It was the middle of the Eighteenth Century. England had some colonies over in North America that were becoming a burr under the saddle, so to speak. There was rebellion. Soldiers had to be sent to the Colonies. Here's what the setup was:
1. England, the superpower, was thousands of miles away. She had to send her troops to a far-off land. Supply lines were very, very long.
2. The indigenous people, the rebels, were poorly organized. They engaged in hit-and-run tactics ... harassment ... which turned out to be very effective (think of the "Boston Tea Party"). Whenever they got into a stand-up fight with the British, they were defeated ... at least until around 1781 (the Battle of the Cowpens). If you consider April 1775 (the shootout in "downtown" Lexington) to be the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, it lasted eight long years.
3. Over the long course of the war, the British lost their patience, and committed all manner of atrocities (including abusing colonial women whose husbands were in the militia). This was intended to demoralize the colonists. It didn't work. It only made them more determined to fight and win.
4. The result was that, ultimately, after a long drawn-out war, a huge superpower was (much to their surprise) beaten by an under-equipped local population who was defending their own homeland.
Does this sound familiar? It happened a few other times:
1. Vietnam, 1964-1975. This time, America was the huge superpower that sent troops to a small, backward country. It should have been an "easy win." Instead, America ended up losing its first war ever (in April 1975 ... exactly 200 years after the beginning of the American Revolutionary War), after our soldiers had burned villages and murdered local civilians. Nobody knew who the enemy was in Vietnam; most of the combatants didn't wear uniforms (thus the distinction between "the Vietcong" and "VC regulars"). The enemy used punji sticks, booby traps, tunnels, and landmines. They avoided a "stand-up fight." If you consider the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to be the beginning of the Vietnam war (actually, it started long before that, when the French were there), it lasted 11 long years.
2. Afghanistan, 1979-1989. This time it was Russia (okay, we'll call them "The Soviet Union") that was the superpower. One of their tactics was to make booby trap/bombs in the shape of toys; children would find them, pick them up, and get an arm blown off. The Afghan resistance fighters (the Mujahadin) received aid from the United States, including Stingers - hand-held surface-to-air missiles that could knock down a Soviet helicopter. These Mujahadin folks were tough. They never gave up. They lived in caves if they had to. The war lasted for ten years, and the ragtag locals won.
3. Iraq, 2003-????. Get the picture?
