Did the Advent of Atomic Weapons Trigger A Trend Towards Guerilla Warfare?

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Subject: Did the Advent of Atomic Weapons Trigger A Trend Towards Guerilla Warfare?
Ghost175 2/18/2007 10:45:03 PM

First post. It seems that up until the mid 20th century war was still escalating in grandeur, violence, and publicity, however following the second world war the instead of continuing this trend it seems as though warfare took a turn towards guerilla tactics... Korean being the transition of course, but from Vietnam forward we have seen wars end lighting quick when two conventional forces are arrayed against one another (Desert Storm, Six Days War etc.) Yet when one or more of the participants are guerillas these wars seem to drag on, (Africa, Vietnam, Any number of civil wars still raging across the globe) So what do you think? Also, anyone have tips on how to get through high-school, my school offers little in the way of military education...

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BadNews 2/18/2007 10:56:35 PM

First post.

It seems that up until the mid 20th century war was still escalating in grandeur, violence, and publicity, however following the second world war the instead of continuing this trend it seems as though warfare took a turn towards guerilla tactics... Korean being the transition of course, but from Vietnam forward we have seen wars end lighting quick when two conventional forces are arrayed against one another (Desert Storm, Six Days War etc.) Yet when one or more of the participants are guerillas these wars seem to drag on, (Africa, Vietnam, Any number of civil wars still raging across the globe)

So what do you think?

Also, anyone have tips on how to get through high-school, my school offers little in the way of military education...

Guerilla Warfare has been around for as long as warefare has existed. The Continetal Army employed it during the revolution, in the banana wars of the 1920's it was rampant, in WWII philipines, philipino's conducted relentless Guerilla Warfare. The French resistance, Haiti, Domincan Republic, etc etc.

The Nuclear Era brought changes to startegy as to when and where to deploy armies.... Civil wars etc have raged throughout history and always will. Typically Guerilla Warfare is used when one side of a conflict is decidedly outgunned or outnumbered as means to delay, attrite and to cause the more powerful nation to loose it's will to fight.

As far as High School goes, study hard, set goals and work to acheive them. That is not very much different as what you will need to do in the military

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Jeff_F_F 2/19/2007 11:50:36 PM

Most high schools don't, but that doesn't mean you can't start working on your military career now. (Note that my knowledge is a wee bit dated...)

First of all, if you can get any college at all it is in your best intrests. Some areas will pay for you take community college classes for high school credit. I'm not sure how much college you need to join as a E-2, but E-1s with less than 4 months of time in service have their own extra low pay grade, so even if all you have is mosquito wings it is a lot better than nothing. If you can manage to get an associates it'll get you a PFC, at least it used to. You can also take some extra classes on your own, too. Yeah, I know that probably doesn't sound very appealing, but later on when you are looking at becomming an NCO, the more college you have the better your chances of promotion will be too.

If your parents will let you, you can join the military when you are 16. They won't deploy you, but you'll go through basic training I believe between your sophmore and junior years, and then AIT between your junior and senior years. At 17 you'll go through basic before your senior year and AIT after you graduate.

Otherwise, concentrate on getting in shape. I'm assuming the APFT is still 2 minute pushups, 2 minute situps and a 2-mile run. Marines is I think Pullups, Situps and 3.2mile/5km run. It wouldn't hurt to find some FMs such as the Soldiers Manual of Common Tasks online. You can learn to field strip an M-16 without actually having one, for example (It's pretty simple), and learning simple stuff like how to put on a gas mask doesn't hurt. First aid procedures, the difference between a field dressing and a pressure dressing, stuff like that. The more you know, the less stressed you'll be learning, when the time comes.

BTW, if you are interested in any of the officer training routes, having joined up before you graduated looks good on your record, and for the service academies there are special routes of admittance only available to those who are already enlisted.

If you can get any range time, it will definitely help you. Especially if you can practice with an AR-15 or another weapon that has a similar sight picture. But anything with iron sights is better than nothing.

Does anyone know of a relatively inexpensive .22 that has a sight picture similar to an M-16?

Oh, and as a side note doing some martial arts can't hurt. The generally most useful ones for your own personal use will be the grappling ones. Take Wrestling even if you don't like it or aren't good at it. It will help you get into great shape and is good experience. If Brazillian Jujuitsu or Mixed Martial Arts schools are around join one. For one thing, if things need to be settled unofficially it is a lot easier for leadership to look the other way if the other guy doesn't have bruises and a bloody nose... };D> Weapons training is always a good thing. Modern Arnis, Escrima, or Kali are good weapon systems that usually teach both blunt and edged weapons, though sticks are lighter and quicker than a rifle or riot baton.

Oh, joining a Cross Country running team in the fall and long distance Track & Field in the spring is good training too. They'll push you a lot harder than you can push yourself, and keep you consistent in your training.

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scuttlebut steve 2/22/2007 10:05:13 PM

I'd be willing to bet that soon after the first large amy in history, it ended up having to deal with guerrila warfare!

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Jeff_F_F 2/22/2007 10:19:32 PM

Lol, actually the first guerillas were probably gorillas. Well, not actually gorillas, but our semian ancestors. Chimpanze warfare is characterized by small group hit and run terror tactics. So it is logical that our common ancestors with chimps probably did the same sorts of things.

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blkshaama Response to:Did the Advent of Atomic Weapons Trigger A Trend Towards Guerilla Warfare? 5/15/2007 4:17:42 PM

Actually, this is not the case. Guerilla war tactics didn't start from the end of the second world war, it has been in existence for a very long time. One such war you should read more about is the American war of independence, in that war, the Americans used geurilla tactics against the British. Also, look to the wars during the Roman empire, there are lots of wars that were fought with geurilla tactics. Geurilla war came about almost as soon as 'organized' warfare came about. It's a natural turn that when going against a large powerfull force, you have to your advantage the ability to use that bulk against your enemy...that's just natural.

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Nanheyangrouchuan 5/15/2007 5:24:14 PM

The Goths were more or less a guerilla army when they were able to simply overwhelm and outfight the Romans. No formations and not much in the way of formal tactics or formal training...just kill everyone. The Vietnamese used guerilla tactics to kick out the Chinese not once but 13 times, Tae Kwon Do was the Korean tactic for taking on Chinese heavy calvary. The Zulu lost to the British but gave them a heck of a guerilla fight as did native american tribes against the Spanish (creating stories of cities of gold to drive the Spaniards into greedy frenzies that led them into desert wasteland has to be one of the best assymetric tactics ever).

"Chimpanze warfare is characterized by small group hit and run terror tactics. So it is logical that our common ancestors with chimps probably did the same sorts of things."

Yeah, we used to assume that we were the only species on earth that did this. Ants do it too but in a much more organized, battlefield way and they fight for keeps, ie the losing ant colony ends up as feedstock for the winning colony's larvae.
The most interesting chimpanzee research I heard about was a band of around 20 chimps chasing and cornering another chimp in a tree. Some chimps went up into the tree to flush the target out while others threw stones and nuts into the tree, eventually dropping out the target who was then beaten to death by the entire group. The researchers suspect the target was either a food thief or possibly tried messing around with one of the leader's mates.

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ingnoway The Canaanites 5/18/2007 1:53:13 PM

First post.

It seems that up until the mid 20th century war was still escalating in grandeur, violence, and publicity, however following the second world war the instead of continuing this trend it seems as though warfare took a turn towards guerilla tactics... Korean being the transition of course, but from Vietnam forward we have seen wars end lighting quick when two conventional forces are arrayed against one another (Desert Storm, Six Days War etc.) Yet when one or more of the participants are guerillas these wars seem to drag on, (Africa, Vietnam, Any number of civil wars still raging across the globe)

So what do you think?

Also, anyone have tips on how to get through high-school, my school offers little in the way of military education...

Guerilla warfare is very ancient, and it was designed by Pagans.The seven nations of Canaan, used these kinds
of tactics, to overtake"Egypt." Plus, they were/are related to Ham=Egypt. Therefore, the old is the new!The most

technical group were, the Hittites= Fear, weakness etc. That's why they are terrorists.

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