National Liberation Wars: Strategies and Tactics in Revolutionary Conflicts

By Fouad Sabry

What is National Liberation Wars

Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers to establish separate sovereign states for the rebelling nationality. From a different point of view, such wars are called insurgencies or rebellions. Guerrilla warfare or asymmetric warfare is often utilized by groups labeled as national liberation movements, often with support from other states.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Wars of national liberation

Chapter 2: Guerrilla warfare

Chapter 3: List of guerrilla movements

Chapter 4: Resistance movement

Chapter 5: Decolonization

Chapter 6: Low-intensity conflict

Chapter 7: MPLA

Chapter 8: Guinea-Bissau War of Independence

Chapter 9: Irregular military

Chapter 10: Counterinsurgency

(II) Answering the public top questions about national liberation wars.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of National Liberation Wars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 26, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Wars of national liberation

Wars of national liberation, often known as wars of independence, are battles fought by nations to attain their independence. The word is used in association with conflicts against foreign powers (or those considered to be alien) to form separate sovereign nations for the revolting nationality. From a different perspective, these conflicts are known as insurgencies or rebellions. Guerrilla or asymmetric warfare is frequently employed by groups dubbed national liberation movements, frequently with the assistance of foreign states.

Most typically, the term wars of national liberation refers to conflicts fought during the decolonization process. Since these were predominantly in the third world against Western countries and their economic influence and constituted a significant component of the Cold War, the term has frequently been considered as biased or derogatory.

According to international law, a people having the legal right to self-determination may undertake wars of national liberation.

Liberation wars are typically fought utilizing guerrilla tactics. The primary objective of these methods is to raise the cost of anti-guerrilla troops beyond what they are prepared to endure. Generally, wars of national liberation rely on broad public support, with ordinary civilians contributing significant assistance. Lastly, national liberation conflicts are frequently nested within a larger context of great power politics and are frequently proxy wars.

These tactics explain why they are so effective against foreign regimes yet so ineffective against native regimes. Foreign regimes typically have a threshold beyond which they would rather return home than continue fighting. An indigenous regime, on the other hand, has nowhere to retreat and will fight even harder due to the absence of alternatives. In addition, foreign administrations typically have fewer active supporters in the theater, and those who do exist are frequently easy to identify, allowing guerrilla armies to pinpoint their targets. In contrast, indigenous governments frequently enjoy greater popular support, and their supporters are frequently difficult to identify as such, making it far more difficult to execute operations against them without harming neutral parties.

The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) is regarded as one of the earliest national liberation struggles. It pitted self-emancipated slaves against Imperial France at a time in history when interrelated upheavals such as the American and French Revolutions had led to an increase in national awareness across the Atlantic world. During the same period (1808-1833), the patriots waged a succession of complex wars of independence against the royalists, which resulted in the formation of new Latin American states. The Siege of Patras (1821) precipitated the Greek War of Independence, which ended Ottoman dominance and established the Kingdom of Greece. The Easter Rising (1916) in Dublin led to the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), which ultimately resulted in the foundation of the Irish Free State. In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks battled a number of independence movements unsuccessfully until Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland achieved independence. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish National Movement waged a series of campaigns in the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1922), resulting in the withdrawal of Allied forces and the founding of the Republic of Turkey. The Indonesian War of Independence (1945–1949), the Liberation of Irian Jaya (1960–1962), the First Indochina War (1946–54), the Vietnam War (1959–75), the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971), and the Algerian War (1954–1962) were all viewed as national liberation battles by the rebelling parties. The struggle of the African National Congress (ANC) against the apartheid state is another example. The Soviet Union, which was an anti-imperialist state, partially supported the majority of these rebellions. Since the October Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Russian Civil War, many anticolonialist leaders have shared the revolutionary goals of communism, which explains the objective connection between anticolonialist movements and Marxism. Imperialism itself was conceived in Lenin's book Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, published in 1916. Ho Chi Minh, for instance, was a founding member of the French Communist Party (PCF) in 1921. He created the Viet-Minh in 1941 and declared Vietnam's independence on September 2, 1945, following the August Revolution of 1945. Nikita Khrushchev, the premier of the Soviet Union, pledged support for wars of national liberation around the globe in January 1961, more than three years before the Gulf of Tonkin event that would signify the United States' growing engagement in the Vietnam War. Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, supported national liberation movements in Angola and Mozambique throughout the same decade. Following the April Carnation Revolution in 1975, Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau were recognized as independent republics as a result of the Portuguese colonial wars. The dissolution of Yugoslavia reduced the number of independence wars, notably the Ten-Day War and the Croatian War of Independence.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is a national liberation movement, meaning that its legal status as such is recognized by the government. Other national liberation movements inside the OAU at the time were the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). It is the only non-African national liberation organization with observer status in the OAU and was among the first national liberation groups to be awarded permanent observer status by the United Nations General Assembly in 1974.

The following contemporary conflicts have also been described as wars or national liberation battles (such a designation is often subject to controversy):

Numerous Chechens and outside observers saw the First and Second Chechen Wars as national liberation struggles against Russia.

Certain Iraqi insurgent groups and political factions view the Iraq Struggle as a war of national liberation against the United States-led coalition.

Many Kurds view the Kurdish–Turkish conflict as a struggle for the emancipation of the Kurdish people in Turkey.

Since 1975, the Polisario Front has sought the independence of Western Sahara. Many outside observers, governments, and the African Union viewed its guerrilla fight against Morocco as a national liberation war, whilst Morocco viewed it as a separatist organization. Numerous nations, the African Union, and the United Nations had recognized Polisario as the legal representative of the Sahrawi people. Since the cease-fire that followed the settlement plan agreement in 1991, hostilities have been halted.

Disputes that have been termed national liberation struggles:

The Swedish Liberation War (1521–1923)

The Hundred Years' War

The Khmelnytsky Uprising

War of the American Revolution

The 1798 Irish Rebellion

The 1803 Irish Rebellion

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Peninsular War was fought against Napoleon's conquest of Spain and Portugal.

The Haitian Revolution

During the Napoleonic Wars, the German Wars of Liberation opposed Napoleon's takeover of German territory.

The Spanish American independence wars

The Greek Independence War (1821)

The Serbian Revolution

Wars between Serbia and Turkey (1876–1878)

Involving the Lehi and Irgun, and eventually the Haganah, the Zionist armed rebellion in the Palestine Mandate. Additionally, the Israeli Independence War against multiple Arab states.

Explicit decolonization wars:

The Philippine Revolution

Vietnam's August Revolution against the Japanese invasion.

First Indochina War, Vietminh versus French Vietnam occupation

Revolution nationale indonésienne

The Tamil opposition to Sri Lankan colonization in Tamil-speaking areas and discrimination against the Tamil people.

1947 saw the Madagascar revolution against the French

The Algerian War (1954–1962) against France.

The Portuguese Colonial War against Portugal in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique (1961-1974)

By the UPC in Cameroon against France

National Liberation Front (NLF) and Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen operations in South Yemen (FLOSY)

The Mau Mau Uprising

In white-ruled Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), ZANU and ZAPU led the Rhodesian Bush War.

In Western Sahara, the Moroccan Army of Liberation fought against Spain and France, while the Polisario Front fought against the occupation by Morocco and Mauritania.

South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) and SWANU fought apartheid in South Africa in Namibia.

Dhofar Uprising in Muscat and Oman

Dervish Conflict in Somalia

The Brunei Revolt

The Turkish Independence War

National Liberation War of Yugoslavia fought by Yugoslav Partisans (National Liberation Army) against Axis occupiers and their collaborators during World War II.

The Chinese Civil War (1945–1949) occurred in China.

In North Korea, the Fatherland Liberation War lasted from 1950 to 1953.

The Vietnam War pitted the Vietcong in South Vietnam against South Vietnamese and American military forces.

The Eritrean Independence War versus Ethiopia

Bangladesh's War of Independence against West Pakistan.

In Afghanistan, against the Soviet occupiers.

In Ireland, the Irish War of Independence and The Troubles in Northern Ireland; also, the Provisional IRA insurrection against the United Kingdom from 1969 until 1998, which sought to establish a socialist republic within a united Ireland.

Against the occupying Vietnamese Army and People's Republic of Kampuchea in Cambodia.

The Ogaden War against Ethiopia in 1977

Augusto Sandino's men defeated the occupying U.S. Marines in Nicaragua.

In Chad, FROLINAT opposed the dictatorship of Tombalbaye.

In South Africa, Umkhonto we Sizwe and Poqo fought apartheid.

Both the First and Second Chechen Wars were fought by the Chechens against Russia.

By the Bougainville Revolutionary Army against Papua New Guinea in Bougainville.

The battle between the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and Mexico in Chiapas is regarded as a national liberation movement.

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a type of irregular warfare wherein small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary members, armed civilians, or irregulars, employ military techniques like ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility to battle a more powerful and immobile traditional military.

Although the phrase guerrilla warfare was first used in relation to the Peninsular War in the 19th century, the tactical strategies have been in use for a very long time. Sun Tzu suggested the employment of guerrilla-style tactics in The Art of War in the sixth century BC. Many guerilla warfare techniques are assigned to the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who developed what is now known as the Fabian strategy. Throughout history, guerrilla warfare has been employed by a variety of groups. It is notably connected to revolutionary movements and public resistance to occupying or encroaching armies.

Due to often weaker weapons or forces, guerrilla tactics emphasize avoiding direct clashes with enemy armies in favor of small-scale battles intended to wear down foes and force them to withdraw. Guerrilla techniques are therefore typically only employed for defense. Organized guerrilla groups frequently rely on