Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military , such as rebels, partisans , paramilitary personnel or armed civilians , including recruited children , use ambushes , sabotage , terrorism , raids , petty warfare or hit-and-run tactics in a rebellion , in a violent conflict , in a war or in a civil war to fight against regular military , police or rival insurgent forces.
40-649: The Túpac Katari Guerrilla Army (Ejército Guerrillero Túpac Katari) was a guerrilla movement in Bolivia . Albeit of indigenist inspiration, the movement had a multiracial membership. The organization descended directly from the original revolutionaries trained by Che Guevara in the 1960s. Their objective was to fight for social equality in Bolivia and amongst its indigenous population. They carried out their first attack on July 5, 1991, destroying an electric power pylon in El Alto ,
80-502: A guerrillera ( [geriˈʎeɾa] ) if female. Arthur Wellesley adopted the term "guerrilla" into English from Spanish usage in 1809, to refer to the individual fighters (e.g., "I have recommended to set the Guerrillas to work"), and also (as in Spanish) to denote a group or band of such fighters. However, in most languages guerrilla still denotes a specific style of warfare. The use of
120-464: A conflict between sovereign states. Monarchs strengthened that idea and gave it the force of law . Any noble had been allowed to start a war, but European monarchs had to consolidate military power in response to the Napoleonic Wars . Prussia was one of the countries that tried to amass military power. Carl von Clausewitz , one of Prussia's officers, wrote On War , a work rooted solely in
160-687: A few times (the latest known confrontation in which it was utilized being the Syrian Civil War ). Nuclear warfare has only occurred once: the American bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The state and Clausewitzian principles peaked in the World Wars , during the 20th century, but they also laid the groundwork for their dilapidation from nuclear proliferation . During
200-468: A major city which adjoins La Paz , Bolivia's administrative capital. Most of the group's attacks have been similarly small-scale and they had confined their activities largely to Bolivia. The group suffered a major setback in a crackdown in 1992, when much of its leadership was neutralized through incarceration. The group was named after Túpac Katari , a colonial-era indigenous revolutionary. One of their former members, Álvaro García Linera , has served as
240-511: A target and then disappeared into civilian crowds frustrated the British enemy. The best example of this occurred on Bloody Sunday (21 November 1920), when Collins's assassination unit, known as "The Squad" , wiped out a group of British intelligence agents ("the Cairo Gang ") early in the morning (14 were killed, six were wounded) – some regular officers were also killed in the purge. That afternoon,
280-426: Is a form of warfare conducted by using conventional weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined and fight by using weapons that target primarily the opponent's military. It is normally fought by using conventional weapons, not chemical , biological , radiological , or nuclear weapons . The general purpose of conventional warfare
320-576: Is also a type of irregular warfare : that is, it aims not simply to defeat an invading enemy, but to win popular support and political influence, to the enemy's cost. Accordingly, guerrilla strategy aims to magnify the impact of a small, mobile force on a larger, more cumbersome one. If successful, guerrillas weaken their enemy by attrition , eventually forcing them to withdraw. 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
360-676: Is also credited with inventing many of the tactics of guerrilla warfare through what is today called the Fabian strategy , and in China Peng Yue is also often regarded as the inventor of guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare has been used by various factions throughout history and is particularly associated with revolutionary movements and popular resistance against invading or occupying armies. Guerrilla tactics focus on avoiding head-on confrontations with enemy armies, typically due to inferior arms or forces, and instead engage in limited skirmishes with
400-417: Is merely "a continuation of politics by other means." It is a rational calculation in which states fight for their interests (whether they are economic, security-related, or otherwise) once normal discourse has broken down. Most modern wars have been conducted using conventional means. Confirmed use of biological warfare by a nation state has not occurred since 1945, and chemical warfare has been used only
440-410: Is often used as political propaganda by belligerents (most often by governments in power) to denounce opponents whose status as terrorists is disputed. While the primary concern of guerrillas is the enemy's active military units, actual terrorists largely are concerned with non-military agents and target mostly civilians. Attribution: Conventional warfare Conventional warfare
SECTION 10
#1733085155039480-454: 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. Guerrilla warfare is a type of asymmetric warfare : competition between opponents of unequal strength. It
520-538: Is to weaken or destroy the opponent's military, which negates its ability to engage in conventional warfare. In forcing capitulation , however, one or both sides may eventually resort to unconventional warfare tactics. The state was first advocated by Plato but found more acceptance in the consolidation of power under the Roman Catholic Church . European monarchs then gained power as the Catholic Church
560-526: The Cold War , the superpowers sought to avoid open conflict between their respective forces, as both sides recognized that such a clash could very easily escalate and quickly involve nuclear weapons. Instead, the superpowers fought each other through their involvement in proxy wars , military buildups, and diplomatic standoffs. Thus, no two nuclear powers have yet fought a conventional war directly except for two brief skirmishes between China and Soviet Union in
600-581: The Crossbarry Ambush in March 1921 are the most famous examples of Barry's flying columns causing large casualties to enemy forces. The Algerian Revolution of 1954 started with a handful of Algerian guerrillas. Primitively armed, the guerrillas fought the French for over eight years. This remains a prototype for modern insurgency and counterinsurgency, terrorism, torture, and asymmetric warfare prevalent throughout
640-814: The Maratha Kingdom , pioneered the Shiva sutra or Ganimi Kava (Guerrilla Tactics) to defeat the many times larger and more powerful armies of the Mughal Empire . Kerala Varma (Pazhassi Raja) (1753–1805) used guerrilla techniques chiefly centred in mountain forests in the Cotiote War against the British East India Company in India between 1793 and 1806. Arthur Wellesley (in India 1797–1805) had commanded forces assigned to defeat Pazhassi's techniques but failed. It
680-777: The Rif War in 1920. For the first time in history, tunnel warfare was used alongside modern guerrilla tactics, which caused considerable damage to both the colonial armies in Morocco. In the early 20th century Michael Collins and Tom Barry both developed many tactical features of guerrilla warfare during the guerrilla phase of the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence . Collins developed mainly urban guerrilla warfare tactics in Dublin City (the Irish capital). Operations in which small Irish Republican Army (IRA) units (3 to 6 guerrillas) quickly attacked
720-920: The Royal Irish Constabulary force consisting of both regular RIC personnel and the Auxiliary Division took revenge, shooting into a crowd at a football match in Croke Park , killing fourteen civilians and injuring 60 others. In West County Cork , Tom Barry was the commander of the IRA West Cork brigade . Fighting in west Cork was rural, and the IRA fought in much larger units than their fellows in urban areas. These units, called " flying columns ", engaged British forces in large battles, usually for between 10 – 30 minutes. The Kilmichael Ambush in November 1920 and
760-425: The diminutive evokes the differences in number, scale, and scope between the guerrilla army and the formal, professional army of the state. Prehistoric tribal warriors presumably employed guerrilla-style tactics against enemy tribes: 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
800-532: The 19th century: ...our troops should...fight while protected by the terrain...using small, mobile guerrilla units to exhaust the enemy...denying them rest so that they only control the terrain under their feet. More recently, Mao Zedong's On Guerrilla Warfare , Che Guevara 's Guerrilla Warfare , and Lenin's Guerrilla warfare , were all written after the successful revolutions carried out by them in China, Cuba and Russia, respectively. Those texts characterized
840-682: The Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary and civilians during the Bangladesh Liberation War that transformed East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971. An earlier name Mukti Fauj was also used. The growth of guerrilla warfare was inspired in part by theoretical works on guerrilla warfare, starting with the Manual de Guerra de Guerrillas by Matías Ramón Mella written in
SECTION 20
#1733085155039880-563: The Fabian choice. The Roman general Quintus Sertorius is also noted for his skillful use of guerrilla warfare during his revolt against the Roman Senate . In China, Han dynasty general Peng Yue is often regarded as the inventor of guerrilla warfare due to his use of irregular warfare in the Chu-Han contention to attack Chu convoys and supplies. In the medieval Roman Empire , guerrilla warfare
920-542: The defeat of their regular armies, the Spanish and Portuguese people successfully rose against the Napoleonic troops and defeated a highly superior army using the guerrilla strategy in combination with a scorched earth policy and people's war (see also attrition warfare against Napoleon ). In correct Spanish usage, a person who is a member of a guerrilla unit is a guerrillero ( [geriˈʎeɾo] ) if male, or
960-536: The earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare. This inspired developments in modern guerrilla warfare. In the 3rd century BC, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , used elements of guerrilla warfare, such as the evasion of battle, the attempt to wear down the enemy, to attack small detachments in an ambush and devised the Fabian strategy , which the Roman Republic used to great effect against Hannibal 's army, see also His Excellency : George Washington :
1000-603: The enemy retreats, we pursue." At least one author credits the ancient Chinese work The Art of War with inspiring Mao's tactics. 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 . Guerrilla groups may use improvised explosive devices and logistical support by
1040-602: The future. The Normans often made many forays into Wales, where the Welsh used the mountainous region, which the Normans were unfamiliar with, to spring surprise attacks upon them. 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 17th century, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj , founder of
1080-437: The goal of exhausting adversaries and forcing them to withdraw (see also attrition warfare ). Organized guerrilla groups often depend on the support of either the local population or foreign backers who sympathize with the guerrilla group's efforts. The Spanish word guerrilla is the diminutive form of guerra ("war"); hence, "little war". The term became popular during the early-19th century Peninsular War , when, after
1120-524: 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, timetables, or other civilized embellishments. Evidence of conventional warfare , on the other hand, did not emerge until 3100 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu , in his The Art of War (6th century BC), became one of
1160-521: The latter of which had recolonized the country 17 years after its independence. The war resulted in the withdrawal of Spanish forces and the establishment of a second republic in the Dominican Republic. The Moroccan military leader Abd el-Krim ( c. 1883 – 1963) and his father unified the Moroccan tribes under their control and took up arms against the Spanish and French occupiers during
1200-593: The local population. The opposing army may come at last to suspect all civilians as potential guerrilla backers. The guerrillas might get political support from foreign backers and many guerrilla groups are adept at public persuasion through propaganda and use of force. Some guerrilla movements today also rely heavily on children as combatants, scouts, porters, spies, informants, and in other roles. Many governments and states also recruit children within their armed forces. No commonly accepted definition of "terrorism" has attained clear consensus. The term "terrorism"
1240-468: 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;
Túpac Katari Guerrilla Army - Misplaced Pages Continue
1280-512: 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. 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 formalized as "focal-ism" by Régis Debray . Its central principle
1320-406: 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". 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
1360-613: The vice-president of Bolivia. This article about an organisation in Bolivia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Guerrilla warfare Although the term "guerrilla warfare" was coined in the context of the Peninsular War in the 19th century, the tactical methods of guerrilla warfare have long been in use. In the 6th century BC , Sun Tzu proposed the use of guerrilla-style tactics in The Art of War . The 3rd century BC Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
1400-414: The view of most of the modernized world in the early 21st century, as is verified by examination of the conventional armies of the time: large, high-maintenance, and technologically advanced armies designed to compete against similarly designed forces. Clausewitz also forwarded the issue of casus belli . Wars had been fought for social, religious, or even cultural reasons, and Clausewitz taught that war
1440-599: The world of the state. All other forms of intrastate conflict, such as rebellion , are not accounted for because in theoretical terms, he could not account for warfare before the state. However, near the end of his life, he grew increasingly aware of the importance of non-state military actors, as is revealed in his conceptions of "the people in arms", which he noted arose from the same social and political sources as traditional interstate warfare. Practices such as raiding or blood feuds were then labeled criminal activities and stripped of legitimacy . That war paradigm reflected
1480-550: The world today. In South Africa , African National Congress (ANC) members studied the Algerian War, prior to the release and apotheosis of Nelson Mandela ; in their intifada against Israel, Palestinian fighters have sought to emulate it. Additionally, the tactics of Al-Qaeda closely resemble those of the Algerians. The Mukti Bahini (Bengali: মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as "freedom fighters", or liberation army), also known as
1520-565: Was frequently practiced between the eighth through tenth centuries along the eastern frontier with the Umayyad and then Abbasid caliphates. Tactics involved a heavy emphasis on reconnaissance and intelligence, shadowing the enemy, evacuating threatened population centres, and attacking when the enemy dispersed to raid. In the later tenth century this form of warfare was codified in a military manual known by its later Latin name as De velitatione bellica ('On Skirmishing') so it would not be forgotten in
1560-480: Was stripped of temporal power and was replaced by the divine right of kings . In 1648, the powers of Europe signed the Treaty of Westphalia , which ended the religious violence for purely political governance and outlook, signifying the birth of the modern state. Within the statist paradigm, only the state and its appointed representatives may bear arms and enter into war. In fact, war then became understood only as
1600-541: Was the longest war waged by East India Company during their military campaigns on the Indian subcontinent. It was one of the bloodiest and hardest wars waged by East India Company in India with Presidency army regiments that suffered losses as high as eighty percent in 10 years of warfare. The Dominican Restoration War was a guerrilla war between 1863 and 1865 in the Dominican Republic between nationalists and Spain ,
#38961