Asymmetric Warfare: The costs of limited war Flashcards
What is asymmetric warfare?
Wars with lopsided power
-one power has lots of resources, other has few resources
what are some traditional asymmetric wars?
-colonial wars; countries like Britain, Netherlands, France, Portugal, and USA could refuse to grant some colonies independence
What strategy did anti-colonizers use?
guerrilla forces
What was strange about asymmetric warfare?
Despite less resources, guerrilla forces could sometimes win
For large powers were asymmetric wars considered high or low intensity?
low
According to Mack, what did the Vietnam war ‘prove’ about conventional military power?
the prevalent assumption that conventional military superiority necessarily prevails in war has been destroyd
Why did greater powers lose wars against Third World opponents?
they lost the “political capability to wage war”
When can insurgents win a political victory?
-if they have fought to a standstill or even have lost the military fight
Other than the battlefield, where is asymmetric warfare fought?
polity and social institutions of the external power
In what way do guerilla forces have an advantage over external powers?
-have a total commitment to the fight that external powers do not
When was South Vietnam created?
1956, with elections that place US puppet Ngo Dinh Diem in power, hardline vs. North Vietnam was adopted
What battle against the French was influential and why?
- defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954
- Vietminh victory “had the effect of destroying the political capability of the French government to mobilize troops and to continue the struggle”
What scholar wrote about the Vietnam war as an asymmetric conflict?
Mack
The french defeat at Dien Bien Phu led to Eisenhower coining what analogy about communism?
domino effect
______ wars were the battlefield of the cold war because _________ prohibited all out war
proxy, nuclear age
Who was the US defense Secretary dyring the Vietnam war
McNamara
according to McNamara, the Vietnam war was “developing an abilitiy in the US to fight _____ without ______”
fight a limited war without arousing the public ire
in the Vietnam War, the US nedded to fight hard enoug hto win, but without _______
triggering Soviet or Chinese intervention
-during the Korean war, US pushed behind Chinese red line and caused intervention
What weakness did the Vietnamese exploit with the US?
they knew the US couldn’t cause domestic unrest or trigger intervention
When does the guerrilla win
“if it does not lose” - Henry Kissinger
Guerrillas set out to wage ______ war because it resonates among the population of the external power
protracted war
What caused much of the resonation of the Vietnam war in the US population?
the media
What did Guerrillas need to do to be able to win?
must be able to inflict a steady stream of losses, seldom can achieve total battlefield victory
What in asymmetric warfare is the “end”?
Indirect costs of psychological and political costs must be inflicted
Mao Zedong argued that democracies could not win Asymmetric warfare because ______________
because they could not withstand the financial or psychological costs of fighting guerrillas
What was the beginning of the communist victory?
The Tet offensive in 1968
-even though it was a loss for North vietnam, they infliceted massive casualties on US and caused the anti-war movement to grow
What was the effect of US bombing in Vietnam?
the more US bombed, the more control Viet Cong had-
What scholars discuss aerial bombing in Vietnam?
Kocher et al
Why is victimizing civilians likely to backfire?
Because counterinsurgent forces need civilians to collaborate with them in order to defeat insurgents
-aerial bombing can also victimize non-participants and therefore makes some people join war who might not have otherwise because chances of death are the same
Where else did US bomb?
Cambodia and Laos
