the beginning of the campaign, are highlighted. Guevara's bravery and natural tactical abilities in conventional and guerilla warfare are never questioned. But his impulsive, arrogant, impatient, and fatalistic traits come to the fore after the Cuban victory. Dosal covers his ineffectual fiasco in Congo. While the results were not entirely his fault, his naïve belief that African nationalists would embrace an Argentine as their leader was the root of his failure there. Dosal reveals how Guevara persisted long after failure seemed certain, and how it almost cost him his life when he refused to leave.

Special attention is paid to the disastrous Bolivian campaign. Many historians hint that Castro had a hand in Guevara's death, but Dosal effectively argues against the notion. Che's own shortcomings as a politician and planner proved to be the root of his failure and death. His tryst with a possible double agent, lack of planning for an urban support network, and insulting behavior toward Bolivian communist leaders all contributed to Guevara's doom. Guevara also violated most of the principles he articulated in his writings. Dosal's honesty about Guevara's character flaws ultimately make Che a more human, compassionate, and tragic figure than a lionizing biography would have.

Overall, Dosal's work rounded out my already considerable knowledge of this remarkable man. It penetrated through the myths to the man and his actions. I was impressed by the detail of the book. If I could name any fault, it is that events at the end of the Cuban campaign seemed to pass too quickly, without the detailed treatment of other battles. But in Dosal's defense, events did unfold in a virtual landslide pace, and the final military collapse of Batista's regime took little more than a month. Commandante Che is a must-read for anyone interested in Che Guevara as a soldier, tactician, and human, with as many flaws as dreams.