Unconventional warfare is the opposite of conventional warfare. Whereas
conventional warfare is used to reduce the opponent's military capability,
unconventional warfare is an attempt to achieve military victory through
acquiescence, capitulation, or clandestine support for one side of an
existing conflict. On the surface, UW contrasts with
conventional warfare in that forces or objectives are covert or not
well-defined, tactics and weapons intensify environments of subversion or
intimidation, and the general or long-term goals are coercive or
subversive to a political body. Objectives
The general objective of unconventional warfare is to instill a belief that
peace and security are not possible without compromise or concession.
Specific objectives include inducement of war-weariness, curtailment of
civilian standards of living and civil liberties associated with greater
security demands, economic hardship linked to the costs of war; hopelessness
to defend against assaults, terror, depression, and disintegration of
morale. Two original definition are claiming: "The intent of U.S.
Unconventional Warfare efforts is to exploit a hostile power’s political,
military, economic, and psychological vulnerabilities by developing and
sustaining resistance forces to accomplish U.S. strategic objectives."
or according to John F. Kennedy: "There is another type of warfare—new in its
intensity, ancient in its origin—war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents,
assassins; war by ambush instead of by combat, by infiltration instead of
aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of
engaging him. It preys on unrest. The ultimate goal of this type of
warfare is to motivate an enemy to stop attacking or resisting even if it has
the ability to continue. Failing this, a secondary objective can be to debilitate
the enemy before a conventional attack. Methods and organization
Unconventional warfare targets civilian population psychologically to win hearts
and minds, and only targets military and political bodies directly, seeking to
render the military proficiency of the enemy irrelevant. Limited conventional
warfare tactics can be used unconventionally to demonstrate might
and power, rather than to substantially reduce the enemy's ability to fight. In
addition to the surgical application of traditional weapons, other armaments
that specifically target military can be used are: nuclear weapons, incendiary
devices, or other such weapons. Special Forces, inserted deep behind
enemy lines, are used unconventionally to train, equip, and advise locals who
seek to change their oppressive regimes. They can also spread subversion and
propaganda, while they aid native resistance fighters, to ultimately cause
a hostile government to capitulate. Tactics focus on destroying military
targets while avoiding damage to civilian infrastructure and blockading
military resupply are used to decrease the morale of government forces.
The Department of Defense defines unconventional warfare as activities
conducted to enable a resistance movement or insurgency to coerce,
disrupt, or overthrow a government or occupying power by operating through or
with an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force in a denied area. Also
called UW. Source: JP 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and
Associated Terms See also
Asymmetric warfare Hybrid warfare
Fourth generation warfare Irregular military
Irregular Warfare Low intensity conflict
Partisan Political Warfare
Psychological warfare Resistance movement
Terrorism Unrestricted Warfare
A seminal work on unconventional stay-behind warfare is Major Hans von
Dach's Der Totale Widerstand). Six-legged Soldiers - A scientific
warfare book on another potential form of unconventional warfare, by Jeffrey A.
Lockwood US & NATO specific:
Operation Gladio Reagan Doctrine
Special Activities Division U.S. Army Special Forces
References External links
Insurgency Research Group – Multi-expert blog dedicated to the study of
insurgency and the development of counter-insurgency policy.
Allied war terminology goarmy.comunconventional_warfare
Unconventional Warfare: Definitions from 1950 to the Present
Unconventional Warfare: A Better Path to Regime Change in the Twenty First
Century Instruments of Statecraft: U.S.
Guerrilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940–1990
Pentagon plans cyber-insect army