| abstract | - Guerrilla warfare refers to unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes, raids, etc.) to combat a larger, less mobile, formal army. Guerrillas uses ambush (draw enemy forces to terrain unsuited to them) and mobility (advantage and surprise) in attacking vulnerable targets in enemy territory. Guerrilla means small war, the diminutive of the Spanish word guerra (war). The Spanish word derives from the Old High German word werra and from the middle Dutch word warre; adopted by the Visigoths in A.D. 5th century Hispania. The use of the diminutive evokes the differences in number, scale, and scope between the guerrilla army and the formal state army they fight. The word was coined in Spain to describe their warfare in resisting Napoleon Bonaparte's French régime, its meaning was broadened to mean any similar-scale armed resistance.
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