5.9 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asymmetric warfare | 5/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_warfare | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T14:29:44.383892+00:00 | kb-cron |
==== Second Boer War ==== Asymmetric warfare featured prominently during the Second Boer War. After an initial phase, which was fought by both sides as a conventional war, the British captured Johannesburg, the Boers' largest city, and captured the capitals of the two Boer Republics. The British then expected the Boers to accept peace as dictated in the traditional European manner. However, the Boers fought a protracted guerrilla war instead of capitulating. 20,000-30,000 Boer guerrillas were only defeated after the British brought to bear 450,000 imperial troops, about ten times as many as were used in the conventional phase of the war. The British began constructing blockhouses built within machine gun range of one another and flanked by barbed wire to slow the Boers' movement across the countryside and block paths to valuable targets. Such tactics eventually evolved into today's counterinsurgency tactics. The Boer commando raids deep into the Cape Colony, which were organized and commanded by Jan Smuts, resonated throughout the century as the British adopted and adapted the tactics first used against them by the Boers.
==== World War I ==== T. E. Lawrence and British support for the Arab uprising against the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans were the stronger power, and the Arab coalition were the weaker. Austria-Hungary's invasion of Serbia, August 1914. Austria-Hungary was the stronger power, and Serbia was the weaker. Germany's invasion of Belgium, August 1914. Germany was the stronger power, Belgium the weaker.
==== Between the World Wars ==== Kuva-yi Milliye were local, irregular Turkish militias that resisted occupation at the start of the Turkish War of Independence. They mainly fought against occupying forces, especially Greece, using guerrilla tactics like ambushes and hit-and-run attacks. Later, they were replaced by a centralized regular army under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Turkish War of Independence ended with a Turkish victory, leading to the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Abd el-Krim led resistance in Morocco from 1920 to 1924 against French and Spanish colonial armies ten times as strong as the guerrilla force, led by General Philippe Pétain. TIGR, the first anti-fascist national-defensive organization in Europe, fought against Benito Mussolini's regime in Northeast Italy. Anglo-Irish War (Irish War of Independence) fought between the Irish Republican Army and the Black and Tans/Auxiliaries. Though Lloyd George (Prime Minister at the time) attempted to persuade other nations that it was not a war by refusing to use the army and using the Black and Tans instead, the conflict was conducted as an asymmetric guerrilla war and was registered as a war with the League of Nations by the Irish Free State.
==== World War II ==== Philippine resistance against Japan – During the Japanese occupation in World War II, there was an extensive Philippine resistance movement, which opposed the Japanese with an active underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years.
Winter War – Finland was invaded by the much larger mechanized military units of the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets captured 8% of Finland, they suffered enormous casualties versus much lower losses for the Finns. Soviet vehicles were confined to narrow forest roads by terrain and snow, while the Finns used ski tactics around them unseen through the trees. They cut the advancing Soviet column into what they called motti (a cubic metre of firewood) and then destroyed the cut-off sections one by one. Many Soviets were shot, had their throats cut from behind, or froze to death due to inadequate clothing and lack of camouflage and shelter. The Finns also devised a petrol bomb they called the Molotov cocktail to destroy Soviet tanks. Soviet partisans – resistance movement which fought in the German occupied parts of the Soviet Union. Warsaw Uprising – Poland (Home Army, Armia Krajowa) rose up against the German occupation. Germany's occupation of Yugoslavia, 1941–45 (Germany vs. Tito's Partisans and Mihailović's Chetniks).
===== Britain ===== British Commandos and European coastal raids. German countermeasures and the notorious Commando Order. Long Range Desert Group and the Special Air Service in Africa and later in Europe. South East Asian Theater: Wingate, Chindits, Force 136, V Force Special Operations Executive (SOE) Provisional Irish Republican Army against British security forces in the Northern Campaign.
===== United States ===== Office of Strategic Services (OSS) China Burma India Theater: Merrill's Marauders and OSS Detachment 101.
=== After World War II === First Indochina War (1946-1954) and Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962); both against France The Cuban Revolution of 1953-1958 became a template of asymmetric warfare. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (or "Russo-Hungarian" war) saw makeshift forces improvising lopsided tactics against Soviet tanks. Libyan support to the Provisional Irish Republican Army during the Troubles (1960s to 1998) and collusion between British security forces and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries. United States Military Assistance Command Studies and Observations Group (US MAC-V SOG) (1964-1972) and Viet Cong in Vietnam. The South African Border War, otherwise known as the Namibian War of Independence (1966-1990) between the South African Defense Force and People's Liberation Army of Namibia. United States support of the Nicaraguan Contras (1979-1990).
==== Cold War (1945–1992) ==== The end of World War II established the two strongest victors, the United States of America (the United States, or just the U.S.) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, or just the Soviet Union) as the two dominant global superpowers.
===== Cold War examples of proxy wars =====