Week 10 Guerilla Warfare Timeline

 The idea of Guerilla Warfare was first proposed in the 6th Century BCE by the legendary Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu in his work titled, The Art of War. However, Sun Tzu was not the only person whom saw the appeal of the employment of these revolutionary tactics. Guerrilla warfare was not unique to China; nomadic and migratory tribes such as the Scythians, Goths, Vandals, and Huns used elements of guerrilla warfare to fight the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, and Alexander the Great. In fact, many small revolts, and indigenous tribal peoples used guerilla warfare tactics specifically against the Roman Empire with varying degrees of success. (Giles. (2013). Sun Tzu On The Art Of War. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.)

During the Mongol invasion of Europe, guerrilla warfare and stiff resistance helped many Europeans, particularly those at Croatia and Dzurdzuketia in the 13th Century. (Anchalabze, George. The Vainakhs. Page 24)

In 1462, the Ottomans were driven back by Wallachian prince Vlad III, whom would later be the inspiration for the Graham Stoker character, Dracula, due to his cannibalistic tendencies. Vlad was unable to stop the Turks from entering Wallachia, so he resorted to guerrilla war, constantly organizing small attacks and ambushes on the Turks, eventually defeating arguably the most powerful empire over the course of human history. (Dr. Elizabeth Miller. "Vlad The Impaler")

In North America, one of the earliest recorded instances of guerrilla warfare was Apalachee resistance to the Spanish during the Narváez expedition in 1528 in present-day Florida which was intended to colonize and provide a garrison for the Spanish in the area.

Many clandestine organizations, also known as resistance movements, operated in the countries occupied by German Reich during the Second World War. These organizations began forming as early as 1939 when, after the defeat of Poland, the members of what would become the Polish Home Army began to gather. In March 1940, a partisan unit of the first guerrilla commanders in the Second World War in Europe under Major Henryk Dobrzański, annihilated a battalion of German infantry in a skirmish near the village of Huciska. (Marek Szymanski: Oddzial Majora Hubala, Warszawa 1999)

Guerilla warfare tactics have been used to great effect by both Coalition forces as well as insurgent groups in the Global War on Terrorism. 

Post 5

 Julian Assange is an Australian journalist, activist, and founder of the WikiLeaks news source which has come under fire for the publishing of classified documents which show the misuse and abuse of government power as well as a clear disregard for both domestic and international law. http://bitly.ws/9QAh 

WikiLeaks became the subject of international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning. These leaks included the Baghdad airstrike Collateral Murder video, the Afghanistan war logs, and Cablegate. 

  Later in 2018, Assange is implicated by Robert Mueller for allegedly assisting Russian operatives with hacking into the Democratic Party computer systems and disseminated classified information. The United States government unsealed an indictment against Assange, related to the leaks provided by Chelsea Manning. On 23 May 2019, the United States government further charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917, which was originally intended to prevent insubordination in the military as well as support for US enemies in times of wars. The UN's special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzner, has called for the release of Assange from prison as Assange is showing symptoms of psychological torture. Over sixty medical doctors have written to the UK Home Security Secretary corroborating these findings and calling for an end to the medical neglect of Julian Assange. There has also been substantial evidence that Assange has not been treated impartially as is REQUIRED through early legal proceedings. The Australian government has made no publicized action to stop this mistreatment of their citizens as well.

    The consequences of this are quite dire. If Julian Assange would be extradited to the US and charged this would mark the first time in our modern era that a publisher has been punished for their actions in the case of a whistleblowing incident. This would also set precedent that the US can charge any publication available in the US, whether based in the US or not, under US law if they were to be involved in a whistleblowing incident. This is a disgusting infringement on the level of United States law let alone the failures of the international community to stop this utter lunacy from continuing further.