Wars of national liberation, also calledwars of independence orwars of liberation, are conflicts fought bynations to gainindependence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separatesovereign states for the rebelling nationality. From a different point of view, such wars are calledinsurgencies orrebellions.[1]Guerrilla warfare orasymmetric warfare is often utilized by groups labeled as nationalliberation movements, often with support from other states. The term "wars of national liberation" is most commonly used for those fought during thedecolonization movement. Since these were primarily in thethird world, against Western powers and their economic influence, and a major aspect of theCold War, the phrase has often been applied selectively to criticize the foreign power involved.[2]
Some of these wars were either vocally or materially supported by theSoviet Union, which claimed to be ananti-imperialist power, supporting the replacement of Western-backed governments with localCommunist or other non pro-Western parties.[1][3] In January 1961 Soviet premierNikita Khrushchev pledged support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world.[4] On the other hand, the Soviet involvement was often viewed as a way to increase the size and influence of theSoviet Bloc, and thus a form of imperialism itself. ThePeople's Republic of China criticized the Soviet Union as beingsocial imperialist. In turn, China presented themselves as models of independent nationalist development outside of Western influence, particularly as such posturing and other long-term hostility meant they were regarded as a threat to Western power and regarded themselves as such, using their resources to politically, economically and militarily assist movements such as inVietnam. When the nation is defined in ethnic terms, wars fought to liberate it have often entailedethnic cleansing orgenocide in order to rid the claimed territory of other population groups.[5][6][7]
International law generally holds that apeople with a legal right toself-determination are entitled to wage wars of national liberation.[8][9] WhileWestern states tend to view these wars ascivil wars,Third World andcommunist states tend to view them as international wars.[8] This difference in classification leads to varying perceptions of which laws of war apply in such situations.[8] However, there is general agreement among all states today in principle that the use of force to frustrate a people's legal right to self-determination is unlawful.[8]
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Wars of national liberation are usually fought using guerrilla warfare. The main purpose of these tactics is to increase the cost of the anti-guerrilla forces past the point where such forces are willing to bear. Wars of national liberation generally depend on widespread 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 oftenproxy wars.
These strategies explain why they are quite successful against foreign regimes and quite unsuccessful against indigenous regimes. Foreign 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 which they can retreat, and will fight much harder because of the lack of alternatives. Moreover, foreign regimes usually have fewer active supporters in the theater, and those that exist can often be easily identified, making it possible for guerrilla armies to identify their targets. By contrast, indigenous regimes often have much more popular support, and their supporters are often not easily recognized as such, making it much harder to conduct operations against them without also causing harm to neutral parties.
TheHaitian Revolution (1791-1804) can be considered to be one of the first wars of national liberation. It pitted self-liberatedslaves againstImperial France, coming about during a period in history where interconnected movements such as theAmerican andFrench Revolutions had caused a rise of national consciousness in the Atlantic world. At the same time during theSpanish American wars of independence (1808-1833), thepatriots launched a series of complex wars of independence against theroyalists, which resulted in the formation of newLatin American states. TheSiege of Patras (1821) led to theGreek War of Independence, endingOttoman domination in the establishment of theKingdom of Greece. Discontent with Britishcompany rule in India led to theSepoy Mutiny (1857–1858), which is sometimes described as the First War of Indian Independence.[a][10]
TheEaster Rising (1916) inDublin eventually led to theIrish War of Independence (1919-1921), ending in the establishment of theIrish Free State. In theaftermath of World War I and the 1917Russian Revolution theBolsheviks unsuccessfully fought a number ofindependence movements untilFinland,Estonia,Latvia,Lithuania, andPoland gained independence. TheUkrainian People's Republic fought itswar of independence (1917-1921), which resulted in being absorbed into aSoviet republic. Following the defeat of theOttoman Empire, theTurkish National Movement fought a series of campaigns in thewar of independence (1919-1922), which resulted in the subsequent withdrawal ofAllied forces and establishment of theRepublic of Turkey.
TheIndonesian War of Independence (1945-1949) followed with the Liberation ofIrian Jaya (1960-1962), theFirst Indochina War (1946–54),Vietnam War (1959–75),Bangladesh Liberation War (1971) and theAlgerian War (1954–62) were all considered national liberation wars by the rebelling sides of the conflicts. TheAfrican National Congress (ANC)'s struggle against theapartheid regime is also another example. Most of these rebellions were in part supported by theSoviet Union. Since theRussian Revolution therevolutionary objectives ofcommunism andsocialism were shared by many anticolonialist leaders, thus explaining the objective alliance between anticolonialist forces andMarxism. The concept of "imperialism" itself had been theorized in Lenin's 1916 book,Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. For example,Ho Chi Minh — who founded theViet-Minh in 1941 and declared the independence ofVietnam on September 2, 1945, following the 1945August Revolution — was a founding member of theFrench Communist Party (PCF) in 1921. In January 1961, over three years before theGulf of Tonkin incident which would mark theUnited States government's increased involvement in theVietnam War, Soviet premierNikita Khrushchev would pledge support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world.[11] In the same decade,Cuba, led byFidel Castro, would support national liberation movements inAngola andMozambique.
ThePortuguese colonial wars finally led to the recognition of Angola, Mozambique andGuinea-Bissau as independent states in 1975, following the AprilCarnation Revolution. TheRhodesian Bush War became a scene of guerrilla warfare by factors of theZANLA andZAPU againstRhodesia until white-majority rule came to an end in 1979 and theLancaster House Agreement led to the independence ofZimbabwe in April 1980. In February 1991, six months after the outbreak of theGulf War, thecoalition led by the United States launched a ground offensive toliberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. The 1991breakup of Yugoslavia led to fewer wars of independence in part of theYugoslav Wars, including theTen-Day War and theCroatian War of Independence. The aftermath of theRwandan genocide saw theAFDLinvade Zaire, overthrowing the regime ofMobutu and reverting its name to theDemocratic Republic of the Congo. In thefirst Libyan Civil War (2011), an uprising developed into arebellion, toppling the regime ofMuammar Gaddafi and theNational Transitional Council declared the liberation of Libya from 42 years of his rule.
ThePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is a national liberation movement, meaning that it holds official recognition of its legal status as such.[12] Other national liberation movements in theOAU at that time included theAfrican National Congress (ANC) andPan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). It is the only non-African national liberation movement to hold observer status in the OAU, and was one of the first national liberation movements granted permanent observer status by theUnited Nations General Assembly pursuant to a 1974 resolution.[13][14] The PLO also participates in UN Security Council debates; since 1988, it has represented thePalestinian people at the UN under the name "Palestine".[15]
The following current conflicts have sometimes also been characterized as wars or struggles of national liberation (such a designation is often subject to controversy):
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Conflicts which have been described as national liberation struggles:
"Rendering an area ethnically homogenous by using force or in- timidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group" seems, in fact, an essential element in the program of many state builders and national liberation movements.
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