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3 Examples
Examples of successful guerrilla warfare:
However, guerrilla warfare has generally been unsuccessful against native regimes, which have nowhere to retreat to and are highly knowledgeable about their own people and their society and culture. The rare examples of successful guerrilla warfare against a native regime include the Cuban Revolution and the Chinese Civil War, as well as the Sandinista overthrow of a military dictatorship in Nicaragua. More common are the unsuccessful examples of guerrilla warfare, which include Malaysia, Bolivia, Argentina, and the Philippines. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka, achieved significant military successes against the Indian Peacekeeping Forces (IPKF) sent to the island by Rajiv Gandhi to stabilize the situation, but waged a win-loss war against the Sri Lankan government itself for twenty years. The loss of their stronghold in the Jaffna Peninsula to government forces in December 1995 struck a blow to the Tigers' war morale, which culminated in their ceasefire following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
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.
3.1 Guerrillas in Europe
3.1.1 Introduction
In centuries of history, many guerrilla movements appeared in Europe to fight foreign occupation forces. During The Deluge in Poland most of guerrilla tactics were applied. In the 19th century, peoples of the Balkans used the tactics to fight the Ottoman empire.
3.1.2 Europe 1800 – 1900
3.1.2.1 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:
- The rebellion in the Tyrol of 1809 lead 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.
