Guerrilla

   The word commonly used to refer to an irregular fighter, the term guerrilla is widely acknowledged to have entered usage in the English language during the Peninsular War, when la guerrilla referred to the struggle of irregulars practicing harassment and sabotage of the Napoleonic army in Spain. Insofar as one in every four French casualties suffered in Spain is thought to have been inflicted by them, guerrilleros - the more appropriate Spanish term for the fighters themselves - were obviously effective fighting allies for Wellington but were also a source of valuable intelligence.

   Romanticized as the champions of a “people’s war” against Bonapartist tyranny, they were also famed for extraordinary cruelty to the French soldiers they captured and were blamed by the victims of the harsh French reprisals they provoked. Carl von Clausewitz dealt with the conditions facilitating guerrilla tactics, and C. E. Callwell devoted a chapter to guerrilla war in his classic Small Wars, first published in 1896, citing among others the followers of Abd-al-Qa¯dir, the Khalsa, and the Boers as especially effective practitioners.

   See also <>; <>; <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Callwell, C. E. Small Wars: Their Principles and Practice. London: HMSO, 1906;

    Esdaile, Charles. The Peninsular War. London: Allen Lane, 2002.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE