Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is a lot of variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used.
An irregular military organization is a military organization which is not part of the regular army organization of a party to a military conflict. An army (from Latin Armata "act of arming" via Old French armée) in the broadest sense is the land-based Armed forces Without standard military unit organization, various more general names are used; such organizations may also be called a "troop", "group", "unit", "column", "band", or "force".
Irregulars are soldiers or warriors that are members of these organizations, or are members of special military units that employ irregular military tactics. This also applies to irregular troops, irregular infantry and irregular cavalry.
Irregular warfare is warfare employing the tactics commonly used by irregular military organizations. This involves avoiding large-scale combats, and focusing on small, stealthy, hit and run engagements.
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Other names for irregular military formations
The term "irregular military" describes the "how" and "what", but it's more common to focus on the "why". Bypassing the legitimate military and taking up arms is an extreme measure. The motivation for doing so is often used as the basis of the primary label for any irregular military. Different terms come in and out of fashion, based on political and emotional associations that develop. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Here is a list of such terms, organized more-or-less oldest to latest.
- False flag or pseudo-operations where troops of one side dress like another to eliminate or discredit them and their support, such as the Selous Scouts of the Rhodesian bush war
- Freedom fighter — irregular military motivated by higher goals — very subjective
- Franc-tireur — French irregular forces during the Franco-Prussian War. The Selous Scouts was a special forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army which operated from 1973 until the introduction of majority rule in 1980 The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Second Chimurenga or the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle, was a war which lasted from July 1964 to 1979 and Freedom fighter is a term to describe those that engage in a struggle to achieve freedom for themselves or to free others in some matter The phrase francs-tireurs was used to describe Irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871 But is also used in international legal cases as a synonym for unprivileged combatant, (see for example the Hostages Trial (1947—1948). An unlawful combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent is a Civilian who directly engages in armed conflict under the International Humanitarian Law The Hostages Trial (or officially The United States of America vs
- Guerrilla — someone who uses unconventional military tactics, tends to refer to groups engaged in open conflict rather than underground organizations. Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc Term coined during the Peninsula War in Spain against France. The Peninsular War or Spanish War of Independence pitted an alliance of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal against France
- Insurgent — an alternate term for a member of an irregular military. An insurgency is a violent internal uprising against a sovereign government that lacks the organization of a revolution Tends to refer to members of undergound groups such as the Iraqi Insurgency rather than larger rebel organizations such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The Iraqi insurgency is composed of diverse mix of militias foreign fighters all Iraqi units or mixtures using violent measures against the US-led Coalition in Iraq The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo also known by the Acronym of
- Partisan — In the 20th century, someone part of a resistance movement. A partisan is a member of an Irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups dedicated to fighting an Invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation In the 18th and 19th century, a local conventional military force using irregular tactics. Often used to refer to resistance movements against the Axis Powers during the Second World War. The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
- Paramilitary — non-regular Armed Force with a claim to official status
- Revolutionary — someone part of a revolution, whether military or not
- Terrorist — irregular military who target civilians in order to gain political leverage; this term is almost always used pejoratively, and is, like the term freedom fighter, very subjective. A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force but which are not regarded as having the same status A revolutionary when used as a noun is a person who either actively engages in some kind of Revolution, or advocates the revolution with recognition from some government or A revolution (from the Latin revolutio, "a turnaround" is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion
- More recently, private military companies, in particular the armed private security Forces that some operate could be considered an example of Irregular Military formations. A private military company ( PMC) provides specialized expertise or services of a military nature sometimes called or classified as Mercenary ("soldiers for hire" A security guard or security officer is usually a privately and formally employed person who is paid to protect Property, assets or people In conflict zones such as Iraq such forces, whose members tend to be referred to as "Security Contractors", are often heavily armed and engage in supporting activities for the regular Military forces such as supply convoy escort and force protection. The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq, or the War in Iraq, is an ongoing Military campaign Force protection or FP is a term used by the US military describes preventive measures taken to mitigate hostile actions against Department of Defense personnel These forces are sometimes referred to as Mercenaries. A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national or a party to the conflict and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by
Intense debates can build up over which of these terms to use when referring to a specific group. Using one term over another can imply either strong support or opposition for the cause being fought over.
It is possible for a military to cross the line between regular and irregular. Isolated regular army units forced to operate without regular support for long periods of time can degrade into irregulars. As an irregular military becomes more successful, they may transition away from irregular, even to the point of becoming the new regular army if they win.
Regular military units which use irregular military tactics
Although they are part of a regular army, Special forces are trained in and implement irregular military tactics. In most countries special forces (SF is a generic term for highly-trained Military teams/units that conduct specialized operations such as Reconnaissance Unconventional warfare (abbreviated UW) is the opposite of Conventional warfare. See List of special forces units. This list is about military units For other units see List of special police units, List of special operations units, Paratrooper forces around the world,
Effectiveness
While the morale, training and equipment of the individual irregular soldier can vary from very poor to excellent, irregulars are usually lacking the higher-level organizational training and equipment that is part of regular army. This usually makes irregulars ineffective in direct, main-line combat, the typical focus of more standard armed forces. Other things being equal, major battles between regulars and irregulars heavily favor the regulars.
However, irregulars can excel at many other combat duties besides main-line combat, such as scouting, skirmishing, harassing, pursuing, rear-guard actions, cutting supply, sabotage, raids, ambushes and underground resistance. Reconnaissance (also scouting) is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information Skirmishers are Infantry or Cavalry Soldiers stationed ahead or alongside of a larger body of friendly troops Hit-and-run tactics is a tactical Doctrine where the purpose of the combat involved is not to seize control of territory but to inflict damage on a target and immediately Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy oppressor or employer through subversion obstruction disruption and/or destruction An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors (the ambushing force use Concealment to attack a passing enemy Experienced irregulars often surpass the regular army in these functions. By avoiding formal battles, irregulars have sometimes harassed high quality armies to destruction.
The total effect of irregulars is often underestimated. Since the military actions of irregulars are often small and unofficial, they are underreported or even overlooked. Even when engaged by regular armies, some military histories exclude all irregulars when counting friendly troops, but include irregulars in the count of enemy troops, making the odds seem much worse than they were. This may be accidental; counts of friendly troops often came from official regular army rolls that exclude unofficial forces, while enemy strength often came from visual estimates, where the distinction between regular and irregular were lost. If irregular forces overwhelm regulars, records of the defeat are often lost in the resulting chaos.
Use of large irregular forces featured heavily in wars such as the American Revolution, the Irish War of Independence, the Franco-Prussian War, the Russian Civil War, the Second Boer War, Vietnam War, and especially the Eastern Front of World War II where hundreds of thousands of partisans fought on both sides. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" The Irish War of Independence (or Tan War, or Anglo-Irish War, Irish: Cogadh na Saoirse) from January 1919 to July 1921 was a guerrilla The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War ( 19 July, 1870 — 10 May, 1871 The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed See also First Boer War,, South African Wars (1879-1915 The Second Boer War ( Dutch: Tweede Boerenoorlog, Afrikaans: The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia The Eastern Front of World War II (die Ostfront 1941-1945, der Rußlandfeldzug 1941-1945 (Russian campaign or der Ostfeldzug 1941-1945 (Eastern Campaign World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A partisan is a member of an Irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation
The ongoing conflicts of post-invasion Iraq, the renewed Taliban insurgency in the 2001 war in Afghanistan, the Darfur conflict, the rebellion in the North of Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army, and the Second Chechen War are fought almost entirely by irregular forces on one or both sides. Iraq War|2007 in Iraq|2008 in IraqThe post-invasion period in Iraq The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7 2001 as the U The War in Darfur is a military conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan. The Republic of Uganda is a Landlocked country in East Africa. The Second Chechen War, in a later phase better known as the War in the North Caucasus, was launched by the Russian Federation starting August 26
Historical reliance on irregulars
By definition, "irregular" is understood in contrast to "regular armies," which grew slowly from personal bodyguards or elite militia. In Ancient warfare, most civilized nations relied heavily on irregulars to augment their small regular army. Ancient warfare is War as conducted from the beginnings of recorded History to the end of the ancient period Even in advanced civilizations, the irregulars commonly outnumbered the regular army. Sometimes entire tribal armies of irregulars were brought in from internal native or neighboring cultures, especially ones that still had an active hunting tradition to provide the basic training of irregulars. The regulars would only provide the core military in the major battles; irregulars would provide all other combat duties. Notable examples of regulars relying on irregulars include auxiliary legions of Germanic tribes in the Roman Empire, Cossack regiments in Imperial Russia, and Native American forces in the far west of the Confederate States of America. The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial The Cossacks (Каза́ки́ Kazaki; Козаки́ Kozaki; Kozacy are a group of martial people living in the southern Steppe regions of Eastern The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States The Confederate States of America (also called the Confederacy, the Confederate States, and CSA) formed as the government set up from 1861
One could attribute the disastrous defeat of the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest to the lack of supporting irregular forces; only a few squadrons of irregular light cavalry accompanied the invasion of Germany when normally the number of foederati legions would equal the regular legions; however, since irregulars won that battle, there are few surviving details. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place in the year 9 A Foederatus (pl foederati) is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the During the decline of the Roman Empire, irregulars made up an ever increasing proportion of the Roman military. At the end, there was little difference between the Roman military and the barbarians across the borders. Throughout history, most civilizations eventually fell to "barbarians", that is, irregular military forces, with minimal historical details. "Barbarian" is a pejorative term for an uncivilized person either in a general reference to a member of a nation or Ethnos perceived *
Following Napoleon's modernisation of warfare with the invention of conscription, the Peninsular War led by Spaniards against the French invaders in 1808 provided the first modern example of guerrilla warfare. Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Conscription (also known as the draft, the call-up or national service) is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by some established authority The Peninsular War or Spanish War of Independence pitted an alliance of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal against France Indeed, the term of guerrilla itself was coined during this time.
As the spread of industrialism dried up the traditional source of irregulars, nations were forced take over the duties of the irregulars using specially trained regular army units. The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the Examples are the light infantry in the British Army. Traditionally light infantry (or skirmishers) were soldiers whose job was to provide a Skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of Infantry, harassing The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. By the modern age, all regular military are trained to also perform the actions previously left to irregulars.
See also
- Asymmetric warfare — Military theory that also includes regulars vs. Asymmetric warfare originally referred to War between two or more belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly irregulars
- Bashi-bazouk — Irregular mounted mercenary in the Ottoman Empire
- Camisards Huguenot insurgency in the beginning of the 17th century in the Cevennes mountains
- Commando
- Guerrilla warfare
- Legion of Frontiersmen An irregular quasi-military organization that proliferated throughout the British Empire prior to World War I
- List of guerrillas
- Militia
- Minutemen — American irregular troops during the American Revolution
- Partisan (military)
- Pindari — 18th century irregular horsemen in India
- Prussian Landsturm, created by a 21 April 1813 edict of the King of Prussia
- Resistance movement
- Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War
- Unconventional warfare
- Viet Cong
References
- Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Epitoma rei militaris
- Dr. A bashi-bazouk or bashibazouk ( Turkish başıbozuk, "damaged head" meaning "leaderless" "disorderly" was an The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923 ( Old Ottoman Turkish: دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, Late Ottoman and Modern Turkish Camisards were French Protestants ( Huguenots) of the rugged and isolated Cevennes region of south-central France, who raised an insurrection against The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France (or French Calvinists) from the sixteenth to the eighteenth The Cévennes are a range of mountains in south-central France, covering parts of the départements ' of Gard, Lozère, Ardèche In Military science, the term commando can refer to an individual a Military unit, or a raiding style of military operation. Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc The Legion of Frontiersmen is a patriotic paramilitary organisation formed in Britain in 1905 and designed to bolster the defensive capacity of the British Empire The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All List of famous guerrillas, ordered by region A Afghanistan Abdul Haq Gulbuddin The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary Citizens to provide defense emergency law enforcement or Paramilitary service Minutemen were members of teams of select men from the American colonial militia during the American Revolutionary War. A partisan is a member of an Irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation The Pindaris were the irregular horsemen who accompanied the Maratha armies in central India during the 18th century when the Mughal Empire was The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country The Landsturm ( German: Country Storm were Irregular military forces in Prussia which were created on 21 April 1813 by a royal Edict Early life The son of King Frederick William II of Prussia, Frederick William was born in Potsdam and became Crown Prince in 1786 when his father ascended A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups dedicated to fighting an Invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign nation The Rough Riders was the name bestowed by the American press on the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the Spanish-American War Unconventional warfare (abbreviated UW) is the opposite of Conventional warfare. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus was a writer of the Later Roman Empire. Thomas M. Huber, Compound Warfare: An Anthology
- Clifford J. Rogers, Military Technical Revolution debate among historians
- John M. Gates, US Army & Irregular Warfare
- Harold P. Ford, CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers: Three Episodes 1962-1968
- Robert R. Mackey, "The UnCivil War: Irregular Warfare in the Upper South, 1861-1865," University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8061-3624-3
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