Is one man's terrorist really another man's freedom fighter?

[Ulenspiegel]

Amusing little factoid:
The German translation of "freedom fighter" is Freiheitskmpfer, and unlike the English version Freiheitskmpfer is almost exclusively used on people who do/did not fight violently.
It's more often used to describe the civil rights movement people than to describe guerrillas.

As German I object your statement. :-)

People like Andreas Hofer were "Freiheitskaempfer" and fought violently :-)

[Firn]

As German I object your statement. :-)

People like Andreas Hofer were "Freiheitskaempfer" and fought violently :-)

He certainly looks like a cross between a "typical" Lederhose-clad German and a Taliban. As a matter of fact he was very religous and not too tolerant for Liberal ideas and other beliefs. But this is a different story.

From a military view it is interesting that the militas were able to be highly effective in the small war as well as able to hold their own in pitched defensive battles. Clausewitz has some interestings things to say in his chapter about the peoples war and IIRC noted that this was something very rare. Of course an important factor was terrain, which in this case aided greatly the defender and high marksmanship of a good deal of the "Shooters".