Primordial Warfare: Ancient Tactics Survive in Modern Times - Essay Sample

Introduction

Western people for a long time have been feared due to their sophisticated technology and organization in war. They have, however, been killed and challenged by primitive powers. The western world does not comprehend the primordial powers war styles and whose war skills exceed those of the irregular wars of the west (Sorenson, & Widen, 2014). Irregular warfare remains one of the oldest tactics in the world. It is also commonly known as tribal warfare or primitive warfare. It, therefore, defined as the small wars that erupted from time to time with low-intensity effects. Some of the irregular warfare practices take place in the non-western countries which continue to claim the attention of the community's intelligence. After the Second World War, we can count up to 80 traditional irregular wars. Some of the most notable conventional battles include those that took place in countries such as Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan (Laegreid, 2017). These wars involved the use of irregular aspects of the fight against other changeable elements. Regular forces from the government were used in an attempt to calm the situations. External forces such as regional organizations peacekeeping missions were also applied.

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The current irregular operations include some complex wars such as the war against terrorist groups such as the Al Qaeda of the eastern worlds (Hashim, 2014). Many countries in the world are facing the threat of terrorism. Western countries like the US, which met its deadliest attacks in their history and this made the country to declare the war against this terrorist group. The operation that was involved is an example of recent irregular activity (Sorenson, & Widen, 2014). Acquisition and discovery of modern military technology were seen as a solution to the issue of warfare in the 20th century. However, this could be untrue as warfare problems did not end, but only the tactics changed where current operations are applied. Using sophisticated military technology that is available has only made warfare worse. The terrorist organizations in the world have been engaging various governments using modern military technology, which has resulted in the current irregular operations.

Irregular warfare operations nevertheless continue to be a puzzle that is not affected by transformations resulting from the technology. In these irregular operations, psychology, history and sociology remain relevant and have much about the nature of the war to include other aspects such as its persistence and intensity (Sorenson, & Widen, 2014).

Ethnicity and Religion

Ethnicity and religion is an insight that would be derived from both the irregular warfare and modern irregular operations in the world. From the past, several notable wars can be analyzed to find out about the role of ethnicity and religion in the war (Bormann, Cederman, & Vogt, 2017). The great civil war in Rwanda is an example of warfare that was ethnically instigated. The purpose of ethnicity in fueling this war is vividly seen. The tribes that were involved in the war were the Hutu and the Tutsi (Laegreid, 2017). The battle was purely against each other and included only the two tribes mentioned. This is an indicator of how ethnicity takes part in the conflicts both in the past and currently. Therefore ethnicity is one of the insights that we can derive from the history of irregular warfare that ever occurred in the world.

Additionally, religion is another insight that we can derive from the history of warfare in the past and currently. In countries such as Pakistan, Iraq and other countries in the Middle East have been victims of terrorism where most of these terrorists have religious affiliations (Bormann, et al., 2017). Taliban and Al Qaeda are some of the notable terrorist (Hashim, 2014). The two dangerous groups are based on the Islamic faith. These groups apply their sharia rhetoric alongside sympathetic political and religious elements to terrorize the region for the general audience. Al Qaeda has been involved in a fierce war with countries such as the United States of America, where it attacked the country in one of their deadliest attacks. This led to America declaring war against it. The battle was a new operation where sophisticated weapons were used such as the bombs, riffles and other military technology. It is believed that most of these Islamic terrorist groups target other faiths such as Christian (Bormann, et al., 2017). They have, in most case, been reported to torment the Christian. The US has a history of strong Christianity belief. Thus Al Qaeda is suspected of having attacked the US targeting the Christians who were in this country (Hashim, 2014).

From the instances of the Rwandan civil war and the Al Qaeda terrorist group, we can, therefore, concede that ethnicity and religion play a primary role in causing the warfare as the paper explains above. It is, therefore, necessary for people to take care of these two aspects of society as they can be harmful to the community when they are not taken care of (Bormann, et al., 2017). The conflicts caused by these elements have caused many effects on the world.

Technology

Technology is crucial in almost all aspects of daily living of the people. Technology has made several things easy to carry out. The technology applies in all fields of social life, including the military sphere. With technology, irregular operations have been made better due to the use of advanced technology (Cheng, Chen, Wang, & Haiyang, 2014). Better warfare equipment has been discovered, and as a result, the military sector has improved. In the traditional warfare that is notable, the war equipment they were using was crude and straightforward. Military analysts in the world keep focusing much of their attention on military technology as a driving force in warfare (Cheng, et al., 2014). Yes, technology is another insight that we can derive from the war of the past and modern warfare operations. In irregular warfare, the level of technology may not be of great importance as the warriors were using crude and straightforward equipment in their insurgency.

Irregular warfare involves the use of what is available simple or complex. They acquire the possible through buying, stealing, manufacturing or borrowing and improvising. The asymmetrical warfare specializes in primitive acts of raiding, ambushing and skirmishing, which altogether may not require technology (Cheng, et al., 2014). In current operations, the technique is highly useful from communication to transport and the attacking equipment. Military technology is essential, and we can concede that modern operations need technology more. From the case study of the Rwandan civil unrests that led to massive loss of life, technology was not applied. The attackers applied ambushes and raids to attack and reiterate to their enemies. To the contrary, the war between the United States of America and the Al Qaeda involved the use of massive technology. The use of communication and transport depended primarily on technology (Cheng, et al., 2014). The military equipment that was in use was also of high tech.

Conclusion

Several insights can be derived from both traditional and modern warfare. Some of them include technology, logistics, ethnicity and religion. While some of these aspects are useful, they also lead to untold destruction. For instance, ethnicity and religion are essential cultural aspects that assist in preserving cultural heritage. However, when not taken care of, they lead to suffering. The suffering is as we have seen in the case of Rwandan civil unrest and the religious aspect as we have found out in the case of the Islamic terrorist groups.

References

Bormann, N. C., Cederman, L. E., & Vogt, M. (2017). Language, religion, and ethnic civil war. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 61(4), 744-771.

Cheng, S., Chen, C., Wang, W., & Haiyang, L. I. (2014). Detection of chemical warfare agents by differential mobility spectrometry and drift-time ion mobility spectrometry hybrid technology. Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry, (9), 1264-1269.

Hashim, A. S. (2014). The Islamic State: From alQaeda Affiliate to Caliphate. Middle East Policy, 21(4), 69-83.

Laegreid, T. (2017). UN peacekeeping in Rwanda. In The Path of a Genocide (pp. 231-252). Routledge.

Sorenson, K., & Widen, J. J. (2014). Irregular warfare and tactical changes: the case of Somali piracy. Terrorism and political violence, 26(3), 399-418.