Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is irregular combat by small, mobile forces that use ambushes, raids, sabotage, and evasion against a stronger opponent.
Ambush: A surprise attack launched against an enemy force from a concealed or advantageous position. Guerrilla forces use sudden attacks to offset disadvantages in size and firepower.
Peninsular War: The 1808–1814 conflict in Iberia in which Spain, Portugal, and Britain fought Napoleonic France. Spanish resistance to French occupation helped popularize the term guerrilla.
Vietnam War: A mid-twentieth-century conflict involving North Vietnam, South Vietnam, the United States, and other states. Viet Cong guerrilla operations challenged a conventionally stronger opponent in South Vietnam.
Conventional warfare: Armed conflict fought mainly by organized state forces using established military formations and weapons. Guerrilla forces generally avoid the set-piece battles central to conventional warfare.
Hit-and-run tactics: A combat method involving a rapid attack followed by withdrawal before an opponent can respond effectively. Quick strikes and withdrawals help small forces avoid decisive engagements.
Spanish guerrillas: Irregular Spanish fighters who resisted French forces during the Peninsular War. Their raids and ambushes became an enduring model for the named form of warfare.
Algerian War: The 1954–1962 war in which the Algerian National Liberation Front fought French rule. The FLN combined guerrilla attacks with political mobilization against French colonial authority.
Terrorism: The use or threat of violence, especially against civilians, to pursue political aims through fear. Guerrilla warfare is a mode of combat, while terrorism is commonly defined by targets or political methods.
Sabotage: Deliberate damage or disruption of equipment, infrastructure, or operations to weaken an opposing organization. Disrupting supply lines and infrastructure can impose costs beyond direct battlefield losses.
Che Guevara: An Argentine Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader who wrote about rural insurgency. His writings helped spread a twentieth-century theory of revolutionary guerrilla warfare.