I could obviously compare this story to The Red Badge of Courage, but that would be too easy. Then I thought of terrorism.
During the American Civil War, the Confederate side faced many disadvantages. One of them was a lack of manpower compare to the Union forces. One of the ways the Confederates solved this problem was by sending out small bands of Cavalry, such as Mosby’s Rangers, to harass Union forces and disrupt their supply lines. These groups were aided by the fact that they were fighting on their home soil, and thus, they knew the terrain better than their opponents. (These bands were also led by great commanders such as Jeb Stuart and Nathan Bedford Forrest.) As the war began to turn against the Confederacy, their Cavalry became too precious to send on such small assignments. Therefore, small bands of guerrilla raiders began forming behind Union lines. These groups conducted sabotage, laid ambushes, and basically filled the void left by the Confederate Cavalry. For example, in the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton Farquhar was hung by Union forces who caught him attempting to destroy a vital railroad bridge.
In a similar way, Islamic Radicals do not have large, unified armies, due to long-standing doctrinal differences among Muslims. Therefore, they have adopted a somewhat similar strategy of sending terrorists to cause civilian panic, whether by taking innocent hostages and attempting to use them as bargaining chips in exchange for the freedom of imprisoned comrades, or by sending suicide bombers to blow up buildings. The most famous example of a terrorist attack was the 9/11 bombings. This strategy forces major nations like the United States to devote substantial efforts towards preventing terrorist attacks.
What do you guys think? Is this too farfetched?
Great job relating the present to the past, Braden. Personally, I do not think it is too far-fetched and agree with the similarities. I'm not sure if Farquhar's actions were necessarily terrorism (as it didn't kill people directly) but it certainly could have appeared as such to the Union soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that history repeats itself in the military style of fighting of these two completely different forces, separated by time and geography (I also would like to add that guerilla warfare also appeared during the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and, to a point, in our nations current large cities in the forms of riots and looting).
Thank you Joshua! Those are all EXCELLENT additional examples!
DeleteGreat job on giving even more information about other wars that used guerilla warfare! Yes, whether people want to admit it or not, there is definitely guerilla warfare happening all over our divided country...
DeleteThat is a fantastic connection Braden! I like how you gave a modern example that we can all relate to. Also great job on giving examples of what kinds of tactics both sides used against one another. I found that very interesting! It's a great observation to make that Islamic Radicals do not parade with their armies. Their "armies" may only be a few select people that are secretive and seemingly unharmful. But in fact they are like undercover spies. From a distance, it is an excellent war tactic, but of course it brings disaster and sorrow for all who are affected by these groups of people.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your last sentence. In fact, I couldn't have said it better myself!
DeleteAlso as an interesting side question, do you guys think that there is any way to predict who are truly Terrorists without being judgmental or anything? (This can also just be a thinking question. You don't have to respond because there may be no answer! The thought just popped into my head so I wrote it down!)
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Elsah. I really don't know, but some terrorists (not all)are mentally ill, so maybe recognizing early signs of mental illness could be one way. Another way to find undercover terrorists would be to monitor where they spend their time and money, but doing so causes another problem: Spying on people is only justifiable if the person is a potential terrorist, but, until they either commit the act of terrorism or admit they were planning to, you can only know whether they are one or not if you do spy on them. It is almost circular.
DeleteJoshua, you have a habit of getting to the heart of a matter in a few sentences, and you've done it again here!
DeleteThere's something else that is the same for our story and today. The Federal scout was a spy and reported to his army. Today in Afghanistan some people are secret spies and report to the Taliban about what other people are doing.
ReplyDeleteWow great job guys! Braden, I also loved how you compared the past to the present as Joshua said. It’s very interesting to see the way history repeats itself in good and not so good ways.
ReplyDelete