[aricbcool]

Without reading up on it...

I would say the difference is...

For one, a civil war denotes a conflict, an insurgency denotes a group of fighters.

Usually, a civil war involves local people overthrowing government run by local people for control of their own country. It will often involve military units who identify themselves as such and fight in the open.

For example: our own Civil War, (correct me if I'm wrong) the "revolucion" that Castro led against his own Cuba. Another example being our liberation of Afghanistan, which was the US (and others) helping one side of the civil war there.

Like a civil war, an insurgency involves local people overthrowing local government, but usually the government in question is local government run or "installed" by a foreign power. While the government will have military units who identify themselves as such, the insurgents are made of local civilians or foriegn fighters who use org. structures and tactics designed to avoid pitched battles, or controlling territory to focus on attrition and wearing the enemy down.

To add to this, an insurgency can cooperate with a friendly conventional military force to achieve strategic goals. Insurgents can fight as part of a Civil War in this role.

Examples of insurgency or insurgents: The American Revolution (while not necessarily as unconventional as most insurgencies, I think it counts), The French Resistance, The VC in Vietnam, and of course our current situation in Iraq.

--Aric