Ancient and Modern Thoughts About Unconventional Warfare - Essay Example

Unconventional war should be resulted, under conditions where the enemy side has the military capability to devastate the other side, and under conditions where it is most apparent that victory in that war is not likely to be attained (Paret, et al., 1986). Further, the modern and ancient writings agree that the unconventional war should also be aligned with the principle of war requiring surprise attack, such that it should be conducted through underground and intelligent means that are not open to confrontation, until at such a time that the enemy has been incapacitated from effectively raising a reprisal attack (Sawyer, 1993). Therefore, both the modern and the ancient writings about unconventional warfare hold that the unconventional war is a tool for offensive as opposed to defensive strategy that should be applied in the event that the enemy side is mightier. However, the modern writings differ from the ancient writings about the unconventional war, in that the modern writings emphasize that, while opting for the unconventional warfare strategy, the preparation for conventional and confrontational war should be underway, due to the fact that the unconventional strategy can be intercepted and the confrontational war resulted (Paret, et al., 1986).