Asymmetric Warfare In The Film, The Battle Of Algiers

The movie “The Battle of Algiers” was made in 1965 with the direction of Gillo Pontecorvo. It tells the story of a group of Islamic rebels, known as the National Liberation Front (FLN), who emerged in the Algiers, mainly the Casbah, during the late 1950s’ to go against the French colonial government occupying Algeria. The purpose of the film is to try and demonstrate the tactics and difficulties encountered in an asymmetric warfare, which commonly include attacks not against the opponent’s military, but its civilian population. This type of conflict is divided between two sides: a weaker rebellious side, often referred to as insurgents, and a stronger military power who’s seen as a foreign invader, referred to as counterinsurgents. Due to the
In a conventional warfare, two armies engage in direct military confrontation and, while there may be civilian casualties along the way, the goal is to minimize these as much as possible and focus the fight against trained soldiers. In an asymmetric warfare, however, the tactics often used by the insurgents seek to maximize civilian casualties on the opponent's side, through methods such as bombings and mass shootings in busy urban areas, and even hijackings in the counterinsurgents’ home country, such as it was the case with attacks on the World Trade Center. It is essential to recognize that such actions are deliberate, and not irrational, since they are strategic and often accomplish the specific goal of making the counterinsurgents retreat. Moreover, it’s important to recognize that the fight for the insurgents and the population within the country is considered a total war, which impacts not only their freedom, but also their culture and religion. The U.S. must consider these impacts when invading countries for claimed humanitarian purposes, especially those that are constructed around strong religious and cultural standards, such as it is the case with many Middle Eastern countries. While these countries may indeed require assistance, forcing people to change their
In such cases, often a counterinsurgency is also formed, regularly with powerful military capabilities and technological advantages, against which the insurgents can’t directly defend themselves, as that would incur into their immediate defeat, since rebellious groups combined don’t have a military strength remotely comparable to the power of a strong nation-state. Thus, since the insurgents can’t directly engage the stronger side, they attempt to break the opponent’s will to continue with the counterinsurgency. This tactic often involves inflicting civilian casualties on the opponent’s side. For instance, in the movie, Algerian women dressed as Europeans smuggled bombs into agitated urban areas within the French colonies, such as dance clubs and restaurants, in an attempt to inflict as many casualties as possible. Considering that people are the foundation of any nation-state (and a huge resource), the stronger side’s political leaders are forced to think twice before endangering more of their own people by continuing a counterinsurgency in a foreign land. In his essay, Jeffrey Record quotes Gil Merom by stating that “what fails democracies in small wars is the interaction of sensitivity to casualties, repugnance to brutal military behavior, and commitment to