The history of guerrilla warfare stretches back to ancient history. While guerrilla tactics can be viewed as a natural continuation of prehistoric warfare, the Chinese general and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War (6th century BCE), was the earliest to propose the use of guerrilla warfare. This directly inspired the development of modern guerrilla warfare. Communist leaders like Mao Zedong and North Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh both implemented guerrilla warfare in the style of Sun Tzu, which served as a model for similar strategies elsewhere, such as the Cuban "foco" theory and the anti-Soviet Mujahadeen in Afghanistan. While the tactics of modern guerrilla warfare originate in the 20th century, irregular warfare, using elements later characteristic of modern guerrilla warfare, has existed throughout the battles of many ancient civilizations.
Ancient
General and strategist Sun Tzu, in his The Art of War (6th century BC), was one of the first proponents of the use of guerrilla warfare. The earliest description of guerrilla warfare is an alleged battle between Emperor Huang and the Myan people (Miao) in China. Guerrilla warfare was not unique to China; nomadic and migratory tribes such as the Scythians, Goths, Vandals, and Huns used elements of guerrilla warfare to fight the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, and Alexander the Great.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, widely regarded as the "father of guerrilla warfare" of his time, devised the Fabian strategy which was used to great effect against Hannibal's army during the Second Punic War.
Guerrilla warfare was also a common strategy of the various Celtic, Germanic and African tribes that the Romans faced through their history. Their first great exponent would be the Lusitanian chieftain Viriathus, whose knowledge of guerrilla tactics earned him eight years of victories over the Roman armies. He would die by treason without being ever decisively bested on the battlefield. The Arverni Gaul Vercingetorix also favored mobile warfare and cutting of supply lines in his revolt against the Roman Republic in 52 BC, and Arminius from the Germanic Cherusci capitalized on the terrain and the Imperial Roman army formations to win the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Another example of an enemy using guerrilla was Tacfarinas, chief of Numidian rebels, who forced the Roman Empire into allying with neighboring natives in order to finally defeat him. Later Caratacus, the war chief of the British Catuvellauni, employed guerrilla warfare mixed in with occasional set-piece battles for eight years. Although Caratacus was ultimately captured by the Romans, Tacitus writes that they respected him.
In the Classic Ancient world, this kind of warfare was indirectly mentioned by the Greeks in Homeric stories, but usually as hit and run acts of foraging for booty in enemy territory, pretty much as later Vikings piracy. There are not many examples of guerrilla in ancient Greek warfare, though the Aetolians did make use of it against Demosthenes and his heavy hoplite infantry during the Aetolian campaign.
Medieval
Guerrilla warfare was practiced by the Byzantine Empire, particularly during its wars with the Abbasid Caliphate. In the middle of the tenth century these practices were codified in a military manual known by the modern Latin translation of its Greek title, De velitatione bellica. Ascribed to the emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, this manual describes the tactics employed along the Tauros Mountains, the border region between empire and caliphate. The tactics focus on tracking invaders, limiting the damage that they can do through careful surveillance and counter-raids, and then attacking them in mountain passes when they are laden with pillage and prisoners. Shadowing enemy forces and setting up ambushes are the main themes of the text.
During the Mongol invasion of Europe, guerrilla warfare and stiff resistance helped many Europeans, particularly those at Croatia and Dzurdzuketia, in preventing the Mongols from setting a permanent hold of their territory and driving them off. In the 15th century, Vietnamese leader Lê Lợi launched a guerrilla war against the Chinese.