ĭuring the Dutch Revolt of the 16th century, the Geuzen waged a guerrilla war against the Spanish Empire. The Frisian warlord and freedom fighter Pier Gerlofs Donia fought a guerrilla against Philip I of Castile and with his co-commander Wijerd Jelckama against Charles V. In the 100 years war between England and France, commander Bertrand du Guesclin used guerrilla tactics to pester the English invaders. During The Deluge in Poland guerrilla tactics were applied. Vlad was unable to stop the Turks from entering Wallachia, so he resorted to guerrilla war, constantly organizing small attacks and ambushes on the Turks. In 1462, the Ottomans were driven back by Wallachian prince Vlad III Dracula. For 25 years Skanderbeg kept the Turks from retaking Albania, which due to its proximity to Italy, could easily have served as a springboard to the rest of Europe. He harassed the vast Ottoman army with small "hit and run" units, as well as using feint retreats followed by sudden counterattacks, and other tactics unknown in warfare up to then. Skanderbeg fought a guerrilla war against invading armies up to 20 times larger than his, by using the mountainous terrain to his advantage. In 1443 he rallied Albanian forces and drove the Turks from his homeland. One of the most successful guerrilla wars was led by George Kastrioti Skanderbeg against the invading Ottomans. In the 15th century, Vietnamese leader Lê Lợi launched a guerrilla war against the Chinese. Medieval ĭuring 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. 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. 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. Although Caratacus was ultimately captured by the Romans, Tacitus writes that they respected him.
Later Caratacus, the war chief of the British Catuvellauni, employed guerrilla warfare mixed in with occasional set-piece battles for eight years. Another example of an enemy using guerrilla was Tacfarinas, chief of Numidian rebels, who forced Rome into allying with neighboring natives in order to finally defeat him. The Arverni Gaul Vercingetorix also favored mobile warfare and cutting of supply lines in his revolt against Rome in 52 BC, and Arminius from the Germanic Cherusci capitalized on the terrain and the Roman formations to win the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
He would die by treason without being ever decisively bested on the battlefield. 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. Guerrilla warfare was also a common strategy of the various Celtic, Germanic and African tribes that the Romans faced through their history. 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. 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. The earliest description of guerrilla warfare is an alleged battle between Emperor Huang and the Myan people (Miao) in China.
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. 5.1 Irish War of Independence and Civil War.