Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military. Guerrilla groups are a type of violent non-state actor.

"Guerrilla" and "Guerrilla War" redirect here. For other uses, see Guerrilla (disambiguation).
Spanish guerrilla resistance to the Napoleonic French invasion of Spain in 1808, where the term guerrilla was first used in warfare
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War

Etymology

The Spanish word guerrilla is the diminutive form of guerra ('war'). The term became popular during the early-19th century Peninsular War, when the Spanish and Portuguese people rose against the Napoleonic troops and fought against a highly superior army using the guerrilla strategy. In correct Spanish usage, a person who is a member of a guerrilla unit is a guerrillero ([ɣeriˈʎeɾo]) if male, or a guerrillera ([ɣeriˈʎeɾa]) if female.

The term guerrilla was used in English as early as 1809 to refer to the individual fighters (e.g., "The town was taken by the guerrillas"), and also (as in Spanish) to denote a group or band of such fighters. However, in most languages guerrilla still denotes the specific style of warfare. The use of the diminutive evokes the differences in number, scale, and scope between the guerrilla army and the formal, professional army of the state.[1]

Strategy, tactics and methods
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Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War in South Africa
See also: Strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare

Strategy

Guerrilla warfare is a type of asymmetric warfare: competition between opponents of unequal strength.[2] It is also a type of irregular warfare: that is, it aims not simply to defeat an enemy, but to win popular support and political influence, to the enemy's cost.[3] Accordingly, guerrilla strategy aims to magnify the impact of a small, mobile force on a larger, more-cumbersome one.[4] If successful, guerrillas weaken their enemy by attrition, eventually forcing them to withdraw.

See also: Asymmetric warfare

Tactics

Tactically, guerrillas usually avoid confrontation with large units and formations of enemy troops but seek and attack small groups of enemy personnel and resources to gradually deplete the opposing force while minimizing their own losses. The guerrilla prizes mobility, secrecy, and surprise, organizing in small units and taking advantage of terrain that is difficult for larger units to use. For example, Mao Zedong summarized basic guerrilla tactics at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War as:

"The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue."[5]:p. 124

At least one author credits the ancient Chinese work The Art of War with inspiring Mao's tactics.[6]:pp. 6–7 In the 20th century, other communist leaders, including North Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh, often used and developed guerrilla warfare tactics, which provided a model for their use elsewhere, leading to the Cuban "foco" theory and the anti-Soviet Mujahadeen in Afghanistan.[6]

Unconventional methods

In addition to traditional military methods, guerrilla groups may rely also on destroying infrastructure, using improvised explosive devices, for example. They typically also rely on logistical and political support from the local population and foreign backers, are often embedded within it (thereby using the population as a human shield), and many guerrilla groups are adept at public persuasion through propaganda and use of force.[7] Many guerrilla movements today also rely heavily on children as combatants, scouts, porters, spies, informants, and in other roles.[8] It has drawn international condemnation.[9] Many states also recruit children into their armed forces.[10]

Some guerrilla groups also use refugees as weapons to solidify power or politically destabilize an adversary. The FARC guerrilla war displaced millions of Colombians, and so did the tribal guerrilla warfare (against Soviets) in Afghanistan.[11] The civilian population living in the area is suspected of having collaborated [Awa tribe in southwest Colombia] with the enemy ["Colombia"] find ["unprotected"] itself displaced [resulting FARC solidify the power], as the guerrillas fight for territory.[12]

Comparison of guerrilla warfare and terrorism

There is no commonly accepted definition of "terrorism",[13][14][15] and the term is frequently used as a political tactic by belligerents (most often by governments in power) to denounce opponents whose status as terrorists is disputed.[16][17]

Contrary to some terrorist groups, guerrillas usually work in open positions as armed units, try to hold and seize land, do not refrain from fighting enemy military force in battle and usually apply pressure to control or dominate territory and population. While the primary concern of guerrillas is the enemy's active military units, terrorists largely are concerned with non-military agents and target mostly civilians. Guerrilla forces principally fight in accordance with the law of war (jus in bello). In this sense, they respect the rights of innocent civilians by refraining from targeting them.[18]

Growth during the 20th century
Zhu De wrote the book Guerrilla War in November 1938.

Irregular warfare, based on elements later characteristic of modern guerrilla warfare, has existed throughout the battles of many ancient civilizations. The growth of guerrilla warfare in the 20th century was inspired in part by theoretical works on guerrilla warfare, starting with the Manual de Guerra de Guerrillas by Matías Ramón Mella written in the 19th century and, more recently, Mao Zedong's On Guerrilla Warfare, Che Guevara's Guerrilla Warfare, and Lenin's text of the same name, all written after the successful revolutions carried by them in China, Cuba and Russia, respectively. Those texts characterized the tactic of guerrilla warfare as, according to Che Guevara's text, being "used by the side which is supported by a majority but which possesses a much smaller number of arms for use in defense against oppression".[19]

History
Main article: History of guerrilla warfare
Sebastiaan Vrancx and Jan Brueghel the Elder's painting depicts "An assault on a convoy" during the Dutch Revolt – effectively an instance of guerrilla warfare, though the term did not yet exist.

The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War (6th century BC), was one of the earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare.[20] This directly inspired the development of modern guerrilla warfare.[21] Guerrilla tactics were presumably employed by prehistoric tribal warriors against enemy tribes.[22] Evidence of conventional warfare, on the other hand, did not emerge until 3100 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Since the Enlightenment, ideologies such as nationalism, liberalism, socialism, and religious fundamentalism have played an important role in shaping insurgencies and guerrilla warfare.

In the 3rd century BC, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, widely regarded as the "father of guerrilla warfare",[23] devised the Fabian strategy which was used to great effect against Hannibal Barca's army.[24][25] The strategy would further influence guerrilla tactics into the modern era.[23]

In the 17th century, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha Empire pioneered Shiva sutra or Ganimi Kava (guerrilla tactics) to defeat larger and more powerful armies of the Mughal Empire.[26]

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja used guerrilla techniques in his war against British East India Company between 1790-1805. The term guerrilla war was coined in English in 1809 after the Pazhassi revolt against the British. Arthur Wellesley was in charge to defeat his techniques but failed.

The Moroccan national hero Abd el-Krim, along with his father, unified the Moroccan tribes under their control and took up arms against the Spanish and French invaders during the early 20th century. For the first time in history, tunnel warfare was used alongside modern guerrilla tactics, which caused considerable damage and annoyance to both invading armies in Morocco. [27]

Michael Collins (early 20th century) developed many tactical features of this combat system during the guerrilla phase of the Irish Civil War.

Foco theory
Main article: Foco
A Tuareg rebel fighter in northern Niger, 2008

Why does the guerrilla fighter fight? We must come to the inevitable conclusion that the guerrilla fighter is a social reformer, that he takes up arms responding to the angry protest of the people against their oppressors, and that he fights in order to change the social system that keeps all his unarmed brothers in ignominy and misery.

— Che Guevara[28]

In the 1960s, the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara developed the foco (Spanish: foquismo) theory of revolution in his book Guerrilla Warfare, based on his experiences during the 1959 Cuban Revolution. This theory was later formalised as "focal-ism" by Régis Debray. Its central principle is that vanguardism by cadres of small, fast-moving paramilitary groups can provide a focus for popular discontent against a sitting regime, and thereby lead a general insurrection. Although the original approach was to mobilize and launch attacks from rural areas, many foco ideas were adapted into urban guerrilla warfare movements.

gollark: I mean, mine "work".
gollark: Just test better?
gollark: Do you NOT have your own automated tests, LyricLy?
gollark: #13 is most palaiologistic at the surface level, but they probably made #6.
gollark: Probably, they're complicated.

See also

References
  1. "guerrilla". Origin and meaning of guerrilla by Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. Tomes, Robert (Spring 2004). "Relearning Counterinsurgency Warfare" (PDF). Parameters. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2010.
  3. The Irregular Warrior, 4 October 2015 [1]
  4. Van Creveld, Martin (2000). "Technology and War II:Postmodern War?". In Charles Townshend (ed.). The Oxford History of Modern War. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 356–358. ISBN 978-0-19-285373-8.
  5. Mao Tse-tung, "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire", Selected Works, Eng. ed., FLP, Peking, 1965, Vol. I.
  6. McNeilly, Mark. Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare, 2003, p. 204. "American arming and support of the anti-Soviet Mujahadeen in Afghanistan is another example."
  7. Detsch, J (11 July 2017). "Pentagon braces for Islamic State insurgency after Mosul". Al-Monitor. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  8. Child Soldiers International (2016). "A law unto themselves? Confronting the recruitment of children by armed groups". Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  9. United Nations Secretary-General (2017). "Report of the Secretary-General: Children and armed conflict, 2017". www.un.org. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  10. Child Soldiers International (2012). "Louder than words: An agenda for action to end state use of child soldiers". Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  11. Allan, Pierre; Stahel, Albert A. (1983). "Tribal Guerrilla Warfare against a Colonial Power: Analyzing the War in Afghanistan". The Journal of Conflict Resolution. 27 (4): 590. doi:10.1177/0022002783027004002. ISSN 0022-0027. JSTOR 173887.
  12. "Guerrilla war displaces millions of Colombians - CNN.com". edition.cnn.com.
  13. Emmerson, B (2016). "Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism" (PDF). www.un.org. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  14. Halibozek, Edward P.; Jones, Andy; Kovacich, Gerald L. (2008). The corporate security professional's handbook on terrorism (illustrated ed.). Elsevier (Butterworth-Heinemann). pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-7506-8257-2. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  15. Williamson, Myra (2009). Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-7403-0.
  16. Sinclair, Samuel Justin; Antonius, Daniel (7 May 2012). The Psychology of Terrorism Fears. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-538811-4.
  17. Rowe, P (2002). "Freedom fighters and rebels: the rules of civil war". J R Soc Med. 95 (1): 3–4. doi:10.1258/jrsm.95.1.3. PMC 1279138. PMID 11773342.
  18. "The Differences Between the Guerrilla Warfare and Terrorism". 25 September 2017.
  19. Guevara, Ernesto; Loveman, Brian; Thomas m. Davies, Jr (1985). Guerrilla Warfare. ISBN 9780842026789.
  20. Leonard, Thomas M., Encyclopedia of the developing world, 1989, p. 728. "One of the earliest proponents of guerrilla war tactics is the Chinese master of warfare, Sun Tzu."
  21. Snyder, Craig. Contemporary security and strategy, 1999, p. 46. "Many of Sun Tzu's strategic ideas were adopted by the practitioners of guerrilla warfare."
  22. Lawrence H. Keeley, War Before Civilization, p.75, Oxford University Press, 1997
    "Primitive (and guerrilla) warfare consists of war stripped to its essentials: the murder of enemies; the theft or destruction of their sustenance, wealth, and essential resources; and the inducement in them of insecurity and terror. It conducts the basic business of war without recourse to ponderous formations or equipment, complicated maneuvers, strict chains of command, calculated strategies, time tables, or other civilized embellishments."
  23. Laqueur, Walter (1976). Guerrilla Warfare: A Historical & Critical Study. Transaction Publishers. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-76-580406-8.
  24. Joseph J. Ellis (2004). His Excellency. Vintage Books. pp. 92–109. ISBN 978-1-4000-3253-2.
  25. Laqueur, Walter (1976). Guerrilla Warfare: A Historical & Critical Study. Transaction Publishers. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-7658-0406-8.
  26. James Grant Duff (2014). The History Of The Mahrattas. Pickle Partners Publishing. p. 376. ISBN 9781782892335.
  27. Boot, Max (2013). Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present. Liveright. pp. 10–11, 55. ISBN 978-0-87140-424-4.
  28. Guevara, Ernesto; Davies, Thomas M. Guerrilla Warfare, Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, ISBN 0-8420-2678-9, p. 52

Further reading
  • Asprey, Robert. War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History
  • Beckett, I. F. W. (15 September 2009). Encyclopedia of Guerrilla Warfare (Hardcover). Santa Barbara, California: Abc-Clio Inc. ISBN 978-0874369298. ISBN 9780874369298
  • Derradji Abder-Rahmane, The Algerian Guerrilla Campaign Strategy & Tactics, the Edwin Mellen Press, New York, USA, 1997.
  • Hinckle, Warren (with Steven Chain and David Goldstein): Guerrilla-Krieg in USA (Guerrilla war in the USA), Stuttgart (Deutsche Verlagsanstalt) 1971. ISBN 3-421-01592-9
  • Keats, John (1990). They Fought Alone. Time Life. ISBN 0-8094-8555-9
  • MacDonald, Peter. Giap: The Victor in Vietnam
  • The Heretic: the life and times of Josip Broz-Tito.
  • Oller, John. The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution. Boston: Da Capo Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0-306-82457-9.
  • Peers, William R.; Brelis, Dean. Behind the Burma Road: The Story of America's Most Successful Guerrilla Force. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1963.
  • Polack, Peter. Guerrilla Warfare; Kings of Revolution Casemate,ISBN 9781612006758.
  • Thomas Powers, "The War without End" (review of Steve Coll, Directorate S: The CIA and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Penguin, 2018, 757 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no. 7 (19 April 2018), pp. 42–43. "Forty-plus years after our failure in Vietnam, the United States is again fighting an endless war in a faraway place against a culture and a people we don't understand for political reasons that make sense in Washington, but nowhere else." (p. 43.)
  • Schmidt, LS. 1982. "American Involvement in the Filipino Resistance on Mindanao During the Japanese Occupation, 1942-1945". M.S. Thesis. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. 274 pp.
  • Sutherland, Daniel E. "Sideshow No Longer: A Historiographical Review of the Guerrilla War." Civil War History 46.1 (2000): 5-23; American Civil War, 1861–65
  • Sutherland, Daniel E. A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War (U of North Carolina Press, 2009). online
  • Weber, Olivier, Afghan Eternity, 2002

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