The history of guerrilla warfare stretches back to ancient history. While guerrilla tactics can be viewed as a natural continuation of prehistoric warfare, the Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War (6th century BCE), was the earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare. This directly inspired the development of modern guerrilla warfare. Communist leaders like Mao Zedong and North Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh both implemented guerrilla warfare in the style of Sun Tzu, which served as a model for similar strategies elsewhere, such as the Cuban "foco" theory and the anti-Soviet Mujahadeen in Afghanistan. While the tactics of modern guerrilla warfare originate in the 20th century, irregular warfare, using elements later characteristic of modern guerrilla warfare, has existed throughout the battles of many ancient civilizations.
Ancient
General and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War (6th century BC), was one of the first proponents of the use of guerrilla warfare. The earliest description of guerrilla warfare is an alleged battle between Emperor Huang and the Myan people (Miao) in China. Guerrilla warfare was not unique to China; nomadic and migratory tribes such as the Scythians, Goths, Vandals, and Huns used elements of guerrilla warfare to fight the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, and Alexander the Great.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, widely regarded as the "father of guerrilla warfare" of his time, devised the Fabian strategy which was used to great effect against Hannibal's army during the Second Punic War.
Guerrilla warfare was also a common strategy of the various Celtic, Germanic and African tribes that the Romans faced through their history. Their first great exponent would be the Lusitanian chieftain Viriathus, whose knowledge of guerrilla tactics earned him eight years of victories over the Roman armies. He would die by treason without being ever decisively bested on the battlefield. The Arverni Gaul Vercingetorix also favored mobile warfare and cutting of supply lines in his revolt against the Roman Republic in 52 BC, and Arminius from the Germanic Cherusci capitalized on the terrain and the Imperial Roman army formations to win the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Another example of an enemy using guerrilla was Tacfarinas, chief of Numidian rebels, who forced the Roman Empire into allying with neighboring natives in order to finally defeat him. Later Caratacus, the war chief of the British Catuvellauni, employed guerrilla warfare mixed in with occasional set-piece battles for eight years. Although Caratacus was ultimately captured by the Romans, Tacitus writes that they respected him.
In the Classic Ancient world, this kind of warfare was indirectly mentioned by the Greeks in Homeric stories, but usually as hit and run acts of foraging for booty in enemy territory, pretty much as later Vikings piracy. There are not many examples of guerrilla in ancient Greek warfare, though the Aetolians did make use of it against Demosthenes and his heavy hoplite infantry during the Aetolian campaign.
Medieval to early modern
Guerrilla warfare was practiced by the Byzantine Empire, particularly during its wars with the Abbasid Caliphate. In the middle of the tenth century these practices were codified in a military manual known by the modern Latin translation of its Greek title, De velitatione bellica. Ascribed to the emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, this manual describes the tactics employed along the Tauros Mountains, the border region between empire and caliphate. The tactics focus on tracking invaders, limiting the damage that they can do through careful surveillance and counter-raids, and then attacking them in mountain passes when they are laden with pillage and prisoners. Shadowing enemy forces and setting up ambushes are the main themes of the text.
During the Mongol invasion of Europe, guerrilla warfare and stiff resistance helped many Europeans, particularly those at Croatia and Dzurdzuketia, in preventing the Mongols from setting a permanent hold of their territory and driving them off. In the 15th century, Vietnamese leader Lê Lợi launched a guerrilla war against the Chinese.
One of the most successful guerrilla wars was led by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg against the invading Ottoman Empire. In 1443 he rallied Albanian forces and drove the Turks from his homeland. Skanderbeg fought a guerrilla war against invading armies up to 20 times larger than his, by using the mountainous terrain to his advantage. He harassed the vast Ottoman army with small "hit and run" units, as well as using feint retreats followed by sudden counterattacks, and other tactics unknown in warfare up to then. For 25 years Skanderbeg kept the Turks from retaking Albania, which due to its proximity to Italy, could easily have served as a springboard to the rest of Europe.
In 1462, the Ottomans were driven back by Wallachian prince Vlad III Dracula. Vlad was unable to stop the Turks from entering Wallachia, so he resorted to guerrilla war, constantly organizing small attacks and ambushes on the Turks. During The Deluge in Poland guerrilla tactics were applied. In the Hundred Years' War between England and France, commander Bertrand du Guesclin used guerrilla tactics to pester the English invaders.
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, known as the Great Captain, learned guerrilla warfare from skirmishing against Moors in the Granada War and applied it successfully during the Italian Wars. He trained his Italian troops on it. His successors in the Spanish armies, such as Prospero Colonna, Fernando d'Ávalos and Antonio de Leyva, also made a wide usage of guerrilla warfare during the subsequent Italian Wars. It became a common fixture of the Spanish tercios founded by Emperor Charles V. Their tactics included hit and run attacks, ambushes and camisados, which saw wide usage during the Eighty Years' War.Baquer, M. A. (2006). La escuela Hispano-Italiana de Estrategia. Guerra y sociedad en la monarquía hispánica. Vol. 1, 2006, ISBN 84-8483-235-X, págs. 367-380
The Frisian warlord and freedom fighter Pier Gerlofs Donia fought a guerrilla against Philip I of Castile and with his co-commander Wijerd Jelckama against Charles V.
During the Dutch Revolt of the 16th century, the Geuzen waged a guerrilla war against the Spanish Empire. During the Northern Wars, a pro-Danish guerrilla group known as the Snapphane fought against the Swedes.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj pioneered Shiva sutra or Ganimi Kava (guerrilla tactics) against the Mughals and other powers in 1645 leading to the establishment of the Maratha state in 1674, sowing seeds of what would become the last major Indian empire, the Maratha Empire, before the British Raj.
In the 17th century Ireland, Irish irregulars called tories and rapparees used guerrilla warfare in the Irish Confederate Wars and the Williamite War in Ireland. Finnish guerrillas, sissis, fought against Russian occupation troops in the Great Northern War, 1710–1721. The Russians retaliated brutally against the civilian populace; the period is called Isoviha (Grand Hatred) in Finland.
Long 18th century (1700–1815) North America Colonial Wars
In North America, one of the earliest recorded instances of guerrilla warfare was Apalachee resistance to the Spanish during the Narváez expedition in 1528 in Spanish Florida.
In the mid 17th century the Colonists of New France were in conflict with the Iroquois Confederacy. Iroquois forces used hit and run tactics, harassment and avoided costly pitched battles. The colonists of New France began calling these Indian tactics La Petite Guerre because the tactics were meant for raiding as opposed to pitched battles. Under the tutelage of Wendake, Wobanaki, Algonquin and Ottawa tutors the habitants of New France learned La Petite Guerre and successfully used them against the Iroquois.
Major Benjamin Church, New Englanders learned guerilla tactics through Native warfare and also had been adopting Indian scouting and raiding tactics since King Philip's War. Throughout the four French and Indian Wars, starting in the late 17th century Canadiens, the Wabanaki Confederacy, and some Acadians brought La Petite Guerre to the New England Colonies and the Ohio Valley. In present-day Maine, Father Sébastien Rale led the Wabanaki Confederacy in a petite guerre along the New England/ Acadia border. A generation later, in Nova Scotia, Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre led the Mi'kmaq and the Acadians in a petite guerre behind Anglo-American lines in the lead up to the last French and Indian War.
During the French and Indian War La Petite Guerre came to the front stage when the Ohio valley Indians defeated the Braddock Expedition near the forks of Ohio in the Battle of the Monongahela. In Nova Scotia, French Officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert led the Mi'kmaq and the Acadians in a guerrilla war while the British expelled the Acadians from the region. In the Northeast, a New Hampshire backwoodsman, Robert Rogers, began to make a stir in the British Armed Forces establishment for his success using the tactics of the "little war". British military leaders like Jeffery Amherst, John Forbes, and Henry Bouquet understood they needed to learn and adopt the techniques and tactics of the little war or be consumed, like Braddock. The British military establishment began adopting some of the tactics of La Petite Guerre as "light infantry."
American Revolution
Although many of the engagements of the American Revolution were conventional, guerrilla warfare was used to a certain extent during this conflict from 1775 to 1783, which made a significant impact. Guerrilla tactics were first used in the US at the Battles of Lexington and Concord by the Patriots at April 19, 1775. George Washington sometimes used some sort of unconventional methods to fight the British. During the Forage War, George Washington sent militia units with limited Continental Army support to launch raids and ambushes on British Army detachments and forage parties, the militia, and Continental Army support would skirmish with British detachments in small-scale battles and engagements. Throughout the Forage War, British casualties exceeded past 900. The Forage War raised morale for the Patriots as their guerrilla operations against the British were very effective.
Next, there are other Americans that used hit and run raids, ambushes, and surprise attacks against the British. Several famous Colonial American officers had success with guerrilla tactics notably William R. Davie, John Stark, David Wooster, Thomas Knowlton, Francis Marion, Israel Putnam, Shadrach Inman, Ethan Allen, Daniel Morgan, Morgan's Corps of Rangers riflemen, and the Overmountain Men. All these American guerrilla fighters did their part by using unconventional tactics to fight the British and loyalists. Nathanael Greene used a guerrilla strategy very effectively against Lord Cornwallis. First, Nathanael Greene would keep retreating to lure the British far from their supply lines, then send out his forces to fight in small skirmishes and engagements with British detachments to weaken them.
Then fighting the conventional battle, Nathanael Greene fought Lord Cornwallis at Guilford Court House and gave him a severe blow. Although Lord Cornwallis was the victor, his victory was pyrrhic as he had too many casualties that he could ill afford. After the British surrender at Yorktown and America gaining their independence, many of these Americans who used guerrilla tactics and strategies became immortalized and romanticized as time passed. Although guerrilla warfare was frequently used when avoiding battles, the Americans fought in conventional linear formations in decisive battles against the British. The American Revolution could be seen as a hybrid war since both conventional and guerrilla warfare was used throughout its duration.
Vendéan Counter-Revolution