Guerrilla Warfare - Origins, Tactics and Uses

There are numerous military strategies that can be used, but often the ones involving more unconventional and even unprofessional means turn out to be more effective. Guerrilla warfare has unique combat tactics that have been crucial for the winning of major wars throughout the 20th century.

The term comes from Spanish and became popular in the late 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. The exact translation is "little war". It is believed that guerrilla actually comes from the name of a small military group called Guerrillas that used the tactics typical for this type of combat during the war fought on Spanish soil after the invasion of the country by Napoleon in 1808.

The main strategy of this type of warfare is the carrying out of attacks on small groups of army soldiers. The guerrillas form a small and compact unit that is mobile yet armed well enough to cause damages to the professional army. It is worth keeping in mind that the main objective of the tactics is not the winning of a war but the avoidance of such conflicts by the weakening of the forces of the enemy.

The guerrilla warfare tactics do not involve the fighting of large groups of professionally trained troops. Usually the terrain or other factors are used for the separation of these into small units that are more vulnerable to an ambush. Often the guerrillas also focus on the destruction of military logistic resources and supplies. It is not uncommon for the disruption of communications to be the main objective of an operation.

There are many notable examples of the use of guerrilla warfare in the 20th century. The tactics and strategies were used effectively by rebel army during the Cuban Revolution. The Viet Cong used them during the War in Vietnam. The latest military conflict in which this type of fighting was used is the Kosovo War.