Raid (military action)
As a raid ( English for "attack", "Raubzug") is the historical science of a violent, raid-like military attack on the territory of another nation , region or tribe to make booty ( English Viking raids ) or political and economic Destabilize the opponent's situation. The methods used were sometimes in terror proceed as looting , arson , abuse and abduction of women, children and able-bodied young men into slavery . As planned, troops withdraw to home territory or to the sea immediately after the attack.
So that the regular military forces of the respective aggressor state are not compromised by the involvement of their forces, militiamen , vigilante groups or allied auxiliary troops are used semi-officially in order to be able to distance themselves from them.
Examples of a raid can be found in particular in the Viking Age (800-1050) and in the colonial wars of the 18th and 19th centuries. The best known is the so-called Jameson Raid between the First and Second Boer Wars , which however failed. Raids were also a popular tool for the British forces in Canada , who at the end of the 18th century let their allied Indian troops, under the leadership of their officers, act against American settlers in what is now Illinois and Kentucky . Other well-known examples of such undertakings are provided by the Civil War , where cavalry generals such as Jeb Stuart or Nathan Bedford Forrest destroyed the infrastructure in the enemy's hinterland, damaged its supply lines, cleared up positions and threatened him in the rear. A well-known raid of Benjamin Grierson (1863) was described by John Ford in the last command (The Horse Soldiers) filmed (1959).
In the English language, the term air raid is also used for an air raid (i.e. ultimately also a hold-up), see e.g. B. Doolittle Raid .