Editing Sabotage

{{short description|Deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity}}
{{about}}
{{redirect|Saboteur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}

'''Sabotage''' is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a [[polity]], [[government]], effort, or [[organization]] through [[subversion]], obstruction, [[demoralization (warfare)|demoralization]],  [[destabilization]], [[divide and rule|division]], [[social disruption|disruption]], or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identities because of the consequences of their actions and to avoid invoking legal and organizational requirements for addressing sabotage.

{{Anchor|ety}}

== Etymology ==
The English word derives from the French word {{lang|fr|saboter}}, meaning to "bungle, botch, wreck or sabotage"; it was originally used to refer to labour disputes, in which workers wearing wooden shoes called {{lang|fr|[[Sabot (shoe)|sabot]]s}} interrupted production through different means. A [[false etymology|popular but incorrect account]] of the origin of the term's present meaning is the story that poor workers in the Belgian city of [[Liège]] would throw a wooden {{lang|fr|sabot}} into the machines to disrupt production.<ref name="etymonline">{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sabotage |title=Sabotage  |website=Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref>

One of the first appearances of {{lang|fr|saboter}} and {{lang|fr|saboteur}} in French literature is in the {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire du Bas-Langage ou manières de parler usitées parmi le peuple|italic=yes}} of d'Hautel, edited in 1808. In it the literal definition is to 'make noise with sabots' as well as 'bungle, jostle, hustle, haste'. The word {{lang|fr|sabotage}} appears only later.<ref>{{cite book |last=D'Hautel |first=Charles-Louis |date=1808 |title=Dictionnaire du Bas-Langage ou manières de parler usitées parmi le peuple |trans-title=Dictionary of slang or ways to speak used by the people |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zT5p4cMNoWgC&pg=PA325 |language=fr |page=325 |publisher=D'Hautel et Schoell |quote={{lang|fr|Saboteur&thinsp;: Sobriquet injurieux qu'on donne à un mauvais ouvrier, qui fait tout à la hâte, et malproprement.}} }}</ref>

The word {{lang|fr|sabotage}} is found in 1873–1874 in the {{lang|fr|Dictionnaire de la langue française|italic=yes}} of [[Émile Littré]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Émile |last=Littré |title=Dictionnaire de la langue française |trans-title=Dictionary of the French language|publisher=Hachette |date=1873–1874 |page=1790 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54066991/f401}}</ref> Here it is defined mainly as 'making sabots, sabot maker'. It is at the end of the 19th century that it really began to be used with the meaning of 'deliberately and maliciously destroying property' or 'working slower'. In 1897, [[Émile Pouget]], a famous [[syndicalist]] and [[anarchist]] wrote "{{lang|fr|action de saboter un travail}}" ('action of sabotaging or bungling a work') in {{lang|fr|Le Père Peinard|italic=yes}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Pouget |first=Émile |date=1976 |title=Le Père Peinard |url=http://www.editions-galilee.fr/f/index.php?sp=liv&livre_id=3033 |page=53 |publisher=Éditions Galilée |isbn=2718600306 |archive-date=16 July 2022 |access-date=18 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716093404/http://www.editions-galilee.fr/f/index.php?sp=liv&livre_id=3033 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and in 1911 he also wrote a book entitled {{lang|fr|Le Sabotage|italic=yes}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pouget |first=Émile |date=1911 |title=Le Sabotage |pages=3–66 |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Le_Sabotage |publisher=Marcel Rivière}}</ref>

== As industrial action ==
[[File:Picchetto sabotaggio stencil in Turin.jpg|thumb|Unauthorized stencil urging sabotage and [[picketing]]]]
At the inception of the [[Industrial Revolution]], skilled workers such as the [[Luddite]]s (1811–1812) used sabotage as a means of negotiation in labor disputes.

[[Trade unions|Labor unions]] such as the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW) have [[Industrial Workers of the World philosophy and tactics#Sabotage|advocated sabotage]] as a means of self-defense and [[direct action]] against unfair working conditions.

The IWW was shaped in part by the [[industrial unionism]] philosophy of [[Bill Haywood|Big Bill Haywood]], and in 1910 Haywood was exposed to sabotage while touring Europe:
<blockquote>
The experience that had the most lasting impact on Haywood was witnessing a general strike on the French railroads. Tired of waiting for parliament to act on their demands, railroad workers walked off their jobs all across the country. The French government responded by drafting the strikers into the army and then ordering them back to work. Undaunted, the workers carried their strike to the job. Suddenly, they could not seem to do anything right. Perishables sat for weeks, sidetracked and forgotten. Freight bound for Paris was misdirected to Lyon or Marseille instead. This tactic – the French called it "sabotage" – won the strikers their demands and impressed Bill Haywood.<ref>Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, page 152.</ref><ref>Jimthor, Stablewars, May 2008</ref>
</blockquote>

For the IWW, sabotage's meaning expanded to include the original use of the term: [[Industrial Workers of the World philosophy and tactics#Sabotage|any withdrawal of efficiency]], including the [[slowdown]], the [[strike action|strike]], [[working to rule]], or creative bungling of job assignments.<ref>Roughneck, The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, pages&nbsp;196–197.</ref> [[File:I.W.W. "stickerette" or "silent agitator" quoting W.D. Haywood.tif|thumb|[[Industrial Workers of the World]] "stickerette" or "silent agitator"]]

One of the most severe examples was at the construction site of the [[Robert-Bourassa generating station|Robert-Bourassa Generating Station]] in 1974, in Québec, Canada, when workers used bulldozers to topple electric generators, damaged fuel tanks, and set buildings on fire. The project was delayed a year, and the direct cost of the damage estimated at $2 million CAD. The causes were not clear, but three possible factors have been cited: inter-union rivalry, poor working conditions, and the perceived arrogance of American executives of the contractor, [[Bechtel]] Corporation.<ref>Rinehart, J.W. ''The Tyranny of Work'', Canadian Social Problems Series. Academic Press Canada (1975), pp.&nbsp;78–79. {{ISBN|0-7747-3029-3}}.</ref>

== As environmental action ==
{{Main|Ecotage}}
Certain groups turn to the destruction of property to stop environmental destruction or to make visible arguments against forms of modern technology they consider detrimental to the environment. The U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) and other law enforcement agencies use the term [[eco-terrorist]] when applied to damage of property. Proponents argue that since property cannot feel terror, damage to property is more accurately described as sabotage. Opponents, by contrast, point out that property owners and operators can indeed feel terror. The image of the [[monkey wrench]] thrown into the moving parts of a machine to stop it from working was popularized by [[Edward Abbey]] in the novel ''[[The Monkey Wrench Gang]]'' and has been adopted by eco-activists to describe the destruction of earth damaging machinery.

From 1992 to late 2007 a [[Radical environmentalism|radical environmental]] activist movement known as [[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF) engaged in a near-constant campaign of decentralized sabotage of any construction projects near wildlands and extractive industries such as logging and even [[1998 Vail arson attacks|an arson attack against a ski resort]] in [[Vail, Colorado]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wyrick |first=Randy |date=2018-10-27 |title=Eco-terrorists set fire to Vail Mountain 20 years ago, and the response showed how mutual aid could benefit mountain communities |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/10/27/vail-mountain-arson-looking-back/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607095412/https://www.denverpost.com/2018/10/27/vail-mountain-arson-looking-back/amp/ |archive-date=2023-06-07 |access-date=2023-06-07 |website=The Denver Post |language=en-US}}</ref> ELF used sabotage tactics often in loose coordination with other environmental activist movements to physically delay or destroy threats to wildlands as the political will developed to protect the targeted wild areas that ELF engaged.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.targetofopportunity.com/elf.htm|title=Earth Liberation Front|work=targetofopportunity.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iww.org/history/library/Bari/TreeSpiking1|title=The Secret History of Tree Spiking – Part 1|work=iww.org}}</ref>

== As war tactic ==
[[File:"WARNING FROM THE FBI" - NARA - 516039.jpg|thumb|[[World War II]] poster from the United States]]

In war, the word is used to describe the activity of an individual or group not associated with the military of the parties at war, such as a foreign [[Espionage#Agents in espionage|agent]] or an indigenous supporter, in particular when actions result in the destruction or damaging of a productive or vital facility, such as equipment, factories, dams, public services, storage plants or [[logistics|logistic]] routes. Prime examples of such sabotage are the events of [[Black Tom explosion|Black Tom]] and the [[Kingsland Explosion]]. Like spies, saboteurs who conduct a military operation in civilian clothes or enemy uniforms behind enemy lines are subject to prosecution and criminal penalties instead of detention as [[prisoners of war]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia |author=Wilbur Redington Miller |date=29 June 2012 |page=186 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |isbn=978-0-7618-6137-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Why We Fight: The Origins, Nature, and Management of Human Conflict |author=David Churchman |date=9 May 2013 |page=186 |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |isbn=978-0-7618-6137-9 }}</ref> It is common for a government in power during war or supporters of the war policy to use the term loosely against opponents of the war. Similarly, German [[nationalist]]s spoke of a [[stab in the back legend|stab in the back]] having cost them the loss of World War I.<ref>[http://www.dokumentarfilm.com/en/030303.htm Dokumentarfilm.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060226201823/http://www.dokumentarfilm.com/en/030303.htm |date=26 February 2006 }}</ref>

A modern form of sabotage is the distribution of software intended to damage specific industrial systems. For example, the U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) is alleged to have sabotaged a Siberian pipeline during the [[Cold War]], using information from the [[Farewell Dossier]].{{efn|These allegations are contained in the 2004 book ''[[At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reed |first=Thomas C. |author-link=Thomas C. Reed |date=2004 |title=[[At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War]] |publisher=Random House Pub. |isbn=978-0-8914-1821-4 }}</ref> Critics have contested the authenticity of the account.<ref>{{cite news|first=Anatoly |last=Medetsky |url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/kgb-veteran-denies-cia-caused-82-blast/232261.html |title=KGB Veteran Denies CIA Caused '82 Blast|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=18 March 2004 |access-date=30 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131204755/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/kgb-veteran-denies-cia-caused-82-blast/232261.html |archive-date= 31 January 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Mackeown, Patrick (10 August 2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20101113072603/http://www.bookscape.co.uk/short_stories/computer_hoaxes.php "Bookscape: Short Story - Famous Computer Hoaxes"]. Bookscape. Archived on 13 November 2010.</ref><ref name="Bloomberg Business; 10 October 2014">{{cite news |last1=Hesseldahl  |first1=Arik |last2=Kharif  |first2=Olga |date=10 October 2014 |title=Cyber Crime and Information Warfare: A 30-Year History |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/ss/10/10/1014_cyber_attacks/1.htm |newspaper=Bloomberg Business |page=2 |access-date=30 July 2015}}</ref>}} A more recent case may be the [[Stuxnet]] [[computer worm]], which was designed to subtly infect and damage specific types of industrial equipment. Based on the equipment targeted and the location of infected machines, security experts believe it was an attack on the [[Iran]]ian [[Nuclear program of Iran|nuclear program]] by the [[United States]] or [[Israel]].

Sabotage, done well, is inherently difficult to detect and difficult to trace to its origin. During [[World War II]], the U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) investigated 19,649 cases of sabotage and concluded the enemy had not caused any of them.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marrin|first=Albert|title=The Secret Armies : Spies, Counterspies, and Saboteurs in World War II|year=1985|publisher=Atheneum|location=New York|isbn=0-689-31165-6|page=37}}</ref>

Sabotage in warfare, according to the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS) [[Simple Sabotage Field Manual]], varies from highly technical ''coup de main'' acts that require detailed planning and specially trained operatives, to innumerable simple acts that ordinary citizen-saboteurs can perform. Simple sabotage is carried out in such a way as to involve a minimum danger of injury, detection, and [[reprisal]]. There are two main methods of sabotage: physical destruction and the "human element". While physical destruction as a method is self-explanatory, its targets are nuanced, reflecting objects to which the saboteur has normal and inconspicuous access in everyday life. The "human element" is based on universal opportunities to make faulty decisions, to adopt a non-cooperative attitude, and to induce others to follow suit.<ref name="SimpleSabotage">{{cite web|title=Office of Strategic Services Simple Sabotage Manuel|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-images.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121126170237/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-images.pdf|archive-date=26 November 2012|access-date=24 March 2012|date=17 January 1944}}</ref>{{rp|pages=1–2}}

There are many examples of physical sabotage in wartime. However, one of the most effective uses of sabotage is against organizations. The OSS manual provides numerous techniques under the title "General Interference with Organizations and Production":

* When possible, refer all matters to committees for "further study and consideration". Attempt to make the committees as large as possible—never fewer than five
* Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
* Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
* In making work assignments, always sign out unimportant jobs first, assign important jobs to inefficient workers with poor machines.
* Insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products; send back for refinishing those with the least flaw.  Approve other defective parts whose flaws are not visible to the naked eye.
* To lower morale, and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions.  Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.
* Hold meetings when there is more critical work to be done.
* Multiply procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, paychecks, and so on.  See that multiple people must approve everything where one would do.
* Spread disturbing rumors that sound like inside information.

From the section entitled, "General Devices for Lowering Morale and Creating Confusion" comes the following quintessential simple sabotage advice: "Act stupid."<ref name="SimpleSabotage"/>{{rp|pages=28–31}}

=== Value of simple sabotage in wartime ===
The United States [[Office of Strategic Services]], later renamed the CIA, noted the specific value in committing simple sabotage against the enemy during wartime: "...&nbsp;slashing tires, draining fuel tanks, starting fires, starting arguments, acting stupidly, short-circuiting electric systems, abrading machine parts will waste materials, manpower, and time." To underline the importance of simple sabotage on a widespread scale, they wrote, "Widespread practice of simple sabotage will harass and demoralize enemy administrators and police." The OSS was also focused on the battle for hearts and minds during wartime; "the very practice of simple sabotage by natives in enemy or occupied territory may make these individuals identify themselves actively with the [[United Nations]] War effort, and encourage them to assist openly in periods of Allied invasion and occupation."<ref name="SimpleSabotage"/>{{rp|page=2}}

=== In World War I ===
On 30 July 1916, the [[Black Tom explosion]] occurred when German agents set fire to a complex of warehouses and ships in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] that held munitions, fuel, and explosives bound to aid the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in their fight.

On 11 January 1917, Fiodore Wozniak, using a rag saturated with phosphorus or an incendiary pencil supplied by German sabotage agents, [[Kingsland Explosion|set fire to his workbench]] at an ammunition assembly plant near [[Lyndhurst, New Jersey]], causing a four-hour fire that destroyed half a million 3-inch explosive shells and destroyed the plant for an estimated at $17 million in damages. Wozniak's involvement was not discovered until 1927.<ref name="McGeorgeKetchem19831984">{{cite journal|last=McGeorge II|first=Harvey J.|author2=Christine C. Ketchem |title=Sabotage: A Strategic Tool for Guerilla Forces|journal=World Affairs|volume=146|issue=3|pages=249–256|year=1983–1984|publisher=World Affairs Institute|jstor=20671989}}</ref>{{rp|page=250}}

On 12 February 1917, [[Arab Revolt|Bedouins allied with the British]] destroyed a Turkish railroad near the port of [[Wajh]], [[Derailment|derailing]] a Turkish locomotive. The Bedouins traveled by camel and used explosives to demolish a portion of track.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Condit|first1=D. N.|last2=Cooper|first2=Bert H. Jr.|title=Challenge and Response in Internal Conflict. Volume 2. The Experience in Europe and the Middle East|date=1967-03-01|journal=Defense Technical Information Center |location=Fort Belvoir, VA|doi=10.21236/ad0649609}}</ref>

=== Post World War I ===
[[File:193109 mukden incident railway sabotage.jpg|thumb|[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] experts inspect the scene of the "railway sabotage" on the [[South Manchurian Railway]] in 1931. The "railroad sabotage" was one of the events that led to the [[Mukden Incident]] and the Japanese occupation of [[Manchuria]].]]

In Ireland, the [[Irish Republican Army (1917–22)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) used sabotage against the British following the Easter 1916 uprising. The IRA compromised communication lines and lines of transportation and fuel supplies. The IRA also employed passive sabotage, with dock and railroad workers refusing to work on ships and rail cars used by the government. In 1920, agents of the IRA committed arson against at least fifteen British warehouses in Liverpool. The following year, the IRA set fire to numerous British targets again, including the Dublin Customs House, this time sabotaging most of Liverpool's firetrucks in the firehouses before lighting the matches.<ref name="Howard L. Douthit III, Captain, USAF 1988">{{cite book|last=Douthit III|first=Howard L.|url=https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA188034/mode/2up|title=The Use and Effectiveness of Sabotage as a Means of Unconventional Warfare- An Historical Perspective from World War I Through Vietnam|publisher=Air Force Institute of Technology|year=1988|location=Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio}}</ref>

=== In World War II ===
[[File:SABOTAGE CAN OUTWEIGH PRODUCTION - NARA - 515321.jpg|thumb|[[United States]] [[United States home front during World War II|World War II]]-era poster warning against sabotage]]
[[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant Colonel]] George T. Rheam was a British soldier, who ran [[Brickendon|Brickendonbury Manor]] from October 1941 to June 1945 during [[World War II]], which was Station XVII of the [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE), which trained specialists for the SOE. Rheam innovated many sabotage techniques and is considered by [[M. R. D. Foot]] the "founder of modern industrial sabotage."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/28/history|title=Espionage for dummies|last=Sale|first=Jonathan|date=2001-08-28|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-01|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/the-wwii-soe-training-manual-rigden|title=the-wwii-soe-training-manual-rigden|pages=[https://archive.org/details/the-wwii-soe-training-manual-rigden/page/n14 8]|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Derailment 226-b-6082.webm|thumb|thumbtime=07:17|right|300px|A film from [[Camp Claiborne]] from March 8, 9 and 10 1944 of derailment tests done on the [[Claiborne-Polk Military Railroad]]. The tests were done to better train allied personnel in acts of [[rail sabotage]] during [[World War 2]].]]
Sabotage training for the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] consisted of teaching would-be saboteurs' key components of working machinery to destroy.
"Saboteurs learned hundreds of small tricks to cause the Germans big trouble. The cables in a telephone junction box&nbsp;... could be jumbled to make the wrong connections when numbers were dialed. A few ounces of [[plastique]], properly placed, could bring down a bridge, cave in a mine shaft, or collapse the roof of a railroad tunnel."<ref>{{cite book|last=Marrin|first=Albert|title=The Secret Armies : Spies, Counterspies, and Saboteurs in World War II|year=1985|publisher=Atheneum|location=New York|isbn=0-689-31165-6|page=77}}</ref>

The Polish Home Army [[Armia Krajowa]], which commanded the majority of resistance organizations in Poland (even the National Forces, except the [[Military Organization Lizard Union]]; the Home Army also included the [[Polish Socialist Party – Freedom, Equality, Independence]]) and coordinated and aided the [[Jewish Military Union]] as well as more reluctantly helping the [[Jewish Combat Organization]], was responsible for the greatest number of acts of sabotage in German-occupied Europe. The Home Army's sabotage operations [[Operation Wieniec|Operation Garland]] and [[Operation Belt|Operation Ribbon]] are just two examples. In all, the Home Army damaged 6,930 locomotives, set 443 rail transports on fire, damaged over 19,000 rail cars, and blew up 38 rail bridges, not to mention the attacks against the railroads. The Home Army was also responsible for 4,710 built-in flaws in parts for aircraft engines and 92,000 built-in flaws in artillery projectiles, among other examples of significant sabotage. In addition, over 25,000 acts of more minor sabotage were committed. It continued to fight against both the Germans and the Soviets; however, it did aid the Western Allies by collecting constant and detailed information on the German rail, wheeled, and horse transports.<ref>[[Home Army#Major operations]]</ref> As for Stalin's proxies, their actions led to a great number of the Polish and Jewish hostages, mostly civilians, being murdered in reprisal by the Germans. The [[Gwardia Ludowa]] destroyed around 200 German trains during the war, and indiscriminately threw hand grenades into places frequented by Germans.

The [[French Resistance]] ran an extremely effective sabotage campaign against the Germans during World War II. Receiving their sabotage orders through messages over the [[BBC radio]] or by aircraft, the French used both passive and active forms of sabotage. Passive forms included losing German shipments and allowing poor quality material to pass factory inspections. Many active sabotage attempts were against critical rail lines of transportation. German records count 1,429 instances of sabotage from French Resistance forces between January 1942 and February 1943. From January through March 1944, sabotage accounted for three times the number of locomotives damaged by Allied air power.<ref name="Howard L. Douthit III, Captain, USAF 1988" /> See also [[Normandy landings]] for more information about sabotage on [[D-Day]].

During World War II, the Allies committed sabotage against the Peugeot truck factory. After repeated failures in Allied bombing attempts to hit the factory, a team of French Resistance fighters and [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE) agents distracted the German guards with a game of soccer while part of their team entered the plant and destroyed machinery.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marrin|first=Albert|title=The Secret Armies : Spies, Counterspies, and Saboteurs in World War II|year=1985|publisher=Atheneum|location=New York|isbn=0-689-31165-6|page=83}}</ref>

In December 1944, the Germans ran a [[false flag]] sabotage infiltration, [[Operation Greif]], which was commanded by [[Waffen-SS]] [[commando]] [[Otto Skorzeny]] during the [[Battle of the Bulge]]. German [[commando]]s, wearing [[United States Army uniforms in World War II|US Army uniforms]], carrying [[US Army]] weapons, and using US Army vehicles, penetrated US lines to spread panic and confusion among US troops and to blow up bridges, [[ammunition dump]]s, and fuel stores and to disrupt the lines of communication. Many of the commandos were captured by the Americans. Because they were wearing US uniforms, a number of the Germans were executed as spies, either [[Summary execution|summarily]] or after [[military commissions]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Ardennes, 1944: Peiper and Skorzeny |url=https://archive.org/details/ardennespeipersk00pall |url-access=limited |author=Jean-Paul Pallud |date=28 May 1987 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ardennespeipersk00pall/page/n15 15] |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |isbn=0-85045-740-8 }}</ref>

=== After World War II ===
[[File:PalestineRailways-1946-sabotage-JaffaJerusalem-1.jpg|thumb|[[Palestine Railway]]'s K class 2-8-4T steam locomotive and freight train on the Jaffa and Jerusalem line after being sabotaged by [[Jewish]] paramilitary forces in 1946.]]

From 1948 to 1960, the Malayan Communists committed numerous effective acts of sabotage against the British Colonial authorities, first targeting railway bridges, then hitting larger targets such as military camps. Most of their efforts were intended to weaken [[Malaysia]]'s colonial economy and involved sabotage against trains, rubber trees, water pipes, and electric lines. The Communists' sabotage efforts were so successful that they caused backlash among the Malaysian population, who gradually withdrew support for the Communist movement as their livelihoods became threatened.<ref>{{cite book|last=Report prepared by the Historical Evaluation and Research Organization under contract for the Army Research Office|title=Isolating the Guerrilla: Classic and Basic Case Studies (Volume II)|year=1966|publisher=Historical Evaluation and Research Organization|location=Washington}}</ref>

In [[Mandatory Palestine]] from 1945 to 1948, Jewish groups opposed British control. Though that control was to end according to the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]] in 1948, the groups used sabotage as an opposition tactic. The [[Haganah]] focused their efforts on camps used by the British to hold refugees, and radar installations that could be used to detect illegal immigrant ships. The [[Stern Gang]] and the [[Irgun]] used terrorism and sabotage against the British government and against lines of communications. In November 1946, the Irgun and Stern Gang attacked a railroad twenty-one times in a three-week period, eventually causing shell-shocked Arab railway workers to strike. The [[6th Airborne Division]] was called in to provide security as a means of ending the strike.<ref name=":0" />
=== In Cyprus ===
Sabotage against [[British Armed Forces|British Forces]] was one of the primary methods used by [[EOKA]] during the [[Cyprus emergency|Cyprus liberation campaign]] in order to weaken the British posture on Cyprus.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=French |first=David |date=2 February 2015 |title=British Intelligence and the Origins of the EOKA Insurgency |journal=British Journal for Military History |volume=I |issue=2 |pages=87}}</ref> One of the more famous sabotage operations undertaken by EOKA was the [[Sabotage at RAF Akrotiri]] where 3 members of the organisation entered the base and placed multiple bombs undetected and destroying 4 [[English Electric Canberra]] aircraft and one [[de Havilland Venom]] aircraft.<ref>{{Cite web |title=26 Νοεμβρίου 1957, η ΕΟΚΑ χτυπά την αεροπορική βάση Ακρωτηρίου |url=https://neakypros.com.cy/index.php/news/17425 |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=NeaKypros: Τελευταία Νέα Κύπρος |language=el-gr}}</ref>

=== In Vietnam ===
The [[Viet Cong]] used swimmer saboteurs often and effectively during the [[Vietnam War]]. Between 1969 and 1970, swimmer saboteurs sunk, destroyed, or damaged 77 assets of the U.S. and its allies. Viet Cong swimmers were poorly equipped but well-trained and resourceful. The swimmers provided a low-cost/low-risk option with high payoff; possible loss to the country for failure compared to the possible gains from a successful mission led to the obvious conclusion the swimmer saboteurs were a good idea.<ref>{{cite book|last=Babyak|first=E.E. Jr. LtJG USNM|title=Swimmer Sabotage or The Most Dangerous Mine|publisher=Naval Mine Warfare School|year=1971|location=Charleston}}</ref>

=== During the Cold War ===
On 1 January 1984, the Cuscatlan bridge over the [[Lempa river]] in [[El Salvador]], critical to the flow of commercial and military traffic, was destroyed by guerrilla forces using explosives after using mortar fire to "scatter" the bridge's guards, causing an estimated $3.7 million in required repairs, and considerably impacting on El Salvadoran business and security.<ref name="McGeorgeKetchem19831984"/>

In 1982 in [[Honduras]], a group of nine Salvadorans and Nicaraguans destroyed a main electrical power station, leaving the capital city [[Tegucigalpa]] without power for three days.<ref name="McGeorgeKetchem19831984"/>{{rp|page=253}}

== As crime ==
Some criminals have engaged in acts of sabotage for reasons of [[extortion]]. For example, [[Klaus-Peter Sabotta]] sabotaged German railway lines in the late 1990s in an attempt to extort [[Deutsche Mark|DM]]10 million from the German railway operator [[Deutsche Bahn]]. He is now serving a sentence of [[life imprisonment]]. In 1989, ex-[[Scotland Yard]] detective [[Rodney Whitchelo]] was sentenced to 17 years in prison for spiking Heinz baby food products in supermarkets, in an extortion attempt on the food manufacturer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/food-scare-scandals-1100385.html|title=Food Scare Scandals|newspaper=The Independent|date=1999-06-16}}</ref>

On October 8, 2022, the [[GSM-R]] radio communication system of the Deutsche Bahn was [[October 2022 German railway attack|sabotaged]] by the cutting of two cables of crucial importance. In the aftermath, the railway traffic in Northern Germany was completely shut down for several hours.<ref>[https://www.ft.com/content/8d897c26-e9cc-4a16-82da-4ef393e583c3 ''German police open probe into sabotage of rail system''], Financial Times, Guy Chazan, October 2022</ref> German criminal police took over the investigation.<ref> [https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/no-sign-that-foreign-state-was-behind-german-rail-sabotage-police-2022-10-09/ ''No sign that foreign state was behind German rail sabotage, police say''], Reuters, October 9, 2022</ref>

== As political action ==

The term political sabotage is sometimes used to define the acts of one political camp to disrupt, harass or damage the reputation of a political opponent, usually during an electoral campaign, such as during [[Watergate]]. [[Smear campaign]]s are a commonly used tactic.  The term could also describe the actions and expenditures of private entities, corporations, and organizations against democratically approved or enacted laws, policies and programs.

After the Cold War ended, the [[Mitrokhin Archives]] were declassified, which included detailed [[KGB]] plans of [[active measures]] to subvert politics in opposing nations.

=== In a coup d'état ===
Sabotage is a crucial tool of the successful [[coup d'etat]], which requires control of communications before, during, and after the coup is staged.  Simple sabotage against physical communications platforms using semi-skilled technicians, or even those trained only for this task, could effectively silence the target government of the coup, leaving the [[War of ideas|information battle space]] open to the dominance of the coup's leaders.  To underscore the effectiveness of sabotage, "A single cooperative technician will be able temporarily to put out of action a [[radio station]] which would otherwise require a full-scale [[assault]]."<ref>{{cite book|last=Luttwak|first=Edward|title=Coup d'Etat, a Practical Handbook|year=1968|publisher=The Penguin Press|location=London|isbn=0-674-17547-6|page=119}}</ref>

Railroads, where strategically important to the regime the coup is against, are prime targets for sabotage—if a section of the track is damaged entire portions of the transportation network can be stopped until it is fixed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Luttwak|first=Edward|title=Coup d'Etat, a Practical Handbook|year=1968|publisher=The Penguin Press|location=London|isbn=0-674-17547-6|page=128}}</ref>

== Derivative usages ==

=== Sabotage radio ===
A sabotage radio was a small [[two-way radio]] designed for use by [[resistance movement]]s in World War II, and after the war often used by [[exploration|expeditions]] and similar parties.

=== Cybotage ===
Arquilla and Rondfeldt, in their work entitled ''Networks and Netwars'', differentiate their definition of "[[netwar]]" from a list of "trendy synonyms", including "cybotage", a portmanteau from the words "sabotage" and "[[Internet-related prefixes|cyber]]".  They dub the practitioners of cybotage "cyboteurs" and note while all cybotage is not netwar, some netwar is cybotage.<ref>{{cite book|title=Networks and Netwars|year=2001|publisher=RAND|isbn=0-8330-3030-2|editor1=John Arquilla|editor2=David Ronfeldt|pages=[https://archive.org/details/networksnetwars00john/page/5 5–7]|url=https://archive.org/details/networksnetwars00john/page/5}}</ref>

=== Counter-sabotage ===
Counter-sabotage, defined by ''[[Webster's Dictionary]]'', is "counterintelligence designed to detect and counteract sabotage". The [[United States Department of Defense]] definition, found in the ''Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms'', is "action designed to detect and counteract sabotage. See also [[counterintelligence]]".

==== In World War II ====
During World War II, British subject [[Eddie Chapman]], trained by the Germans in sabotage, became a double agent for the British. The German [[Abwehr]] entrusted Chapman to destroy the British de Havilland Company's main plant which manufactured the outstanding Mosquito light bomber but required photographic proof from their agent to verify the mission's completion. A special unit of the Royal Engineers known as the Magic Gang covered the de Havilland plant with canvas panels and scattered papier-mâché furniture and chunks of masonry around three broken and burnt giant generators. Photos of the plant taken from the air reflected devastation for the factory and a successful sabotage mission, and Chapman, as a British sabotage double-agent, fooled the Germans for the duration of the war.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marrin|first=Albert|title=The Secret Armies|year=1985|publisher=Atheneum|location=New York|isbn=0-689-31165-6|page=24}}</ref>

=== Self-sabotage ===
{{Redirect|Self sabotage|the Graace EP|Self Sabotage}}
{{further|Identification with the Aggressor|Self-destructive behavior|Self-deception|Masters of suspicion|Ethnomasochism}}
In psychology, self-sabotage is defined as behaviour that undermines one's own existing or potential achievements.

== See also ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Accelerationism]]
* [[Birth control sabotage]]
* [[Edmund Charaszkiewicz]]
* [[Cichociemni]]
* [[Colin Gubbins]]
* [[Conspiracy]]
* [[Direct action]]
* [[Divide and Rule]]
* [[Espionage]]
* [[Fifth column]]
* [[Gaslighting]]
* [[Guerrilla warfare]]
* [[Improvised explosive device]]
* [[Industrial espionage]]
* [[Internet troll]]
* [[Kedyw]]
* [[Mutiny]]
* [[Norwegian heavy water sabotage]]
* [[Partisan (military)|Partisan]]
* [[Political warfare]]
* [[Agent Provocateur|Provocateur]]
* [[Rail sabotage]]
* [[Hunt sabotage]]
* [[Civil disobedience]]
* [[Sedition]]
* [[Setting up to fail]]
* [[Shill]]
* [[Social undermining]]
* [[Special Activities Division]]
* [[Tampering (crime)|Tampering]]
* [[Terrorism]]
* ''[[De Mol (TV series)|The Mole]]'', TV series
}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
* [[Émile Pouget]], ''Le sabotage; notes et postface de Grégoire Chamayou et Mathieu Triclot'', 1913; Mille et une nuit, 2004; English translation, ''Sabotage'', paperback, 112 pp., University Press of the Pacific, 2001, {{ISBN|0-89875-459-3}}.
* Pasquinelli, Matteo. [http://matteopasquinelli.com/docs/ideology-of-free-culture.pdf "The Ideology of Free Culture and the Grammar of Sabotage"]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}; now in ''Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons'', Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2008.
*{{cite book
 | first      = Giles
 | last       = Milton
 | title      = Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
 | publisher  = John Murray
 | year       = 2017
 | isbn       = 978-1-444-79898-2
}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Cite web |title=Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Simple Sabotage Field Manual - 1944 |url=https://ia801309.us.archive.org/14/items/Simplesabotage/Simplesabotage.pdf }}
* {{Cite web |title=Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Sabotage and Demolition Manual |date=1973 |url=https://archive.org/details/oss-sabotage-and-demolition-manual-paladin-press/}}
* {{Cite web |title=CIA Explosives for Sabotage Manual |url=https://ia800904.us.archive.org/34/items/CIAExplosivesForSabotageManual/CIA%20-%20Explosives%20for%20Sabotage%20Manual_text.pdf }}
* {{Cite web |title=Ecodefense: A Field Guide to Monkeywrenching |url=https://ia601800.us.archive.org/17/items/ecodefense-a-field-guide-to-monkeywrenching/various-authors-ecodefense-a-field-guide-to-monkeywrenching.pdf }}
* [http://libcom.org/tags/sabotage News, accounts and articles on workplace sabotage and organising] – Sabotage, employee theft, strikes, etc.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060117084555/http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/railway/malice.htm Article on malicious railroad sabotage]
* [[Elizabeth Gurley Flinn]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20070807052841/http://www.iww.org/culture/library/sabotage/ Sabotage, the conscious withdrawal of the workers' industrial efficiency]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111114094618/http://www.okupatsioon.ee/en/lists/47-aadu-jogisoo Aadu Jogiaas: Disturbing soviet transmissions in August 1991.]
* {{cite web  |url=http://www.hot.ee/aasa/LPL_1211.pdf  |title=The Tallinn Cables, A GLIMPSE INTO TALLINN'S SECRET HISTORY OF ESPIONAGE, Lonely Planet Magazine, December 2011  |url-status=dead  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113200915/http://www.hot.ee/aasa/LPL_1211.pdf  |archive-date=13 November 2013  }}

{{Workplace}}
{{Civil defence}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sabotage| ]]
[[Category:Activism]]
[[Category:Crimes]]
[[Category:Economic warfare tactics]]
[[Category:Military tactics]]
[[Category:Revolutionary tactics]]
[[Category:Property crimes]]