Colonel Edgar O'Ballance (born 17 July 1918, Dublin, Ireland - died 8 July 2009, Wakebridge, Derbyshire, England) was a British military journalist, researcher, defence commentator and academic lecturer specialising in international relations and defence problems.

He served in the British and Indian armies until 1948. 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

International Institute for Strategic Studies

The International Institute for Strategic Studies is a British research institute in the area of international affairs. It describes itself as "the world’s leading authority on political-military conflict"...

 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

Muammar al-Gaddafi

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...

 while on the lecture circuit in the USA. The then-U.S. president, Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

, picked it up and used the phrase himself in April 1986.

Books

• No Victor, No Vanquished: the Yom Kippur War ISBN 0891410171
• Malaya: The Communist insurgent war, 1948–1960
• The Arab-Israeli War
• 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
• Korea: 1950-1953 - 1969 ISBN 0898748852
• 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. ISBN 0312125038
• Wars in the Caucasus, 1990-1995 - 1997. ISBN 96042273
• The Palestinian Intifada 1998
• Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92 - 1998. ISBN 0312215932
• The Congo-Zaire experience, 1960-98 - 2000. ISBN 0312227957
• Afghan Wars: 1839 To the Present Day - 2002. ISBN 1857533089
• The cyanide war : Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka, 1973-88. London: Brassey's (UK). ISBN 9780080366951.