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Guerrilla Warfare (book)
Encyclopedia
Guerrilla Warfare is a book by Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara
that was written right after the Cuban Revolution
and published in 1961. It soon became the guidebook for thousands of insurgents in various countries around the world.
Guevara intended it to be a manual on guerrilla warfare
, elaborating the foco theory (foquismo) for other revolutionary movements in Latin America
, Africa
and Asia
, but the book was also studied by counter-revolutionary military schools. While many draw parallels with Mao Zedong
's On Guerrilla Warfare
, Guevara claimed he had not read the book, which draws on the lessons of fighting during the Cuban Revolutionary War
, which in turn were informed by two books from the Spanish Civil War
, Nuevas guerras and Medicina contra invasión, stressing the need for an underpinning political motivation to guerrilla methods, organisation and supply.
However, Guevara emphasizes that guerrilla warfare is a favorable method only against totalitarian regimes, (such as the revolutionary war against the Batista dictatorship
in Cuba), where political opposition and legal civil struggle is impossible to conduct.
Guevara dedicated the book to his recently deceased comrade Camilo Cienfuegos
, "who should have read and corrected it, but whose fate prevented him from carrying out the task."
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
that was written right after the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
and published in 1961. It soon became the guidebook for thousands of insurgents in various countries around the world.
Guevara intended it to be a manual on guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
, elaborating the foco theory (foquismo) for other revolutionary movements in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, but the book was also studied by counter-revolutionary military schools. While many draw parallels with Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's On Guerrilla Warfare
On Protracted War
On Protracted War is a work comprising a series of speeches by Mao Zedong given from May 26 to June 3, 1938, at the Yenan Association for the Study of the War of Resistance Against Japan...
, Guevara claimed he had not read the book, which draws on the lessons of fighting during the Cuban Revolutionary War
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
, which in turn were informed by two books from the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, Nuevas guerras and Medicina contra invasión, stressing the need for an underpinning political motivation to guerrilla methods, organisation and supply.
However, Guevara emphasizes that guerrilla warfare is a favorable method only against totalitarian regimes, (such as the revolutionary war against the Batista dictatorship
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
in Cuba), where political opposition and legal civil struggle is impossible to conduct.
Guevara dedicated the book to his recently deceased comrade Camilo Cienfuegos
Camilo Cienfuegos
Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán was a Cuban revolutionary born in Lawton, Havana. Raised in an anarchist family that had left Spain before the Spanish Civil War, he became a key figure of the Cuban Revolution, along with Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro.-Political...
, "who should have read and corrected it, but whose fate prevented him from carrying out the task."
External links
- Review: According to Che ... by M. Abul Fazl, June 14 2009
- Extract: Che's Thoughts on the Essence of Guerilla Struggle
- Che Guevara: Fundamentals of Guerrilla Warfare by Major Jackie Clark, U.S. Marine Corps