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Hit-and-run tactics

 

 
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Hit-and-run tactics
 
 
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Hit-and-run tactics is a tactical
Military tactics

Military tactics are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an Enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics....
 doctrine
Doctrine

Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachers" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system....
 where the purpose of the combat involved is not to seize control of territory, but to inflict damage on a target and immediately exit the area to avoid the enemy's defense and/or retaliation.

e tactics are a cornerstone of irregular warfare
Irregular military

Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is a lot of variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used....
 like guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is the Irregular warfare warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile Military tactics to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
, militant resistance movement
Resistance movement

A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an military occupation country or the government of a sovereign nation through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence....
s and terrorism
Terrorism

Terrorism, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, is the systematic use of terror, "violent or destructive acts committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands." At present, there is no internationally agreed upon definition of terrorism....
 where the enemy typically overmatches the attacking force to the point where sustained combat is to be avoided.






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Encyclopedia


Hit-and-run tactics is a tactical
Military tactics

Military tactics are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating an Enemy in battle. Changes in philosophy and technology over time have been reflected in changes to military tactics....
 doctrine
Doctrine

Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachers" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system....
 where the purpose of the combat involved is not to seize control of territory, but to inflict damage on a target and immediately exit the area to avoid the enemy's defense and/or retaliation.

History

These tactics are a cornerstone of irregular warfare
Irregular military

Irregular military refers to any non-standard military. Being defined by exclusion, there is a lot of variance in what comes under the term. It can refer to the type of military organization, or to the type of tactics used....
 like guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare

Guerrilla warfare is the Irregular warfare warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile Military tactics to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
, militant resistance movement
Resistance movement

A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to fighting an invader in an military occupation country or the government of a sovereign nation through either the use of physical force, or nonviolence....
s and terrorism
Terrorism

Terrorism, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, is the systematic use of terror, "violent or destructive acts committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands." At present, there is no internationally agreed upon definition of terrorism....
 where the enemy typically overmatches the attacking force to the point where sustained combat is to be avoided. However the tactics can also be used as part of more conventional warfare. Examples of the latter include commando
Commando

In military science, the term commando denotes an individual soldier, a military unit, and a raid . Contemporarily, commando identifies ?lite light infantry and special forces units specialised in parachuting, rappelling, and amphibious warfare to conduct and effect attacks....
 or other special forces
Special forces

Special Forces , also known as, Special Operation Forces is a generic term for highly-trained military teams/units that conduct specialized Military operation such as reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, and counter-terrorism actions....
 attacks or sortie
Sortie

Sortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it of aircraft, ship or, in older times, of columns of troops from a fort....
s from a besieged castle. Hit-and-run tactics were also where the lightly armed and nearly unarmored horse archers typical of the Eurasian steppe
Eurasian Steppe

The Eurasian Steppe is the term often used to describe the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia stretching from the western borders of the steppes of Hungary#Geography to the eastern border of the steppes of Mongolia#Geography and climate, for roughly 5000 km....
 peoples excelled at. This holds especially true for such troops that were not part of a large army (such as scouting parties), but it was not unusual to see them employed in such a way even as part of a major force. For example, the Seljuk
Seljuk

Seljuk was the eponymous hero of the Seljuks. He was the son of a certain Dukak Timuryaligh surnamed Timuryaligh -of the iron bow- and either the chief or an eminent member from the Kinik tribe of the Oghuz Turks....
 victory over the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
 at the Battle of Manzikert
Battle of Manzikert

The Battle of Manzikert, or Malazgirt, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Great Seljuq Empire forces led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert ....
 was preceded by hit-and-run attacks of Seljuk cavalry which threw the Byzantine army into confusion, which proved fateful once it started to retreat. Similarly, the earlier Parthian
Parthian

Parthian may be:A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern Iran* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by Parthian horsemen...
 and Sassanid Persian horse archers paved the way for their cataphract
Cataphract

A cataphract was a form of heavy cavalry used by nomadic eastern Iranian people tribes and dynasties and later Ancient Greeks and Ancient Rome....
's attack that achieved the decisive victories at the Battle of Carrhae
Battle of Carrhae

The Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC was a decisive victory for the Parthian Spahbod Surena over the Roman Republic general Marcus Licinius Crassus near the town of Carrhae ....
 and Battle of Edessa
Battle of Edessa

The Battle of Edessa took place between the armies of the Roman Empire under the command of Emperor Valerian and Sassanid Empire forces under King Shapur I in 259....
. The use of hit-and-run tactics dates back even earlier to the nomadic Scythians of Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
, who employed them against Darius the Great's Persian
Persian Empire

The 'Persian Empire' was a series of successive Iranian or Persianization empires that ruled over the Iranian plateau, the original Persian homeland, and beyond in Southwest Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus....
 Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire was amongst the first Persian Empires that ruled over significant portions of Greater Iran, and followed the Ancient Iranian peoples Median Empire....
 and later against Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
's Macedon
Macedon

Macedon or Macedonia was the name of a monarchy centred in the northernmost part of ancient Greece. The homeland of the ancient Macedonians, it was bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east....
ian Empire.

Economics

Hit-and-run tactics are also used in economics to describe a firm that enters a market to take advantage of abnormal profits and then leaves. These tactics can be seen in a Contestable market
Contestable market

In economics, a contestable market is a market served by only one firm, but with mandated "competitive" pricing, so as to second the monopoly held by said firm on said market....
.

See also

  • Chevauchée
    Chevauchée

    A chevauch?e was a method in medieval warfare for weakening the enemy, focusing mainly on wreaking havoc, Early thermal weapons and pillaging enemy territory, in order to reduce the productivity of a region; as opposed to siege warfare or wars of conquest....
  • Shoot-and-scoot
    Shoot-and-scoot

    The term shoot and scoot refers to an artillery tactic of firing at a target and then immediately moving away from the location where the shots were fired....