'' The Utility of Force : The Art of War in the Modern World '' is a treatise on modern warfare written by General Sir Rupert Smith and published in 2005 . Smith is a retired general who spent 40 years in the British Army ; he commanded the 1st Armoured Division in the First Gulf War and served as General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland at the end of the Troubles . He was motivated to write the book by his experiences in the Balkans . He commanded the United Nations Protection Force ( UNPROFOR ) in Bosnia from 1995 to 1996 , during which time the Srebrenica massacre occurred and the capital , Sarajevo , was under siege by Serb forces . Smith was instrumental in the lifting of the siege by arranging for NATO air strikes and an artillery barrage . This enabled a ground assault by Bosnian and Croatian forces that ended the siege and led to the Dayton Agreement . Smith 's second involvement with the Balkans was in 1999 during the Kosovo War , when he was serving as NATO 's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe , overseeing air strikes against Serb targets
Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
The Utility of Force