home Many people think that America cannot win a guerilla war. Therefore enemies of America are likely to use guerrilla war methods. Therefore America should be prepared to fight a guerilla war. Most people do not remember, but before 1900 America was unbeatable at guerilla war. This is how America used to win guerilla wars. First, America would wait until fall, when the corn was ripe in the fields, dry, and ready to harvest; or else already harvested and stored for winter. Then America would send the calvary to attack. The calvary was lightly armed and minimally trained, and was ineffective in a major battle, such as happened to Custer and the seventh calvary at Little Bighorn. But the calvary was able to move quickly and travel long distances. The calvary was very effective when attacking small villages. The speed of the calvary gave the people little time to prepare, and the outnumbered villagers had no hope of defending themselves. So the villages would usually flee, taking only what they could carry, leaving most of their possesions behind. Then the calvary would burn the abandoned village, all the houses, the blankets, the storehouses of corn, and the fields of corn. Then the calvary would move on to attack the next village. The villagers would return to the destroyed village, and find they had no houses, no blankets, no food, and it was almost winter. The only way to survive was to go to the reservation and surrender. After the indians had surrendered, the indians were forced to live in unhygienic conditions and eat inedible food, which kept the indians weak and sickly, and caused the indian population to decline. These tactics were uncivilized and barbaric. The appalling treatment of the indians after they surrendered is genocide and a crime against humanity. But these tactics worked. These tactics are not applicable to the modern world. But an understanding of why these tactics worked will help understand modern guerilla warfare. All war is psychological. Wars continue until one side gives up. People often will not give up until they are cold and hungry. The simplest way to win a guerilla war is to destroy the food supply, then offer to feed the people if they surrender. But in most guerrilla wars, some of the people support the guerillas, and some of the people oppose the guerillas. It would be better to destroy the food of the people who support the guerillas without destroying the food of the people who oppose the guerillas. This is how to win a guerilla war. If there is a functioning government which opposes the guerillas, the government should impose a draft. All people who are not totally disabled should be required to to fight the guerillas, maybe a week of fighting every three months. The purpose of this is not to militarily defeat the guerillas. Civilians conscripted for short periods of time do not make effective soldiers. The purpose of the draft is to identify guerilla sympathizers. Guerilla sympathizers will not want to fight the guerillas, so guerilla sympathizers are likely to dodge the draft, so arresting the draft dodgers will purge society of guerilla sympathizers. The guerrillas depend on sympathizers to provide supplies and recruits. Without sympathizers, the guerillas will disappear. Also the government should require all people to have ten other people guarantee that they are not guerilla sympathizers. If a person is found to be a guerilla sympathizer, the ten people who guaranteed that person will be arrested. If a person cannot find ten guarantees, that person will be arrested. Most people will be guaranteed by their friends, and the friends of guerilla sympathizers are likely to be other guerilla sympathizers. This is using the power of social networks to identify guerilla sympathizers, to purge society of guerilla sympathizers. If the government is too dysfunctional to enforce a draft and keep records of who guaranteed whom, then the guerillas should be fought with militias. America should encourage the people who oppose the guerillas to organize themselves into militias. home