fetch is a fairly straightforward operation with predictable (i.e. get me all the objects and refs in the remote repo) but 'merge' actually moves the branch(es)

fetch is a fairly straightforward operation with predictable (i.e. get me all the objects and refs in the remote repo) but 'merge' actually moves the branch(es) in your local repo around. After you do a fetch you can go on to do a merge just as though you did a git pull, but if you break down the steps then you now have the option to do a rebase or other operation as you see fit.