If You Can Name All of These Tactics, You Might Be a Military Genius

The Blitzkrieg is a military tactic in which attacking forces break the opposition's defense with quick, powerful and overwhelming force. Today you can see this tactic in action in any NFL football game when the defense blitzes the quarterback.

A flank is the side of a cow between the rib cage and hip bone (flank steak). As a military tactic, a flanking maneuver attempts to distract the head of the opponent (the front lines) to attack its sides, which are usually weaker and more vulnerable. Think of a matador allowing a bull to charge him and then moving around to its side.

Fire and movement is exactly what it sounds like and is a basic military tactic when confronting an enemy in the field. All that is needed is two people to perform this tactic. One person will fire at the enemy (providing cover) while the other person moves to another position.

The Shoot and Scoot move is exactly what it sounds like it is: you shoot and scoot to a new position. This is done so the opposition can't shoot back or plan a counterattack. It's one of the most basic tactics in every type of fighting.

The ambush is one of the most long-established military tactics in the history of warfare. It consists of waiting and hiding until the opponent unknowingly walks into striking distance, and then striking.

Patrolling may seem like something that mall cops do, but it is one of the most important military tactics used in warfare. Patrolling an area can be used for everything from gathering intelligence or surveying the area. It's almost impossible to have a war without some type of patrolling.

Long gone are the days of two opposing forces running at each other full speed and engaging in hand-to-hand battle like is often seen in the movies, but forces may still have to run forward at full speed, and when they do, they are employing the charge military tactic.

Trench raiding was developed during WWI and is the strategy of raiding an opposing army's trenches at nighttime. Soldiers would wear all black and cover their faces in black to sneak into enemy territory at night. Employing this tactic in the day time wouldn't really work.

A skirmish is a light battle that is used to harass the enemy, cause minor losses, delay advancement or weaken morale. It isn't an official battle and usually ends in an indecisive result. Almost every war is made up of many skirmishes.

The counterattack is used to make up any losses undergone during an attack. An example is Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope tactic, where he let an opponent wear themselves out and then began his attack. When the enemy believes they are victorious is the best time to counterattack.

The flying wedge tactic was used by Alexander the Great and was used mostly in ancient and medieval times when a troop would make a triangle shape to smash through the opponent's defensive line. Its effectiveness is undeniable, as it is still used a lot in riot control deployment.

Reconnaissance is also known as scouting, and it is the practice of sneaking around enemy territory to gather information about the terrain and the enemy itself. If you need to know how many guards are guarding a certain area for example, you might sneak into the area and take pictures.

At the Battle of Cannae in 215 BC, Hannibal's troops were outnumbered. He let Roman forces attack his intentionally weakened front lines and kept the flanks strong, which eventually formed a V-shape with the Romans stuck in the pit. Upon his command, the V closed, trapping the Romans inside and their entire army was wiped out.

The Hammer and Anvil maneuver is a tactic that has been used for centuries, most successfully used by Alexander the Great and much more common in ancient times. It involves foot troops waging a frontal assault while cavalry forces move behind the enemy to trap them. The opening battle in "Gladiator" is an example of this.

Investment is a popular military tactic that is still in use today. Julius Caesar famously used it in the Siege of Alesia, and it consists of surrounding an enemy's fort (or any occupied area) to prevent escape or entry.

The Armored Spearhead is a risky maneuver that first started in WWII. It consists of overloading the front lines with a formation of armored vehicles to break through enemy lines. Infantrymen follow behind and defend the flanks, but if the enemy counterattacks or ambushes the flanks, or uses a flanking maneuver, the formation is doomed.

A frontal assault is exactly what it sounds like: an assault on an enemy's front lines. It is a direct attack or charge at the enemy and is usually used as a last resort. It may also be used if the enemy's front lines are seen to be weak or thin.

The Bull Horn Formation is credited to Shaka Zulu, who was the legendary leader of the Zulu Kingdom. It consists of one division of troops conducting a frontal assault and two other divisions conducting flanking maneuvers on either side. Think of the shape of a bull's horns.

The Choke Point Formation consists of blocking the only passage for enemy escape by stuffing it with troops. Leonidas and the 300 Spartans famously sacrificed themselves and held back Persian troops by using this maneuver in the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Fabian Strategy was a simple plan: Don't fight Hannibal head on. Roman leader Fabius Maximus decided since Hannibal and his troops were 1,000 miles away from supplies, he'd fight skirmishes to burn and steal supplies from Hannibal's troops. It almost worked and troops almost starved, until Fabius was fired for not fighting Hannibal. When they did fight, Hannibal won.

Infiltration is a high-level tactic where troops bypass front lines and emerge within enemy territory. It is the result of long-term planning and any misstep can ruin everything. Greeks sneaking into Troy via the belly of the wooden Trojan Horse is, real or not, a classic example.

Raiding is a military tactic in which forces don't plan to capture or hold a specific position, but to instead steal something or someone important and then quickly retreat before the enemy can notice. Guerrilla forces might raid enemy territory to steal plans and then retreat before anyone notices.

A siege is an attempt to take over enemy territory by cutting the territory off from supplies, reinforcements and escape. Once the territory is surrounded (investment) the attackers hold strong defensive positions and continuously attack.

Smoke screening is the simple process of deploying smoke to hide location and movement. In the Battle of Attu, Japanese snipers hid in the mountains behind the fog to pick off enemy troops as they advanced. As the fog moved, they moved and they were nearly impossible to spot.

The scorched earth strategy has been in use since the beginning of warfare and will likely continue to be widely used. It consists of destroying anything that is useful to the enemy. Destroying trees to prevent hiding spots or even (illegally since 1977) bombing hospitals or public water supplies has been used.

The Echelon Formation can be staggered to the left or to the right and can be used for infantrymen, airplanes, naval ships or any other vehicle. It's also an effective formation used by riot control police when they want to move crowds to a certain side of the road.

The Reverse Slope Defense is an effective tactic that has been around since the beginning of warfare and has been used in recent wars. It's a perfect way to set up an ambush on advancing troops, as it offers defense and cover from attackers.

Billions have been spent developing the most advanced stealth technology for U.S. armed forces. Stealth vehicles--like aircraft, submarines, missiles, satellites and ground vehicles--are able to avoid radar, sonar and infrared detection. These vehicles are some of the most closely-guarded military secrets.

Hit and run tactics employ the same strategy as raids, but instead of stealing anything or kidnapping a central figure, the goal is to inflict damage and expose weaknesses of the opponent. These are common tactics of guerrilla warfare.

False flag tactics have been used since ancient times to disguise the true identity of the attacker. The trick stems from pirate ships that used to fly flags of different countries to throw off their opponents. Today's false flag tactics are far more complex and sinister.

Disinformation comes from the Russian word "dezinformatsiya," which stems from a KGB black propaganda department. It is defined as "false information with the intention to deceive public opinion." It's a tactic that can fall under psychological warfare and is very difficult to counterattack and control.

The Parthian Shot is one of the most impressive individual military tactics in the history of war. When cavalrymen are retreating in full gallop, they turn their bodies around (so they are riding a galloping horse backward) and fire arrows at the chasing enemy. Only the most skilled soldiers could even attempt it.

Radar jamming is the act of distorting an enemy's radar to avoid detection. There are several tactics, but they mostly fall under two categories: mechanical and electronic. Electronic jamming disrupts the frequency of enemy radar so it doesn't work properly. Mechanical jamming is the process of sending out decoy vehicles so enemies don't know which blip to track.

Demoralization is a psychological warfare strategy comprised of many different tactics. One side can use skirmishes, snipers, raids, sieges, blockades, disinformation and propaganda to demoralize troops. In WWII, for example, Nazi forces tried to demoralize U.S. black soldiers by passing out flyers that asked why they would fight for leaders who treated them as inferior back home.

A decapitation strike aims to kill or capture the leader of a hostile country or group. The strategy has been used since the beginning of warfare and is still used today. The Invasion of Iraq in 2003 began with the capture of Saddam Hussein. Capturing and killing Osama bin Laden was an essential part of fighting Al-Qaeda. And just this decade, threats to strike North Korea's leadership have been commonplace.