Mountain Warfare: ‘Fighting’ the Mountain to Fight in the Mountains

Lance R. Blyth 

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A U.S. Marine participates in a medical evacuation exercise during in iteration of the Winter Mountain Leaders Course at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, Calif., Feb. 13, 2019. The purpose of the Winter Mountain Leaders Course is to train ground combat arms military occupational specialties in mountain warfare tactics, techniques and procedures to serve effectively as force multipliers to their units during combat operations in complex, compartmentalized, mountainous terrain. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Rachel K. Young-Porter)

Mountain warfare is back. For proof, look no higher than the Himalayas, where Indian and Chinese forces have faced off in the Doklam since 2017 and in Ladakh since 2020. For the first time since World War I in the Alps, thousands of troops are deployed year-round in readiness for mountain warfare. By way of a definition, Carl von Clausewitz wrote in On War that “the influence of mountains on the conduct of war is very great . . .

 this influence introduces into action a retarding principle.” Mountain warfare is therefore the ways and means by which military forces overcome the “retarding principle” of mountains.

The United States military, especially its ground combat and special operations forces, needs the capability to train individuals and units—battalions, brigades, task forces—for mountain warfare for two reasons. First, the U.S. has been “100% right 0% of the time” when predicting where the next war will take place. 

Since nearly one-fourth of the world is covered by mountains, 10% of the planetary population lives in mountains. Mountains harbor a disproportionate share of the world’s conflicts. The chances are high that the U.S. will have to fight a mountain war sometime, somewhere. As mountain warfare requires months of individual and unit training in both summer and winter, 

it cannot be delivered just-in-time. Secondly, mountain warfare capabilities are useful for operations in rugged terrain, cold weather, the Arctic, high-altitude conditions, and other potential operational environments.