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List of notable guerrilla activists, ordered by country:
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources. Contents:
A
Afghanistan
- Ahmad Massoud – son of Ahmed Shah Massoud
- Ahmed Shah Massoud
- Abdul Haq
- Wazir Akbar Khan
- Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
- Ismail Khan
- Mohammed Omar
- Osama Bin Laden
- Jalaluddin Haqqani
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Armenia
Assyria
Austria
- Andreas Hofer
- Otto Skorzeny - involved in many unconventional operations in World War II
B
Bangladesh
- Kader Siddique in Tangail
- Hemayet Uddin in Faridpur
- Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan in Narsingdi
Belgium
- Jacob Collaert - Flemish admiral who served as a privateer and one of the Dunkirkers in Spanish Habsburg service during the Dutch Revolt.
Bolivia
- Tamara Bunke in Ñancahuazú
- Che Guevara in Ñancahuazú
- Osvaldo Peredo in Teoponte
Brazil
Bulgaria
C
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
- North-West Rebellion
- Other
- "Yank" Levy
- Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot - Quebec born member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine who was a leader of the Acadian militia in their resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians.
- Sébastien Rale
- Joseph Broussard - also went by the pseudonym Beausoleil.
Chad
Chechnya
- Aslan Maskhadov
- Dzhokhar Dudayev
- Akhmed Zakayev
- Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev
- Imam Shamil in Daghestan
- Amir Ibn al-Khattab
- Sheikh Abdul Halim
- Shamil Basayev
Chile
- Galvarino Apablaza
- Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza
- Miguel Enríquez
- José Gregorio Liendo, Neltume
- Raúl Pellegrin
China
- Sun Tzu - ancient Chinese general and military strategist who authored The Art of War
- Mao Zedong
- Zhou Enlai
- Sun Yat-sen
- Bai Chongxi
- Chiang Kai-shek
- Gan Ning
- Cao Cao
- Zang Ba
Colombia
Cuba
Cyprus
D
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dominican Republic
E
Egypt
- Inaros - (Egyptian rebel ruler) together with Athenian allies fought for a year and a half in the marshes in north Egypt against Persians.
El Salvador
- Farabundo Martí
- Schafik Handal
- Cayetano Carpio (Comandante Marcial)
- Joaquín Villalobos
- Ana María
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
F
Finland
France
- François le Clerc - 16th-century French privateer known as "Jambe de Bois" (Peg Leg) who is credited as the first pirate in the modern era to have a "peg leg".
- Bertrand du Guesclin
- Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot - Quebec born member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine who was a leader of the Acadian militia in the resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians.
- Sébastien Rale
- Jean-Louis Le Loutre
- Pierre Georges - member of the French Communist Party during World War II
- Charles de Gaulle
- Nancy Wake
- Georges Cadoudal
- Joseph Epstein
- Jean-Baptiste du Casse
- Jean Fleury
- Jean Ango
- Jeanne de Clisson
Frisia
G
Germany
- Arminius - Germanic chieftain who orchestrated the legendary ambush against the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
- Klein Henszlein - German pirate from 1560 to 1573 who raided shipping in the North Sea
- Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
- Thomas Müntzer
- Otto Skorzeny - Austrian elite operative who conducted unconventional operations in World War II for Nazi Germany
- Franz von Rintelen
- Johann Ewald
- Carl von Clausewitz
- Felix von Luckner
Greece
- Athanasios Diakos
- Geórgios Karaïskákis
- Georgios Grivas
- Gregoris Afxentiou
- Kyriakos Matsis
- Manolis Glezos
- Markos Botsaris
- Odysseas Androutsos
- Theodoros Kolokotronis
- Antonis Vratsanos
- Daskalogiannis
Guatemala
- Rodrigo Asturias
- Comandante Rolando Morán
Guinea
H
Haiti
- Charlemagne Péralte
- Toussaint L'ouverture
- Francois Mackandal
- Vincent Oge
- Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Jean-Jacques Dessalines
- Francois Capois
- Henri Christophe
- Sans-Souci
- Dutty Boukman
I
Republic of India
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
- Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja in Kerala
- Sangolli Rayanna in Karnataka
- Komaram Bheem in Andhra Pradesh
- Alluri Sita Rama Raju in Andhra Pradesh
- Malik Ambar
- Patel Sudhakar Reddy
- Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan
- Sayeed Salahudeen
- Yasin Malik
Indonesia
- General Sudirman - military commander of Republican Indonesian forces during Indonesia's fight for independence from the Dutch in the 1940s
- Abdul Haris Nasution
Iran
Iraq
- Saladin
- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
- Abu Ayyub al-Masri
- Muqtada al-Sadr
- Zayd ibn Ali
- Abu Omar al-Baghdadi
- Abu Muslim
- Abu Azrael
Ireland
Irish Republican
- Michael Collins - Irish Republican Army guerrilla leader during British rule of Ireland
- Tom Barry
- Gerry Adams - suspected Provisional IRA Army Council member
- Martin McGuinness - suspected Provisional IRA Army Council member
- Seamus Costello - Official IRA member
- Stakeknife - senior Provisional IRA member and British government informant, alleged to be Freddie Scappaticci
- Bobby Sands - Provisional IRA member and hunger striker
- Francis Hughes - Provisional IRA member and later hunger striker
- Dominic McGlinchey - Provisional IRA and later INLA leader
- Frank Aiken
Ulster Loyalist
- Billy Wright - Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader
- John Gregg - senior Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member, attempted to assassinate Gerry Adams
- Johnny Adair - aka "Mad Dog", UDA commander
- Lenny Murphy - notorious Ulster Loyalist operative who led the Shankill Butchers
Israel
- Menahem ben Judah - leader of the Sicarri
- Judas Maccabeus - Jewish priest who led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167-160 BCE)
- Avraham Stern
- Menachem Begin
- Yitzhak Shamir
- Yohai Ben-Nun
- Haim Bar-Lev
- Aharon Davidi
- Yekutiel Adam - member of the Haganah that conducted raids into enemy territory.
- Ehud Barak - took part in a commando guerrilla like but controversial raid in Lebanon.
- Yonatan Netanyahu
- Ze'ev Almog
- Ami Ayalon
- Ariel Sharon - member of the Haganah. His unit in the Haganah conducted hit-and-run raids on enemy forces. He was also a member of the controversial guerrilla/commando like group known as Unit 101 which had been scrutinized and condemned for some of its operations.
- Danny Matt
- Mordechai Gur
- Rafael Eitan
Italy
- Spartacus
- Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
- Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Giuseppe Mazzini
- Carmine Crocco
- Ninco Nanco
- Licio Visintini - decorated Italian naval officer who conducted unconventional amphibious warfare like missions against allied shipping in World War II
J
Japan
K
Korea
Kosovo
- Adem Jashari
- Ramush Haradinaj
- Agim Ceku
- Agim Ramadani
- Sali Çekaj
- Hamëz Jashari
- Bekim Berisha
- Luan Haradinaj
- Daut Haradinaj
Kenya
Kurdistan
- Saladin
- Mahmud Barzanji
- Mahmoud Ezidi
- Foad Mostafa Soltani
- Abdullah Mohtadi
- Sedigh Kamangar
- Jalal Talabani
- Nawshirwan Mustafa
- Najmadin Shukr Rauf
- Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou
- Sadegh Sharafkandi
- Abdullah Öcalan
- Murat Karayılan
- Cemil Bayık
- Sakine Cansız
- Mazlum Doğan
- Mahsum Korkmaz
L
Laos
Latvia
- Pēteris Dzelzītis - Latvian soldier during World War II
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Lithuania
M
Malaysia
- Force 136
- Chin Peng, Malayan Communist Party
- Japanese Red Army (Nihon Sekigun)
- Mahathir Mohamad
Mexico
- Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas, Mexico
- Pancho Villa of the Mexican Revolution.
- Emiliano Zapata of the Mexican Revolution.
- Lucio Cabañas
- Miguel Hidalgo of the Mexican War of Independence.
- Davy Crockett of the Texas Revolution, died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- Sam Houston of the Texas Revolution.
- William Barret Travis of the Texas Revolution, died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- Juan Seguín of the Texas Revolution.
- James Bowie of the Texas Revolution, died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- James Fannin of the Texas Revolution, murdered in the Goliad Massacre.
- Victorio: Apache chief and warlord, active in both Mexico and the United States. Apache Wars.
- Geronimo of the Apache Wars, active in both Mexico and the United States.
- Bernardo Reyes, warlord during the Mexican Revolution.
- Francisco I. Madero, revolutionary general during the Mexican Revolution.
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
N
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
- Pier Gerlofs Donia
- Wijerd Jelckama
- Abraham Blauvelt
- Michiel Andrieszoon - Dutch buccaneer active in the 1680s.
- Jan Willems (Dutch buccaneer)
- Cornelis Jol
- Roche Braziliano
Nicaragua
- Adolfo Calero
- Arlen Siu
- Augusto César Sandino
- Daniel Ortega
- Dora María Téllez
- Edén Pastora (Comandante Cero)
- Enrique Bermúdez
- Humberto Ortega
- Joaquín Cuadra
- Nora Astorga
- Rigoberto Cruz
- Carlos Fonseca
Nigeria
Norway
P
Pakistan
- Ilyas Kashmiri
- Osama bin Laden
- Malik Munawar Khan Awan
- Nauroz Khan
- Allah Nazar Baloch
- Balach Marri
- Sher Mohammad Marri
Palestine
- Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni
- Yasser Arafat
- George Habash
- Wadie Haddad
- Abu Nidal
- Ahmed Yassin
- Yahya Ayyash
- Mohammed Deif
- Ahmad Sa'adat
- Abu Ali Mustafa
- Marwan Barghouti
- Khalil al-Wazir
- Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil
- Ali Hassan Salameh
- Zakaria Zubeidi
- Dalal Mughrabi
- Leila Khaled
- Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
- Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi
- Omar Rezaq
- Sirhan Sirhan
- Mahmoud Tawalbe
Peru
- Abimael Guzmán (Presidente Gonzalo)
- Tupac Amaru
- Héctor Béjar
- Hugo Blanco
- Andrés Avelino Cáceres
- Javier Heraud
- Guillermo Lobaton
Philippines
- Wendell Fertig
- Gabriela Silang
- José María Sison
- Luis Taruc
- Emilio Aguinaldo
- Macario Sakay
- Andrés Bonifacio
- Baldomero Aguinaldo
- Gregorio del Pilar
- Antonio Luna
- Emilio Jacinto
- Juan Pajota - Filipino guerrilla leader who played a major role in the Raid at Cabanatuan
- Eduardo Joson
Poland
- Feliks Ankerstein
- Dawid Moryc Apfelbaum
- Edmund Charaszkiewicz
- Jerzy Dąbrowski
- Henryk "Hubal" Dobrzański
- Franciszek Kamiński
- Tadeusz Komorowski
- Józef Kasparek
- Aleksander Józef Lisowski
- Leopold Okulicki
- Witold Pilecki
- Jan Piwnik
- Kazimierz Pużak
- Stefan Rowecki
- Avraham Stern (from Suwałki; backed by the Polish Army in 1938 & 1939)
- Emil August Fieldorf "Nil"
- Joseph Epstein - Polish born activist who fought for the French Resistance in World War II
- Mordechai Anielewicz
Portugal
R
Romania
Rwanda
S
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
- First War of Scottish Independence
- Second War of Scottish Independence
- Others
- Andrew Barton (privateer) - notorious Scottish sailor who made raids against Portuguese ships.
Serbia
- See list of Serbian hajduks
- Serbian Revolutionaries (1804–1815)
- Serbian Chetnik Organization (1903–1908)
- Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army (1941–1945)
Sierra Leone
Singapore
South Africa
- First Boer War
- Boer
- Boer Commando
- Piet Joubert
- Joachim Ferreira
- Nicolaas Smit
- Schalk Willem Burger
- Francois Gerhardus Joubert - Boer commander who ambushed and decimated a British column in the Battle of Bronkhorstspruit
- Piet Cronjé
- Second Boer War
- Others
Soviet Union
- Mikhail Frunze
- Stepniak - Russian radical
- Stepan Bandera
- Viktor Leonov - Soviet sailor whose experiences as a Soviet Naval Scout would be a precursor to the Russian special operations called the Spetsnaz
- Sydir Kovpak
- Semyon Rudniev
- Vasily Zaitsev - Soviet Sniper who killed 225 enemy soldiers
- Serge Obolensky
Spain
- Aben Humeya
- Abo Hafs Omer Al-Baloty
- Juan Guartem - late 17th century Spanish renegade pirate
- Francisco Sabate - El Quico, Anarchist maquis fighter killed in 1960
- José Miguel Beñaran Ordeñana
- Pelagius of Asturias
- Umar ibn Hafsun
- El Empecinado
- Johanne Galan "La Galana"
- Francisco Abad Moreno "Chaleco"
- Agustina de Aragón
- Vicente López Tovar
- Viriathus
Sudan
Suriname
Syria
T
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
- Şeyh Bedrettin
- Hayreddin Barbarossa - famous admiral of the fleet of the Ottoman Empire
- Dragut
U
Uganda
- Yoweri Museveni
- Alice Auma (Alice Lakwena)
- Joseph Kony
Ukraine
United Kingdom
- Glyndŵr Rising
- Owain Glyndŵr in Wales
- American Revolution
- Banastre Tarleton – British Cavalry officer of the British Legion (American Revolution) in the American Revolution
- Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers in the American Revolution
- Christopher Carleton – led raids in the American Revolution
- Patrick Ferguson
- William Caldwell
- Bloody Bill Cunningham
- David Fanning
- Simon Girty
- John Butler
- James De Lancey
- War of 1812
- James FitzGibbon
- William Johnson Kerr
- Tecumseh – Native-American guerrilla leader who served the British in the War of 1812
- Phineas Riall
- Adam Muir – Battle of Maguaga
- James Gordon
- George Cockburn
- James Lucas Yeo – conducted 3 raids. The second British raid at Charlotte, New York, at the mouth of the Genesse River (June 15, 1813). Performed the raid at the battle of Fort Oswego. And the raid at Sodus, New York (June 19, 1813)
- Cecil Bisshopp
- William Caldwell
- John Brant
- Gordon Drummond
- William Mulcaster
- Charles de Salaberry
- World War I
- T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in Arabia
- World War II
- David Stirling – Scottish born officer who was the founder of the Special Air Service
- Tommy Macpherson – Scottish born British-army officer who conducted guerrilla operations in World War II
- Roy Farran – in command of Operations Wallace and Hardy
- Orde Wingate – (founder of the Chindits) in Palestine and Burma
- Mike Calvert – British soldier nicknamed "Mad Mike" who participated in Chindit operations and was influential in promoting the ideas of unconventional warfare by Orde Wingate.
- Jack Churchill – British soldier named "Mad Jack" who fought in World War II armed with a longbow, bagpipes, and a Scottish broadsword.
- Ursula Graham Bower – led the Nagas against the Japanese during World War II
- Nancy Wake – New Zealand born female operative who joined the Special Operations Executive and participated in operations with the French Resistance in World War II
- Virginia Hall – American spy who worked with the Special Operations Executive in the European theatre of World War II before joining the American Office of Strategic Services.
- Fitzroy Maclean worked with Tito and Yugoslav Partisans during World War II
- Ivan Lyon – member of the Z Special Unit
- Robert Grainger Ker Thompson – famous British military officer and counter-insurgency expert who served in the Burma Campaign
- Carol Mather
- John Durnford-Slater
- Malayan Emergency
- Robert Grainger Ker Thompson – famous British military officer and counter-insurgency expert
- Other
- Henry Mainwaring – nicknamed "The Dread Pirate".
- Edward Davis (buccaneer) – English buccaneer active in the Caribbean during the 1680s.
- William Kyd – 15th-century English pirate active in Southwest England from the 1430s until the 1450s.
- John Nutt – notorious 17th-century English pirate who raided the coasts of Southern Canada and Western England for over three years before his capture.
- Henry Jennings – 18th-century English privateer from the colony of Bermuda
- Samuel Bellamy – "Black Bellamy"
- Howell Davis – Welsh pirate
- Charles Bellamy – English pirate raided colonial American shipping in New England and later off the coast of Canada.
- William Dampier
- Blackbeard – one of the most notorious pirates from England
- James Alday
- John Bear (pirate)
- William Rous
- William Parker
- Dick Turpin
United States
- French and Indian War
- Kingdom of Great Britain, British America, and Native American allies
- Kingdom of France, New France, and Native American allies
- Revolutionary War
- George Washington
- John Parker
- Benjamin Cleveland
- Elijah Clarke
- John Sevier
- Ethan Allen
- William Campbell
- Francis Marion
- Andrew Pickens
- Thomas Sumter
- Samuel Whittemore
- William Richardson Davie
- James Williams
- Isaac Shelby
- John Schenck
- William Russell
- Andrew Jackson
- Philemon Dickinson
- William Moultrie
- John Sullivan
- Seth Warner
- Marinus Willett
- Nathanael Greene
- Daniel Morgan
- Return J. Meigs Sr.
- William Barton
- John Glover
- Edward Hand
- William Maxwell – American Continental general whose guerrilla actions are notable in the Forage War, Battle of Cooch's Bridge, and Battle of Connecticut Farms.
- Henry Lee III
- Allan McLane
- Benjamin Tallmadge
- William Washington
- David Wooster
- Timothy Murphy – his exploits of guerrilla-like actions are shown in What Manner of Men: Forgotten Heroes of the American Revolution by Fred J. Cook in Chapter III
- Thomas Knowlton
- John Stark
- Anthony Wayne – led a famous surprise night attack in the Battle of Stony Point.
- Adam Hyler – German who immigrated to America and became a privateer harassing the British fleet by destroying ships, capturing crews, and conducting raids.
- George Wait Babcock
- Jeremiah O'Brien – led the first American attack in the Raid on St. John (1775)
- Gustavus Conyngham – Irish-born American officer in the continental navy and a privateer who has been called "the most successful of all Continental Navy Captains."
- John Rathbun – officer in the Continental Navy whose most well known exploit was his own raid at Nassau. Not to be confused with the first Raid of Nassau
- John Barry
- Herbert Woodbury
- Noah Stoddard
- John Paul Jones
- Jonathan Haraden – his unconventional type of warfare at sea are mentioned in What Manner of Men: Forgotten Heroes of the American Revolution by Fred J. Cook in chapter IX.
- Nicholas Biddle
- Joshua Barney
- David Hawley
- Morgan's Riflemen
- Whitcomb's Rangers
- 1st Continental Light Dragoons
- 2nd Continental Light Dragoons
- Lee's Legion
- American Militia
- American Privateers
- Northwest Indian War
- Quasi-War
- First Barbary War
- War of 1812
- Andrew Jackson
- Alexander Macomb
- Benjamin Forsyth
- Daniel Appling
- Lodowick Morgan
- Bennet C. Riley
- Alexander Smyth
- Jacob Brown
- Peter B. Porter
- John Coffee
- Philip Reed
- Azariah C. Flagg
- Richard Mentor Johnson
- Ninian Edwards
- Davy Crockett
- Caleb Hopkins
- Joseph Bartholomew
- John Tipton
- John Ketcham
- William Dudley
- Nathan Boone
- Thomas Hinds
- Buckner F. Harris
- Lewis Cass
- Samuel Dale
- John Williams
- William Whitley
- John Swift
- Benjamin Mooers
- Benjamin Howard
- John Floyd
- Isaac Shelby
- Guilford Dudley Young
- Elisah Griffen
- Richard Lawson
- Benajah Mallory
- Joseph Willcocks
- Abraham Markle
- William McIntosh
- Pushmataha
- Red Jacket
- Isaac Clark
- George McGlassin
- James Miller
- George Croghan
- George Edward Mitchell
- William Russell
- William Orlando Butler
- John E. Wool
- John Miller
- James Wilkinson
- Nathaniel Towson
- John B. Campbell
- William Henry Harrison
- Duncan McArthur
- Andrew Holmes
- Daniel Bissell – American general who used the cover of the woods and tactical maneuvers to successfully raid/destroy the enemy grain and flower in the Battle of Cook's Mills.
- William Pinkney – commanded American riflemen who concealed themselves by the shrubbery on the low ground near the river at Bladensburg bridge. Pinckney's concealed riflemen poured deadly volleys into exposed masses of British troops crossing the bridge. This is mentioned in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 28 edited by Henry Mills Alden page 439. This is also confirmed in a well documented history book Lossing's War of 1812: Lossing’s Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812 written by Benson Lossing Chapter XXXIX.
- Regiment of Riflemen
- United States Rangers
- 1st Regiment of Light Dragoons
- 2nd Regiment of Light Dragoons
- Canadian Volunteers
- American Militia
- American Privateers
- Isaac Chauncey
- Arthur Sinclair
- Charles Stewart
- Johnston Blakeley
- William Henry Allen
- David Porter
- Melancthon Taylor Woolsey
- Stephen Decatur
- John Percival
- Francis Gregory
- Jesse Elliot
- Joseph Tarbell – conducted a hit-and-run night attack on the British navy with gunboats and riflemen with mixed or limited results. This is mentioned in the history book The Encyclopedia of the War of 1812: A Political, Social, and Military History by Spencer C. Tucker page 123.
- William Josephus Stafford
- Joshua Hailey
- George R. Roberts
- Thomas Boyle
- James DeWolf
- Joshua Barney
- Otway Burns
- Bill Johnston – Canadian amphibious guerrilla/pirate who fought for the American side.
- John Ordronaux – very successful French-born privateer who preyed on British merchant ships, outran about seventeen British warships, and brought back to the US goods worth $250,000 and $300,000.
- J. Rowland – raided British shipping and vessels
- Clement Cathell
- James Barnes
- Samuel Barstow
- George W. Burbank
- Nathanial Shaler
- Texas Revolution
- American volunteers, Texan Revolutionaries, and allies
- Sam Houston
- William B. Travis – commander of the Texans at the Fall of the Alamo.
- James Bowie
- Davy Crockett – famous frontiersmen, fought and died at the Fall of the Alamo.
- Amon B. King – Battle of Refugio
- Ira Westover
- William Ward
- Richard Andrews
- Noah Smithwick
- Deaf Smith
- John Coker
- Moses Lapham
- Moseley Baker
- Frank W. Johnson
- James Grant
- Mirabeau B. Lamar
- Juan Seguín
- Manuel N. Flores
- Plácido Benavides
- John Henry Moore
- Mexico
- José de Urrea
- Carlos de la Garza
- Manuel Fernández Castrillón – used his fellow Mexican marksmen to snipe and harass the Texan insurgents in the Siege of Béxar. Mentioned in Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution by Stephen L. Hardin in Chapter 5.
- Rafael Pretalia
- American volunteers, Texan Revolutionaries, and allies
- Seminole Wars
- United States of America
- William S. Harney
- Bennet C. Riley
- Joseph Marion Hernandez – commanded an American force that made two successful stealthy raids/assaults on the Seminoles. Mentioned in History of the Second Seminole war, 1835–1842 by John K. Mahon pages 211-214
- Andrew Jackson – disguised his ship with a British flag to lure Hillis Hadjo into a trap and successful capture.
- Gabriel J. Rains
- Seminoles and their allies
- Micanopy
- Osceola – Native American freedom fighter
- Thlocklo Tustenuggee
- Billy Bowlegs
- Ar-pi-uck-i – Seminole guerrilla leader who used cover, concealment, and evasive tactics in Lake Okeechobee, Loxahtchee, and Pine Island Ridge
- John Horse
- Hillis Hadjo
- United States of America
- Mexican–American War
- United States of America
- Fabius Stanly – American naval lieutenant who led raids against the Mexican armed forces.
- Joseph Lane – United States Army American general who led a hit and run surprise attack on the Mexican armed forces at the Skirmish at Matamoros
- John Coffee Hays – Hay's well planned ambush mentioned in Mixed Blessing: the Role of the Texas Rangers in the Mexican War, 1846–1848 written by Ian B. Lyles, pages 43–44
- Samuel Hamilton Walker
- Albert G. Blanchard – feigned retreat luring the Mexicans into John Coffee Hays' ambush in Mixed Blessing: the Role of the Texas Rangers in the Mexican War, 1846–1848 written by Ian B. Lyles, pages 43–44
- Ezekiel "Stuttering Zeke" Merritt – conducted a hit-and-run raid capturing 170 horses. Mentioned in historic book Bear Flag Lieutenant: The Life Story of Henry L. Ford written by Fred Blackburn Rogers page 263.
- William B. Ide
- Henry Ford – conducted 3 incursions/raids on enemy houses/bases destroying enemy weapons, capturing prisoners, and rescuing hostages before returning to friendly lines. Mentioned in Bear Flag Lieutenant: The Life Story of Henry L. Ford (1822–1860) written by Fred Blackburn Rogers pages 268–270.
- Benjamin McCulloch
- John C. Fremont
- Tunis Craven
- Mexico
- Joaquín Rea
- Antonio Canales Rosillo
- Jose Mariano Salas – Mexican commander who commanded Mexican partisans called "Guerrillas of Vengeance" which is mentioned in the history book "U.S. Army Campaigns of the Mexican War" page 15.
- Celedonio Dómeco de Jarauta
- José Antonio Carrillo
- José María Flores
- Manuel Pineda Munoz – commanded Mexican forces that used guerrilla tactics in the Battle of Mulegé
- United States of America
- Utah War
- Civil War
- Confederacy
- Bloody Bill Anderson
- Champ Ferguson
- William Quantrill
- Dan Showalter
- John Singleton Mosby
- John Hunt Morgan
- John Hanson McNeill – led an independent irregular Confederate military company called McNeill's Rangers commissioned under the Partisan Ranger Act
- Earl Van Dorn
- Adam Rankin Johnson – gained notoriety for his incursion known as the Newburgh Raid where he gained the nickname "Stovepipe Johnson"
- Archie Clement
- Joseph C. Porter – Confederate officer who was a key leader in the guerrilla campaigns in northern Missouri
- John Mobberly
- Jack Hinson – Confederate partisan sniper
- John Jackson Dickison – at times called by scholars or historians as "the Swamp Fox of the Confederacy" or "the Confederate Swamp Fox"
- William McWaters – Confederate guerrilla who with his fellow bushwackers conducted a successful but controversial sabotage mission known as the Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy
- Joseph Wheeler
- Jubal Early
- J. E. B. Stuart
- Harry Gilmor
- Mary Jane Green
- Wade Hampton III
- Richard Montgomery Gano
- Stand Watie
- James Iredell Waddell
- Raphael Semmes
- Union
- John Brown
- Charles R. Jennison
- James H. Lane
- Daniel R. Anthony
- Newton Knight
- Owen Brown
- Benjamin Grierson
- William B. Cushing
- Samuel C. Means – captain of the Loudoun Rangers
- Henry Young
- Harriet Tubman – female African American who infiltrated slave territory bringing slaves to safe zones, played a major role in the Raid on Combahee Ferry, and provided critical intelligence to the Union.
- James Montgomery – Union Jayhawker who was in command of the Union forces in the Raid on Combahee Ferry and conducted other raids against the confederates.
- Henry Baxter
- James J. Andrews
- Abel Streight
- Hugh Judson Kilpatrick
- Gouverneur K. Warren – Union Army general who executed a deadly ambush in the Battle of Bristoe Station
- William Henry Powell
- William W. Averell
- Samuel P. Carter
- George W. Taylor
- Samuel P. Cox
- George Stoneman
- James H. Wilson
- Thomas R. Kerr
- John R. Kelso – his exploits of covert guerilla-like actions are mentioned in his book Bloody Engagements: John R. Kelso's Civil War written by himself.
- Ishmael Day
- Theophilus Lyle Dickey
- James Madison Wells
- Malinda Blalock
- Daniel Ellis
- Fielding Hurst
- Christopher Haun
- Edward E. Potter
- Seth Ledyard Phelps
- Opothleyahola
- William Sloan Tough
- Confederacy
- Powder River Expedition (1865)
- United States
- Patrick E. Connor – American brigadier general who led a surprise raid-like incursion in the Battle of the Tongue River; the incursion has had some controversy and debate.
- Jim Bridger – army scout alongside Frank North who scouted and discovered the Arapaho village allowing Patrick E. Connor to make his controversial surprise attack in the Battle of the Tongue River
- Frank North – led a successful dawn surprise-like attack with his Pawnee Scouts on the Cheyenne which became known as the Powder River Massacre which also might have some controversy or debate.
- Native Americans
- Red Cloud – very important leader of the Oglala Lakota people.
- Dull Knife – great chief of the Cheyenne who alongside Red Cloud harassed the Americans at the Battle of Bone Pile Creek.
- Sitting Bull
- Roman Nose – alongside Sitting Bull led the Native Americans in ambushing, harassing, and skirmishing against the U.S. armed forces in the Powder River Battles
- United States
- Snake War
- United States
- George Crook
- Billy Chinook – chief and member of the Wasco tribe and served the United States as a First Sergeant of the U.S. Army Wasco Scouts
- Native Americans
- United States
- Great Sioux War of 1876
- United States
- Ranald S. Mackenzie
- George Crook
- Frank North – organized and commanded the Pawnee Scouts
- Wesley Merritt – planned an ambush which let to little to no high body count in the Battle of Warbonnet Creek
- Native Americans
- United States
- Apache Wars
- United States
- George Crook
- George Morton Randall – American Captain who led a well coordinated surprise attack on the Apache and their allies in the Battle of Turret Peak.
- James Henry Tevis – pioneer who led a militia of 30 men in a surprise attack on the Apache in the Battle of the Mimbres River
- James H. Whitlock – Battle of Mount Gray
- Al Sieber
- Howard B. Cushing
- Nantaje
- Apache and their allies
- Flechas Rayada
- Mangas Coloradas – Apache tribal chief who led raids and ambushes against the Mexicans and Americans
- Cochise – chief or leader of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache who also led raids and ambushes against the Mexicans and Americans
- Victorio
- Nana (chief)
- Chato (Apache)
- Juh
- Baishan (Apache)
- Geronimo – Native American freedom fighter
- United States
- Philippine–American War
- Frederick Funston – American brigadier general who planned, led, and executed the raid that captured Emilio Aguinaldo.
- United States Armed Forces – led a rear surprise attack/ambush decimating an army of would be ambushers in the Battle of Lonoy
- Elwell Stephen Otis – American commander of a hit-and-run raid-like mission that successfully destroyed a Filipino artillery gun in the Battle of Olongapo
- Hiram I. Bearss
- World War 1
- Theodore Roosevelt Jr. – planned and ordered a successful raid at Cantigny that captured 33 prisoners and documents with intelligence. This is mentioned in Infantry in Battle by Charles T. Lanham, pages 43–47
- Michael Valente
- John L. Barkley – his exploit of surprising/ambushing and decimating an army of Germans are mentioned in his memoir written by himself and an article One Man’s Ambush written by Edward G. Lengel
- Hiram I. Bearss
- United States occupation of the Dominican Republic
- James P. Parker
- Richard Wainwright – was in command of a commando amphibious raid in the Santo Domingo Affair
- Ernest Calvin Williams – American marine who led a commando like assault in the Battle of San Francisco de Macoris
- Albert S. Mclemore
- United States occupation of Nicaragua
- Chesty Puller
- Harold C. Roberts – surprised bandits, used fire and maneuver tactics including use of cover, and attempted an ambush.
- Evans Carlson
- Merritt Edson
- Wilburt S. Brown
- United States occupation of Haiti
- Herman H. Hanneken
- William Robert Button
- Chesty Puller
- Gerald C. Thomas
- Smedley Butler
- Ross Lindsey Iams – took part with Samuel Gross in Smedley Butler's surprise raid like commando assault in the Battle of Fort Rivière
- Samuel Gross
- World War II
- Aaron Bank – famous officer of the Office of Strategic Services who is considered the founder of the United States Army Special Forces also known as the "Green Berets".
- Donald Blackburn – American advisor to the Philippine Commonwealth Army who conducted a guerrilla insurgency on the island of Luzon against the Japanese.
- James M. Cushing
- Evans Carlson – commander of the Marine Raiders whose notable unconventional warfare type of successes were the Raid on Makin Island and the Carlson's patrol.
- William Orlando Darby – United States Army officer who led the famous "Darby's Rangers" which would evolve into the U.S. Army Rangers.
- Joseph Beyrle – American paratrooper who conducted his own sabotage like warfare behind German lines before fighting alongside the Red Army after escaping German captivity a few times.
- Merritt Edson
- Carl F. Eifler
- Wendell Fertig – American civil engineer who organized and commanded an America-Filipino guerrilla army on the Japanese – occupied, southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
- Roger Hilsman – American who served in the Merrill's Marauders and then with the Office of Strategic Services as a guerrilla leader in the China Burma India Theater of World War II
- Virginia Hall – American female spy who worked as an agent for the American Office of Strategic Services in Europe after previously working for the British Special Operations Executive.
- William R. Peers
- Russell W. Volckmann – United States Army infantry officer and a leader of the guerrilla resistance in the Philippines and considered a co-founder of the United States Army Special Forces
- Hugh B. Miller – U.S. naval officer stranded on an island who systematically ambushed and attacked Japanese soldiers with just hand grenades and a bayonet.
- Robert Prince – American officer in the U.S. Army's 6th Ranger Battalion who was the main architect of the plan for the Raid at Cabanatuan.
- Henry Mucci – colonel of United States Army Rangers who led the Raid at Cabanatuan with Robert Prince as the planner of the mission.
- Peter J. Ortiz
- Ray C. Hunt
- Victor H. Krulak
- Edwin Ramsey
- Iliff David Richardson
- Arthur W. Wermuth
- Robert Lapham
- Jack Hendrick Taylor – sometimes considered or referred to as the "first Navy SEAL".
- Richard Winters – took part in an ambush against a German horse drawn supply convoy. Mentioned in Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest written by Stephen E. Ambrose page 91. Also mentioned in Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends written by Dick Hill pages 62–64. Conducted a commando-like hit-and-run raid destroying four artillery guns successfully in the Brécourt Manor Assault. And successfully ambushed and wiped out a 7-man German machine gun crew at another battle. Mentioned in Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters written by Dick Winters pages 137–138.
- William Guarnere
- Chick Parsons
- Arthur D. Simons
- Samuel V. Wilson
- Vincent R. Kramer
- Clyde A. Thomason
- Jack Hawkins
- John H. Yancey
- Oscar F. Peatross
- Robert Halperin
- Elizabeth Peet McIntosh
- Serge Obolensky
- Walter R. Mansfield
- Korean War
- Donald Nichols
- Merrill Newman
- Colt Terry – whose experience of unconventional warfare in the Korean War before becoming a Green Beret are shown in Colt Terry, Green Beret written by Charles D. Patton published at the Texas A&M University Press
- Robert H. Barrow – came up with a cunning tactic that allow his marines to ambush/surprise and kill more than 50 enemy troops. Mentioned in U.S. Marines in the Korean War by Charles Richard Smith pages 203-204
- Colonel John McGee
- Tony Poe
- Vincent R. Kramer
- Charles George
- Eugene F. Clark
- Underwater Demolition Teams
- Korean War Ranger Companies
- JACK
- CIA SAC
- 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines
- Vietnam War
- Rudy Boesch – operative in Seal Team 2 in Vietnam War
- David Hackworth – involved in the creation and command of Tiger Force
- Carlos Hathcock – United States Marine Corps Scout Sniper who has 93 confirmed kills
- Tony Poe – legendary paramilitary officer in Vietnam from the CIA's Special Activities Division
- Colt Terry – one of the original Green Berets whose successful unconventional type of warfare exploits are mentioned in his official biography Colt Terry, Green Beret written by Charles D. Patton published at the Texas A&M University Press.
- Roy Boehm – first officer in charge of Seal Team two.
- Richard J. Meadows
- John Plaster
- Richard Marcinko
- Ira A. Hunt Jr.
- George Bacon
- Michael D. Healy
- Billy Waugh
- Harry Griffith Cramer Jr.
- Thomas R. Norris
- Robert J. Pruden
- Arthur D. Simons
- William Colby
- Edward James Land
- Chuck Mawhinney
- Henry Kissinger – Campaign 139
- Billy Walkabout
- Laotian Civil War
- George Bacon
- James William Lair
- Pat Landry
- Bill Young
- Tony Poe – legendary paramilitary officer in Vietnam from the CIA's Special Activities Division
- Dick Holm
- United States invasion of Grenada
- United States Invasion of Panama
- War in Afghanistan
- Matt Bissonnette
- Brandon Webb
- Robert J. O'Neill
- Nicholas Irving
- Edward Byers
- Robert Harward
- Francis J. Wiercinski – took part in a successful ambush wiping out nine enemy combatants while commanding his unit alongside a U.S. Special Operations Force team. Mentioned in A Different Kind of War: The US Army in Operation Enduring Freedom: October 2001 – September 2005 by Donald Wright pages 148–149.
- Joseph Votel
- Jonathan Idema – controversial American non commissioned reserve special operations vigilante.
- Brent Bennett
- Jason Amerine
- Gary Berntsen
- Gary Schroen
- Jim Gant
- Ann Scott Tyson
- Marcus Luttrell
- 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division
- 2nd Ranger Battalion
- 3rd Ranger Battalion
- 26th Infantry Regiment
- Delta Force
- Seal Team 6
- Iraq War
- Kevin Lacz
- Rorke Denver
- Chris Kyle
- Robert J. O'Neill
- Carl Higbie – led the raid capturing the Butcher of Fallujah. Author of Enemies, Foreign & Domestic: A SEAL's Story and Battle on the Home Front.
- Timothy Kellner
- Ethan Place
- Tyrone S. Woods
- Jocko Willink
- Thomas Payne – took part in a successful commando raid that rescued 70 prisoners and killed 20 enemies in Operation Inherent Resolve.
- Joshua Wheeler
- Michael A. Monsoor
- Jack Coughlin
- 162nd Infantry Regiment
- Delta Force
- Seal Team 6
- Symbionese Liberation Army
- Weather Underground
- Black Panther Party
- Others
- Michael G. Vickers – legendary paramilitary officer in first Afghan war from the CIA's Special Activities Division
- Touch the Clouds – Native American warrior
- Orlando Bosch – Cuba, America and South America
- Nat Turner – leader of slave rebellion
- Daniel Boone – famous frontiersmen, Indian fighter, and American Revolutionary War hero.
- Billy the Kid
- Railroad Bill
- Devil Anse Hatfield
- James–Younger Gang
- Jesse James
- Cole Younger
- Apache Kid – renegade Apache during the Renegade period of the Apache Wars
- Pancho Villa
- Queho
- Robert Clay Allison
- Ike Clanton
- Billy Clanton
- John Henry "Doc" Holliday
- Dangerfield Newby
- Daniel Shays
- Denmark Vesey
- Dan Seavey – also known as "Roaring" Dan Seavey" who was a notorious timber pirate involved in poaching, human trafficking, and hijacking etc.
- Lewis Wetzel – scout, frontiersman, and Indian fighter
- William Hardin – American Revolutionary War soldier, farmer, rancher, marksman, hunter, and Native American killer
- John L. Bullis
- James Smith
- Grayston Lynch
- Edward Lansdale
- Frederick Russell Burnham
- Caesar (Planet of the Apes) Notable commander of an army which included guerillas
Uruguay
- Pepe Mujica
- Raúl Sendic - during the 1960s and '70s in Uruguay
V
Venezuela
- Gustavo Machado Morales - founder of the Communist Party of Venezuela
- Rafael Simón Urbina - Venezuelan rebel who waged a guerrilla insurgency against the dictator Juan Vicente Gómez
- José Dionisio Cisneros
- José Manuel Hernández
- Rafael de Nogales
- Douglas Bravo
- Carlos the Jackal
- Teodoro Petkoff
- Narciso Lopez
- Olga Luzardo
- Fabricio Ojeda
- Paul del Rio
Vietnam
W
Western Sahara
Y
Yugoslavia
Z
Zimbabwe
See also
- List of condottieri
- List of conquistadors
- List of guerrilla movements
- List of military commanders
- List of revolutions and rebellions
- List of samurai
- List of usurpers
- Blitzkrieg
- Oliver Cromwell
- Hajduk
- Klepht
- Maoism
- Martial Race
- Nonviolence
- Partisan (military)
- Reagan Doctrine
- Erwin Rommel
References
- "The U.S. Army Campaigns of the Mexican War, The Occupation Of Mexico May 1846-July 1848" (PDF). history.army.mil.
- "The Sandino Rebellion, 1927–1934". www.sandinorebellion.com.