Major Edgar "Paddy" O'Ballance (17 July 1918, Dublin, Ireland – 8 July 2009, Wakebridge, Derbyshire, EnglandThe Times obituary) was an Irish-born British military journalist, researcher, defence commentator and academic lecturer specialising in international relations and defence problems.
Life He was emergency commissioned a Second Lieutenant from Sergeant in the Sherwood Foresters on 19 January 1941.London Gazette 13 March 1942 As a temporary Major he was mentioned in dispatches for service in Palestine between 27 March and 30 June 1948.London Gazette 7 January 1949
He served in the British army until 1948.
In April 1953 he was commissioned into the Territorial Army as a captain, serving with the Sherwood Foresters.London Gazette 2 June 1963 He was promoted major in March 1955.London Gazette 31 May 1955 In June 1963 he transferred from the Sherwood Foresters to the General List.London Gazette 27 July 1963 In July 1965 he was awarded the Territorial Efficiency Decoration.London Gazette 16 July 1965
In 1968 he transferred from the General List (Territorial Army) to the General List (Regular Army Reserve of Officers) and having achieved the age limit on 17 July 1968 (his 50th birthday) retired retaining the rank of major.London Gazette 12 November 1968
He worked as a journalist for a US Wire Agency from 1948 to 1962, and was thereafter a freelance journalist. He covered over twenty wars and insurgencies and wrote extensively on international relations, defence and strategic problems. He was a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Chairman of the London-based Military Commentators' Circle. He wrote many articles for military journals and was the author of over forty books.
Mad dog of the Middle East O'Ballance was the originator of the phrase "mad dog of the Middle East" when referring to Muammar al-Gaddafi while on the lecture circuit in the USA. The then-U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, picked it up and used the phrase himself in April 1986.
Books No Victor, No Vanquished: the Yom Kippur War Malaya: The Communist insurgent war, 1948–1960 The Arab-Israeli War 1948 The Sinai Campaign, 1956 The Red Army The Red Army of China The Story of the French Foreign Legion The Indo-China War, 1945–54 The Greek Civil War, 1944–1949 – 1966 The Algerian Insurrection 1954–1962 – 1967 Korea: 1950–1953 – 1969 The War in Yemen – 1971 The Third Arab-Israeli war – 1972 The Kurdish Revolt: 1961–1970 – 1973 Arab guerilla power, 1967–1972 – 1974 The Electronic War in the Middle East, 1968–70 – 1974 The secret war in the Sudan, 1955–1972 – 1977 Language of Violence: The blood politics of terrorism – 1979 The Wars in Vietnam – 1981 The US rapid deployment force – 1981 Terror in Ireland: The Heritage of Hate – 1984 The Gulf War – 1988 Civil War in Bosnia, 1992–94 – 1995. Wars in the Caucasus, 1990–1995 – 1997. The Palestinian Intifada 1998 Civil War in Lebanon, 1975–92 – 1998. The Congo-Zaire experience, 1960–98 – 2000. Afghan Wars: 1839 To the Present Day – 2002. The cyanide war : Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka, 1973–88. London: Brassey's (UK).
See also Black July Lebanese Civil War
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