Introduction to War
The United States usually refers to local wars as limited wars, that is, wars with restrictions on war objectives, weapons use, combat forces, combat areas, etc. In the 1980s, the United States divided war into low-intensity war, medium intensity war and high-intensity war. Local war mainly refers to medium and low-intensity war. In the era of cold weapons and the era of hot weapons, many wars in the world mostly belong to the category of local wars. Although the history of local war is long, it has long been nothing but reality.
In the middle and late 19th century, K. Marx and F. Engels began to use this concept. In 1859, Marx used the title of "local war" in Prussia's Views on War; Engels talked about local war and full-scale war in the European Political Situation written in 1886; In March 1887, Engels proposed to clarify the relationship and difference between local war and world war in a letter to J. Beibeier, and specifically pointed out that the diplomatic circles of Russia and Prussia had tried their best to provoke a local war. If anyone started first, he would provoke a world war. In the 20th century, the war broke through regional boundaries and stepped into the threshold of world war. After the end of the Second World War, great changes have taken place in international relations. The United States and the Soviet Union have become the main competitors. After nearly half a century of fierce competition, the nuclear forces of both sides are evenly matched, and the conventional armed forces also have advantages and disadvantages. Both are qualified to carry out the world war, but no one can guarantee to win the war without daring to start. The wars that took place during this period have been extending on the track of local wars. With the end of the cold war and the disappearance of the bipolar pattern, the danger of world war has weakened, but the world is still volatile, and local wars occur from time to time.
Under modern conditions, local wars can be divided into different types due to different causes, time, regions, scale, purposes, means and nature. ① In terms of reasons, there are wars for national independence, national liberation and territorial integrity; There are imperialist and hegemonic countries that directly carry out armed aggression or manipulate and support wars carried out by other countries for economic or strategic interests; There are wars in which global hegemonic countries and regional hegemonic countries compete for the sphere of influence; There are wars between capitalist countries due to conflicts of interest; There are wars between developing countries caused by conflicts of economic interests, ethnic conflicts, religious conflicts or problems left over by history. ② In terms of time, there are short-term, medium-term and long-term wars. The short-term war is sudden and the war process is fast. A war can often end in a few days or even hours. Medium term wars usually last for a few months to a year. The long-term war lasts more than one year. ③ Regionally, there are wars between two or more countries in a certain region of the world, wars between two or more countries in different regions of the world, and wars within a certain country. ④ In terms of scale, there are small-scale wars in which the number of troops participating in the war is small, which are tactical in nature, and the country generally does not need to mobilize; There are medium-sized wars in which the country needs to mobilize locally due to the large number of troops participating in the war; There are troops participating in the war and war mobilization involving one or more war zones, and large-scale wars in one or even several strategic directions. ⑤ In terms of purpose, there are predatory wars such as seizing the territory and strategic resources of the other party, or wars launched to retake the territory occupied by the other party; A destructive war aimed at destroying the economic construction and military facilities of the other party; There are wars that use strong military strength to intimidate and teach the other party a lesson; There are subversive wars launched by imperialist and hegemonic countries to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, suppress the people of other countries, and dismember the territory of other countries; A war between two or more political groups within a country or nation to seize power in the country or region. ⑥ From the type of weapons used, there are conventional war, nuclear war or war under the condition of nuclear deterrence. ⑦ From the nature of war, there are just wars and unjust wars.
The characteristics of modern local wars are as follows: ① restricted and strengthened by political factors. In modern times, local wars are more directly related to politics, and are more obviously restricted by political factors. In many cases, the purpose of local wars is ultimately not achieved solely by military action, but by political, economic and diplomatic means. Military action cannot be divorced from the goals set by politics. Effective military action should serve diplomatic negotiations and become a tool for direct political struggle. In the process of war, war is often coordinated with negotiation, and the outcome is usually settled by diplomatic negotiation or political compromise. ② Increased finiteness. Local wars are restricted in many aspects by international and domestic political, economic and military factors. The purpose of war is often limited to certain political, economic and military objectives; The scale of war is often limited to a certain range and certain forces are used; Strive to avoid protracted war time; The war space mostly occurs in marginal areas, disputed areas or sensitive areas, and is limited to a certain depth, sea area or airspace within the territory of both parties. ③ Outbreaks are often sudden. The party who instigates the war strives to achieve decisive results in a short time in order to prevent the situation from expanding indefinitely, and often strikes the other party unprepared in a sudden manner, resulting in a situation of fait accompli and favorable to itself. At the same time, because local wars are limited in some aspects, sudden attacks are often used to achieve the goal of surprise victory and initial victory. ④ New weapons are used extensively. Some people call the battlefield of modern local war the experimental field of new weapons. Although the scale of the war is limited, it is highly modernized and consumes a lot. The most advanced aircraft, warships, tanks, artillery, missiles, lasers, electronics, satellites and other cutting-edge technical equipment are often used. ⑤ Gradually transition to informatization. Before the mid-1970s, the technical level of war was mostly mechanized, belonging to the form of mechanized war. Since then, with the rapid development of high-tech with information technology as the core and its wide application in the military field, the way of war is undergoing profound changes, and the form of war is transitioning from mechanized war to information war. Hegemonism, power politics and the existence of various contradictions in the world have contributed to the intensification of the arms race, and the international community is still very unstable. Local wars that keep coming and going, especially information-based wars that are increasingly information-based and gradually mature, will become the main type and style of local wars for a long time in the future.
Publisher: China Military Encyclopedia Editorial Office [1]
