Freischaren (Guerrillas)

Freischaren (Guerrilla, Partisans), bands of volunteers engaged in guerilla warfare. They appeared very prominently during the Seven Years’ War 1756–1763, the German War of Liberation 1813–1815, the Sonderbund War in Switzerland 1846, the First Schleswig War 1849 (v. d. Tann), in Garibaldi’s Sicilian and Neapolitan campaigns 1860 and against the Papal States as well as in France in 1870. Generally, guerilla bands achieve very little, because they suffer from lack of training and discipline. Modern public international law forbids neutral states from recruiting or raising guerilla forces. See also Freikorps.

Bibliography

• Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6. Auflage 1905–1909

Military Glossary