What is a hybrid war? The concept and tactics of hybrid warfare

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Of course, most adults understand what the word "war" means, there is no need to explain anything here. However, quite recently, a new synthesized term “hybrid war” has appeared on hearing, the predicate (determinant) of which significantly rethinks the usual concept of war. The concept of the integrity of this concept is a subject for reflection of military figures, political scientists, analysts.

Let's take a look at what a hybrid war is, how this phrase appeared, what is the meaning and content of it and what is its relevance. In doing so, we use common sense, world experience and reflections of respected figures of Russian science.

Hybrid war, concept

As you know, military strategy includes the following types of wars: small wars, conventional wars, regional wars. But all these varieties refer to phenomena when the armed forces of onesides confront the armed forces of the other side.

These wars use biological, nuclear, chemical and various non-traditional types of weapons, but as a rule, classic military clashes use standard weapons or, as they are called in the West, "lethal weapons", which in primarily intended for the death of soldiers and the extermination of the military forces of the country.

There is also the term "symmetrical war", a phenomenon that means the war of the armed forces, pursuing an aggressive policy with various potential opponents, which subsequently become real. A good example is the Afghan war waged by the Soviet Union and the Afghan war still taking place in the country.

It can be concluded, considering the concept of hybrid warfare, that this is a kind of war that combines a wide range of influences produced by the enemy using both military and irregular formations, in which civilian components also take part. In the writings of military experts, the term "war of controlled chaos" comes across close to this one.

The term “hybrid threats” is also gaining popularity today, defining the threats posed by an adversary capable of using traditional and non-traditional tools at the same time to achieve the goals necessary to achieve it.

Hybrid war: what is it?

The traditional understanding of what a classic war is is shaped in our civilian consciousness by upbringing and education, which has always had a patriotic and historicalorientation. We imagine war as a process of confrontation between two sides located on opposite sides of the front. The enemy invades our land, we win it back and continue to live on.

However, at present, new types of war appear and are being implemented as an armed confrontation between countries. What does hybrid war mean? This confrontation that arose as a result of technological development, the technical growth of the level of defensive tools, offensive weapons, in other words, confrontation technologies.

At the same time, the targets themselves to defeat are significantly changed. They are no longer the deprivation of the life of soldiers and the destruction of material objects. Here, the most important goals are to influence the mass consciousness of society, expert judgments of persons responsible for making important government decisions, including congressmen, ministers, deputies, presidents, when certain theories are instilled in them, instilling value positions that motivate them to take certain actions. Such confrontation is also state.

What does hybrid war mean? This means that an armed confrontation is also emerging, just as a weapon, in addition to the traditional one, there are also special technologies, information, technical and global network devices.

Original source of the concept

We know that the word "hybrid" means some newly produced product that occurs as a result of crossing different types of this product. Thus, a hybrid war may not have the obvious features of an armed conflict,but still represents nothing less than war.

Initially, the term "hybrid form", "hybrid" was used in relation to political organizations. That is, it was meant that organizations that are not political are responsible for the implementation of precisely political functions.

For example, in the literature there is a reference to organized groups of fans of the Milan football club, founded by Berlusconi. On the one hand, they represented only the interests of Milan fans, on the other hand, they actively supported Berlusconi's political activities and were a powerful force for solving his political problems.

Note that in the USSR there was a similar format of an organization formed during perestroika, presenting itself at the beginning of its activity as an opposition environmental movement. At first glance, it was aimed at maintaining and protecting the environment, but over time, it showed its political overtones, aimed at destabilizing the social situation in the country.

It is difficult to determine when the first hybrid war occurred, and in general, whether such a fact existed earlier in history. One thing is clear that a certain circle of people benefit from the use of this formulation in modern life.

Interpretation may vary

The spread and increased use of the concept of "hybrid war" is a very natural phenomenon. It is important to note that initially, when this term was just beginning to come into circulation, it was absolutely not used in relation to Russia, and its content seemed completelyothers. Then, when applying this concept, they meant that it meant a combination of classical war with elements of terrorism, guerrilla and cyber warfare, that is, completely different components. In particular, they referred to the activities of Hezbollah carried out during the Lebanese war and other regional conflicts. She did not actively participate in the war, but used the rebels, guerrillas and so on.

If you look into the distant past, you can find many historical examples that describe such phenomena, for example, the so-called "Scythian war". Therefore, the phenomenon of hybrid warfare should not be classified as fundamentally new in nature and course. However, its current interpretation is significantly different from the previous one.

A new understanding of the question of what a hybrid war is was born by stakeholders in relation to Russia in connection with the events of 2014 that took place in Ukraine. Several articles have appeared in the press that Russia is conducting hybrid wars around the world. Referring to the information published by the Russia Today agency, one can find that our country is allegedly presented to society as a global aggressor using propaganda tools, cyber techniques and much more, becoming a threat on a planetary scale to preserve the world order. In this "magic" way, all military events taking place in the world can be signed under the hybrid wars of Russia, which will make it a convenient and justified target for all ill-wishers.

Let's look to the West

So let's look at the paradigm regarding hybrid wars abroad. It is no secret that there are official instructions describing the strategy and actions of the military command in situations like hybrid warfare. For example, the "white book" of the commanders of special operations of the ground forces of the United States of America, which is freely available to users of the "global network", called "Counteraction to unconventional warfare." It contains a separate concept with the symbolic name "Win in a complex world".

It considers a hybrid war from such a perspective that it is a war in which real military steps imply primarily implicit, covert, but typical military actions, in the course of which the hostile side attacks the regular army and (or) on the state structures of the enemy. The attack comes at the expense of separatists and local rebels, who are supported by finances and weapons from abroad and certain internal structures: organized crime, pseudo-religious and nationalist organizations, oligarchs.

The same documents of America and NATO contain an indication that the armed forces of friendly countries play a fundamental role for successful confrontation during hybrid wars, which should be united under the auspices of the United States along with the unification of their intelligence services in the middle and final stages of such wars and governments. All this should take place within the framework of a “comprehensive intergovernmental, interagency andinternational strategy.”

Make it real

Studying US military doctrines, we can conclude that when hybrid wars arise, other states are simultaneously involved in the conflict between the two countries. Their actions consist of "providing comprehensive assistance to the rebels in recruiting supporters, their logistical and operational support, training, influencing the social sphere and the economy, coordinating diplomatic actions and conducting some military operations." It is easy to see that all these events, without any exception, are taking place today in Ukraine under the undisguised leadership of the United States. At the same time, it is customary to make a reference that this is Putin's hybrid war against the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Thus, we can conclude that the West is well aware of the scheme of inciting hybrid wars, and the term itself came to us from there. The first tests were carried out in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine. Now the political claims of the West attribute to Russia a hybrid war with Ukraine. They bring a lot of their own objective arguments that fit their definition of what hybrid war is. It should be noted that America already demonstrated such behavior to the world 30 years ago, when the contingent of the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan. A milder and intermediate form of hybrid wars is the so-called "color" revolutions already well known to the world.

The essence of what is happening

From the foregoing, it can be understood that the emergence of the phrase "hybrid war" hassufficient background, which consists in improving the methods and varieties of confrontation between states. This concept reflects the existing realities of the use of tools of struggle and the latest achievements in the field of rivalry between countries.

To clearly understand what hybrid war is, let's define this term as follows. This is a type of military confrontation between individual states, which involves in an armed conflict, in addition to or instead of the regular army, special missions and special services, partisan and mercenary forces, terrorist attacks, protest riots. At the same time, the main goal is most often not the occupation and appropriation of territory, but a change in the political regime or the foundations of state policy in the country under attack.

The meaning of the final part of the definition is that the traditional goals of war, such as the capture of material values, natural resources, territories, treasury, gold, and so on, have not sunk into oblivion. It's just that aggressive predatory armed struggle has taken on different outlines, and its goals are now being achieved in a different way. Hybrid war tactics lead to bringing the political regime of the attacked state to the state of desovereign, puppet, easily controlled by the aggressively attacked country, and then all decisions will be made in its favor.

Cold War with the USSR

We all know how the Cold War between the USSR and the USA with its allies took place. And we must all understand, though it is rarely said aloud, that in this war there iswinner and loser. Our country, sadly, turned out to be just the defeated party. The USSR is dismembered, Russia is pumping various types of resources abroad, to the so-called victorious countries. The consumption ratio of these countries, or, to be more precise, the global parasite countries, is significantly greater than one. Such states make a minimal contribution to the world balance, producing almost nothing, and consuming much more goods and resources.

It is easy to see that Russia's position in the world balance leaves much to be desired. The consumerism coefficient in our country is much less than one. In other words, we produce and give away many times more products for the benefit of the world community than we consume in Russia itself.

There is also a certain concept of hybrid war in the Cold War. Its outcome showed that waging a "hot" war is not at all necessary to achieve the goals that, for example, were set by Adolf Hitler. He never managed to get his way, unlike the West. So there is definitely a clear similarity between classic war, cold war, and hybrid war. The common goal of all these interstate conflicts is to seize the benefits of the enemy country, defeat it and make it manageable.

What are we seeing today?

At present, everything that happened for many years of Russian history is happening. If we paraphrase the Russian classic Aksakov I. S., then we can say that if the question of the love of power and the desire of Russia to start a war is raised,then you need to understand: some of the Western or Western European countries is preparing shamelessly to seize someone else's land.

Today it is obvious that the term "hybrid war" is being used against our country. It is also clear that the term was coined and brought into the spotlight in order to portray Russia as the aggressor fueling the war. However, under the cover of all this “political fog”, completely similar actions are taking place on the part of Western countries. It may seem that neither the Americans nor the British are participating in the war, but military instructors, various “private” armies, etc. are tirelessly present on the territory of Ukraine. They do not seem to be fighting, but they are directly involved in the war.

Against the background of current events, it becomes relevant to say that Western states have planned and are entering their initial stage of a hybrid war against Russia. There is a comprehensive pressure on our state, implicit involvement in an international conflict, an aggressive targeted impact on the economic and social balance.

Resisting Western provocation

It's easy enough to understand how NATO's hybrid war against Russia is being prepared. Having delved into the essence of this term, we can observe the preparatory work everywhere. Trainings are being conducted, testing is being carried out, resources are being accumulated, appropriate infrastructures are being grown inside our country.

Summing up, we can conclude that hybrid warfare is a modern, evolved formwar. The list of the latest forms of war dictated by the West can also be supplemented with cyber war, network war, information war, cognitive war, the war in the 1st phase in Iraq, the distant war that unfolded in Yugoslavia.

But here's what's amazing and amazing. If we read completely fresh state documents developed and adopted already in 2014 by our government, then neither in the "National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation", nor in the "Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation", nor in the "Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation" we will find a single use or deciphering the concepts of all these wars, including the hybrid one. What can be said here? It remains only to confirm our thoughts about the origins of such terms and the purposes of their use.

Of course, hybrid warfare has recently become a reality, clearly and confidently delineating its contours, the power of influence and effectiveness of which far exceed the same characteristics of war in the traditional sense. The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Gerasimov, speaking of hybrid warfare, considers it superior to any military means used in real military operations. Therefore, a priority in strengthening civic consciousness is the understanding of the methods and methods of its conduct. Today, each of us must stand up for our own future, do everything possible to preserve our country as an integral, sovereign state, correctly assess and calmly respond to all provocations coming from the West.

Important objectivelyperceive the current situation, consider any social and economic phenomenon primarily from the position of a Russian citizen who cares about the fate of his great Motherland.