1.
War
–
War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality, an absence of war is usually called peace. Warfare refers to the activities and characteristics of types of war. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to legitimate military targets. While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, as concerns a belligerents losses in proportion to its prewar population, the most destructive war in modern history may have been the Paraguayan War. In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths, down from 72,000 deaths in 1990, in 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years. Another byproduct of some wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties in the conflict, the word is related to the Old Saxon werran, Old High German werran, and the German verwirren, meaning “to confuse”, “to perplex”, and “to bring into confusion”. In German, the equivalent is Krieg, the Spanish, Portuguese, the scholarly study of war is sometimes called polemology, from the Greek polemos, meaning war, and -logy, meaning the study of. Studies of war by military theorists throughout military history have sought to identify the philosophy of war, asymmetric warfare is a conflict between two populations of drastically different levels of military capability or size. Biological warfare, or germ warfare, is the use of weaponized biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, chemical warfare involves the use of weaponized chemicals in combat. Poison gas as a weapon was principally used during World War I. Civil war is a war between forces belonging to the nation or political entity. Conventional warfare is declared war between states in which nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are not used or see limited deployment, cyberwarfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organization to attack and attempt to damage another nations information systems. Information warfare is the application of force on a large scale against information assets and systems, against the computers. Nuclear warfare is warfare in which weapons are the primary, or a major. War of aggression is a war for conquest or gain rather than self-defense, the earliest recorded evidence of war belongs to the Mesolithic cemetery Site 117, which has been determined to be approximately 14,000 years old. About forty-five percent of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death, since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. The advent of gunpowder and the acceleration of technological advances led to modern warfare
War
–
The War by Tadeusz Cyprian (1949), a photograph in the collection of the
National Museum in
Warsaw showing ruins of Warsaw's Napoleon Square in the aftermath of
World War II.
War
–
Mural of War (1896), by
Gari Melchers
War
–
Ruins of
Guernica (1937). The
Spanish Civil War was one of Europe's bloodiest and most brutal civil wars.
War
–
Japanese
samurai attacking a
Mongol ship, 13th century
2.
Military history
–
On the other hand, Just War Theory explores the moral dimensions of warfare, and to better limit the destructive reality caused by war, seeks to establish a doctrine of military ethics. The discipline of history is dynamic, changing with development as much of the subject area as the societies. An important recent concept is the Revolution in Military Affairs which attempts to explain how warfare has been shaped by emerging technologies and it highlights the short outbursts of rapid change followed by periods of relative stability. In terms of the profession in major countries, military history is an orphan. William H. McNeill points out, This branch of our discipline flourishes in an intellectual ghetto, the study of military history in universities remains seriously underdeveloped. Indeed, lack of interest in and disdain for military history probably constitute one of the strangest prejudices of the profession, historiography is the study of the history and method of the discipline of history or the study of a specialised topic. In this case, military history with an eye to gaining an accurate assessment of conflicts using all available sources, Military historians use Historiographical analysis in an effort to allow an unbiased, contemporary view of records. Historians utilize their knowledge of government regulation and military organization, and employing a targeted, despite these limits, wars are some of the most studied and detailed periods of human history. Military historians have often compared organization, tactical and strategic ideas, leadership, in the early 1980s, historian Jeffrey Kimball surveyed the ideological preferences of 109 active diplomatic historians in the United States as well as 54 active military historians. He reports that, Of historians in the field of history, 7% are Socialist, 19% are Other, 53% are Liberal, 11% are None. Of military historians, 0% are Socialist, 8% are Other, 35% are Liberal, 18% are None, the documentation of military history begins with the confrontation between Sumer and Elam c.2700 BC near the modern Basra, and includes such enduring records as the Hebrew Bible. Other prominent records in history are the Trojan War in Homers Iliad. An approach centered on the analysis of a leader was taken by Xenophon in Anabasis, the records of the Roman Julius Caesar enable a comparative approach for campaigns such as Commentarii de Bello Gallico and Commentarii de Bello Civili. New weapons development can dramatically alter the face of war, the cost of warfare, the preparations, a rule of thumb is that if your enemy has a potentially war winning weapon, you have to either match it or neutralize it. The chariot was an effective, fast weapon, while one man controlled the maneuvering of the chariot and these became crucial to the maintenance of several governments, including the New Egyptian Kingdom and the Shang Dynasty and the nation states of early to mid Zhou dynasty. The infantry started as opposing armed groups of soldiers underneath commanders, the Greeks and early Romans used rigid, heavily armed phalanxes. The Macedonians and Hellenistic states would adopt phalanx formations with sarissa pikemen, the Romans would later adopt more flexible maniples from their neighbors which made them extremely successful in the field of battle. The kingdoms of the Warring States in East Asia also adopted infantry combat, in the Sicilian Expedition, led by Athens in an attempt to subdue Syracuse, the well-trained Syracusan cavalry became crucial to the success of the Syracusans
Military history
–
Relief of
Ramses II located in
Abu Simbel fighting at the
Battle of Kadesh on a
chariot.
Military history
–
A
Greek trireme
Military history
–
A small
English Civil War -era cannon
Military history
–
A 155 mm
M198 howitzer firing a shell.
3.
Prehistoric warfare
–
Prehistoric warfare refers to war that occurred between societies without recorded history. Kellys Warless Societies and the Origin of War, for the purposes of this article, prehistoric war will be broadly defined as a state of organized lethal aggression between autonomous preliterate communities. According to cultural anthropologist and ethnographer Raymond C, Kelly, the earliest hunter-gatherer societies of Homo erectus population density was probably low enough to avoid armed conflict. This behavior may have accelerated the migration out of Africa of H. erectus some 1.8 million years ago as a consequence of conflict avoidance. Of the many paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, none depict people attacking other people. The only rock art that depicts violence between hunter-gatherers comes from a unique Northern Australian sequence that began approximately 10,000 years ago, skeletal and artifactual evidence of intergroup violence between Paleolithic nomadic foragers is absent as well. The most ancient archaeological record of what could have be a massacre is at the epipaleolithic site of Cemetery 117. Nearly half of the bodies are female, who generally do not believe would have played an active role in violent skirmishes. It has been noted that the violence might have occurred in the wake of an ecological crisis. The initial report concluded that the bodies at Nataruk were not interred, Early war was influenced by the development of bows, maces, and slings. The bow seems to have been the most important weapon in early warfare and these figures are arrayed in lines and columns with a distinctly garbed leader at the front. Some paintings even portray still-recognizable tactics like flankings and envelopments, a Neolithic society is defined as a society that cultivates domesticated plants and manufactures tools only from natural materials. Evidence indicates that warfare was present in many Neolithic societies, for example, the Talheim Death Pit and Crow Creek Site are sites of Neolithic massacres. The Māori of New Zealand are notable for the thousands of fortifications constructed to enhance a groups standing in the fighting on their islands in the South Pacific. These substantial fortifications show that there was considerable social organization in the societies of prehistoric peoples and this is indirect corollary evidence for them also having been capable of conducting organized warfare. The onset of the Chalcolithic saw the introduction of copper daggers, axes, for the most part, these were far too expensive and malleable to be efficient weapons. They are considered by scholars to have been largely ceremonial implements. It was only with the development of bronze that edged metal weapons became commonplace, continued excavations in 2008 and 2010 expand on that
Prehistoric warfare
–
Quartzite hand axe
Prehistoric warfare
–
Bronze swords from the
Museum of Scotland.
4.
Ancient warfare
–
Ancient warfare is war as conducted from the beginnings of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. In India, the ancient period ends with the decline of the Gupta Empire, in Japan, the ancient period can be taken to end with the rise of feudalism in the Kamakura period in the 12-13th century. The difference between prehistoric and ancient warfare is one of technology than of organization. The development of first city-states, and then empires, allowed warfare to change dramatically, beginning in Mesopotamia, states produced sufficient agricultural surplus so that full-time ruling elites and military commanders could emerge. While the bulk of forces were still farmers, the society could support having them campaigning rather than working the land for a portion of each year. Thus, organized armies developed for the first time and these new armies could help states grow in size and became increasingly centralized. Early ancient armies continued to use bows and spears, the same weapons that had been developed in prehistoric times for hunting. The findings at the site of Nataruk in Turkana, Kenya, have interpreted as evidence of inter-group conflict and warfare in antiquity. Early armies in Egypt and China followed a pattern of using massed infantry armed with bows. Infantry were at time the dominant form of war, partially because the camel saddle. This infantry would be divided into ranged and shock, with shock infantry either charging to cause penetration of the line or holding their own. These forces would ideally be combined, thus presenting your opponent with a dilemma, group your forces and leave them vulnerable to ranged, or spread them out and make them vulnerable to shock. This balance would eventually change as technology allowed for chariots, cavalry, no clear line can be drawn between ancient and medieval warfare. The characteristic properties of medieval warfare, notably heavy cavalry and siege engines such as the trebuchet were first introduced in Late Antiquity, as states grew in size, speed of movement became crucial because central power could not hold if rebellions could not be suppressed rapidly. The first solution to this was the chariot which became used in the Middle East from around 1800 BC, First pulled by oxen and donkeys, they allowed rapid traversing of the relatively flat lands of the Middle East. The chariots were light enough that they could easily be floated across rivers, improvements in the ability to train horses soon allowed them to be used to pull chariots, possibly as early as 2100 BC, and their greater speed and power made chariots even more efficient. The major drawback of the use of chariots is similar to one of its advantages, the lack of armor causes it to be extremely vulnerable to spears, pikes, etc. The power of the chariot as a device both of transportation and of battle became the weapon of the peoples of the Ancient Near East in the 2nd millennium BC
Ancient warfare
–
The Egyptian
siege of Dapur in the 13th century BC, from
Ramesseum,
Thebes.
Ancient warfare
–
Roman bronze figurine depicting a Germanic man adorned with a
Suebian knot engaged in prayer. (Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)
5.
Medieval warfare
–
Medieval warfare is the European warfare of the Middle Ages. Technological, cultural, and social developments had forced a dramatic transformation in the character of warfare from antiquity, changing military tactics, in terms of fortification, the Middle Ages saw the emergence of the castle in Europe, which then spread to Western Asia. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus wrote De re militari possibly in the late 4th century, described by historian Walter Goffart as the bible of warfare throughout the Middle Ages, De re militari was widely distributed through the Latin West. While Western Europe relied on a text for the basis of its military knowledge. According to Vegetius, infantry was the most important element of an army because it was compared to cavalry. One of the tenets he put forward was that a general should only engage in battle when he was sure of victory or had no other choice, as archaeologist Robert Liddiard explains, Pitched battles, particularly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, were rare. Historian Michael Clanchy noted the medieval axiom that laymen are illiterate and its converse that clergy are literate, so it may be the case that few soldiers read Vegetius work. While it is uncertain to what extent his work was read by the class as opposed to the clergy. In Europe, breakdowns in centralized power led to the rise of a number of groups that turned to large-scale pillage as a source of income, most notably the Vikings raided significantly. As these groups were small and needed to move quickly, building fortifications was a good way to provide refuge and protection for the people. These fortifications evolved over the course of the Middle Ages, the most important form being the castle, the castle served as a protected place for the local elites. Fortifications were an important part of warfare because they provided safety to the lord, his family. They provided refuge from armies too large to face in open battle, the ability of the heavy cavalry to dominate a battle on an open field was useless against fortifications. Building siege engines was a process, and could seldom be effectively done without preparations before the campaign. Many sieges could take months, if not years, to weaken or demoralize the defenders sufficiently, Siege techniques also included mining in which tunnels were dug under a section of the wall and then rapidly collapsed to destabilize the walls foundation. A final technique was to bore into the walls, however this was not nearly as effective as other methods due to the thickness of castle walls. Several of these techniques were used by the Romans but experienced a rebirth during the Crusades. Advances in the prosecution of sieges encouraged the development of a variety of defensive counter-measures, arrow slits, concealed doors for sallies, and deep water wells were also integral to resisting siege at this time
Medieval warfare
–
Battle of Crécy (1346) between the English and French in the
Hundred Years' War.
Medieval warfare
–
Château de Falaise in France
Medieval warfare
–
The
Walls of Dubrovnik are a series of
defensive stone walls, never breached by a hostile army, that have surrounded and protected the maritime
city-state of
Dubrovnik (
Ragusa), situated in southern
Croatia.
Medieval warfare
–
Hungarian raids in the 10th century. Most European nations were praying for mercy: "Sagittis hungarorum libera nos Domine" - "Lord save us from the arrows of Hungarians" [
citation needed]
6.
Early modern warfare
–
This entire period is contained within the Age of Sail, which characteristic dominated the eras naval tactics, including the use of gunpowder in naval artillery. In the Horn of Africa, the Adals conquest of Ethiopia and the involving of the Ottomans, Mamluks, the earliest surviving bronze hand cannon, dates to 1288, during the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty of China. Gunpowder warfare was used in the Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281, Japanese scrolls contain illustrations of bombs used by the Yuan-Mongol forces against mounted samurai. In 1326 the earliest known European picture of a gun appeared in a manuscript by Walter de Milemete, in 1350, Petrarch wrote that the presence of cannons on the battlefield was as common and familiar as other kinds of arms. Early artillery played a role in the 100 Years War. The period from 1500–1801 saw an advance in techniques of fortification in Europe. Whereas medieval castles had relied on high walls to keep out attackers, to do this, engineers developed a style of fortress known as the trace italienne or Italian style. These had low, thick, sloping walls, that would absorb or glance off cannon fire. In addition, they were shaped like stars, with bastions protruding at sharp angles, the reason for this was to ensure that every bastion could be supported with fire from an adjacent bastion, leaving no dead ground for an attacker to take cover in. These new fortifications quickly negated the advantages cannon had offered to besiegers, a polygonal fort is a fortification in the style that evolved around the middle of the 18th century, in response to the development of explosive shells. The polygonal style of fortification is described as a flankless fort. Many such forts were built in the United Kingdom and the British Empire during the government of Lord Palmerston and their low profile makes them easy to overlook. In response to the vulnerabilities of star forts, military engineers evolved a much simpler but more robust style of fortification. An example of style can be seen at Fort McHenry in Baltimore in the United States of America. The power of aristocracies vis à vis states diminished throughout Western Europe during this period, aristocrats 200- to 400-year-old ancestral castles no longer provided useful defences against artillery. The nobilitys importance in warfare also eroded as medieval heavy cavalry lost its role in battle. The heavy cavalry - made up of armored knights - had begun to fade in importance in the Late Middle Ages, the English longbow and the Swiss pike had both proven their ability to devastate larger armed forces of mounted knights. However, the use of the longbow required a lifetime of training, making it impossible to amass very large forces of archers
Early modern warfare
–
"Attack of the Prussian infantry", 1913 historical painting by
Carl Röchling depicting the
battle of Hohenfriedeberg of 1748
Early modern warfare
–
An early depiction of artillery, in an illustration of the
Siege of Orleans of 1429, by
Martial d'Auvergne (1493).
Early modern warfare
–
Model of city with polygonal fortifications
Early modern warfare
–
Assault on a town, early 17th century
7.
Modern warfare
–
Modern warfare is warfare using the concepts, methods, and military technology that have come into use during and after World War II. War in modern times has been the inclusion of civilians and civilian infrastructure as targets in destroying the enemys ability to engage in war, the targeting of civilians developed from two distinct theories. The first theory was if enough civilians were killed, factories could not function. The second theory was that if civilians were killed, the enemy would be so demoralized that it would have no ability to wage further war. However, UNICEF reports that civilian fatalities are down from 20 percent prior to 1900 AD to less than 5 percent of fatalities in the beginning in the 1990s. It includes the environment, factors, and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force and this includes enemy and friendly forces, facilities, weather and terrain within the operational areas and areas of interest. Some argue that the forms of third generation warfare represents nothing more than an evolution of earlier technology. Aerial warfare is the use of aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. A military situation in which two belligerents of unequal strength interact and take advantage of their strengths and weaknesses. This interaction often involves strategies and tactics outside the bounds of conventional warfare, biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of any organism or toxin found in nature, as a weapon of war. It is meant to incapacitate or kill enemy combatants and it may also be defined as the employment of biological agents to produce casualties in man or animals and damage to plants or material, or defense against such employment. Chemical warfare is warfare using the properties of chemical substances to incapacitate or kill enemy combatants. Electronic warfare refers to mainly non-violent practices used chiefly to support areas of warfare. Fourth generation warfare is a concept defined by William S. Lind and expanded by Thomas X. Hammes, the simplest definition includes any war in which one of the major participants is not a state but rather a violent ideological network. Fourth Generation wars are characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, combatants and civilians, conflicts and peace, battlefields and safety, while this term is similar to terrorism and asymmetric warfare, it is much narrower. Classical insurgencies and the Indian Wars are examples of pre-modern wars, fourth generation warfare usually has the insurgency group or non-state side trying to implement their own government or reestablish an old government over the one currently running the territory. The blurring of lines between state and non-state is further complicated in a democracy by the power of the media, ground warfare involves three types of combat units, Infantry, Armor, and Artillery. Infantry in modern times would consist of Mechanized infantry and Airborne forces, usually having a type of rifle or sub-machine gun, an infantryman is the basic unit of an army
Modern warfare
–
Major wars - 1000+ deaths per year
8.
Industrial warfare
–
The era featured mass-conscripted armies, rapid transportation, telegraph and wireless communications, and the concept of total war. One of the features of industrial warfare is the concept of total war. There are several reasons for the rise of total warfare in the 19th century, as countries capital and natural resources grew, it became clear that some forms of warfare demanded more resources than others. Consequently, the greater cost of warfare became evident, an industrialized nation could distinguish and then choose the intensity of warfare that it wished to engage in. Additionally, warfare was becoming more mechanized and required greater infrastructure, combatants could no longer live off the land, but required an extensive support network of people behind the lines to keep them fed and armed. This required the mobilization of the home front, modern concepts like propaganda were first used to boost production and maintain morale, while rationing took place to provide more war materiel. The earliest modern example of war was the American Civil War. They believed that to break the backbone of the South, the North had to employ scorched earth tactics, or as Sherman called it, Shermans advance through Georgia and the Carolinas was characterized by widespread destruction of civilian supplies and infrastructure. In contrast to later conflicts, the damage done by Sherman was almost entirely limited to property destruction, in Georgia alone, Sherman claimed he and his men had caused $100,000,000 in damages. Conscription is the enrollment of civilians into military service. Conscription allowed the French Republic to form La Grande Armée, what Napoleon Bonaparte called the nation in arms, for instance, during World War I, bitter political disputes broke out in Canada, Newfoundland, Australia and New Zealand over conscription. Canada also had a dispute over conscription during World War II. Both South Africa and Australia put limits on where conscripts could fight in WWII, similarly, mass protests against conscription to fight the Vietnam War occurred in several countries in the late 1960s. Russia, as well as smaller nations such as Switzerland. Prior to the invention of the transport, combatants were transported from by wagons, horses. With the advent of locomotives, large groups of combatants, supplies, to counter this, an opposing force would destroy rail lines to hinder their enemies movements. General Shermans men during the American Civil War, would destroy tracks, heat the rails, the mass transportation of combatants was further revolutionized with the advent of the internal combustion engine and the automobile. Combined with the use of the machine gun, the horse
Industrial warfare
–
American
B-24 Liberator bombers under construction during
World War II.
Industrial warfare
–
Soldiers engaged in trench warfare during the American Civil War.
Industrial warfare
–
The advent of railroads (such as this one during the American Civil War) allowed armies to cover larger distances in shorter times while suffering minimal fatigue.
Industrial warfare
–
An American
M4 Sherman in action during the
Korean War.
9.
Fourth-generation warfare
–
Fourth-generation warfare is conflict characterized by a blurring of the lines between war and politics, combatants and civilians. The term was first used in 1989 by a team of United States analysts, including paleoconservative William S. Lind, to describe warfares return to a decentralized form. In terms of modern warfare, the fourth generation signifies the nation states loss of their near-monopoly on combat forces. The simplest definition includes any war in one of the major participants is not a state. Classical examples of type of conflict, such as the slave uprising under Spartacus. In 2006, the concept was expanded upon by USMC Colonel Thomas X. Hammes in his book, The Sling. The generations of warfare described by authors are, 1st Generation, tactics of line and column. Lind describes First Generation of warfare as beginning after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ending the Thirty Years War and establishing the states need to organize, 1GW consisted of tightly ordered soldiers with top-down discipline. These troops would fight in order and advance slowly. This began to change as the battlefield changed, old line and column tactics are now considered suicidal as the bow and arrow/sword morphed into the rifle and machine gun. 2nd Generation, tactics of linear fire and movement, with reliance on indirect fire and this type of warfare can be seen in the early stages of World War I where there was still strict adherence to drill and discipline of formation and uniform. However, there remained a dependence on artillery and firepower to break the stalemate, 3rd Generation, tactics of infiltration to bypass and collapse the enemys combat forces rather than seeking to close with and destroy them, and defence in depth. These aspects of 3GW bleed into 4GW as it is also warfare of speed, however, it targets both military forces and home populations. The use of warfare can be traced to the Cold War period, as superpowers and major powers attempted to retain their grip on colonies. Many of these occur in the geographic area described by author Thomas P. M. Barnett as the Non-Integrating Gap. Fourth-generation warfare has much in common with traditional low-intensity conflict in its forms of insurgency. As in those wars, the conflict is initiated by the weaker party through actions which can be termed offensive. The difference lies in the manner in which 4GW opponents adapt those traditional concepts to present day conditions and this amalgamation and metamorphosis produces novel ways of war for both the entity on the offensive and that on the defensive
Fourth-generation warfare
–
Guerillas in
Maguindanao, 1999
10.
Aerial warfare
–
Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Modern aerial warfare includes missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, surface forces are likely to respond to enemy air activity with anti-aircraft warfare. The history of warfare began in ancient times, with the use of man-carrying kites in China. In the third century it progressed to balloon warfare, airplanes were put to use for war starting in 1911, initially for reconnaissance, and then for aerial combat to shoot down the recon planes. The use of planes for strategic bombing emerged during World War II, ballistic missiles became of key importance during the Cold War, were armed with nuclear warheads, and were stockpiled by the superpowers to deter each other from using them. Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft and this role can fulfil a variety of requirements, including the collection of imagery intelligence, observation of enemy maneuvers and artillery spotting. Air combat manoeuvring is the art of moving, turning and situating a fighter aircraft in order to attain a position from which an attack can be made on another aircraft. It relies on offensive and defensive basic fighter manoeuvring to gain an advantage over an aerial opponent, airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and dropped into battle, typically by parachute. Thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear out of nowhere in minutes, an airstrike or air strike is an offensive operation carried out by attack aircraft. Air strikes are delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft. The official definition includes all sorts of targets, including enemy air targets, weapons used in an airstrike can range from machine gun bullets and missiles to various types of bombs. It is also referred to as an air raid. In close air support, air strikes are controlled by trained observers for coordination with friendly ground troops in a manner derived from artillery tactics. Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as all designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action. They include ground-and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and it may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be homeland defence, NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight, in modern usage, a missile is a self-propelled precision-guided munition system, as opposed to an unguided self-propelled munition, referred to as a rocket
Aerial warfare
–
Prof. Lowe ascending in Intrepid to observe the Battle of Fair Oaks
Aerial warfare
–
Battle of Fair Oaks with one of Lowe's balloons in the background
Aerial warfare
–
A 1910 French experimental design by
Voisin, featuring a
mitrailleuse gun fired by a passenger
Aerial warfare
–
Italian dirigibles bomb Turkish positions on Libyan territory. The Italo-Turkish War was the first in history to feature aerial bombardment by airplanes and airships.
11.
Naval warfare
–
Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years, even in the interior of large landmasses, transportation before the advent of extensive railroads was largely dependent upon rivers, canals, and other navigable waterways. Prior to 1750, materials largely moved by barge or sea vessels. Thus armies, with their exorbitant needs for food, ammunition, the oceanic influences throughout pre-recorded history, and classical works such as The Odyssey underscore the past influences. The Persian Empire – united and strong – could not prevail against the might of the Athenian fleet combined with that of city states in several attempts to conquer the Greek city states. Phoenicias and Egypts power, Carthages and even Romes largely depended upon control of the seas, so too did the Venetian Republic dominate Italys city states, thwart the Ottoman Empire, and dominate commerce on the Silk Road and the Mediterranean in general for centuries. For three centuries, the Northmen raided and pillaged and went where they willed, far into central Russia and the Ukraine, many sea battles through history also provide a reliable source of shipwrecks for underwater archaeology. A major example is the exploration of the wrecks of various warships in the Pacific Ocean, the first dateable recorded sea battle occurred about 1210 BC, Suppiluliuma II, king of the Hittites, defeated a fleet from Cyprus, and burned their ships at sea. In the Battle of the Delta, the Ancient Egyptians defeated the Sea Peoples in a sea battle circa 1175 BC, no written mention of strategy or tactics seems to have survived. Josephus Flavius reports a battle between Tyre and the king of Assyria who was aided by the other cities in Phoenicia. The battle took place off the shores of Tyre, although the Tyrian fleet was much smaller in size, the Tyrians defeated their enemies. The Greeks of Homer just used their ships as transport for land armies and it seems unlikely that all this was the product of a single mind or even of a generation, most likely the period of evolution and experimentation was simply not recorded by history. After some initial battles while subjugating the Greeks of the Ionian coast, the Persians determined to invade Greece proper. The first Persian campaign, in 492 BC, was aborted because the fleet was lost in a storm, attacks by the Greek armies repulsed these. The third Persian campaign in 480 BC, under Xerxes I of Persia, but the defeat on land at Thermopylae forced a Greek withdrawal, and Athens evacuated its population to nearby Salamis Island. The ensuing Battle of Salamis was one of the engagements of history. Themistocles trapped the Persians in a too narrow for them to bring their greater numbers to bear. Aeschylus wrote a play about the defeat, The Persians, which was performed in a Greek theatre competition a few years after the battle and it is the oldest known surviving play
Naval warfare
–
A painter's depiction of the French (left) and British (right) lines at the
Battle of the Chesapeake
Naval warfare
–
An
ancient Greek trireme vessel
Naval warfare
–
The naval
battle of Sluys, 1340, from
Jean Froissart 's Chronicles.
Naval warfare
–
A
Song dynasty naval river ship with a Xuanfeng traction-
trebuchet catapult on its top deck, taken from an illustration of the
Wujing Zongyao (1044)
12.
Space warfare
–
Space warfare is combat that takes place in outer space, i. e. outside an atmosphere. Space warfare therefore includes ground-to-space warfare, such as attacking satellites from the Earth, as well as space-to-space warfare and it does not include the use of satellites for espionage, surveillance, or military communications. For example, one might describe a system in which troops are deployed from orbit as space warfare. In the early 1960s the U. S. military produced a film called Space, from 1985 to 2002 there was a United States Space Command, which in 2002 merged with the United States Strategic Command. Only a few incidents of warfare have occurred in world history. In the mid-1980s a USAF pilot in an F-15 successfully shot down the P78-1, in 2007 China used a missile system to destroy one of its obsolete satellites, and in 2008 the United States similarly destroyed its malfunctioning satellite USA-193. As of 2016 there have no human casualties resulting from conflict in space. International treaties governing space limit or regulate conflicts in space and limit the installation of weapon systems, similar planning in the United States took the form of the Blue Gemini project, which consisted of modified Gemini capsules that would be able to deploy weapons and perform surveillance. The result was a deactivation of many then-orbiting satellites, both American and Soviet, the deleterious and unfocused effects of the EMP test led to the banning of nuclear weapons in space in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. Through the 1970s, the Soviet Union continued their project and test-fired a cannon to test space station defense and this was considered too dangerous to do with a crew on board, however, so the test was conducted after the crew had returned to Earth. Space warfare strongly influenced the design of the United States Space Shuttle. The distinctive delta wing shape was needed if the shuttle were to launch a military payload towards the Soviet Union, both the Soviets and the United States developed anti-satellite weaponry designed to shoot down satellites. While early efforts paralleled other space-to-space warfare concepts, the United States was able in the 1980s to develop ground-to-space laser anti-satellite weapons. None of these systems are known to be today, however. The Peoples Republic of China successfully tested a ballistic missile-launched anti-satellite weapon on January 11,2007 and this resulted in harsh criticism from the United States of America, Britain, and Japan. See 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test, the U. S. developed an interceptor missile, the SM-3, testing it by hitting ballistic test targets while they were in space. On February 21,2008, the U. S. used a SM-3 missile to destroy a spy satellite, USA-193, Japan fields the U. S. -made SM-3 missile, and there have been plans to base the land-based version in Romania and Vietnam. In the late 1970s and through the 1980s the Soviet Union, Space warfare was seen primarily as an extension of nuclear warfare, and so many theoretical systems were based around the destruction or defense of ground and sea-based missiles
Space warfare
–
A
USAF F-15 Eagle launching an
ASM-135 ASAT (anti-satellite) missile in 1985.
Space warfare
–
A SM-3 missile is launched from a U.S. ship to intercept a failing spy satellite
Space warfare
–
A
Trident missile launched from a
Royal Navy Vanguard class ballistic missile submarine.
Space warfare
–
German
Luftwaffe Tornado ECR.
13.
Weapon
–
A weapon, arm, or armament is any device used with intent to inflict damage or harm to living beings, structures, or systems. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, self-defense. In a broader context, weapons may be construed to include anything used to gain a strategic, something that has been re-purposed, converted, or enhanced to become a weapon of war is termed weaponized, such as a weaponized virus or weaponized lasers. The use of objects as weapons has been observed among chimpanzees, however, this can not be confirmed using physical evidence because wooden clubs, spears, and unshaped stones would not have left an unambiguous record. The earliest unambiguous weapons to be found are the Schöninger Speere, the first defensive structures and fortifications appeared in the Bronze Age, indicating an increased need for security. Weapons designed to breach fortifications followed soon after, for example the battering ram was in use by 2500 BC, although early Iron Age swords were not superior to their bronze predecessors, once iron-working developed, around 1300 BC in Greece Alex Webb, Metalworking in Ancient Greece. Domestication of the horse and widespread use of spoked wheels by ca.2000 BC, led to the light, the mobility provided by chariots were important during this era. Spoke-wheeled chariot usage peaked around 1300 BC and then declined, ceasing to be militarily relevant by the 4th century BC. Cavalry developed once horses were bred to support the weight of a man, the horse extended the range and increased the speed of attacks. Ships built as weapons or warships such as the trireme were in use by the 7th century BC and these ships were eventually replaced by larger ships by the 4th century BC. European warfare during the Post-classical history was dominated by groups of knights supported by massed infantry. They were involved in combat and sieges which involved various siege weapons. Knights on horseback developed tactics for charging with lances providing an impact on the enemy formations, whereas infantry, in the age before structured formations, relied on cheap, sturdy weapons such as spears and billhooks in close combat and bows from a distance. As armies became more professional, their equipment was standardized and infantry transitioned to pikes, pikes are normally seven to eight feet in length, in conjunction with smaller side-arms. In Eastern and Middle Eastern warfare, similar tactics were developed independent of European influences, the introduction of gunpowder from the Far East at the end of this period revolutionized warfare. Formations of musketeers, protected by pikemen came to dominate open battles, the European Renaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of firearms in western warfare. Guns and rockets were introduced to the battlefield, firearms are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they release energy from combustible propellants such as gunpowder, rather than from a counter-weight or spring. This energy is released very rapidly and can be replicated without much effort by the user, therefore even early firearms such as the arquebus were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. During the U. S. Civil War various technologies including the gun and ironclad warship emerged that would be recognizable and useful military weapons today
Weapon
–
An array of
Neolithic artifacts, including
bracelets,
axe heads,
chisels, and polishing tools.
Weapon
–
A four-wheeled
ballista drawn by armored
cataphract horses, c. 400.
Weapon
–
This picture shows medieval weapons utilized by the
Mughal Army.
Weapon
–
Ancient Chinese
cannon displayed in the
Tower of London.
14.
Armoured warfare
–
Armoured warfare, mechanised warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a component of modern methods of war. The premise of armoured warfare rests on the ability of troops to penetrate defensive lines through use of manoeuvre by armoured units. Under these conditions, any sort of advance was very slow. Tanks were first developed in Britain and France in 1915, as a way of navigating the barbed wire, British Mark I tanks first went to action at the Somme, on 15 September 1916, but did not manage to break the deadlock of trench warfare. The first French employment on 16 April 1917, of the Schneider CA, was also a failure, in the Battle of Cambrai British tanks were more successful, and broke a German trenchline system, the Hindenburg Line. Despite the generally unpromising beginnings, the military and political leadership in both Britain and France during 1917 backed large investments into armoured vehicle production and this led to a sharp increase in the number of available tanks for 1918. The German Empire to the contrary, produced only a few tanks, twenty German A7V tanks were produced during the entire conflict, compared to over 4,400 French and over 2,500 British tanks of various kinds. Tactically, the deployment of armour during the war was typified by an emphasis on direct infantry support. The tanks main tasks were seen as crushing barbed wire and destroying machine-gun nests, theoretical debate largely focussed on the question whether a swarm of light tanks should be used for this or a limited number of potent heavy vehicles. Though in the Battle of Cambrai a large concentration of British heavy tanks effected a breakthrough, the manoeuvrability of the tank should at least in theory regain armies the ability to flank enemy lines. Following the First World War, the technical and doctrinal aspects of armoured warfare became more sophisticated and diverged into multiple schools of doctrinal thought, during the 1920s, only very few tanks were produced. There were however, important theoretical and technical developments, various British and French commanders who had contributed to the origin of the tank, such as Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, B. H. Liddell Hart and J. F. C. Fuller, theorised about a future use of independent armoured forces, containing a large concentration of tanks. Especially Liddell Hart wrote many books about the subject, partly propagating Fullers theories, such doctrines were faced with the reality that during the 1920s the armoured vehicles, as early road transport in general, were extremely unreliable, and could not be used in sustained operations. Mainstream thought on the subject was more conservative and tried to integrate armoured vehicles into the infantry and cavalry organisation. To save weight, such designs had thin armour plating and this inspired fitting small-calibre high-velocity guns in turrets, J. Collins, after Fuller refused the function. The unit carried out operations on Salisbury Plain and was observed by the major nations, the United States, Germany
Armoured warfare
–
Modern American and French armoured vehicles during an exercise
Armoured warfare
–
A
Renault FT tank with 37mm cannon
Armoured warfare
–
A
German Tiger I tank in combat during the
Battle of Kursk in 1943
Armoured warfare
–
A T-34-85 tank on display at
Musée des Blindés in April 2007.
15.
Artillery
–
Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company
Artillery
–
French naval piece of the late 19th century
Artillery
–
French soldiers in the
Franco-Prussian War 1870–71.
Artillery
–
British 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle-Loaded (RML) Gun on a Moncrieff disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort,
Bermuda. This is a part of a fixed battery, meant to protect against over-land attack and to serve as coastal artillery.
Artillery
–
7-person gun crew firing a US
M777 Light Towed Howitzer,
War in Afghanistan, 2009.
16.
Biological warfare
–
Biological weapons are living organisms or replicating entities that reproduce or replicate within their host victims. Entomological warfare is considered a type of biological weapon. None of these are conventional weapons, which are deployed primarily for their explosive, kinetic, Biological weapons may be employed in various ways to gain a strategic or tactical advantage over the enemy, either by threats or by actual deployments. Like some of the weapons, biological weapons may also be useful as area denial weapons. These agents may be lethal or non-lethal, and may be targeted against a single individual and they may be developed, acquired, stockpiled or deployed by nation states or by non-national groups. In the latter case, or if a nation-state uses it clandestinely, toxins and psychochemical weapons are often referred to as midspectrum agents. Unlike bioweapons, these agents do not reproduce in their host and are typically characterized by shorter incubation periods. Offensive biological warfare, including production, stockpiling and use of biological weapons, was outlawed by the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. Many countries, including signatories of the BWC, currently pursue research into the defense or protection against BW, a nation or group that can pose a credible threat of mass casualty has the ability to alter the terms on which other nations or groups interact with it. Therefore, biological agents may be useful as strategic deterrents in addition to their utility as offensive weapons on the battlefield. As a tactical weapon for use, a significant problem with a BW attack is that it would take days to be effective. Some biological agents have the capability of person-to-person transmission via aerosolized respiratory droplets and this feature can be undesirable, as the agent may be transmitted by this mechanism to unintended populations, including neutral or even friendly forces. While containment of BW is less of a concern for criminal or terrorist organizations, it remains a significant concern for the military. Rudimentary forms of warfare have been practiced since antiquity. During the 6th century BC, the Assyrians poisoned enemy wells with a fungus that would render the enemy delirious, in 1346, the bodies of Mongol warriors of the Golden Horde who had died of plague were thrown over the walls of the besieged Crimean city of Kaffa. Specialists disagree over whether this operation may have been responsible for the spread of the Black Death into Europe, the British Army used smallpox against Native Americans during the Siege of Fort Pitt in 1763. An outbreak that left as many as one hundred Native Americans dead in Ohio Country was reported in 1764, the spread of the disease weakened the natives resistance to the British troops led by Henry Bouquet. It is not clear, however, whether the smallpox was a result of the Fort Pitt incident or the virus was present among the Delaware people
Biological warfare
–
Shiro Ishii, commander of
Unit 731, which performed live human vivisections and other biological experimentation.
Biological warfare
–
Weapons of mass destruction
Biological warfare
–
Researchers working in
Class III cabinets at the
U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories,
Camp Detrick,
Maryland (1940s).
17.
Cavalry
–
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms, an individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used animals, such as camels. Cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, and a man fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, another element of horse mounted warfare is the psychological impact a mounted soldier can inflict on an opponent. In Europe cavalry became increasingly armoured, and eventually became known for the mounted knights, in the period between the World Wars, many cavalry units were converted into motorized infantry and mechanized infantry units, or reformed as tank troops. Most cavalry units that are horse-mounted in modern armies serve in purely ceremonial roles, modern usage of the term generally refers to specialist units equipped with tanks or aircraft. The shock role, traditionally filled by heavy cavalry, is filled by units with the armored designation. Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots, the chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, Cavalry techniques were an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Central Asian and Iranian steppe and pastoralist tribes such as the Persian Parthians and Sarmatians. The photograph above left shows Assyrian cavalry from reliefs of 865–860 BC, at this time, the men had no spurs, saddles, saddle cloths, or stirrups. Fighting from the back of a horse was more difficult than mere riding. The cavalry acted in pairs, the reins of the archer were controlled by his neighbours hand. Even at this time, cavalry used swords, shields. The sculpture implies two types of cavalry, but this might be a simplification by the artist, Later images of Assyrian cavalry show saddle cloths as primitive saddles, allowing each archer to control his own horse. As early as 490 BC a breed of horses was bred in the Nisaean plain in Media to carry men with increasing amounts of armour. However, chariots remained in use for purposes such as carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The southern Britons met Julius Caesar with chariots in 55 and 54 BC, the last mention of chariot use in battle was by the Caledonians at the Mons Graupius, in 84 AD. During the classical Greek period cavalry were usually limited to citizens who could afford expensive war-horses
Cavalry
–
French 4th Hussars at the
battle of Friedland, 1807
Cavalry
–
African horseman of
Baguirmi in full
padded armour suit
Cavalry
–
Assyrian cavalry
Cavalry
–
Parthian horseman, now on display at the
Palazzo Madama, Turin.
18.
Chemical warfare
–
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. None of these fall under the conventional weapons which are primarily effective due to their destructive potential. With proper protective equipment, training, and decontamination measures, the effects of chemical weapons can be overcome. Many nations possess vast stockpiles of weaponized agents in preparation for wartime use, the threat and the perceived threat have become strategic tools in planning both measures and counter-measures. Chemical warfare is different from the use of weapons or nuclear weapons because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily due to any explosive force. Under this Convention, any chemical, regardless of its origin, is considered a chemical weapon unless it is used for purposes that are not prohibited. About 70 different chemicals have been used or stockpiled as chemical agents during the 20th century. The entire class known as Lethal Unitary Chemical Agents and Munitions have been scheduled for elimination by the CWC and these may only be produced or used for research, medical, pharmaceutical or protective purposes. Examples include nerve agents, ricin, lewisite and mustard gas, any production over 100 g must be reported to the OPCW and a country can have a stockpile of no more than one tonne of these chemicals. Schedule 2 – Have no large-scale industrial uses, but may have legitimate small-scale uses, schedule 3 – Have legitimate large-scale industrial uses. Both have been used as weapons but phosgene is an important precursor in the manufacture of plastics. The OPCW must be notified of, and may inspect, any plant producing more than 30 tonnes per year, Ancient Greek myths about Hercules poisoning his arrows with the venom of the Hydra monster are the earliest references to toxic weapons in western literature. Homers epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, allude to poisoned arrows used by both sides in the legendary Trojan War, some of the earliest surviving references to toxic warfare appear in the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Laws of Manu, a Hindu treatise on statecraft forbids the use of poison and fire arrows, kautilyas Arthashastra, a statecraft manual of the same era, contains hundreds of recipes for creating poison weapons, toxic smokes, and other chemical weapons. Ancient Greek historians recount that Alexander the Great encountered poison arrows, arsenical smokes were known to the Chinese as far back as c.1000 BC and Sun Tzus Art of War advises the use of fire weapons. Other Chinese writings dating around the same period contain hundreds of recipes for the production of poisonous or irritating smokes for use in war along with accounts of their use. These accounts describe an arsenic-containing soul-hunting fog, and the use of finely divided lime dispersed into the air to suppress a peasant revolt in 178 AD. The earliest recorded use of gas warfare in the West dates back to the fifth century BC, There is archaeological evidence that the Sassanians deployed chemical weapons against the Roman army in the Siege of Dura Europos in the third century AD
Chemical warfare
–
The Art of War described the use of fire weapons against the enemy.
Chemical warfare
–
Weapons of mass destruction
Chemical warfare
–
Christoph Bernhard von Galen tried using toxic fumes whilst besieging the city of
Groningen in 1672.
Chemical warfare
–
Lyon Playfair proposed the industrial manufacture of cyanide artillery shells for use during the
Crimean War.
19.
Electronic warfare
–
Electronic warfare is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack of an enemy, or impede enemy assaults via the spectrum. The purpose of warfare is to deny the opponent the advantage of, and ensure friendly unimpeded access to. EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems, Military operations are executed in an information environment increasingly complicated by the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum portion of the environment is referred to as the electromagnetic environment. Within the information operations construct, EW is an element of warfare, more specifically. NATO has a different and arguably more encompassing and comprehensive approach to EW, a Military Committee conceptual document from 2007 recognised the EME as an operational manoeuvre space and warfighting environment/domain. In NATO, EW is considered to be warfare in the EME, NATO has adopted simplified language which parallel those used in the other warfighting environments like maritime, land and air/space. For example, Electronic Attack is offensive use of EM energy, ED is electronic defence and ES electronic surveillance. The use of the traditional NATO EW measures has been retained as they contribute to and support EA, ED, besides EW, other EM operations include ISTAR and SIGINT. Subsequently NATO has issued EW Policy and Doctrine and is addressing the other NATO defence lines of development, Electronic warfare is any military action involving the use of the EM spectrum to include directed energy to control the EM spectrum or to attack an enemy. This is not limited to radio or radar frequencies but includes IR, visible, ultraviolet and this includes self-protection, standoff, and escort jamming, and antiradiation attacks. EW is a tool that enhances many air and space functions at multiple levels of conflict. The purpose of EW is to deny the opponent an advantage in the EM spectrum, EW can be applied from air, sea, land, and space by manned and unmanned systems. EW is employed to support operations involving various levels of detection, denial, deception, disruption, degradation, protection. Expanding reliance on the EM spectrum increases both the potential and the challenges of EW in information operations, all of the core, supporting, and related information operations capabilities either directly use EW or indirectly benefit from EW. The principal EW activities have developed over time to exploit the opportunities and vulnerabilities that are inherent in the physics of EM energy. Electronic warfare includes three major subdivisions, electronic attack, electronic protection, and electronic warfare support, in the case of EM energy, this action is referred to as jamming and can be performed on communications systems or radar systems. Jamming is not part of EP, it is an EA measure, the use of flare rejection logic on an Infrared homing missile to counter an adversary’s use of flares is EP
Electronic warfare
–
RAF Menwith Hill, a large
ECHELON site in the United Kingdom, and part of the
UK-USA Security Agreement
Electronic warfare
–
A right front view of a
USAF Boeing E-4 advanced airborne command post (AABNCP) on the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) simulator (HAGII-C) for testing.
20.
Infantry
–
Infantry is the general branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot. As the troops who engage with the enemy in close-ranged combat, infantry units bear the largest brunt of warfare, Infantry can enter and maneuver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and employ crew-served infantry weapons that provide greater and more sustained firepower. In English, the 16th-century term Infantry describes soldiers who walk to the battlefield, and there engage, fight, the term arose in Sixteenth-Century Spain, which boasted one of the first professional standing armies seen in Europe since the days of Rome. It was common to appoint royal princes to military commands, and the men under them became known as Infanteria. in the Canadian Army, the role of the infantry is to close with, and destroy the enemy. In the U. S. Army, the closes with the enemy, by means of fire and maneuver, in order to destroy or capture him, or to repel his assault by fire, close combat. In the U. S. Marine Corps, the role of the infantry is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy fire and maneuver. Beginning with the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, artillery has become a dominant force on the battlefield. Since World War I, combat aircraft and armoured vehicles have become dominant. In 20th and 21st century warfare, infantry functions most effectively as part of a combined arms team including artillery, armour, Infantry relies on organized formations to be employed in battle. These have evolved over time, but remain a key element to effective infantry development and deployment, until the end of the 19th century, infantry units were for the most part employed in close formations up until contact with the enemy. This allowed commanders to control of the unit, especially while maneuvering. The development of guns and other weapons with increased firepower forced infantry units to disperse in order to make them less vulnerable to such weapons. This decentralization of command was made possible by improved communications equipment, among the various subtypes of infantry is Medium infantry. This refers to infantry which are heavily armed and armored than heavy infantry. In the early period, medium infantry were largely eliminated due to discontinued use of body armour up until the 20th century. In the United States Army, Stryker Infantry is considered Medium Infantry, since they are heavier than light infantry, Infantry doctrine is the concise expression of how infantry forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. It is a guide to action, not a set of hard, doctrine provides a very common frame of reference across the military forces, allowing the infantry to function cooperatively in what are now called combined arms operations. Doctrine helps standardise operations, facilitating readiness by establishing common ways of accomplishing infantry tasks, doctrine links theory, history, experimentation, and practice
Infantry
–
Early 20th-century infantry: The
Royal Irish Rifles at the
Battle of the Somme (July–November 1916) during the
First World War (1914–18).
Infantry
–
Janissaries are a very important example in the evolution of the modern infantry.
Infantry
–
20th-century infantry: Australian infantry at Tobruk, Libya, in 1941, during the Second World War (1939–45).
Infantry
–
19th-century infantry: Brigadier General
Winfield Scott leads American line infantry into the
Battle of Chippawa (5 July 1814) in Canada, during the Anglo–American
War of 1812 (1812–15).
21.
Nuclear warfare
–
Nuclear warfare is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is used to inflict damage on the enemy. In contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can produce destruction in a much shorter time-frame, some activists had claimed in the 1980s that with this potential nuclear winter side-effect of a nuclear war, almost every human on Earth could starve to death. So far, two nuclear weapons have been used in the course of warfare, both by the United States near the end of World War II, on August 6,1945, a uranium gun-type device was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, on August 9, a plutonium device was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. These two bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 120,000 people, in 1974, India, and in 1998, Pakistan, two countries that were openly hostile toward each other, developed nuclear weapons. Israel and North Korea are also thought to have developed stocks of nuclear weapons, the Israeli government has never admitted to having nuclear weapons, although it is known to have constructed the reactor and reprocessing plant necessary for building nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have been detonated on over 2,000 occasions for testing purposes, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the resultant end of the Cold War, the threat of a major nuclear war between the two nuclear superpowers was generally thought to have declined. Since then, concern over nuclear weapons has shifted to the prevention of localized nuclear conflicts resulting from nuclear proliferation, the possibility of using nuclear weapons in war is usually divided into two subgroups, each with different effects and potentially fought with different types of nuclear armaments. The first, a nuclear war, refers to a small-scale use of nuclear weapons by two belligerents. This term could apply to any use of nuclear weapons that may involve military or civilian targets. The second, a nuclear war, could consist of large numbers of nuclear weapons used in an attack aimed at an entire country, including military, economic. Such an attack would almost certainly destroy the economic, social, and military infrastructure of the target nation. Some Cold War strategists such as Henry Kissinger argued that a nuclear war could be possible between two heavily armed superpowers. Some predict, however, that a war could potentially escalate into a full-scale nuclear war. Even the most optimistic predictions of the effects of a nuclear exchange foresee the death of many millions of victims within a very short period of time. However, such predictions, assuming total war with nuclear arsenals at Cold War highs, have not been without criticism. The authors of the study estimated that as much as five tons of soot could be released, producing a cooling of several degrees over large areas of North America. The cooling would last for years and could be catastrophic, according to the researchers, either a limited or full-scale nuclear exchange could occur during an accidental nuclear war, in which the use of nuclear weapons is triggered unintentionally
Nuclear warfare
–
Nuclear weapons
Nuclear warfare
–
The
Titan II Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) carried a 9
Mt W53 warhead, one of the most powerful
nuclear weapons fielded by the
United States during the
Cold War.
Nuclear warfare
–
Mushroom cloud from the atomic explosion over Nagasaki rising 18,000 m (59,000 ft) into the air on the morning of August 9, 1945.
Nuclear warfare
–
Convair B-36 bomber
22.
Psychological warfare
–
The term is used to denote any action which is practiced mainly by psychological methods with the aim of evoking a planned psychological reaction in other people. Various techniques are used, and are aimed at influencing a target audiences value system, belief system, emotions, motives, reasoning, or behavior. It is used to induce confessions or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originators objectives and it is also used to destroy the morale of enemies through tactics that aim to depress troops psychological states. Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, civilians of foreign territories can also be targeted by technology and media so as to cause an effect in the government of their country. In Propaganda, The Formation of Mens Attitudes, Jacques Ellul discusses psychological warfare as a peace policy practice between nations as a form of indirect aggression. This type of propaganda drains the public opinion of a regime by stripping away its power on public opinion. This form of aggression is hard to defend against because no court of justice is capable of protecting against psychological aggression since it cannot be legally adjudicated. Here the propagandists is dealing with an adversary whose morale he seeks to destroy by psychological means so that the opponent begins to doubt the validity of his beliefs. Since prehistoric times, warlords and chiefs have recognised the importance of inducing psychological terror in opponents, facing armies would shout, hurl insults at each other and beat weapons together or on shields prior to an engagement, all designed to intimidate the enemy. Massacres and other atrocities were certainly first employed at this time to subdue enemy or rebellious populations or induce an enemy to abandon their struggle, alexander left some of his men behind in each conquered city to introduce Greek culture and oppress dissident views. His soldiers were paid dowries to marry locals in an effort to encourage assimilation, genghis Khan, leader of the Mongolian Empire in the 13th century AD employed less subtle techniques. Defeating the will of the enemy before having to attack and reaching a settlement was preferable to actually fighting. The Mongol generals demanded submission to the Khan, and threatened the initially captured villages with complete destruction if they refused to surrender, if they had to fight to take the settlement, the Mongol generals fulfilled their threats and massacred the survivors. Tales of the encroaching horde spread to the villages and created an aura of insecurity that undermined the possibility of future resistance. The Khan also employed tactics that made his numbers seem greater than actually were. During night operations he ordered each soldier to light three torches at dusk to give the illusion of an army and deceive and intimidate enemy scouts. He also sometimes had objects tied to the tails of his horses, so that riding on open and his soldiers used arrows specially notched to whistle as they flew through the air, creating a terrifying noise. Another tactic favoured by the Mongols was catapulting severed human heads over city walls to frighten the inhabitants and this was especially used by the later Turko-Mongol chieftain
Psychological warfare
–
Mosaic of
Alexander the Great on his campaign against the
Persian Empire.
Psychological warfare
–
Lord Bryce led the
commission of 1915 to document German
atrocities committed against Belgian civilians.
Psychological warfare
–
A report from a German
secret agent about
Lenin 's arrival to
Petrograd in 1917. This event was actively arranged by the German government in a bid to destabilize Russia.
Psychological warfare
–
An example of a
World War II era leaflet meant to be dropped from an
American B-17 over a German city. See the
file description page for a translation.
23.
Unconventional warfare
–
Unconventional warfare is the opposite of conventional warfare. The general objective of unconventional warfare is to instill a belief that peace, two original definition are claiming, The intent of U. S. The ultimate goal of this type of warfare is to motivate an enemy to stop attacking or resisting even if it has the ability to continue, failing this, a secondary objective can be to debilitate the enemy before a conventional attack. Limited conventional warfare tactics can be used unconventionally to demonstrate might, in addition to the surgical application of traditional weapons, other armaments that specifically target military can be used are, nuclear weapons, incendiary devices, or other such weapons. Special Forces, inserted deep behind enemy lines, are used unconventionally to train, equip and they can also spread subversion and propaganda, while they aid native resistance fighters, to ultimately cause a hostile government to capitulate. Tactics focus on destroying military targets while avoiding damage to civilian infrastructure, guerrilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940–1990 Pentagon plans cyber-insect army
Unconventional warfare
–
Unconventional warfare structure by guerilla organizations.
24.
Military tactics
–
Military tactics are the science and art of organizing a military force, and the techniques for combining and using weapons and military units to engage and defeat an enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology have been reflected in changes to military tactics, in contemporary military science, tactics are the lowest of three planning levels, strategic, operational, and tactical. The highest level of planning is strategy, how force is translated into political objectives by bridging the means, the intermediate level, operational, the conversion of strategy into tactics, deals with formations of units. Military tactics answer the questions of how best to deploy and employ forces on a small scale, some practices have not changed since the dawn of warfare, assault, ambushes, skirmishing, turning flanks, reconnaissance, creating and using obstacles and defenses, etc. Using ground to best advantage has not changed much either, heights, rivers, swamps, passes, choke points, and natural cover, can all be used in multiple ways. Before the nineteenth century, many tactics were confined to battlefield concerns. Nowadays, specialized tactics exist for many situations, for example for securing a room in a building, technological changes can render existing tactics obsolete, and sociological changes can shift the goals and methods of warfare, requiring new tactics. Tactics define how soldiers are armed and trained, each – constrained by his weaponry, logistics and social conditioning – would use a battlefield differently, but would usually seek the same outcomes from their use of tactics. The First World War forced great changes in tactics as advances in technology rendered prior tactics useless, list of military tactics Combat arms Johnson, Rob, Michael Whitby, John France. How to win on the battlefield,25 key tactics to outwit, outflank, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Muhm, Gerhard. German Tactics in the Italian Campaign, Gerhard Muhm, La Tattica nella campagna ass d’Italia, in LINEA GOTICA AVAMPOSTO DEI BALCANI, Amedeo Montemaggi - Edizioni Civitas, Roma 1993. Contemporary Marine tactics for war fighting Napoleons tactics and strategy Small Unit Actions during German Campaign in Russia
Military tactics
–
German World War I observation post disguised as a tree.
25.
Air combat manoeuvring
–
Air combat manoeuvring is the tactical art of moving, turning and/or situating ones fighter aircraft in order to attain a position from which an attack can be made on another aircraft. Air combat manoeuvres rely on offensive and defensive basic fighter manoeuvring to gain an advantage over an aerial opponent, military aviation appeared in World War I where aircraft were initially used to spot enemy troop concentrations, field gun positions and movements. Early aerial combat consisted of shooting at one another with hand held weapons. The first recorded aircraft to be shot down by another aircraft, the pilot, Feldwebel Wilhelm Schlichting, was shot with a hand gun wielded by observer Louis Quenault, who was riding in a Voisin Type 3 piloted by French Sergeant Joseph Frantz. The need to stop reconnaissance that was being conducted by enemy aircraft rapidly led to the development of fighter planes, roland Garros, working with Morane Saulnier Aéroplanes, was the first to solve this problem by attaching steel deflector wedges to the propeller. He achieved three kills but was shot down by fire and landed behind German lines. As technology rapidly advanced, new and young aviators began defining the realm of combat, such as Max Immelmann, Oswald Boelcke. A flying man may be able to loop and do all the stunts imaginable and this type of combat became known as dogfighting. Oswald Boelcke, a German fighter ace during World War I, was the first to publish the rules for aerial combat manoeuvring in 1916. He advised pilots to attack from the direction of the sun, most of these rules are still as valuable today as they were a century ago. New, and additional types of manoeuvres have emerged, intending to break radar lock by minimizing the Doppler signature of ones own aircraft, or to exhaust the kinetic energy of an incoming missile. However, close fighting with infrared guided missiles and aircraft cannons still obeys the same general rules laid down in the skies over Europe in the early 20th century. The master rule is still the same, do not let your opponent get onto your six, close-range combat tactics vary considerably according to the type of aircraft being used and the number of aircraft involved. There are five things a pilot must remain aware of when contemplating aerial engagement, of which, getting sight of your opponent. In Southeast Asia, over 85% of all kills are attributed to the spotting and shooting the defender without ever being seen. Structural limitations of both the attacking and defending fighters must be taken into account, such as thrust-to-weight ratio, wing loading, variable limitations must also be considered, such as turn radius, turn rate, and the specific energy of the aircraft. Position of aircraft must quickly be assessed, including direction, angle off tail, also, the pilot must be aware of his wingman’s position, and maintain good communication. A pilot in combat attempts to conserve his aircraft’s energy through carefully timed and executed manoeuvres, a manoeuvre such as the low yo-yo trades altitude for airspeed to gain closure on an enemy, and to decrease turn radius
Air combat manoeuvring
–
Indian Air Force 's
Sukhoi Su-30MKIs during a
Thach Weave manoeuvre.
Air combat manoeuvring
–
A flight envelope diagram showing V S (Stall speed at 1G), V C (Corner speed) and V D (Dive speed)
26.
Battle
–
A battle is a combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. A war sometimes consists of many battles, Battles generally are well defined in duration, area, and force commitment. Wars and military campaigns are guided by strategy, whereas battles take place on a level of planning, German strategist Carl von Clausewitz stated that the employment of battles. To achieve the object of war was the essence of strategy, where the duration of the battle is longer than a week, it is often for reasons of staff operational planning called an operation. Battles can be planned, encountered, or forced by one force on the other when the latter is unable to withdraw from combat, a battle always has as its purpose the reaching of a mission goal by use of military force. However, a battle may end in a Pyrrhic victory, which favors the defeated party. If no resolution is reached in a battle, it can result in a stalemate, a conflict in which one side is unwilling to reach a decision by a direct battle using conventional warfare often becomes an insurgency. Until the 19th century the majority of battles were of short duration and this was mainly due to the difficulty of supplying armies in the field, or conducting night operations. The means of prolonging a battle was typically by employment of siege warfare, improvements in transportation and the sudden evolving of trench warfare, with its siege-like nature during World War I in the 20th century, lengthened the duration of battles to days and weeks. This created the requirement for unit rotation to prevent combat fatigue, trench warfare had become largely obsolete in conflicts between advanced armies by the start of the Second World War. The space a battle depends on the range of the weapons of the combatants. A battle in this sense may be of long duration and take place over a large area. Until the advent of artillery and aircraft, battles were fought with the two sides within sight, if not reach, of each other. Conversely, some of the Allied infantry who had just dealt a defeat to the French at the Battle of Waterloo fully expected to have to fight again the next day. Battlespace is a strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea. It includes the environment, factors and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force and this includes enemy and friendly armed forces, facilities, weather, terrain, and the electromagnetic spectrum within the operational areas and areas of interest. Battles are decided by various factors, the number and quality of combatants and equipment, the skill of the commanders of each army, and the terrain advantages are among the most prominent factors. A unit may charge with high morale but less discipline and still emerge victorious and this tactic was effectively used by the early French Revolutionary Armies
Battle
–
The
Battle of Poltava between Russia and Sweden, by
Denis Martens the Younger
Battle
–
Battle Scene-Detail from Deccan miniature painting. c. 19th century.
Battle
–
The
Battle of Scheveningen of 1653: episode from the
First Anglo-Dutch War.
Battle
–
Battle of Gibraltar of 1607 by
Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom.
27.
Cavalry tactics
–
For much of history, humans have used some form of cavalry for war and, as a result, cavalry tactics have evolved over time. Tactically, the advantages of cavalry over infantry troops were greater mobility, a larger impact. Before the invention of saddle and stirrups, which riders to reasonably maneuver on horseback. The chariots advantage of speed was outdone by the agility of riding on horseback, the ability of horsemen to pass more difficult terrain was also crucial to this change. In Celtic warfare, light chariots persisted among mounted troops, for their ability to heavily armoured warriors. At first it was not considered effective to use weapons on horseback, mounted infantry would ride to battle, and then dismount to fight. For a long time, riders and charioteers worked alongside each other in the cavalry, the first recorded instance of mounted warriors are the mounted archers of the Iranian tribes appearing in Assyrian records from the 9th century BC. Mongolian troops had a Buryat bow, for showering the enemy with arrows from a safe distance. The aim on horseback was better than in a jiggling chariot, nevertheless, an archer in a chariot could shoot potentially stronger infantry bows. Javelins were employed as a ranged weapon by many cavalries. They were easy to handle on horseback, two to ten javelins would be carried, depending on their weight. Thrown javelins have less range than composite bows, but often prevailed in use nevertheless, due to the mass of the weapon, there was a greater armour-piercing ability, and they thus caused fatal wounds more frequently. Usage is reported for both light and heavy cavalry, for example, by Numidia and the Mongols light cavalry and the heavy cataphracts, Celtic cavalry, the Celtic horsemens training was copied by the Roman equites. A significant element learned from the Celts was turning on horseback to throw javelins backwards, modern historical reenactors have shown that neither the stirrup nor the saddle are strictly necessary for the effective use of the couched lance, refuting a previously widely held belief. Free movement of the rider on horseback were highly esteemed for light cavalry to shoot and fight in all directions, andalusian light cavalry refused to employ them until the 12th century, nor were they used by the Baltic turcopoles of the Teutonic Order in the battle of Legnica. An example of combined arms and the efficiency of cavalry forces were the Medieval Mongols, important for their horse archery was the use of stirrups for the archer to stand while shooting. This new position enabled them to use larger and stronger cavalry bows than the enemy, armies of horse archers could cover enemy troops with arrows from a distance and never had to engage in close combat. Slower enemies without effective long range weapons often had no chance against them and it was in this manner that the cavalry of the Parthian Empire destroyed the troops of Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae
Cavalry tactics
–
A 13th-century
Mongol saddle cover
Cavalry tactics
–
Battle of La Higueruela (1431) between
John II of Castile and
Muhammed IX,
Nasrid Sultan of Granada
Cavalry tactics
–
Polish hussar formation at the
Battle of Klushino 1610 - painting by Szymon Boguszowicz 1620
Cavalry tactics
–
The death of King Gustavus II Adolphus on 16 November 1632, at the
Battle of Lützen
28.
Charge (warfare)
–
A charge is a maneuver in battle in which combatants advance towards their enemy at their best speed in an attempt to engage in close combat. The charge is the dominant shock attack and has been the key tactic, modern charges usually involve small groups against individual positions instead of large groups of combatants charging another group or a fortified line. It may be assumed that the charge was practised in prehistoric warfare, the tactics of the classical Greek phalanx included an ordered approach march, with a final charge to contact. Initially successful, it was countered by effective discipline and the development of defensive bayonet tactics, the development of the bayonet in the late 17th century led to the bayonet charge becoming the main infantry charge tactic through the 19th century and into the 20th. As early as the 19th century, tactical scholars were already noting that most bayonet charges did not result in close combat, instead, one side usually fled before actual bayonet fighting ensued. The act of fixing bayonets has been held to be connected to morale. The shock value of an attack has been especially exploited in cavalry tactics. However, when cavalry charges succeeded, it was due to the defending formation breaking up and scattering. It must be noted, though, that while it was not recommended for a charge to continue against unbroken infantry. The cavalry charge was a significant tactic in the Middle Ages and these developments began in the 7th century but were not combined to full effect until the 11th century. The Battle of Dyrrhachium was an instance of the familiar medieval cavalry charge. By the time of the First Crusade in the 1090s, the charge was being employed widely by European armies. It became increasingly common for knights to dismount and fight as heavy infantry. The use of cavalry for flanking manoeuvres became more useful, although interpretations of the knightly ideal often led to reckless. Cavalry could still charge dense heavy infantry formations head-on if the cavalrymen had a combination of certain traits, however, the majority of cavalry personnel lacked at least one of these traits, particularly discipline, formations, and horses trained for head-on charges. In the twentieth century, the charge was seldom used, though it enjoyed sporadic. In what was called the last true cavalry charge, elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States attacked Villista forces in the Battle of Guerrero on 29 March 1916. The battle was a victory for the Americans, occurring in desert terrain, at the Mexican town of Vicente Guerrero, Chihuahua
Charge (warfare)
–
Romanticized painting of
O'Higgins ' charge at the
Battle of Rancagua during the
Chilean War of Independence
Charge (warfare)
–
Infantry charge with the bayonet during the
Greco-Turkish War of 1897
Charge (warfare)
–
Charge of the Light Brigade, Painting by
Richard Caton Woodville
Charge (warfare)
–
Richard Caton Woodville,
Poniatowski 's Last Charge at
Leipzig
29.
Counterattack
–
A counterattack is a tactic employed in response to an attack, with the term originating in war games. The general objective is to negate or thwart the advantage gained by the enemy during attack, a saying, attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte illustrate the tactical importance of the counterattack, the greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory. Counter-offensive Battleplan United States Department of Defense, Dictionary of Military, published by, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. The Clay Pigeons of St. Lo
Counterattack
–
Closing the
Falaise-Argentan Pocket and the Mortain counterattack 6–17 August 1944
30.
Counter-insurgency
–
According to the U. S. Insurgency is the organized use of subversion and violence to seize, nullify or challenge political control of a region. As such, it is primarily a struggle, in which both sides use armed force to create space for their political, economic and influence activities to be effective. Counter-insurgency is normally conducted as a combination of military operations and other means, such as demoralization in the form of propaganda, psy-ops. Counter-insurgency operations include many different facets, military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, to understand counter-insurgency, one must understand insurgency to comprehend the dynamics of revolutionary warfare. Insurgents capitalize on societal problems, often called gaps, counter-insurgency addresses closing the gaps, when the gaps are wide, they create a sea of discontent, creating the environment in which the insurgent can operate. He defines this distinction as Maoist and post-Maoist insurgency, caldwell wrote, The law of armed conflict requires that, to use force, combatants must distinguish individuals presenting a threat from innocent civilians. This basic principle is accepted by all disciplined militaries, in the counterinsurgency, disciplined application of force is even more critical because our enemies camouflage themselves in the civilian population. The third Marques of Santa Cruz de Marcenado is probably the earliest author who dealt systematically in his writings with counter-insurgency, strikingly, Santa Cruz recognized that insurgencies are usually due to real grievances, A state rarely rises up without the fault of its governors. Consequently, he advocated clemency towards the population and good governance, to seek the peoples heart, the majority of counter-insurgency efforts by major powers in the last century have been spectacularly unsuccessful. This may be attributed to a number of causes and he showed as a prime example the French occupation of Spain during the Napoleonic wars. Whenever Spanish forces managed to constitute themselves into a fighting force. However, once dispersed and decentralized, the nature of the rebel campaigns proved a decisive counter to French superiority on the battlefield. Counter-insurgency efforts may be successful, especially when the insurgents are unpopular, the Philippine–American War, the Shining Path in Peru, and the Malayan Emergency in Malaya have been the sites of failed insurgencies. Hart also points to the experiences of T. E. Lawrence, in both the preceding cases, the insurgents and rebel fighters were working in conjunction with or in a manner complementary to regular forces. Such was also the case with the French Resistance during World War II, the strategy in these cases is for the irregular combatant to weaken and destabilize the enemy to such a degree that victory is easy or assured for the regular forces. However, in many rebellions, one does not see rebel fighters working in conjunction with regular forces. Rather, they are home-grown militias or imported fighters who have no unified goals or objectives save to expel the occupier, according to Liddell Hart, there are few effective counter-measures to this strategy. So long as the insurgency maintains popular support, it will all of its strategic advantages of mobility, invisibility, and legitimacy in its own eyes
Counter-insurgency
–
Police question a civilian during the
Malayan Emergency. Counter-insurgency involves action from both military and police authorities.
Counter-insurgency
–
U.S. Marines and
ANA soldiers on patrol during counter-insurgency operations in
Marjah,
Afghanistan, February 2010
Counter-insurgency
–
A
strategic hamlet in
South Vietnam c.1964
Counter-insurgency
–
A
7th SFG Special Forces medic gives a young boy a coloring book during a meeting with village religious leaders to gain their support and obtain information, Afghanistan 2008
