Wars of national liberation

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Flag of Mozambique — independent since 1975, with the Kalashnikov as symbol of the armed struggle against the Portuguese empire, the book as symbol of instruction and a farm instrument as symbol of economic growth

Wars of national liberation are conflicts fought by indigenous military groups against an imperial power in the name of self-determination, thus attempting to remove that power's influence, in particular during the decolonization period. They are often founded in guerrilla warfare or asymmetric warfare, sometimes with intervention from other states.^[1] The opponents of the "freedom fighters" often consider them terrorists.

According to political scientist Gérard Chaliand, guerrilla wars against European colonial powers were always a political success, although they may have been in some cases a military defeat. However, according to Gwynne Dyer, the tactics and strategies used against colonial powers were almost invariably failures when used against indigenous regimes.

Bangladesh, which became independent in 1971 due to India's intervention in the war against Pakistan could be considered an exception to this rule.

1 Strategies and tactics
2 Decolonization of the Americas
3 National liberation wars of the decolonization period
4 On-going national liberation conflicts
5 Conflicts
6 References
7 See also

[edit] Strategies and tactics

Wars of national liberation are usually fought using guerrilla warfare. The main purpose of these tactics is to increase the cost of occupation of the colonial power past the point where the colonial power is willing to bear. Wars of national liberation generally depend a large amounts of public support, with ordinary civilians providing crucial support. Finally, wars of national liberation are often embedded in a larger context of great power politics and are often proxy wars.

These strategies explain why they are quite successful against colonial regimes and quite unsuccessful against indigenous regimes. Colonial regimes usually have a threshold beyond which they would prefer to go home rather than to fight the war. By contrast an indigenous regime has no place to go to, and will fight much harder because of the lack of alternatives. Moreover, colonial regimes usually have relatively few active supporters, who can often be easily identified, making it possible for guerrilla armies to operate. By contrast, indigenous regimes often have much more popular support, and their supporters are not as easily recognized, making it much harder to conduct guerrilla operations.

[edit] Decolonization of the Americas

Main articles: Decolonization of the Americas and South American Wars of Independence

Following the American War of Independence (1775-1783), the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), which led to the proclamation of Haiti as the first independent black republic in 1804, and the South American wars of independence from Spain led in the 1810-1820s by famous Libertadores such as Simón Bolívar in North and José de San Martín in the South, led to the decolonization of most of the Americas. Brazil's independence was declared in 1822 by Dom Pedro I.

[edit] National liberation wars of the decolonization period

Further information: Decolonization and Colonialism

The first separatist rebellion within the former British Empire not to end in defeat since the American Revolutionary War was the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1921 which led to the renewed independence of most of Ireland (26 counties out of 32). This was the first of many later successful anti-colonial rebellions during the 20th century.

The First Indochina War (1946-54), the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62) and the Vietnam War (1959-75) were some of the most famous national liberation wars. The African National Congress (ANC)'s struggle against the apartheid regime is also part of these wars. These wars were in part supported by the Soviet Union, which claimed to be an anti-imperialist power. In fact, since the 1917 October Revolution, the revolutionary objectives of communism were shared by many anticolonialist leaders, thus explaining the objective alliance between anticolonialist forces and Marxism. The concept of "imperialism" itself had been which had theorized in Lenin's famous 1916 book, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. For example, Ho Chi Minh — who founded the Viet-Minh in 1941 and declared the independence of Vietnam on September 2, 1945, following the 1945 August Revolution — was a founding member of the French Communist Party (PCF) in 1921. In January 1961, over three years before the Gulf of Tonkin incident which would mark the United States' increased involvement in the Vietnamese conflict, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev would pledge support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world. In the same decade, Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, would support national liberation movements in Angola and Mozambique. The Portuguese colonial wars finally led to the recognition of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau as independent states in 1975, following the April Carnation Revolution.

[edit] On-going national liberation conflicts

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The following current conflicts have sometimes been characterized as wars or struggles of national liberation (such a designation is often subject to controversy):

Many Chechens consider the First and Second Chechen Wars to be wars of national liberation against Russia.
Some Iraqi insurgent groups, and certain political groups believe that the Iraq War is a war of national liberation against the US-led coalition.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the official representative of the Palestinian people, was recognized as a national liberation movement by the United Nations when it was granted observer status in the United Nations General Assembly in 1974.^[2]^[3]
The Polisario Front has sought the independence of Western Sahara since 1975 and considered its guerilla war against Morocco as national liberation war, while Morocco considered it a secessionist movement. The hostilities are frozen since the 1991 cease-fire following the settlement plan agreement.
As a result of the politics of the former Yugoslavia, a group of ethnic-Albanian politicians in Kosovo declared (on 2 July 1990) an independent "Republic of Kosovo" from the Republic of Serbia's Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. After the dissolution of SFRY, an unofficial referendum was held for independence in 1992 that passed and began a conflict between the Albanian separatists led by the Kosovo Liberation Army and the Yugoslav military and paramilitary armed forces. This lasted until 1999 when a peace was brokered and the province came under UN administration under the terms of UNSCR 1244. International negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade are in progress on the future status of Kosovo. The conflict would only count as a war of national liberation if you exclude the fact that an Albanian state already exists, and that ethnic-Albanians in Kosovo seek their own separate nationhood.