Guerrilla
Guerrilla isterm inventedSpaindescribetactics usedresist French regime instituted by Napoleon Bonaparte (one should however remember, thattactics themselves were knownused even centuries earlier). The Spanish word means "little war". Guerrilla warfare operatessmall, mobileflexible combat groups called cells, withoutfront line. Primary contributorstheoriesguerrilla war include Mao ZedongChe Guevara. Guerrilla warfareone ofoldest formsasymmetric warfare.
Guerrilla tacticsbased on ambushsabotage,their ultimate objectiveusuallydestabilize an authority through long, low-intensity confrontation. It can be quite successful against an unpopular foreign regime: guerrilla army may increasecostmaintaining an occupation orcolonial presence above whatforeign power may wishbear.
Examplessuccessful guerrilla warfare include conflictsIndonesia, Angola, MozambiqueAlgeria. However,has generally been unsuccessful against native regimes, which have nowhereretreat to. The rare examplessuccessful guerrilla warfare againstnative regime include CubaChina. More common areunsuccessful examples which include Malaysia, Bolivia, Argentina, andPhilippines.
Guerrillaswars against foreign powers do not principally direct their attacks at civilians, asdesireobtain as much support as possible frompopulation as parttheir tactics. Civiliansprimarily attacked or assassinated as punishmentcollaboration. Often such an attack will be officially sanctioned by guerrilla command or tribunal. An exceptionin civil wars, where both guerrilla groupsorganized armies have been knowncommit atrocities againstcivilian population.
Guerrillasoften characterised as terrorists by their opponents. Guerrillasin particular dangernot being recognized as combatants because theyoutnumberedmay take off their uniformsmingle withlocal population. Guerrillasusually classified as unlawful enemy combatants.
Guerrillas usually control rural areaslotsplaceshide, such as forestsmountains. Guerrillas rely onfriendly populationprovide supplyintelligence. Oftendifference betweensuccessfuldoomed guerrilla movement isavailabilityoutside logistics support from foreign opponents oflocal regime.
Maoist theorypeople's war divides warfare into three phases. Infirst phase,guerrillas gainsupport ofpopulation through attacks onmachinerygovernment anddistributionpropaganda. Insecond phase, escalating attacksmade ongovernment's militaryvital institutions. Inthird phase, conventional fightingusedseize cities, overthrowgovernmenttake control ofcountry.
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2 Guerillas inAmerican Civil War 3 GuerrillasLatin America 4 Guerrillas andVietnam War |
GuerrillasEurope
In centurieshistory, many guerrilla movements appearedEuropefight foreign occupation forces. During The DelugePoland mostguerrilla tactics were applied. In19th century, peoples ofBalkans usedtacticsfightOttoman empire. The Spanish used itfight Napoleon inPeninsula War.In World War II, several guerrilla movements operated incountries occupied by Nazi Germany. These included Yugoslav partisans, French resistance or Maquis, Italian partisans, ELASroyalist forcesGreece.
Currently,Basque ETACorsican FLNC could be called guerrillas, butgovernments prefercall them terrorists.
Guerillas inAmerican Civil War
GuerrillasLatin America
In1960s, 1970s,1980s, Latin America hadnumberurban guerrilla movements whose strategy wasdestabilize democratic regimesprovokecounter-reaction bymilitary. The theory was thatharsh military regime would oppressmiddle classes who would then supportguerrillascreatepopular uprising.
Unfortunately, while these movements did destabilize governments, such as Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala,Peru topointmilitary intervention,military generally then proceededwipe outguerrilla movements, often committing atrocities among both civilians andarmed insurgents inprocess.
Guerrillas andVietnam War
WithinUnited States,Vietnam Warcommonly thoughtasguerrilla war. However this ismisleading simplification ofmuch more complex situation which followedpattern outlined by Maoist theory.
The Viet Cong or "VC" used guerrilla tactics inearly phases ofwar. However, by 1965 when American involvement escalated,Viet Cong were inprocessbeing supplanted by regular units ofNorth Vietnamese Army.
The NVA regiments organized along traditional military lines, were supplied viaHo Chi Minh trail rather than living offland,had accessweapons such as tanksartillery whichnot normally used by guerrilla forces.
Over time, more offighting was conducted byNorth Vietnamese Army andcharacter ofwar become increasingly conventional. The final offensive into South Vietnam1975 wascompletely conventional military operationno elementsguerrilla warfare.
Byend ofVietnam War, most ofViet Cong had been killedaction or were no longer combat-effective. One offirst acts ofnew North Vietnamese-dominated unified Vietnamese government washunt out former Viet Congimprison themconsolidateregime's hold on South Vietnam.
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