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Guerrilla warfare is a strategy that has been employed by the underdog throughout history. Defined in the dictionary as 'harassing an army by small bands' the guerrilla uses deception and ambush as opposed to mass confrontation and succeeds best in irregular or rugged terrain where superior knowledge is the key advantage, often over an invading force.
Encompassing the antics of Robin Hood and the terror tactics of the American War of Independence, which saw Francis Marion 'the swamp fox' burn homes, and tar and feather enemies, the term was coined in the Peninsular War of 1808-14 when the Spanish proved unconquerable even by the armies of Napoleon I.
From Spain the use of the term spread to Latin American and to the United States, where the American Indians carried on a guerrilla war against settlers into the late 19th century.
A key factor in all guerrilla struggles emphasised by Leon Trotsky in the Russian revolution, but recognised by earlier fighters and employed later by the Vietcong, is that as well as setting up an effective military force it is necessary to establish a civilian base from which to operate. In other words, you need to keep your people on your side.
Mao Zedong was perhaps the world's leading theorist of modern guerrilla warfare, in the 1920s and 30s turning a people's war in China into a conventional conflict as he led the Communists to victory.
Guerrilla warfare reached new heights in the Second World War, most notably in the former Yugoslavia. Under Tito, the Nazis found Yugoslavia impossible to control, with guerrillas carrying out daring raids from the mountains. The Communist state freed itself from Fascist rule without the direct aid of the Allies, taking an independent socialist path.
Later the Vietcong commanded by Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam created some of the most powerful images of guerrilla warfare. As with Arminius' German bands against the Romans, they were up against a superpower. The US outgunned them and had weapons unimaginable to the army largely comprised of peasants.
To avoid US planes, the Vietcong created a series of tunnels throughout the country. Villagers were directed to dig three feet of tunnel a day and even given a standard handbook on the construction techniques. This enabled the Vietcong to carry out an attack and disappear swiftly, while maintaining the crucial element of surprise. Through such tactics, they were able to achieve victory against a superpower as Arminius had 2000 years earlier.
With names to conjure such as Che Guevara in Bolivia, or the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, whether guerrillas are freedom fighters or terrorists often depends upon your point of view, or maybe on their degree of success in overturning the status quo. Many of today's established states rest on a foundation built through guerrilla warfare.
Guerrilla tactics
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