Guerrilla Warfare In The Vietnam War

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The Vietnam War occurred in Vietnam, Southeast Asia and represented a successful attempt on the part of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam to unite and impose a communist system over the entire nation. Beginning in 1959, North Vietnamese launched their first guerrilla attacks against the South and American ground forces were directly sent in as allies for the South. The Vietnam War was particularly important due to the different forces of guerrilla tactics and how they differed from the popularly known conventional warfare. This is demonstrated through the history of conventional warfare compared to the upcoming guerrilla warfare, which goes hand in hand with why Vietnamese civilians decided …show more content…

In the past, this type of warfare has been reported in actions such as attempting to overthrow existing governments or are rebels against large military organizations. Guerrilla combat involves surprise attacks and ambushes, including raids or sabotage. Majority of guerrilla tactics in the past have been products of irregulars fighting in their homelands and may have support of the local population as well.
The French military writer Henri, baron de Jomini (1779-1869), classified the operations of guerilla fighters as national war. The Prussian general and theorist Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) admitted their existence by picturing partisans as "a king of nebulous vapory essence." This eventually led to the name of their operations, small wars.
The role of guerrilla warfare expanded during the second world war as well. This is demonstrated when Josip Broz Tito's (1892-1980) communist partisans tied down and frequently clashed with German army in Yugoslavia, which resulted when other groups, both communist and noncommunist, fought against the German and Japanese enemies using guerrilla …show more content…

This includes the introduction of numerous innovations such as missile warfare, air mobility and air assaults, deep helicopter strikes and the Gulf War-Style "parallel warfare" air campaign have all substantially altered conventional warfare. Conventional warfare is not only about capabilities employed - that is, industrially manufactured, technologically advanced equipment, deployed by recognized military units. Rather, it is a society's war of fighting that encompasses the doctrinal thinking, the organizational structures, the rules of engagement and the appropriate goals of violence. The Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 during the Siege of Boston provides excellent insight on the use of conventional warfare during the war. After Americans captured Fort Ticonderoga in NY, the British brought the fort's cannons to Cambridge, where they arrived on January 24, 1776. They planned to fortify hills overlooking the Boston Harbor in attempt to break the siege. This battle, along with other victorious ones, established the Continental Army in June of 1775 and the British failure in their Southern Campaign in 1778 to 1783. Theoreticians such as Uborevich, Tuknachevsky and Triandafillov transformed the tactical, operational and strategic conduct of war in conventional warfare for the Soviet

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