Guerrilla warfare

:Guerrilla War redirects here. See also Guerrilla War (arcade game).

Examples

Examples of successful guerrilla warfare:

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• Algeria
• Angola
• the First Boer War
• Indonesia
• Mozambique
• portions of the Wars of Scottish Independence; notably, actions led by Robert the Bruce
• Anglo-Irish War 1919-1921
• Viet-Cong forces throughout the Vietnam War in the early 1960s.

In many cases, guerrilla tactics allow a small force to hold off a much larger and better equipped enemy for a long time, as in the Second Chechen War and the Second Seminole War.

Related Topics:
Second Chechen War - Second Seminole War

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Guerrillas in Europe

Introduction

The well-known first aspects of guerrilla warfare occurred in what is now Israel with the guerrilla leader Judas Maccabaeus, described in the books of Maccabees in the Apocrypha in the Bible. For years he fought off the Seleucids. In centuries of history, many guerrilla movements appeared in Europe to fight foreign occupation forces. The tactics of Roman dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus against Hannibal could be considered a predecessor of guerrilla tactics. In expanding their own Empire, the Romans encountered numerous examples of guerrilla resistance to their legions. During The Deluge in Poland guerrilla tactics were applied. In the 19th century, peoples of the Balkans used guerrilla tactics to fight the Ottoman empire. In 17th century Ireland, Irish irregulars called tories and rapparees used guerrilla warfare in the Irish Confederate Wars and the Williamite war in Ireland. In India in the 17th Century an Indian self-proclaimed leader and king "Shivaji Bhonsle" revolted against the ruling Mughal using guerrilla tactics.

Related Topics:
Israel - Judas Maccabaeus - Maccabees - Apocrypha - Bible - Seleucid - Roman dictator - Quintus Fabius Maximus - Hannibal - The Deluge - Poland - 19th century - Balkans - Ottoman empire - 17th century - Ireland - Tories - Rapparees - Irish Confederate Wars - Williamite war in Ireland - Shivaji

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Europe 1800 – 1900

Napoleonic Wars

In the Napoleonic Wars many of the armies lived off the land. This often led to some resistance by the local population if the army did not pay fair prices for produce they consumed. Usually this resistance was sporadic, and not very successful, so is not classified as guerrilla action. There are three notable exceptions though:

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• The rebellion in the Tyrol of 1809 led by Andréas Hofer.
• In Napoleon's invasion of Russia of 1812 two actions were ordered by Tsar Alexander which could be seen as initiating guerrilla tactics. The Burning of Moscow after it had been occupied by the Napoleon's Grand Army, so depriving the French of shelter in the city, is a classic guerrilla action. The second was his imperial command that the Russian serfs should attack the French. This did not so much spark a guerrilla war as encourage a revengeful slaughter.
• In the Peninsular War the British gave aid to the Spanish guerrillas who tied down tens of thousands of French troops. The British gave this aid because it cost them much less than it would have done to equip British soldiers to face the French troops in conventional warfare. This was one of the most successful partisan wars in history and is the origin of the word guerrilla in the English language.

Others

The Poles used guerrilla warfare during the January Uprising.

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Europe 1900 – 2000

Anglo–Irish War

The wars between Ireland and the United Kingdom have been long and over the centuries have covered the full spectrum of the types of warfare. The Irish fought the first successful 20th century war of independence against the British Empire and the United Kingdom. After the military failure of the Easter Rising in 1916, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) resorted to guerrilla tactics involving both urban warfare and flying columns in the countryside during the Anglo-Irish War (War of Independence) of 1919 to 1921. The British security forces were fought to a standstill and the government of the UK agreed to meet representatives of the Irish uprising to negotiate a settlement. The settlement which resulted — the Anglo-Irish Treaty — satisfied few. It created the Irish Free State of 26 counties as a dominion in the British Empire; the other 6 counties remained part of the UK. The IRA fought an unsuccessful Civil War (1921-23) against the Irish free staters using tactics similar to those used against the British but lost. The partition of Ireland laid the seeds for the later troubles.

Related Topics:
Easter Rising - 1916 - Irish Republican Army - Urban warfare - Flying column - Anglo-Irish War - 1919 - 1921 - Anglo-Irish Treaty - Irish Free State - Civil War - Troubles

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World War II

In World War II, several guerrilla organisations (often known as resistance movements) operated in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany. These included the Polish Home Army, Soviet partisans, Yugoslav Partisans, Bulgarian NOVA ,French resistance or Maquis, Italian partisans, ELAS and royalist forces in Greece. Many of these organisations received help from the Special Operations Executive (SOE) which along with the commandos was initiated by Winston Churchill to ""set Europe ablaze". The SOE was originally designated as 'Section D' of MI6 but its aid to resistance movements to start fires clashed with MI6's primary role as an intelligence gathering agency. When Britain was under threat of invasion, SOE created Auxiliary Units to conduct guerrilla warfare in the event of invasion. Not only did SOE help the resistance to tie down many German units as garrison troops, so directly aiding the conventional war effort, but also guerrilla incidents in occupied countries were useful in the propaganda war, helping to repudiate German claims that the occupied countries were pacified and broadly on the side of the Germans. When the USA entered the war the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) co-operated and enhanced the work of SOE as well as working on its own initiatives in the Far East.

Related Topics:
World War II - Resistance movements - Nazi Germany - Home Army - Soviet partisans - Yugoslav Partisans - French resistance - Maquis - Italian partisan - ELAS - Greece - Special Operations Executive - Commandos - Winston Churchill - MI6 - Auxiliary Units - USA - Office of Strategic Services

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Japans invasion of China also prompted guerilla activity in rural areas of occupied China.

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Post World War II

After World War II, during 1940s and 1950s, thousands of fighters in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania participated in unsuccessful guerrilla warfare against Soviet occupation.

Related Topics:
1940s - 1950s - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania

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In the late 1960s the Troubles started in Northern Ireland. They had their seeds in the Anglo-Irish War, and came to an end with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in the mid-1990s (1998). The peace is fragile and it is too early to tell if a permanent end to the conflict has occurred and which group, if any, won. Although both loyalist and republican paramilitaries carried out terrorist atrocities against civilians which were often tit-for-tat, a case can be made for saying that attacks such as the Provisional IRA carried out on British soldiers at Warrenpoint in 1979 was a well planned guerrilla ambush http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/27/newsid_3891000/3891055.stm. The Provisional IRA, Loyalist paramilitaries and various anti-Good Friday Agreement splinter-groups could be called guerrillas but are usually called terrorists by both the British and Irish governments. The news media such as the BBC and CNN will often use the term "gunmen" as in "IRA gunmen" http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/troubles/hungerstrikes/negotiations.shtml or "Loyalist gunmen" http://www.cnn.com/almanac/9611/27/ committed a "terrorist" act. Since 1995 CNN also uses guerrilla as in "IRA guerrilla" and "Protestant guerrilla" http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/27/n.ireland.killing/. Reuters, in accordance with its principle of not using the word terrorist except in direct quotes, refers to "guerrilla groups"http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=584330§ion=news.

Related Topics:
1960s - The Troubles - Northern Ireland - Good Friday Agreement - Mid-1990s - Civilian - Provisional IRA - Warrenpoint - 1979 - IRA - Loyalist - Paramilitaries - British - Irish - BBC - CNN - Reuters

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Europe post-2000

Currently, the Basque ETA and Corsican FLNC and other groups such as the Greek Marxist Revolutionary Organization 17 November claim to be guerrillas, but are commonly recognized as terrorists since they almost exclusively murder civilians instead of attacking legitimate military targets, and this is how the governments and media of their respective countries prefer to refer to them.

Related Topics:
Basque - ETA - Corsica - FLNC - Greek - Marxist - Revolutionary Organization 17 November - Terrorists

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The ongoing war between pro-independence groups in Chechnya and the Russian government is currently the most active guerrilla war in Europe. Most of the incidents reported by the Western news media are very gory terrorist acts against Russian civilians committed by Chechen separatists outside Chechnya. However, within Chechnya the war has many of the characteristics of a classic guerrilla war. See the article History of Chechnya for more details.

Related Topics:
Chechnya - History of Chechnya

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Guerrillas in the American Revolutionary War

While the American Revolutionary War is often thought of as a guerrilla war, guerrilla tactics were uncommon, and almost all of the battles involved conventional set-piece battles. Some of the confusion may be due to the fact that generals George Washington and Nathaniel Greene successfully used a strategy of harassment and progressively grinding down British forces instead of seeking a decisive battle, in a classic example of asymmetric warfare. Nevertheless the theater tactics used by most of the American forces were those of conventional warfare. One of the exceptions was in the south, where the brunt of the war was upon militia forces who fought the enemy British troops and their Loyalist supporters, but used concealment, surprise, and other guerrilla tactics to much advantage. General Francis Marion of South Carolina, who often attacked the British at unexpected places and then would fade into the swamps by the time the British were able to get organized enough to return fire, was named by them The Swamp Fox. However, even in the south, most of the major engagements were set-piece battles of conventional warfare.

Related Topics:
American Revolutionary War - George Washington - Nathaniel Greene - Asymmetric warfare - Militia - British - Loyalist - Francis Marion - South Carolina

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See also Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, for another Revolutionary example.

Related Topics:
Ethan Allen - Green Mountain Boys

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Guerrillas in the American Civil War

Irregular warfare in the American Civil War followed the strictures of irregular warfare in 19th century Europe. Structually, irregular warfare can be divided into three different types conducted during the Civil War: 'People's War,' 'partisan warfare,' and 'raiding warfare.' The concept of 'People's war,' first described by Clausewitz in On War, was the closest example of a mass guerrilla movement in the era. In general, this type of irregular warfare was conducted in the hinterland of the Border States (Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and northwestern Virginia), and was marked by a vicious neighbor against neighbor quality. One such example was the opposing irregular forces operating in Missouri and northern Arkansas from 1862 to 1865, most of which were pro-Confederate or pro-Union in name only and preyed on civilians and isolated military forces of both sides with little regard of politics. From these semi-organized guerrillas, several groups formed and were given some measure of legitimacy by their governments. Quantrill's Raiders, who terrorized pro-Union civilians and fought Federal troops in large areas of Missouri and Kansas, was one such unit. Another notorious unit, with debatable ties to the Confederate military, was led by Champ Ferguson along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Ferguson became one of the only figures of Confederate cause to be executed after the war.

Related Topics:
American Civil War - 1862 - 1865 - Confederate - Union - Quantrill's Raiders - Champ Ferguson

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Partisan warfare, in contrast, more closely resembles Commando operations of the Twentieth Century. Partisans were small units of conventional forces, controlled and organized by a military force for operations behind enemy lines. The 1862 Partisan Ranger Act passed by the Confederate Congress authorized the formation of these units and gave them legitimacy, which placed them in a different category than the common 'bushwhacker' or 'guerrilla.' John Singleton Mosby formed a partisan unit during the American Civil War, which was very effective in tying down Federal forces behind Union lines in northern Virginia in the last two years of the war.

Related Topics:
John Singleton Mosby - American Civil War

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Lastly, deep raids by conventional cavalry forces were often considered 'irregular' in nature. The "Partisan Brigades" of Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Hunt Morgan operated as part of the cavalry forces of the Confederate Army of Tennessee in 1862 and 1863. They were given specific missions to destroy logistical hubs, railroad bridges, and other strategic targets to support the greater mission of the Army of Tennessee. By mid-1863, with the destruction of Morgan's raiders during the Great Raid of 1863, the Confederacy conducted few deep cavalry raids in the latter years of the war, mostly due to the losses in experienced horsemen and the offensive operations of the Union army. Federal cavalry conducted several successful raids during the war but in general used their cavalry forces in a more conventional role. A good exception was the 1863 Grierson's Raid, which did much to set the stage for General Ulysses S. Grant's victory during the Vicksburg Campaign.

Related Topics:
Nathan Bedford Forrest - John Hunt Morgan - Confederate Army of Tennessee - 1862 - 1863 - Great Raid of 1863 - Grierson's Raid - Ulysses S. Grant - Vicksburg Campaign

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Federal counter-guerrilla operations were very successful in preventing the success of Confederate guerrilla warfare. In Arkansas, Federal forces used a wide variety of strategies to defeat irregulars. These included the use of Arkansas Unionist forces as anti-guerrilla troops, the use of riverine forces such as gunboats to control the waterways, and the provost marshal military law enforcement system to spy on suspected guerrillas and to imprison those captured. Against Confederate raiders, the Federal army developed an effective cavalry themselves and reinforced that system by a large number of blockhouses and fortification to defend strategic targets. Federal attempts to defeat Mosby's Partisan Rangers fell short of success due to Mosby's use of very small units (10–15 men) operating in areas considered friendly to the Rebel cause.

Related Topics:
Arkansas - Unionist - Provost marshal

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In the late 20th century several historians have focused on the non-use of guerrilla warfare to prolong the war. Near the end of the war, there were those in the Confederate government, namely Jefferson Davis who advocated continuing the southern fight as a guerrilla conflict. He was opposed by generals such as Robert E. Lee who ultimately believed that surrender and reconciliation were better than guerrilla warfare.

Related Topics:
20th century - Confederate - Jefferson Davis - Robert E. Lee

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Guerrillas in Latin America

In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Latin America had a number of urban guerrilla movements whose strategy was to destabilize regimes and provoke a counter-reaction by the military. The theory was that a harsh military regime would oppress the middle classes who would then support the guerrillas and create a popular uprising.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1970s - 1980s - Latin America - Urban guerrilla - Middle class

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While these movements did destabilize governments, such as Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, and Peru to the point of military intervention, the military generally proceeded to completely wipe out the guerrilla movements, usually committing several atrocities among both civilians and armed insurgents in the process.

Related Topics:
Argentina - Uruguay - Guatemala - Peru - Atrocities

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Several other left-wing guerrilla movements, often backed by Cuba and/or the Soviet Union, attempted to overthrow US-backed right-wing military dictatorships, whilst US-backed Contra guerrillas attempted to overthrow the left-wing elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

Related Topics:
Left-wing - Cuba - Soviet Union - Right-wing - Dictatorship - Contra - Sandinista

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Guerrillas and the Vietnam War

Within the United States, the Vietnam War is commonly thought of as a guerrilla war. However this is a simplification of a much more complex situation which followed the pattern outlined by Maoist theory.

Related Topics:
United States - Vietnam War

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The National Liberation Front (NLF), drawing its ranks from the South Vietnamese peasantry and working class, used guerrilla tactics in the early phases of the war. However, by 1965 when U.S. involvement escalated, the National Liberation Front was in the process of being supplanted by regular units of the North Vietnamese Army.

Related Topics:
National Liberation Front - 1965 - North Vietnamese Army

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The NVA regiments organized along traditional military lines, were supplied via the Ho Chi Minh trail rather than living off the land, and had access to weapons such as tanks and artillery which are not normally used by guerrilla forces.

Related Topics:
NVA - Ho Chi Minh trail - Tank - Artillery

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Over time, more of the fighting was conducted by the North Vietnamese Army and the character of the war become increasingly conventional. The final offensive into South Vietnam in 1975 was a completely conventional military operation with no elements of guerrilla warfare.

Related Topics:
South Vietnam - 1975

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By the end of the Vietnam War, U.S.-led forces had killed or incapacitated a large share of the NLF's guerrilla fighters.

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Guerrilla warfare in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Kurdish Northern Iraq

Guerrilla warfare formed an integral part of the US/NATO military campaigns in Kosovo in the late 1990s and Afghanistan in 2001, which created a unique style of warfare which combined low technology guerrilla warfare with high technology air power. In these campaigns, guerrilla fighters with coordination from special forces would engage the enemy forcing them to move out into the open where they could be destroyed using air power supplied by the United States. In both cases, the guerrillas were able to take advantage of their local knowledge and willingness to

Related Topics:
1990s - 2001 - Special force - United States

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take casualties to great effect when supplemented by outside air power. In Kosovo the Kosovo Liberation Army, a separatist paramilitary, was aided by the NATO air forces. In Afghanistan numerous anti-Taliban militias (consisting of regular soldiers and guerrillas), including the Afghan Northern Alliance, were aided by US air power.

Related Topics:
Kosovo Liberation Army - NATO - Afghanistan - Taliban - Afghan Northern Alliance

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This formula was used again, in War on Iraq, against the Iraqi Army by Kurdish Peshmerga guerrillas with the aid of U.S. special forces and the U.S. Air Force.

Related Topics:
War on Iraq - Peshmerga - U.S. Air Force

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