(Offensive War Strategies) Though the advent of the technologically aggiornamento 21st century is making the prospects of physical war more enervated than ever, still tactics and offensive war strategies enthrall us all. How some individuals could be so Machiavellian and that too in practical wars where the question was of life and death, is surely remarkable.
Here is the list of offensive war strategies that changed the course of history.
1. Guerilla Warfare
At number 1 in the list of offensive war strategies, we have Guerilla warfare. Against the widespread notion, the world guerilla is not about the Hindi word for chimpanzees. It is indeed a Spanish word of the 18th century which refers to the tactics of “little war.” The small Spanish army employed this tactic to fight the colossal one of the French under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Guerilla warfare focuses more on exhausting enemy’s resource rather than its personnel. The side employing guerilla tactics enter in collusion with the local population and take full benefits of terrain (Naxalites in India take benefit of the unmapped jungles which are hard to navigate through by the security forces).
Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who employed Guerilla strategy in the Second Revolutionary Civil War, described it as: “The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the tires, we attack; he retreats, we pursue.”
Great leaders like Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong and Lenin researched on this style and wrote about this in their various manuals. This is indeed the best war tactics in history.
2. Flanking Maneuver
The flanking maneuver is designed to exploit enemy’s ignorance in the war. In a combat, most of the time the enemy’s offense is concentrated straight on the opposing side, in such conditions startling him from rear and sides is an easy way to get an upper hand. Bahubali, the beginning, too portrayed this method in the name of ‘Trishul Vyuh’.
Flanking comes in the name of war tactics because the main work is ‘flanking’ of the nemesis at a particular position through cannon and artillery firing so that he can’t change his position when the attack comes from sides or from the rear end of the force. Hence, it is one of the top offensive war strategies.
3. Blitzkrieg
When talking about offensive war strategies, how can we forget this notorious war tactic that led to Germany’s huge success in the Second World War? Literally, the word Blitzkrieg means “lightning war.” Rapid attacks through air, land, and water never pair possibly) coordinated by cannons, tanks, and huge artillery to break down enemy’s morale and gain an easy victory. Germans went one step ahead in WWII when they used the “terror” element in the Blitzkrieg using the Jericho Trompete. The Jericho Trompete were noise making sirens. They made enemy forces feel as if they have been caught up in some kind of nasty plan. As the attacks followed from all sides, the enemy had no choice but to yield.
4. Bloodletting
John J. Mearsheimer popularized this theory in his book: THE TRAGEDY OF GREAT POWER POLITICS. It says that the rival state has gone to war independently with some other state, escalate and prolong the war as much long as possible and then finally attack.
Former President of the United States of America, Harry S. Truman once remarked about the German invasion of Russia, “If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible.” Therefore, bloodletting is also one of the most offensive war strategies.
5. Siege
The list of offensive war strategies is incomplete without Siege. This is what led to the ultimate rise of Genghis Khan. When Khan attacked Beijing, he knew that his Mongolian soldiers didn’t know how to assault a well-established fort. Moreover, the attacks on his people from the walls of the fort were causing him enough casualties every day. Hence, he decided to wait. His army encircled the whole fort and cut off the food and communication supplies to the Beijing’s fort. After a while, more than half of the population living in the fortified city died. They did so due to starvation. Moreover, many a soldier also perished due to the dearth of food. On the other hand, the food supplies meant for Beijing satiated the appetite of Mongols camping outside. Ultimately, Mongolians attacked a starving Beijing and through this war tactics they snatched an easy victory.
REMEMBER:
War is mobilization not numbers.
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