Battles & Wars › Between the wars › Second Sino-Japanese War
Guerrilla and insurgent warfare
1937 (Mao's theory); far older roots· Idea, religion or movement· Strategy & tactics
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
Fighting by small, mobile, often irregular bands that avoid open battle, raid the enemy's weak points and rely on popular support.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
The word is Spanish for 'little war', from Spain's resistance to Napoleon after 1808, but the method is ancient. Guerrillas strike supply lines and isolated posts, then melt back into hills, forests or the population; Mao said they must move among the people as fish swim in the sea. His theory of 'protracted war' set out stages: win the peasants, harass the enemy, build regular forces, and only then fight conventional battles. Counter-insurgency answers have included fortified villages, resettlement and winning local support.
Why it matters
It let weaker sides exhaust or defeat great powers, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, and made winning over the population, 'hearts and minds', central to modern war.
Think of it like
Like rising vacancies and costs at a building: no single loss is fatal, but the steady drain can push an owner to sell.
How we know
Mao's On Guerrilla Warfare (1937) and On Protracted War (1938), T.E. Lawrence's account of the Arab Revolt, and military studies of insurgencies from the Boer War to Iraq.
Still debated
Whether guerrillas can win without outside help, or without a conventional army for the final blow, is debated; many successful insurgencies had both.
Connections (7)
▸Sun Tzu's The Art of War shaped Mao's thinking on Guerrilla and insurgent warfareMostly agreed
The connection
Mao read classical Chinese strategy closely. In his 1936 essay on strategy he quoted Sun Tzu's maxim 'know the enemy and know yourself', and his guerrilla rules echo Sun Tzu's advice to avoid strength, strike weakness and use deception and speed. Mao blended these ideas with Marxism and his own fighting experience.
When and how
In Mao's essays written in northwest China, 1936–38, drawing on Sun Tzu's text, traditionally dated to about 500 BC.
How sure are we?
Mao explicitly quotes Sun Tzu in 'Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War' (1936); the overlap of ideas is clear, though he drew on many sources.
Debates and open questions
How much Mao owed Sun Tzu, rather than popular novels such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Soviet doctrine or his own trial and error, is debated.
▸Second Boer War featured Boer commandos, an early model of Guerrilla and insurgent warfareWell documented
The connection
After Britain took the Boer capitals in 1900, Boer fighters split into mounted commandos that raided railways and supply columns across the open veld. Britain answered with lines of blockhouses, burned farms and camps for civilians. That pattern, mobile raiders backed by the population and a counter-campaign aimed at the population, recurred in later insurgencies.
When and how
South Africa, 1900–1902, with Boer commanders such as Christiaan de Wet and Jan Smuts against British forces under Lord Kitchener.
How we know
British military records, Boer memoirs such as Deneys Reitz's Commando, and Emily Hobhouse's reports on the camps document the guerrilla phase in detail.
Debates and open questions
Calling it an 'early model' is debatable, since guerrilla war is far older; its influence on later theorists was indirect.
▸Mao Zedong theorized Guerrilla and insurgent warfareWell documented
The connection
From fighting in the Jinggang Mountains in the late 1920s, Mao and Zhu De drew rules for weaker forces: when the enemy advances, retreat; when it camps, harass; when it tires, attack; when it retreats, pursue. In 1937–38 Mao set out On Guerrilla Warfare and On Protracted War, turning tactics into a full theory of 'people's war'.
When and how
The Jiangxi base areas and Yan'an, China, late 1920s to 1938; the works were later translated and studied worldwide.
How we know
His writings survive in many editions, and insurgent leaders from Vietnam's Võ Nguyên Giáp to Che Guevara studied them.
Debates and open questions
Scholars debate how original Mao's ideas were, given older guerrilla traditions and the contributions of comrades such as Zhu De.
▸Guerrilla and insurgent warfare shaped communist strategy in Vietnam WarWell documented
The connection
Vietnamese communists adapted Mao's model of 'people's war': build support among villagers, avoid set battles with stronger forces, wear the enemy down with ambushes and raids, then shift to conventional attacks. The Viet Minh applied this against France; the Viet Cong insurgency and the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply network applied it against the United States.
When and how
Across Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, 1946–1975, under leaders including Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap and Truong Chinh, who wrote on Mao-style revolutionary war.
How we know
Writings by Giap and Truong Chinh openly draw on Mao's three-stage theory; captured documents and US studies of the insurgency confirm the approach.
Debates and open questions
How much Vietnamese strategy owed Mao rather than Vietnam's own long tradition of resisting China is debated; North Vietnam also relied heavily on conventional forces.
▸Guerrilla and insurgent warfare wore down Soviet forces in Soviet–Afghan WarWell documented
The connection
Afghan mujahideen used classic guerrilla tactics: ambushing supply convoys on mountain roads, hit-and-run raids, and safe havens across the border in Pakistan. A large modern army held cities and main roads but never the countryside, and steady losses with no clear path to victory pushed Moscow to withdraw.
When and how
Afghanistan's mountains and valleys, such as the Panjshir under commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, 1979–1989, with bases and training camps in Pakistan.
How we know
Soviet military studies, translated as 'The Bear Went Over the Mountain' (1996), document guerrilla ambushes and Soviet counter-tactics in detail.
Debates and open questions
Whether the mujahideen could have prevailed without foreign weapons and Pakistani sanctuaries, or the Soviets left mainly because of Gorbachev's reforms, is debated.
▸Guerrilla and insurgent warfare frustrated NATO forces in War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)Well documented
The connection
After its 2001 defeat, the Taliban rebuilt as an insurgency using roadside bombs, ambushes, intimidation of villagers and safe havens in Pakistan. NATO tried counterinsurgency, protecting the population while building an Afghan army, but the Taliban outlasted foreign forces, waiting them out until the 2021 withdrawal.
When and how
Southern and eastern Afghanistan, such as Helmand and Kandahar provinces, about 2005–2021, with the Taliban leadership based largely in Quetta, Pakistan.
How we know
NATO, US military and inspector-general reports track the insurgency's growth; the 2019 'Afghanistan Papers' show US officials privately doubted progress.
Debates and open questions
Whether a different counterinsurgency approach, or more pressure on Pakistan, could have defeated the Taliban is still argued.
▸AK-47 and the assault rifle became the standard weapon of Guerrilla and insurgent warfareWell documented
The connection
Cheap, rugged and easy to learn in an afternoon, the AK spread from Soviet and Chinese factories to insurgents and armies worldwide, often handed out free during the Cold War. It became the standard weapon of guerrillas, and of child soldiers, and appears on Mozambique's flag.
When and how
From the 1950s on, in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East; supplied by the Soviet Union, China and Warsaw Pact states, then resold endlessly.
How we know
Arms-trade research by the Small Arms Survey, UN reports and weapon tracing, and the rifle's place on Mozambique's flag since 1983.
Debates and open questions
Estimates of AK-type rifles in circulation vary widely, and whether its spread caused more conflict or simply armed conflicts already underway is debated.