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Originally Posted by aricbcool
what makes the Persian-Scythian war of 513-513 B.C. a guerrilla war?
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What makes it a guerrilla war was, basically, that the Scythians were a nomadic people, vastly outnumbered by the Persians, and as Peregrino said, were a subjugated people rising against their opressors.
The Scythians used their knowledge of the terrain and environment to their advantage; their land, I believe, was or was similar to the Russian steppes. When Darius' posse rolled in, the Scythians came to grips with the immense size and power of the Persian army, and chose to make their land desolate so Darius couldn't use their own resources against them, which in turn forced Darius' army to leave Scythia.
At this point, the Scythians harassed the Persians as the door hit their asses on the way out of Scythia.
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Everything before that was an "insurgency".
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Excerpt from dictionary.com:
insurgency--
n : an organized rebellion aimed at overthrowing a
constituted government through the use of subversion and armed conflict.
guerrilla--
n : a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger force by sabotage and
harassment
I think that this marks the difference between a guerrilla war and an insurgency, since the latter deals with a occupying force, while in this case the Persians never got a chance to move in.
I know, guerrillas can fight an established entity, but by definintion an insurgency can
only fight such an entity, while guerrillas can clash with foreign or domestic threats. It's all stupid semantics
