People's War

Origins and Theory

People's war theory was first systematized by Mao Zedong in the Chinese Central Committee's 'General Outline for Military Work' (May 1928) and completed in 'On Protracted War' (1938). In contrast to Soviet conventional military doctrine, Mao proposed a strategy that maximized the few advantages a small revolutionary movement possesses: broad-based popular support. The basic principle is summarized as: 'The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy halts, we harass; the enemy retreats, we pursue.'

The Three-Phase Strategy

1. Strategic Defense: Revolutionary forces establish base areas in remote mountainous or forested terrain, stretching enemy supply lines and bleeding them through attrition.
2. Strategic Stalemate: Base areas are expanded, influence spreads through the countryside, and popular support is won through programs such as land reform.
3. Strategic Offensive: Small cities are encircled and captured, then larger ones, until power is seized nationwide.

Mao successfully applied this strategy in the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Chinese Civil War (1945–1949).

Application in Vietnam: Võ Nguyên Giáp

The most dramatic application of people's war was in Vietnam under Võ Nguyên Giáp. A history teacher with no formal military training, Giáp adapted Mao's theory to Vietnamese conditions and led the First Indochina War (1946–1954) and the Vietnam War (1955–1975) to victory. The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ (1954) became the classic case study of people's war, while the Hồ Chí Minh Trail modeled supply networks penetrating enemy rear areas from rural base zones. Giáp defined people's war as 'war waged by the entire people,' emphasizing the triad of regular forces, regional forces, and self-defense militia.

Distinction from Foco Theory

People's war is distinct from the foco theory employed by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution. Foco theory holds that a small vanguard's armed action can ignite mass insurrection; people's war prioritizes mass political mobilization and organization over military action. While foco begins with small guerrilla detachments (focos) in mountains or urban peripheries, people's war starts from the construction of broad liberated zones in the countryside.

Contemporary Evolution

In the 1980s, under Deng Xiaoping, China revised people's war into 'People's War under Modern Conditions,' transitioning to a technology-intensive military. However, people's war remains an active strategy among the Nepalese Maoists (1996–2006 civil war), India's Naxalite insurgency, the Philippines' New People's Army, and Turkey's TKP/ML, among others.