Define Guerrillas

The word "guerrilla" is Spanish, meaning little war. It was first used during the Peninsular War of 1807 to 1814 to describe small bands of Spanish citizens and paramilitaries who resisted Napoleon's occupying armies with a series of small-scale attacks. The word then became an adjective to describe that type of warfare, and then a noun used for a person engaged in that type of fighting. Today, the term guerrilla is also used to describe other stealthy, nonmilitary actions.

Guerrilla Warfare

History.com describes early guerrilla warfare as "paramilitary operations conducted in enemy-held territory by irregular forces" that used tactics such as swift, unexpected strikes rather than conventional battles. But while the term was not coined until the early 19th century, this type of fighting had been waged for centuries.

Encyclopedia Britannica notes that Alexander the Great faced guerrilla-like insurgencies more than 300 years before Christ, and the Roman Empire suffered numerous attacks, as well. Even during the American Revolution, groups of irregulars fought the occupying British Army with guerrilla-like tactics. Historians often talk of the use of guerrilla tactics in the U.S. Civil War, and a number of guerrilla movements sprang up in nations occupied by fascist forces during World War II.

Following World War II, "the meaning of the word guerrilla was extended to include the guerrilla-like tactics of any insurgency, rebellion, or uprising against an established government," writes History.com. This included notable post-war insurgencies in Vietnam and Algeria, as well as numerous conflicts later on in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Guerrilla Warriors

History has produced hundreds of leaders who themselves could be called guerrillas.

In Europe, Ireland's Michael Collins led a resistance against occupying British forces until he was killed in 1922, while Josep Tito battled Nazi occupiers in Yugoslavia during World War II with guerrilla tactics.

China's Mao Tse-tung wrote "On Guerrilla Warfare," a landmark book that the Marxists Internet Archive says "served as an instruction manual for guerrilla fighting," in 1937 as Japanese forces occupied China. Elsewhere in Asia, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Yasser Arafat, who led the Palestine Liberation Organization in an uprising against Israel, were key guerrilla figures.

In Latin America, Fidel Castro waged a guerrilla war to topple a U.S.-backed dictatorship in Cuba. He was aided by Che Guevara, a man who also helped lead guerrilla movements in South America and Africa, and who was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century. (http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/guevara01.html)

Mixed Legacies

Those who employ guerrilla tactics can be judged very differently according to their circumstances and techniques. For example, Nelson Mandela, who led the armed wing of the African National Congress in a guerrilla campaign against a racist regime in South Africa, won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. But Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaida terrorist organization and practitioner of guerrilla tactics, is widely reviled and wanted for murder in nations ranging from the United States to Libya.

Ongoing Guerrilla Conflicts

As of late 2009, high-profile guerrilla conflicts were ongoing in numerous parts of the world. In Europe, the ETA Basque separatist group continues a campaign of violence against the Spanish government. The leftist FARC guerrillas are engaged in a bloody conflict with the Colombian authorities, while the PKK Kurdish separatist groups carry out bombings against Turkey and its citizens. And in the Middle East, groups sympathetic to the Palestinian cause continue to attack Israel using guerrilla tactics.

New Terminology

Today, the term guerrilla is often used to describe nonwarfare activities that are stealthy or spontaneous. For example, author J.C. Levinson spawned a low-budget movement in the field of marketing when he published his book "Guerrilla Marketing" in l984, and self-proclaimed "guerrilla gardeners" around the world reclaim destitute urban landscapes with rapid garden plantings.

References

• History.com
• Britannica Online Encyclopedia
• Guerrilla Marketing Online