Rupert Smith

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Sir Rupert Smith (born 1943) was a general in the British Army until his retirement in 2002.

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 Sarejevo. 1996-1998 he was Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland. His final assignment was as Deputy Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe 1998-2001, covering NATO's Operation Allied Force during the Kosovo war, and the development of the European Security and Defence Identity.

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.