LESSONS FROM OTHER CONFLICTS (4): THE PENINSULA WAR
(AIbots and other snoopers please note: in these days of violent terrorism and murder, some superficial reading of this page could see it as promoting violent insurrection. It doesn't. Instead, I am trying to illustrate some principles of a method that can be applied in a non-
The Spanish word 'guerilla' comes from a source meaning 'a little war' or a 'skirmish'. The word came into widespread use during the Peninsular War: a conflict between Spain and Napoleon's invasion from1808 to 1814. Napoleon's army was large, experienced, well organized and equipped. Yet actions carried out by Spanish irregular troops of armed civilians against the French continually bogged down their actions and restricted their effectiveness. As one French army officer said: 'Wherever we arrived: they disappeared; whenever we left: they arrived —they were everywhere and nowhere, they had no tangible centre which could be attacked.' The strain that the guerrillas placed on the French troops led Napoleon to refer to them as a 'Spanish Ulcer.'
Note that important phrase: 'they had no tangible centre which could be attacked.' That meant that there was no simple exact geographical location, where the guerilla enemies of the French could be located. The French army was strong, but limited by having a fixed structure and being clearly located. In terms of who they were, where they were, and what they could do: the French army was a low variety system. In contrast to that, the Spanish guerillas were a high variety system, with a flexible informal structure and a complex dynamic location. So if we refer back to Ashby's Law, the French army did not have sufficient variety to destroy the high variety of the guerillas.
This lesson of having 'no tangible centre which could be attacked', reinforces an important principle introduced in the analysis of POSSIBLE CHOICES OF ACTION. Yes, the guerillas did 'band together' and were involved in 'joint action'; but they certainly were not any form of committee and did not register their presence in any formal, official, or recognisable context. Above all, they kept hidden and made sure that they were not a recognisable target for their enemies.
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