The main reason antennas are hard to understand is that their dimensions are comparable to the wavelength they are tuned for. Unless you are dealing with microwaves, the systems used to generate and detect RF are modeled using "lumped circuit elements". For example, resistors, capacitors, inductors, and transistors. And, at first, big sparks. These elements are small compared to the wavelength.

The design of those elements and the circuits using them was historically pretty independent from formal electromagnetic theory, as developed by Maxwell. The intersection was Oliver Heaviside, at the end of the 19th century.

Before Heaviside, RF electronic design was a largely a matter of groping though the practicalities of employing those circuit elements to create oscillations and couple them to resonant wires supported as high as possible.

As the peer posts explained, antennas are resonant structures in which electrons are caused to slosh back and forth. As they slosh, they accelerate, and as they accelerate, they radiate electromagnetic energy. But, it is best to stick to the rules of thumb at the level of the ARRL handbooks. To understand the EM theory related to radiation and antennas, you really need to work through to the final chapters of Griffiths, "Introduction to Electrodynamics".

But that is not necessary to get an intuitive understanding of antennas, to construct them, or to run the modeling software.