Envuelve al Enemigo: la Estrategia de la Aniquilación

ENVELOP THE ENEMY
THE ANNIHILATION STRATEGY

People will use any kind of gap in your defenses to
attack you or revenge themselves on you. So offer
no gaps. The secret is to envelop your opponents--
create relentless pressure on them from all sides,
dominate their attention, and close off their access
to the outside world. Make your attacks
unpredictable to create a vaporous feeling of
vulnerability. Finally, as you sense their weakening
resolve, crush their willpower by tightening the
noose. The best encirclements are psychological--
you have surrounded their minds.
Robert Greene


THE HORNS OF THE BEAST

In December 1878 the British declared war on the
Zulus, the warrior tribe of present-day South Africa.
The rather flimsy pretext was border troubles between
Zululand and the British state of Natal; the real aim
was to destroy the Zulu army, the last remaining native
force threatening British interests in the area, and to
absorb Zulu territories into a British-run confederation
of states. The British commander, Lieutenant General
Lord Chelmsford, drafted a plan to invade Zululand
with three columns, the central one aimed at the
capital of Ulundi, the heart of the kingdom.
Legend has it that Shaka altered the nature of
fighting in the region for ever, by inventing a
heavy, broad-bladed spear designed to
withstand the stresses of close-quarter combat.
Perhaps he did: certainly both Zulu sources and
the accounts of white travellers and officials in
the nineteenth century credit him with this
achievement.... His military innovations made
an impact on Zulu folklore, if nothing else, for
Shaka certainly developed fighting techniques
to an unprecedented degree, and there is a
wealth of stories concerning his prowess as a
warrior: he may, indeed, have been one of the
great military geniuses of his age. In place of
the loose skirmishing tactics with light throwing
spears, Shaka trained his warriors to advance
rapidly in tight formations and engage hand-tohand,
battering the enemy with larger warshields,
then skewering their foes with the new
spear as they were thrown off balance. If the
results are anything to judge by, Shaka's
capacity for conquest must have been dramatic.
By 1824 the Zulus had eclipsed all their rivals,
and had extended their influence over an area
many times larger than their original homeland.
THE ANATOMY OF THE ZULU ARMY, 
IAN KNIGHT, 1995