Guerrilla warfare in the Baltic- How to trade space for time, and use the time to produce will. 1944-1952; a fierce battle against the Soviet occupations of the Baltic states elapsed. The Baltic resistant organization named The Forest Brothers fought against overwhelming Russian security force for almost a decade. This thesis analyzes the guerilla warfare fought by The Forest Brothers in Lithuania. The study uses the central meaning of Mao Tse-Tung theory On Guerrilla Warfare, how to trade Terrain for Time and how to produce Will. This is a case study to enhance the knowledge about the guerrilla warfare in Lithuania 1944-1952 and to test the validity of Mao Tse-tung theory On Guerilla Warfare. In 1991 the former Soviet archives was opened to the public which gives comprehensive material to source from. Despite the range of background material available there are still a lot to learn from the guerilla warfare conducted during the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states. A wide range of material on guerilla warfare is used in this study. This study shows on both similarities and differences with Mao´s theories about guerrilla warfare. The study identifies the importance of a guerilla to be a legitimate security provider for the people to be able to gain the support from the people over a long time. It shows on difficulties for a regular force to adapt and understand guerilla warfare.

The focus of contemporary warfare studies has mainly been on the art of maneuver warfare. However, research has shown that attrition could be a plausible alternative when one part is unable to achieve a decisive victory. To survey the feasibility of deterrence by attrition, this thesis will apply a theory of guerilla warfare on the asymmetrical conflict of the winter war between Finland and the Soviet Union (1939-1940), to explore if the relativity of casualties between the nations could be explained by implementing aspects of guerilla warfare. Robert Taber compiles three guerilla warfare strategists in his book The war of the flea. In this thesis, these three theories are developed and adjusted to exclude revolutionary aspects, thereby focusing on the tactical dimension of guerilla warfare. This study concludes that the finnish tactics attained many of the indicators of guerilla warfare, and that the usage of guerilla warfare had impacted the number of casualties. It is however problematic to draw any conclusion about achieving deterrence by utilizing attrition, as the potential cost of the operation and willingness to accept it is in the eyes of the opponent.

Vietnams krig från 1945 till 1975 är en historia om hur kommunisterna och Nordvietnam med stödav Kina och Sovjetunionen besegrar kolonialmakten Frankrike och stormakten USA och etablerarkommunistisk regim. Under krigen var det två händelser som allvarligt skadade Nordvietnamsmotståndare; Dien Bien Phu 1954 och Tet-offensiven 1968.Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka vilka asymmetriska metoder som revolutionär krigföringinnehåller och hur dessa metoder, mer eller mindre omedvetet, har använts av Nordvietnam 1954och 1968. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt används Beaufres teori om indirekt strategi, dels för attfinna förklaringar till det asymmetriska karaktären och dels för att pröva Beaufres teori somförklaringsmodell. Arbetsmetoden har varit kvalitativ innehållsanalys och uppsatsen är ihuvudsak disponerad enligt kronologisk respektive tematisk ordning.Undersökningen visar att Frankrike och USA/Sydvietnam kontra de vietnamesiska kommunisternahade en diametralt motsatt syn på tid, operativt djup och mänskliga offer och därför praktiseradekontrahenterna vitt skilda operationskonster vilket utgjorde grunden för ett asymmetrisktförhållande. / The Vietnam wars from 1945 to 1975 tell the story of how the communists and North Vietnam,with the support of China and the Soviet union, defeat the colonial power France and the superpower US and establish a communist regime. There were two episodes that seriously damagedNorth Vietnam´s enemies; Dien Bien Phu 1954 and the Tet offensive 1968.The object of the thesis is to investigate the asymmetric methods used in revolutionary warfareand how these methods, more or less consciously, were used by North Vietnam in 1954 and 1968.Beaufre´s theory about indirect strategy is used a theoretical starting point, partly to findexplanations to the asymmetric nature and partly to evaluate the value of Beaufre’s theory as anexplanatory model. The method used has been a qualitative analysis of content and the thesis ismainly disposed in a chronological and thematic order.The thesis shows that France and the US/South Vietnam versus the Vietnamese communists haddiametrical opposing perceptions of time, operative depth and human sacrifices, which led thecontracting parties to use widely different conduct of military operations that formed the basis foran asymmetric relationship. / Avdelning: ALB - Slutet Mag 3 C-uppsHylla: Upps. ChP 02-04

Det fria kriget är ett doktrinärt begrepp som beskriver hur svaga avskurna reguljära förband ska genomföra sin krigföring. Det finns ingen entydig teori som kan förklara vad som leder till framgång i denna form av krigföring då den teoretiskt ligger mellan forskningsområdena landkrigföring och små krig. Denna teoriutvecklande uppsats gör en ansats att från land- och gerillakrigföringsteorier utveckla en teori för att förklara framgångsfaktorer för det fria kriget. Teoriutvecklingen sker genom att en hypotes tas fram genom en hypotetisk-deduktiv metod. Hypotesen operationaliseras och prövas i en tvåfallstudie. Prövningen leder till en förfinad hypotes som kan anses vara en normativ teori som förklarar hur framgång i det fria kriget kan nås. Teorin för att förklara ett framgångsrikt förande av fria kriget: Genom att utsätta motståndaren för ett taktiskt dilemma med ett hot på djupet, kan tid skapas för den egna strategiska nivån genom motståndarens kraftsplittring eller kulmination. Indirekt metod används för att kompensera för asymmetrin i styrkeförhållanden. Genom att slå mot identifierade svaga delar och kommunikationer skapas möjligheter till att nå lokal överlägsenhet. Dessa svaga delar påverkar motståndarens förmåga till krigföring och därmed kan tid skapas på den strategiska nivån. Terrängens möjlighet för att ge skydd och uthållighet samt dess förutsättningar för den svage att kompensera asymmetrin är avgörande för det avskurna förbandets uthållighet. Genom att anpassa förbandet och styra med uppdragstaktik kan sannolikt leda till framgång i det fria kriget. Denna teori ger en förklaring till framgång men behöver ytterligare prövning då delar av förklaringen kan ligga i för uppsatsen avgränsade områden.

In today's modern society western countries have adopted a regular doctrine for future wars, even though an irregular method have been proven effective against the modern regular army. Due to a balance between the superpowers the doctrines stay the same, but for smaller nations the balance is of lesser importance. The aim of this thesis is to shine light on the problem, and try to give argu-ments for a discussion about how Sweden and other smaller nations can use irregular warfare in order to defend themselves against bigger nations. In order to do that this thesis will investigate how revolutionary guerrilla warfare theory can be applied on international conflicts. Guerilla warfare is the tactic of choice primarily since history show that small numbers can win against overwhelming-ming odds. By Using Robert Tabers theory about successful guerilla warfare, this thesis will compare the war in Vietnam and the second Boer war in order to see how Tabers theory was used or not. The research shows that Tabers theory indeed was used in both conflicts and can somewhat be used to describe the outcome of each conflict.

This thesis examines the applicability of culminations theory in a guerrilla context. In battle, a crucial factor is to assess who has superior strength. Culmination theory is a central concept in conventional warfare, could the same theory support the analysis of guerrilla warfare?Previous research tends to focus on the results of guerrilla wars. By using the concept of culmination this research attempts to determine, by assessing the battle, whether the guerrilla reached the point of culmination and by that evaluate the applicability of culmination theory in guerrilla warfare.The research design consists of a two-case study to analyse the LTTE and Daesh and thereby highlight culmination theory’s applicability on guerrillas. Written documents are used as sources of empirical data for the two-case study. The result of the survey shows that LTTE and Daesh reached their defensive point of culmination and that culmination theory is generalizable in a similar guerrilla context.

Hezbollahs success during the second Lebanon war in 2006 caused a great stirr through the field of military theorists and analysts. The organization was by most numericals clearly out-gunned and out-numbered compared to the combat-experienced Israel defense forces. The Lebanese forces however managed to not only stifle the Israeli offensive actions but held their ground through the 34 days long war resulting in a stalemate and a United Nations resolution. Theories have evolved from or in ways of explaining this puzzling case. Dual approaches have been identified as some theorize that hybrid warfare is a completely new phenomenon where others state it’s a flavor of the month expression for the same old tactics seen many times before. This study seeks to further explore the complex nature of irregular conflicts and find whether a new theory of hybrid warfare ’Unrestricted warfare’ or a senior compendium’On guerrilla warfare’ best can explain this.The findings of this study concludes that neither theory can be out-ruled and opens for further research within the the second Lebanon war as well as on the theories ’On guerrilla warfare’ and ’Unrestricted warfare’.