Surprised the Kargil conflict was left out. It was fought at 18k feet and some tops taken were closer to 23k. I would rate the Indian army as the best mountain fighting force in the world with operating as well as war fighting experience spanning four decades if we include the ongoing Operation Meghdoot that began in the mid 80s and culminated in the winning of the Siachen glacier at 24k feet which is manned and held to this day.

I'm particularly proud of this one. I served the Brazilian army and we specialized in Jungle and mountain warfare, often teaching fellow allies countries the nuances behind fighting in each biome. Congrats, Warographics.

The Indian Army is deployed in the highest battlefield of the world throughout the year in the Siachen Glacier facing snow stroms, the risk of avalanches and freezing temperatures ranging from -50 to -70 C.. When it comes to Mountain Warfare the Indian Army is the best out there. HAWS, Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the elite training institutes of Mountain Warfare..

Italy vs Austria in the alps during the Ww1 was a brutal conflict too, visited those places. The ammount of tunnels dug trough the mountains is insane

Every soldier in the Indian Army is trained for mountain warfare regardless where the soldier is from

Only in the India/China kerfuffle does altitude sickness loom as a serious threat. Most other mountain engagements are mainly just terrain problems.

The Indian Army has the best mountain warfare wing.... They are called the Mountain strike corps and are one of the most modern and strongest wing in the Indian Army. Every year, even the US army does a workshop with The Indian Army on high Altitude warfare

I had a friend who fought in the Afghan mountains of Kandahar as a US paratrooper. According to him, just trying to survive the elements and the terrain was as nerve wacking as hearing bullets whistle past your face. He never liked the Taliban but respected their skills for waging mountain warefare. Most of his battle tactics and methods of caring for logistics, came from observing his enemies.

The Italian campaign in WW1 is probably the best example of large-scale mountain warfare.

The alpine force of Denmark is named Otto. He once bought an climbing axe from a souvenir shop while visiting Norway, so. He also maintains very good relations with the dutch alpine forces, Werner. The two of them often goes Octoberfest-binge drinking in Germany around this time.

Good summary. Back in my “young and bulletproof” days, among the many schools I attended were the US Army’s Northern Warfare School (mountain and arctic training back when it was still at Ft. Greely, Alaska) and later the German Gebirgsjägerschule. It is one of two German Army badges I had the honor of being able to wear - the other being the Fällschirmjägerabzeichen. Mountain and cold weather warfare are incredibly demanding on the body. No matter how often one has been at high altitude or how fit they are, high altitude sickness is always a threat. Indian and Pakistani troops who endure weeks at high altitude have my respect. (I’ve worked with the Italian Alpini … they are crazy party animals!)

Talking about mountain warfare we should remember The Kargil war fought between India & pakistan at extreme altitude & unpredictable weather conditions in 1999. And Indian Operation Meghdoot in 1984 to take control of siachen glacier.

Talking about mountain warfare and no mention of highest battlefield in the world siachin - fought over and controlled by India. Or the highest airstrip in the world - again maintained by India. As someone rightly pointed out below, compared to the battlefields of Himalayas, where elements are your biggest enemy and claim way more lives than your enemy, others merely look like hilly terrains. Didn’t expect this from Simon

As a life-long mountain man, I loved this one! There is no better place to disappear than the hills. Nooks and crannies everywhere.

During the reunification of Nepal led by Prithivi Narayan Shah, the hardest region to conquer were the kingdoms of mustang, lo manthang, manang and so on. They're all located on the other side of the Himalayas(north face) whereas the rest of Nepal is located on the south face. They used to be a vassal of tibet unitl they were conwuered. The crossings of the Himalayas is still regarded as one the very few successful military operations in the reguon even after centuries.

Excellent and informative presentation! I do feel that the Basque peoples in the Pyrenees Mountains along the Franco/Spanish border deserved a mention. They are well known for their mountain warfare tactics and, historically, won several major engagements against numerically and technically superior forces.

A testament to the effectiveness of mountain warfare (and to the badassery of the mentioned individuals below): In 1956, during and after the Hungarian revolution a group of armed Hungarian civilians lead by a doctor(!) and based in the Mecsek mountain range (which they knew every meters of) conducted successful guerilla warfare against the soviet forces in Southern Hungary. They managed to hold out for WEEKS after the fall of the revolution, waiting for western help (which we know never came). It was literally a Red Dawn scenario. They took oaths and everything. The few compatriots I'm proud of as a Hungarian. This shows you can achieve a lot if you're determined and you have a mountain nearby.

No mountain warfare quote like the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan. CORE MEMORIES, SIMON.

Another banger! Would the people behind the scenes consider grouping all the Art of War videos into a playlist on the channel's page?

I’m genuinely surprised and just a little disappointed you did not at all mention the Italian Alpine front in the First World War, which was almost entirely defined by alpine warfare.

You should have also mentioned numerous mountain warfares in Himalayas. They were fought in large numbers and are actually well documented too

I wish I had Simon's clout. He's the hardest working dude on KZfaq. Nothing but respect.

Well done! Now we know in details what challenges Indian army faces at 15000 feet and why China is afraid of well trained mountain divisions! Thanks a million 🙏

Well done Simon and Team. This has become one of your best channels.

I’ve seen it echoed in a lot of the videos in this Art of War series, but I really enjoy this series of videos. Simon and the team strike a superb balance between explanations that a layman can understand while still delving deep enough for more knowledgeable viewers to enjoy while still always touching on less obvious examples as well as the well used ones, as well as remembering to focus on human elements, avoiding the inadvertent war glorification trap that is easy to fall into.

I was surprised you didn't mention the Alpine front, between Italy and Austria, during the First World War.

Hannibals traverse through the Alps is legendary.

I was watching old videos of Simon lately. That badboy doesn't age I swear.

Can't wait for the space warfare episode

I'm really enjoying this Art of War series. Keep up the good work!

We Kurds have a saying, "No friends but the mountains". We have been betrayed by everyone but our mountains I was hoping for a shoutout and was pleasantly surprised at the end!

Excellent research and writing, Evan!

I just started binging warographics a few days ago. Awesome to be here so early!

Another thing that can get you killed in the mountains, heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion in the high mountains with 2' to 3' of snow on the ground? Happened to me. I dressed for the weather. But once our unit started moving, going iver rough terrain and deep snow, my body heated up fast. I could not stop to shed clothes so I heated up. We also was behind schedule so that didn't help. I basicalky toughed it out. The other guys did not know how bad I was because it was a night mission. This was new to me and I did not expect to heat up so much or recognize the signs quick enough. While I was sweating profisely, my feet, hands, and face was freezing. Lesson learned, but if it was actual combat, it could have been deadly.

As always, great show.

Hey Simon, would you consider doing one on navy warfare. From the first fighting vessels to modern sea warfare.

I like this one! It was informative and historical.

Something i wanted to add that people from low elevation/flat terrain are not aware of: Weather changes can come very fast in mountains. Many a tourist gets surprised by bad weather even despite weather aps and people looking up weatherforecasts online. Also about the physical fittness: Its a different kind of movement as well as thinner air. You can have people who outrun you on flat ground, but uphill alpine paths they might get wrecked trying to keep up with people who are used to the inclines and the thin air. What i was missing too in this video were the mentions of the italian front of WW1 or the land battle of Narvik. Where the allies had around 5 times the number of troops than than germans. Most of the allied troops were not trained and equipped in winter mountain fighting while on the german side there were 50% austrian mountain troops and 50% german sailors of the sunken german ships. So at least half of the german side was equipped and trained in winter mountain warfare. And that's also the reason why the allies had such a hard time there, even thought they had supplies and artillery support from naval guns.

Well Done!!! The mountain always wins!

Love this channel! Please do the battle of Agincourt

Could you do a video on Anti-Submarine Warfare? I'm really enjoying this Art of War series. I recently finished reading Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy, and the submarine warfare portions of the book were absolutely fascinating. There don't seem to be a lot of well researched videos into the intricacies and nuances of submarine/ASW warfare.

Always doing an excellent job, Simon, you and your team. In your Art of War series, I would like to see submarine warfare and island. Another one, I know this is going to sound silly, but space warfare or the theories of it. Talking about the tactics and weapons that it would be used in that scenario. Thanks

Excellent video - well done. 🇨🇭

This Art of War series is getting better and better, next please consider doing amphibious assaults or airborne!

Happy to see a video on this especially since I grew up on the edge of the Cascades and the town I live in is completely surrounded by hills and mountains and some of my ancestors in a native tribe used caves, hills and mountains to fight the u.s for nearly a year

During my time in the marines I did a lot of training in mountain and winter environments in both CA and Norway. I can’t think of anything worse than the thought of actually conducting combat operations in that environment.

That obi won knobie joke was just perfect 👌👏👏👏

It was a wonderful video introduced of Mountains ⛰️ warfare...thank you for sharing

Good on ya !

I was testing some new mountaineering gear during a fairly intense storm on Mt. Rainier years ago... Despite being in tip top shape and having world class gear, it took one sleepless night of constantly having to dig out the tent in 100mph winds say F-this.. If the conditions are right, you will have to dig out your tent every 30 minutes during a blizzard with 100mph wind. By the time you warm up from the last trip digging out the tent, its time to dig out the tent again. Storms like this can last for weeks in some cases... I'm honestly glad I tested to see I could hack it. Ideal mountaineering takes strength, endurance, and situational awareness which sleep deprivation robs from you in dangerous quantities...

I did a mountain warfare course and it was hard but i learned so much.

I really wanted to get into the 10th Mountain Division after I had finished my time as an Airman but things didnt go as planned. Wish we still had the 6th Division which were our very own skii Soldier's similar to the German and Finnish one's.

Thanks team ! This post fits nicely with one that I watched earlier today about a WW campqign in the Dolomites. Think I'll stick to photography and other less bloody pursuits, when in the mountains ( I live in B.C. , Canada, btw . I seen results of what can happen when you fuck up on these slopes.

I love the fact that you used allot of pics of Marines for this. I went to both Bridgeport and Norway. Mountains humble a man

Hoo Rah! My unit was a cold weather Engineering Battalion assigned to Fort Richardson, Alaska. Being a Combat Engineer in cold weather, high elevation unit was even more difficult than our 11B Infantry brothers as we had heavy equipment to contend with. Our platoons were roughly 33-35 men. I loved every minute doing that.😊😊😊

When the US was invaded by a combined Russian/Cuban army in the 1980s, the Wolverines were able to take to the mountains and conduct partisan operations, giving the US time to conduct a counteroffensive…

Back in 1976 I was a recon scout in a special forces artic mountain warfare unit. What I learned is that it was not about me, it was about moving large numbers of people who were unfamiliar with this harsh environment.

I’m really happy to see you include Trudeau’s dad. He’d be proud.😂

Excellent 👍

Served in the US Army Infantry. Stationed ar Fort Carson and Fort Benning. The mountains at Benning are one thing, but Carson is in the Rockies and that was a cold place in the winter to be doing Infantry training. I hate the cold to this day and alot of it has to do with my time in the Army .

Apparently in the early stages of WWII Hitler considered an invasion of Switzerland but because the Swiss had been very public on the fact they’d prepared large portions of mountain territory to be literally impregnable fortresses, the German command realised it would require massive resources, take way too long to conclude, involve huge attrition and return comparatively little in gain, they just ignored Switzerland and accepted Swiss neutrality. Whenever the concept of how tough mountain warfare is comes up, this is what I think of. Hitler was willing to invade and fight literally every opposed or unaligned nation in Europe on a whim, except Switzerland because of how much the mountain war would’ve cost.

You should do this type of video on logistics.

The U.S. has a training facility 40 miles away from me in southwest Montana that trains sf guys for high altitude mountain warfare. The terrain and environment are the same as the mountains in Afghanistan.

in austria we still have NATIONAL SERVICE, i was drafted in the Gebirgsjäger (mountain hunter) in Tirol where i am born and growed up, i did my service in the winter and it was no bullshitting

Afghanistan is a really good example. The mountains, hills have long kept control of the region troublesome at best. The terrain promotes groups of people being sharply divided. It's so troublesome that even the Afghans themselves have had problems keeping it unified. Anyways, you can go back to Alexander the Great running around there on the way towards India. He was mired in Afghanistan dealing with the tribalism where the locals were at war with each other all the time. It's also funny from strategy video games covering WWII where guys playing Germany go, "Just invade Turkey and attack the USSR from the south?" Realistically that's a laugh. Dudes have never taken a look at a topographical map of Anatolia / Asia Minor and the Caucasus.

I was part of the 10th MTN Div from 1999 until 2004. I deployed to Afghanistan in 2002 and I just know that people were like “Afghanistan has mountains, let’s send the 10th, not knowing that we didn’t actually train in mountain warfare, there are some foothills of the Adirondack range but that’s it. Now if they wanted to send us to the arctic we definitely could have beaten some penguins. I did learn to break trail in snowshoes and cross country skiing though.

I won't be coming home I won't be going anywhere I will guard this post forever Here on the alpine slope, where I did my final stand, I shall remain Among the ice and snow that binds me to this mountain A force of nature too strong, sent from above Where spirits lead the way, the winds will never fade

00:02 Mountain warfare is fundamentally different than warfare in other terrains. 02:04 Holding high ground is crucial in mountain warfare. 03:52 Preparation in mountain warfare is crucial for survival. 05:43 Operating in mountain warfare requires self-sufficiency and adaptability. 07:36 The Second Punic War showcases how Hannibal turned Rome's natural mountain defenses into a liability. 09:36 Mountains can be a dangerous enemy in warfare. 11:28 Nepal and Argentina showcased effective mountain warfare tactics in the 1700s and 1800s. 13:17 Mountain Warfare has played a significant role in historical conflicts. 15:15 Mountain warfare poses significant challenges for technology-dependent militaries. 17:01 Mountains have been used as strongholds by local militias and ethnic groups to launch successful attacks against government forces. 18:39 Mountain warfare is crucial for Kurdish forces in resisting Turkey and many other nations invest in maintaining robust mountain warfare capabilities. 20:20 Mountains are a double-edged sword in warfare Crafted by Merlin AI.

Mountain warfare was one of the areas I got to specialize in getting stationed at MWTC to train Marines. My knees pay for it every day now....

During Dogra-tibet war, dogra general zorawar Singh led Jammu dogra forces to wage wa against gilgit, ladakh and Tibet who has support of Qing army.

There was a guy once who would run multiple laps around me during my lunch break walks, every day for several weeks, all while wearing one of those breathing restrictor masks. Basically breathing through a drinking straw, and he sounded legitimately like he was dying. I never got to speak with him, but I suspect he was preparing for a high mountain climb. That's the kind of physical preparation you need, and anything less will kill you slowly and painfully.

Always wondered why the 10th Mountain Division is headquartered in Fort Drum (590’ elevation) when we have the Rocky Mountains. Alaska seems like it would make sense. Or even Fort Carson in Colorado (5,814’ elevation, or nearly ten times higher).

Went to Machu Picchu and got sick the first morning we stayed at Cusco…It was 11,000 ft, highest I’ve ever been and don’t fancy doing it again😳

Awesome. Salute to them. And RIP to the fallen; on both sides.

Going from lejeune to 29 palms and oki was a culture shock. Going home small-medium sized mountains kicked my ass. Patrols that were relatively easy on the east coast were now so much more exhausting

on of the modern battle on mountains was of kargil. where indian army suffered many times more losses against pak army.

Anybody here been to MWTC Bridgeport?? That training event was BRUTAL.

Honestly I wasn't expecting a mention of the Crossing of the Andes. I was thinking about it, and assumed it wouldn't be included since the southern part of the Independance Wars across Latin America is often overshadowed by Simon Bolivars advance from Colombia. Glad I was wrong!

Every battle is shaped by the terrain it is fought on, but the best kind of battle is an unfair one.

I disagree with the final assessment. The rise of cheap drones has dramatically rewritten the books on naval, ground and air warfare. Similarly, they will change the books in future mountain warfare, by being able to quicky and easily surveil mountains and drop explosive charges at a distance. It's much harder to see an incoming drone in the sky than a platoon of soldiers coming up the foothills.

Episode idea (as if there was any shortage of these😂) A speculative review of space warfare. I like to contemplate this because it is utterly foreign to any theater of conflict humanity has ever waged war in. On any scale (Earth orbit or interplanetary), the orbits of any fighting forces and those of the places they are defending/attacking as well as those of neutral forces/territories cause their relative positions to be in constant change. It's a bit like island hopping warfare, but where all the islands are moving about. And if you don't see that as confusing enough, just look at a map of the orbits of known asteroids. Tens of thousands of them have orbits that loop inside the orbits of the inner planets and back out past Mars creating a vast chaotic swarm. Some ideas for creating space colonies suggest hollowing out asteroids and placing colonies inside them. There is no question that the same can be said of military installations, bases, or weapons platforms. Adding to all of that is the complicating factor that a two-dimensional map of those obits obscures- those orbits operate in three-dimensional space rising above and dipping below the plane of the ecliptic. Forgetting weapons for a moment, simply computing how one defines the battlespace, and manages the logistics of resupply, and how mid-long term shifts in the relative positions of strategic colonies, stations or whatever could alter the strategic alignments of participants in any conflict makes for an environment that is as foreign to human experience as vacuum and microgravity. In fact, I have long dreamed of a Risk like game where the territories keep moving around every turn as a fun way to try and wargame the kinds of tactics needed to adapt to the challenge.

All hail Simon.

16:20 Lol...And I was just about to tell you how our technology worked to mitigate the sneakiness of the Tally-whackers. It was like they had no concept of ultraviolet light...lol

During World War I, Austria-Hungarian defence repelled Italian attacks by taking advantage of the terrain in the Julian Alps and the Dolomites, where frostbite and avalanches proved deadlier than bullets. During the summer of 1918, the Battle of San Matteo took place on the Italian front and was fought at the highest elevation of during the war. In December 1914, another offensive was launched by the Ottoman supreme commander Enver Pasha with 95,000--190,000 troops against the Russians in the Caucasus. Insisting on a frontal attack against Russian positions in the mountains in the heart of winter, the result was devastating, and Enver lost 86% of his forces.

Could the mountains around Nepal etc be the only reason why China and India don't have many flashpoints? I am curious

Can you put all your Art Of War episodes in a playlist please?

We all know Simon had a tangent after the obi-Wan Kenobi reference

Simon please do a video on the Aztecs and Mayans.

I served in Alaska and as a not so light infantryman 11b and went to 15,000ft on Mt Hayes. We took everything with us in the akio. We used skis and snow shoes and crampons for Glacier and ice axes. We never got the recognition though like the 10th Mountain in New York 🤔😝

0:40 That's absolutely correct, Brain Boy. But the truth of the matter is that it doesn't matter What you do to prepare, because the mountains just don't care. They'll get you; The best for which you can hope is for it to be...interesting. 😂

I came looking for the angry Marines watching this video lol.

I was expecting at least a review of what makes a mountain warfare unit equipped for, well, mountain warefare! Oh yes, Italian and Swiss units can ski, but with what do they fight? Is drone surveillance going to change recon in the mountains or are small quadcopter rotors insufficient in the thinner air? This video was basically 'mountain warfare is hard, especially against people who live in mountain regions'

It would have been cool if switzerland wouldve been in the video too, it would be nice to see more exposure for swiss military history

8 min in lol. The earliest I ever caught one of your videos!

One instructive campaign in the mountains is actually the US North Africa campaign during WWII. Specifically, the fighting in Tunisia around Kasserine Pass and following fighting. If I had to call the next likely mountain war - I’d probably pick India vs China over their disputed border in the Himalayas.

As the topic is Mountain warfare, expected the mention (more than a running note) of Ind Pak wars/conflicts on Kargil and Siachen.

I learned during arctic warfare and mountain warfare training, I'll take 130° in the desert.

Remember the Pashtuns also known as Pakhtuns, Pashteens or Pathans, an an Eastern Iranian ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan but fought well in WWII for the Indian Army.

Two comments here Firstly, I am disappointed that you didn't mention Simon Bolivar's march across the Andes as it was definitely an impressive feat and a wild story. But I suspect that including it and others like it would have made this video far too long and had to be cut. Secondly, thank you for doing a video on this subject. My grandfather was in the US 10th Mountain Infantry during WWII. He was not involved in some of their more famous exploits, but he was in Sicily, North Africa, and Italy and saw action in all three places. Like most soldiers who had seen action and lived to tell the tale, he had some amazing stories. I know you didn't make this as a tribute to my grandfather or anyone else's grandfather for that matter, but by covering this topic as you have you have, in a way, paid tribute to everyone who made mountain warfare worthy of mention. So, again, thank you.

4:32 i live in washington state and love the outdoors so i find this very interesting. My house is at about 500 feet. My work is a port and thus at sea level. All my favorite camp sites are at around 4000 feet. That means it isnt uncommon for me to spend a week working at sea level then take a hour long drive from my hone at 500 feet to a campsite at 4000 feet and spend a few days there without getting sick. In other words this is a MAJOR issue for an invading army because even locals living at lower altitudes can make the trip up to 4000+ feet like its nothing and only experience a managable shortness of breath while your going to get sick and be out of the fight.