The Evolution Of Guerilla Warfare

Guerilla Warfare: A Constant Evolution
Guerilla warfare is the type of warfare fought by irregulars in fast moving, small-scale operations against police forces and, on occasion, against rival insurgent forces. The word Guerilla stemmed from the Spanish word Guerra which means war. The term was first used after the Peninsular War where the Spanish irregulars were called guerrille. Over time they have changed to be called rebels or insurgents. They are often given bad reps because they are often the ones trying to go against the big government. Guerilla warfare is a continually changing process, it constantly evolves. In the beginning, guerrilla warfare was used as a weapon of protest used to right the wrongs done by government. The Macedonian
Early examples of this role occurred in the Seven Years’ War where Hungarian, Croatian, and Serbian irregulars who were fighting with the Austrian army. This type of warfare was also seen in the US War of Independence, where South Carolina inhabitant relied heavily on terrorist tactics to drive the British from the Carolinas. During the American Civil War, there were mounted guerrillas from both sides that raided far behind enemy lines, often looting and pillaging randomly. Fighting as a guerrilla was attractive because it would allow men more freedom than they would enjoy in the regular army, and it would allow them to remain at home to defend their families and communities. Several different kinds of guerrillas emerged during the Civil War. Some were called bushwhackers, named because of they often hid behind foliage and forest lines, what Union soldiers referred to as "the bush," and attack their enemies. Partisan rangers arose as a more legitimate kind of guerrilla in 1862 when they were certified by the Confederate Congress’ passage of the Partisan Ranger Act, an act which allowed men to enlist for service in a partisan corps rather than the regular army. In the Mexican Revolution, Mexican peasants, fighting under such leaders as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, used guerrilla warfare to achieve a specific political goal. During the Cold War, political ideology became a more pronounced factor in the numerous guerrilla campaigns of World War II. In most of the countries invaded by Germany, Italy, and Japan, local communists either formed their own guerrilla bands or joined other bands. While merging their hold on the country, some of these groups spent as much time eliminating opposition as they did fighting the enemy, but most of them contributed to the Allied war effort to send shipments of arms, equipment, and gold, which helped them to challenge