History ZergRush / RealLife

* Non intentional use: Could you imagine this tactic with ''fangirls'' yelling and going {{Squee}} out of the blue? Well, this was actually the reason why TheBeatles stopped giving concerts in 1965...

* Bacteria. The UrExample of [[AWorldwidePunomenon ''"divide and conquer"'']]....

* This is the main reason why EverythingIsWorseWithWolves.

** One African species of ant actually invades the major orifices of its prey and bite at once, inside and out: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOe5Lmyyxiw& witness this BBC documentary]] of a raiding party defeating [[GiantEnemyCrab a freshwater crab]] by ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu crawling inside its mouth]] [[NightmareFuel and eating it alive]]''.

*** Which is why Norman Davies notes that a better term for the European theater of World War II would be Soviet-Third Reich War, because the scale of the Eastern Front absolutely dwarfs anything undertaken by the Western Allies, by several magnitudes (and screwed over the countries the two totalitarian regimes battled across).

** Not true. While Blitzkrieg did work out in the end, it was more due to the problems in organizing a coherent, effective defence (the Polish Army was stretched too thin) and the Soviet Army invading from the East. Furthermore, the Third Reich didn't have nearly as great a technological advantage one might think: much of the Wehrmacht used horses or even moved on foot to get from place to place and much of its armored corps were relatively weak early Panzer Is and IIs. Not to mention the fact that enough of the army survived to form the largest, most effective underground resistance movement in World War II (or rather, an entire underground state complete with an Army).
** Russia made very poor use of this tactic in their invasion of Finland, where guerrilla tactics inflicted severe damage on the Red Army. In particular, their tanks subscribed heavily to this tactic, but in doing so, they were often exposed to unconventional weapons, like Molotov cocktails.

*** During many of the Communist collapses of the late 80's (Romania and the USSR are particularly notable for this effect) the regime collapsed precisely because the military ultimately refused to slaughter the rebelling populace (largely because they no longer believed in the regime). This almost happened during the Tienanmen Square protests, but the Chinese government found a military force that was willing to slaughter the protesters, and held on to power.

*** Which is not good for this very wiki.

* As a general rule the Zerg Rush does not work against a well-fortified position and concentrated fire. See Zulu Wars; Pickett's Charge; WW I...

** Though in the case of the Zulu, the Rush (in a slightly more complex form) was in fact a fairly new and effective tactic by which the Zulu had come to dominate the region, the work of a military genius who was unfortunately dead by the time the Zulu met the British. Had someone like him been around at the time, the Zulu might've fared better, as shown on one occasion when they did manage to get hold of some artillery.

* It may be surprising, but the more soldiers there are in a unit, the less likely they are to be killed. There's a reason for the saying "strength in numbers:" Lanchester's Square Law means that marginally larger units can have dramatically improved survival rates in battle. The larger group ''inflicts'' more casualties, which makes it even larger comparatively, which means it causes even more casualties compared to the enemy, and so on. Larger units can also back each other up with cover fire and assist in taking down targets faster, possibly even denying the enemy a chance to retaliate. Seriously, when you're already facing someone with a machine gun, chances are you're not gonna notice the second guy aiming for you, or the third or fourth. And if you do notice, you're probably going to panic and shoot badly.

*** Do note though, many of that those not KIA died later from infections gained from the most advanced medical equipment of the era being a some leather they have you bite on while the doctor saws off your leg to silence the screaming.

*** The use of Zerg rushes mas mostly because of periods when an offensive was absolutely essential, but there simply wasn't enough resources to adequately arm all the required soldiers. There were a few incidents where only the lead troops had guns, and those behind had to grab the guns from their fallen comrades when they got to them. As bad as WWII in Europe was for the Western Allies, it was NOTHING compared to how brutal it was on the Russian Front.

*** During many of the Communist collapses of the late 80's (Romania and the USSR are particularly notable for this effect) the regime collapsed precisely because the military ultimately refused to slaughter the rebelling populace *largely because they no longer believed in the regime). This almost happened during the Tienanmen Square protests, but the Chinese government found a military force that was willing to slaughter the protesters, and held on to power.

** One African species of ant actually invades the major orifices of its prey and bite at once, inside and out: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOe5Lmyyxiw& witness this BBC documentary]] of a raiding party defeating [[GiantEnemyCrab a freshwater crab]] by ''[[DidYouJustEatCthulhu crawling inside its mouth]] [[NightmareFuel and eating it alive]]''.

* The internet. Want to get quick results when someone stole your artwork? Got an conflict issue that you want to spread out quick and get support? Post somewhere prolific, with substantial proof. Now sit back and watch as the internet zerg rushes someone's mailbox/account...
** A Zerg Rush is the core element of less organized, 'invasion'-style Denial-of-service attacks: If you can ram enough people's packet requests into a system, it can't dispatch answers fast enough and crashes.

** Other Wiki says "US Army historian Roy Edgar Appleman observed that the term "human wave" was a metaphor used by journalists and military officials to convey the idea that the American soldiers were assaulted by overwhelming numbers of enemies, but it had no relation to the real Chinese infantry tactics of the same period." However, Western Allied as well as Chinese combat records idicate that several times (Chosin, Spring Offensive, Hamburger Hill), the Chinese and their North Korean allies ''were'' forced to have everyone charge headlong into the Allied lines. This wasn't their preferred way of attacking (just as absolutely nobody on Omaha Beach wanted to HAVE to charge headfirst into a sea of German MG rounds), as this usually happened when they were caught out in the open by a spotter or a flare while planning a more traditional attack, when they were ordered to capture an objective at any cost, or when they were pressed on to attack by something even worse hammering them where they were (namely heavy support aircraft and artillery). However, while the Chinese were far savvier than most give them credit for, it's pretty much indisputable that the Chinese leadership were far more accepting of this sort of tactic than they should have been given its dismal results.

** The Federals also had a higher population density then the Confederates. Thus Federal units could be recruited as needed, while Confederate units were mostly local military fraternities. The Federals also made extensive use of the Scorched Earth doctrine, using their quickly assembled units to smash Confederate economy and thus fufill the RTS definition of a ZergRush (though it's worth noting that the South did plenty of the scorching themselves, to prevent supplies from falling into the North's hands). However, while the Union did suffer (roughly) 60% more casualties, the KIA excess was only 10%. Considering that the Confederates usually enjoyed the defending position (in the later years of the war, at any rate), and that the Civil War constituted the early days of trench warfare, with the known results during World War I, the numbers don't exactly point to rash tactics and disregard of one's own troops. Politicians lobbying against Grant had more to do with politicking after they decided the war was as good as won, using casualties as a pretext, than concern for the troops or about the general conduct of the war.

* About a year ago, a massive ten square-mile pack of jellyfish swarmed a salmon farm, [[http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL2241858320071122 killing its entire population of about one hundred thousand fish.]] The water was so thick with jellyfish that the farm's boats could hardly even move, preventing the personnel from saving any of their salmon.

* Dromaeosaurs (or more commonly known as "[[RaptorAttack raptors]]"), but especially ''Deinonychus'', became famous for their hunting strategy which is extremely similar to that of wolves, and almost every depiction of these dinsoaurs shows them savagely mobbing and overwhelming huge plant-eaters. But ScienceMarchesOn, and after people have realized this whole theory had been based on more wishful thinking than actual fossil evidence, it has gradually lost its credibility. [[HereWeGoAgain Then someone claimed to have found support for the idea of pack-hunting among giant theropods, like tyrannosaurids...]]